Hard Drive Recovery
Recovery from mechanical failures including head crashes, motor seizures, platter damage and PCB faults. Clean-room facilities for donor part transplants and platter-level work.
Data Recovery
Data Recovery
Failed drives. Corrupted arrays. Encrypted volumes. We recover what others cannot.
Data recovery is the process of retrieving inaccessible, lost or corrupted data from failed storage media including hard drives, SSDs, RAID arrays and flash devices. Sherlock Forensics provides professional data recovery in Vancouver and across British Columbia, with emergency same-day intake and a no-data, no-charge guarantee for qualifying media.
When storage fails - whether from mechanical damage, firmware corruption, accidental deletion or ransomware encryption - every hour matters. Our recovery specialists handle everything from single-drive failures to complex multi-disk RAID rebuilds, combining forensic methodology with recovery expertise developed over two decades.
Capabilities
Recovery Services
SSD & NVMe Recovery
Recovery from controller failures, NAND degradation, firmware corruption and TRIM-deleted data. Chip-off recovery available for severely damaged solid-state media.
RAID Array Reconstruction
RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 and 10 rebuilds from failed arrays. Drive-order identification, stripe-size detection, parity reconstruction and virtual rebuild from degraded sets.
Flash Media Recovery
Recovery from USB flash drives, SD cards, microSD and CompactFlash. Controller-level repair and chip-off NAND reading for physically damaged media.
Encrypted Volume Recovery
Recovery from BitLocker, FileVault, LUKS and VeraCrypt encrypted volumes when keys or passwords are available. Damaged header repair and key recovery assistance.
Ransomware Data Recovery
Recovery of data from ransomware-encrypted systems. Volume Shadow Copy extraction, partial file recovery and coordination with our incident response team.
Failure Types
Common Failure Scenarios
| Failure Type | Symptoms | Recovery Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Mechanical (HDD) | Clicking, grinding, not spinning | Clean-room head/motor replacement |
| Firmware Corruption | Drive not detected, incorrect capacity | Firmware module repair/rebuild |
| Logical / File System | Files missing, partition not found | File system reconstruction, carving |
| RAID Failure | Multiple drive failures, degraded array | Virtual rebuild, parity reconstruction |
| SSD Controller Failure | Drive not recognized, BSoD on boot | Controller bypass, chip-off NAND read |
| Ransomware Encryption | Files encrypted, ransom note present | Shadow copy recovery, partial decryption |
Frequently Asked Questions
Data Recovery FAQs
- What types of media can Sherlock Forensics recover data from?
- We recover data from HDDs, SSDs, NVMe drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, RAID arrays (0, 1, 5, 6, 10), NAS devices, external drives and encrypted volumes. We handle both mechanical failures requiring clean-room work and logical failures from corruption, deletion or malware.
- How much does data recovery cost?
- Cost depends on failure type, media type and urgency. We provide a free initial assessment and fixed-price quote before work begins. Our no-data, no-charge policy means you pay nothing if we cannot recover your data. Emergency and priority services are available at additional cost.
- Can data be recovered from a physically damaged hard drive?
- Yes, in many cases. Our facilities handle head crashes, motor failures, platter damage, PCB failures and firmware corruption. Recovery from physically damaged drives requires donor parts matching the exact drive model and firmware revision. Success rates vary with damage severity.
- How long does data recovery take?
- Standard recovery takes 5-10 business days. Emergency service with same-day intake is available for critical situations. Complex RAID rebuilds or severely damaged media may require additional time. We provide status updates throughout the process.
- Is recovered data kept confidential?
- All recovered data is handled under strict confidentiality. We maintain chain-of-custody documentation, store media in secure facilities and securely wipe all working copies after delivery. We execute NDAs and comply with data handling requirements specified by your organization or counsel.
Authority Resources
Standards & References
Industry Standards
Related Services
Certifications
Our recovery specialists hold forensic and security certifications.
CISSP
Start Emergency Data Recovery
Every hour counts when data is at risk. Call us for a free initial assessment and same-day intake at our Burnaby or Coquitlam office.
Call 604.229.1994- Phone
- 604.229.1994
- Burnaby Office
- Burnaby, BC, Canada
- Coquitlam Office
- Coquitlam, BC, Canada
- Emergency Intake
- Same-day drop-off available - call first