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Can I recover my own data?...
Sometimes you may not have the money to recover your data, or the cost of the recovery may outweigh the value of the data. In these cases, you may want to try the recovery yourself (remember - if this is data that you must have - then do not attempt the recovery yourself! More often than not, you could ruin all hopes of recovery if you make a mistake). However, we have attempted to provide you with some information that may lead you in the right direction if you are looking for a "self-recovery". Below is some useful information and to the right are links to some low cost software packages that you can install to help recover your data. 

Installing data recovery software...
Remember, don't install anything onto a hard drive that you are trying to recover data from. Typically you will want to use a second pc and attach your hard drive as a "slave" device (remember to check your jumper settings when you do this).

Once you boot up the computer your "slaved" drive will typically be assigned a drive letter (something other than the local C drive or the cdrom drives - this is dependant on the fact that your hard drive can be recognized by the operating system or BIOS).

If your system cannot see the drive, then install one of the data recovery packages we have linked to on the right hand column of this page (remember - do not install it on the drive you are recovering from). It is possible that one of these software packages can see your drive and recover your data, even if you cannot see your drive in Windows.

If the software sees your drive, then follow the software manufacturer's instructions on how to perform the recovery. Make sure you have large enough media to recover to. If the software cannot see your drive, the problem may be a bit more complex, and a self-recovery will probably not be likely to happen. If that's the case - call us for free diagnostics and cost estimate. We would be happy to provide it!

Here are some important tips:

1. Do not try to recover the data yourself if it is imperative that you have the data. A lot of times you may damage the drive or data by trying a recovery yourself. The reason that companies like us exist, is that we know what we are doing and can avoid data loss.
    

2. Once you get your drive to spin up, it may be the only time it will ever do it again. Make sure you have media large enough to transfer the data to.
    

3. Don't take the drive apart. Some data recovery companies will scare you and tell you that the drive will be ruined once you do that - which is not necessarily true - the drive will be ruined, but not right away. However, if you turn platters or mess up the alignment, these things may be impossible to correct. 
    

4. Send it to us for free diagnostics. We may be able to recover your data for less than a hundred dollars, saving you lots of time and frustration.