The cost to recover data versus repairing hard drives
When physically damaged hard drives fail they must be repaired, at least temporarily, so as to retrieve the files stored on that drive. This process to recover data can be extremely complex. At the very least it entails having the hard disk disassembled in an ISO certified cleanroom and repaired long enough so as to download from it all the stored files. It takes years of experience working with faulty drives to know what aspect of the drive has failed and which components are needed to get the drive running. Usually these hard drives are not worth repairing, as they are obsolete. But the data stored on them is often invaluable.
The expense required to recover data can be minuscule when compared with the cost of recreating thousands of pages of high tech information. When the first effort to recover data by repairing a faulty drive fails, the next is even more difficult. A data recovery magnetometer must be used to scan the platter on which the information is stored. The data must be scanned numerous times and then restructured into its original format using special software designed just for this purpose.
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