dropped laptop Archives - Memofix's Data Recovery Blog

Laptop, Notebook, & Netbook Data Recovery

August 13, 2026

Toronto GTA, Ontario, Canada. Data recovery from laptops, notebooks and netbooks is not that much different then recovering data from desktop systems. The most noticeable difference lies in the size of the storage device or hard disk drive being used by each computer. Most modern desktop computer systems uses a larger 3.5” HDD or hard disc drive while a typical laptop or notebook style computer will use a smaller 2.5” HDD. Additionally many newer notebooks and netbooks are starting to use SSD or Solid State Drives. This discussion will focus solely on hard drives.

While most people assume it’s tougher to recover data from a smaller 2.5” laptop hard drive versus the 3.5” desktop drive, it is actually the opposite in most circumstances. When data is lost due to a physical or mechanical issue with a hard drive, our historical statistics clearly show that 2.5” laptop or notebook hard drive owners have an almost 10% better chance of seeing their data again versus 3.5” desktop drives owners. In my previous life at another recovery company, this same statistic also held true. Hmm … seems strange, especially when I see some data recovery service companies adding a surcharge for dealing with laptop hard drives.

So why are we more successful with 2.5” hard drive recoveries? First 2.5” hard drives sustain less damage when they do crash and second they are more accepting of standard data recovery procedures.

Laptops, notebooks, netbooks AND 2.5” hard drives are designed to take more physical abuse then your typical desktop computer or hard drive. By design and virtue of their tiny mass, 2.5” hard drives can absorb anywhere from 3-5 times as much shock as a typical desktop drive. Portable computers also use shock absorbing mounting brackets to further isolate the hard drive from any external bumps or drops. These damage saving features decrease the severity of damage due to crashes.

Laptop and other portable computer manufactures are also concerned with decreasing the energy consumption and heat dissipation of their products. Fortunately, both of these pursuits provide additional benefits for preserving your data. For example, most laptops save energy by spinning down the hard drive when the laptop is not used for a predetermined period of time. And because hard drives are much more susceptible to damage when they are spinning, this energy saving feature can really save data. 2.5” laptop hard drives take it even a step further and use ramps to lift the heads physically off the disk surface when the drive is spun down while many 3.5” hard drives continue to land the heads on the surface of the disks or platters. Once again an energy saving feature that helps prevent damage to the disk. And there is also some validity in the argument that saving energy creates less heat which in turn causes less drive failures.

Laptop, notebooks and netbook drives are also much more tolerant of data recovery techniques. Head xplants or the process of replacing a bad head assembly with a good head assembly is one of the more commonly used data recovery techniques, but because each hard drive’s head assembly is ever so slightly different and the hard drives electronics were tuned to work specifically with the original head assembly, xplants are often not successful. However this procedure is much more successful when attempted between two 2.5” hard drives versus between two 3.5” hard drives.

Because 2.5” hard drives are principally used in portable devices that by definition will operated while the user is mobile, they are designed to deal with harsher conditions and recover from a larger range of off track data situations then a typical 3.5” hard drive. Consequently they are more accepting of new heads with their slight differences. You can compare it to a racing car and a jeep. The racing care is tuned for high performance and is capable of going very fast and taking corners at incredible speeds as long as the road is smooth. But when the road turns too dirt and mud the racing car gets stuck. On the other hand, the jeep may not go as fast but when the road gets rough, it’ll keep on going.

Media damage, whether disk or platter damage, head crashes, or rings forming on the disk are always a problem. And once again, we find 2.5” hard drives are just more tolerant of damage. As a method of preventing damage in the first place, 2.5” hard drives fly the heads at a greater height above the disks then 3.5” hard drives. This allows a laptop or notebook drive to take more physical abuse or impact without having it’s heads coming into contact with the disk surfaces. This design also allows them to float above damage that would impede the positioning or even damage the heads of a typical 3.5” hard drive and thus giving us a much better chance of recovering data.

So even though your laptop hard disk drive may be smaller then it’s big brother the desktop drive, it’s still the leader in data loss prevention and the better drive to be using should you ever need the services of a professional data recovery company, like Memofix Data Recovery Services. http://www.memofixdatarecovery.com/

… David Foster

Remote Data Recovery

July 8, 2026

Toronto GTA, Ontario, Canada. Recovering data remotely is a service presently being offered by several of the larger data recovery companies. It sounds so convenient, no shipping, no computer disassembly, no risk, just call someone up and they remotely connect to my computer, and “poof” my data is restored. If only it were so simple. In reality it’s much more of a marketing ploy then a realistic recovery option. The complexities and dangers of offering remote service seem to counter the very pillars of data safety.

First you must consider that for a remote data recovery service to be successful the hard drive must be functioning properly; otherwise there is a serious risk of causing further damage. If the drive has physical problems and is beginning to fail, there may only a short window before the damage becomes insurmountable. As every data recovery company will advise, if the data is important, shut it off immediately and do nothing. So unless you’re knowledgeable enough to determine the condition of your hard drive or you don’t mind a 50/50 chance of doing further damage you may want to reconsider a remote data recovery service.

Furthermore, this service requires the user to have some technical computer skills as the original hard drive must be removed and installed in a second web attached computer along with possibly an additional hard drive to copy the recovered data to. Some assistance will also be required to setup and establish the remote link. And while some users may feel comfortable with these tasks, the real concern is with the increased risk of causing further damage whether due to physical handling, static shock, or the unintended running of automatic drive utilities like chkdsk.

It is our policy and that of most other professional data recovery services to create an exact image or mirror of the original drive. The original drive is then put away for safe keeping, while any alterations to the file system structures or running of utilities are completed on a copy of the copy. In a remote data recovery situation, you do not have the luxury of having a backup copy in case things go wrong.

We also see many cases of apparent file structure damage where the storage device or hard drive initially appears to be operating fine but as we attempt to image it we discover read errors or the drive starts failing in some other way. In instances like this there is a strong chance the file structure damage was actually caused by the physical issue. Attempting to recover data from a drive like this will just aggravate the situation and risk further damage to the storage device or filesystem.

In my past life, I worked for one of the larger data recovery companies that considered offering a remote recovery option. At the time we had multiple lab locations across the USA and we were already using remote connections to share the data recovery expertise spread throughout our different labs. Our more senior data recovery engineers essentially used remote access to evaluate and direct a more junior tech in how to proceed with a difficult data recovery. Prior to us offering the service to the general public, we investigated our competitors offering by conducting a secret shopper campaign where we attempted to engage their remote data recovery services. Surprisingly, we were repeatedly met with opposition when we requested a remote recovery. They tried to sell us data recovery software, followed by in-lab service before reluctantly agreeing to only attempt a remote recovery IF we approved a minimum of $1500 for the recovery if successful. And this was without ever looking at the media. It’s readily apparent that the entire concept was being used to get you to call them so they could then attempt to try and talk you into shipping the case to their lab.

Remote data recovery has most of same limitations and capabilities as that of a good data recovery software program. The drive must be functional and it must be connected to a working computer system. In many situations a data recovery program will perform as good as a remote recovery service. In fact, the remote recovery tech is more then likely going to be running utilities as part of the effort to salvage your data. So why pay for someone to hook up remotely and run utilities on your system. You can do that yourself and with less complications and time wasted establishing a safe connection.

There are a few occasions where remote data recovery does makes sense, where due to the isolation of the location there is no other option, but for those cases that can be delivered to a full service data recovery lab you would be very unwise not to take advantage of the hands on experience of a data recovery specialist. https://www.memofixdatarecovery.com/ … David Foster

Got Your Data Back, Now What? … Re-Integrating Your Data

June 9, 2026

Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’ve had the misfortune to experience a data loss situation, whether because you accidentally dropped your laptop, your brother-in- law insisted on reformatting your hard drive or perhaps a passing lightning storm drove a voltage spike through the heart of your system, then you know getting your data recovered is just the first step in getting your computer back in order.

In recovery cases where the original hard drive was found to be defective, it will need to be replaced with a new drive. In cases where the only problem was a LOGICAL issue, you may be able to re-use the original hard drive, BUT we do not recommend this as some logical problems may be the result of intermittent problems with your hard drive. Regardless of your situation, once a reliable storage device has been physically installed in your computer, you need to install & configure the operating system and install all the various programs or applications you may use. In most cases you will require the original licensed installation diskette(s), CD/DVD(s) or USB flash stick.

Once you have your system setup and bootable, the storage device with the recovered data (typically a USB external hard drive) can be attached to the new system. Identifying where to locate and copy the recovered data to is determined by the operating system and what your original username was.

For example, in Windows XP there is a folder in the root directory or top level folder called “Documents and Settings”. Within the “Documents and Settings” folder you will see a folder named for each user set up to use the system. There will be folders with names like “Administrator” and “All Users”. Among these folders you should also see a folder with the same name as your previous login name. So if you previously logged in as JoeUser you should see a folder called “JoeUser”. This is the default location for storing all your personal data. Some advanced users may have chosen a non-default location for some of their data files but such users should not require this article to reintegrate their data. Once inside your personal “JoeUser” folder, you will see some standard data folders with names such as “Desktop”, “MyDocuments”, MyPictures”, and “MyFavorites” . If you were to open the “Desktop” folder you should see all the items that were previously on your desktop. To copy this folder to your new system so your desktop looks just like it was before, simply drag and drop the “Documents and Settings/JoeUser/ Desktop” folder into the “Documents and Settings/JoeUser” folder on the new system. The new system will prompt you for permission to overwrite the “Desktop” folder and once approved your data will be copied. Repeat this procedure for each additional folder you may wish to copy. By default much of your data will be stored in the “MyDocuments” folder.

If you use Outlook for your email under Windows XP, you can find your .pst data files in the default \Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\ folder. In Vista or Windows 7 the default is \Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\.

The default location for storing your data in Windows Vista or Windows 2007 is very similar except the “Documents & Settings” folder has been renamed to “Users”. So if your login name was JoeUser, your data would be located in the “Users/JoeUser” folder. It’s interesting that this also happens to be the location of your data files on a Apple or MAC system. Apple also uses a top level folder called Users which contains a folder named for each user and within each user folder you will find that user’s data. Drag and drop the data folders into the same locations on your MAC drive and you’re done.

… David Foster

Data Recovery pricing and why we’re NOT the cheapest

May 27, 2026

Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We are constantly reminded by our clients of just how expensive data recovery can be. No matter how much we attempt to prepare clients, many are still outright shocked at the cost. I can sympathize with many of our clients as I’ve experienced the same sensation at least a few times over the last year; like when I brought my car in for a simple brake job and the bill surged to almost a $1000; or when my furnace started making knocking noises and I was quoted over $1200 for a new blower motor. So what makes data recovery so expensive ….. or is it?

Just as your local auto service would not charge you the same price for an oil change as they would for a new exhaust system, Data Recovery pricing varies greatly. Some recoveries may take 20 minutes to resolve, while others can be on-going for a week or longer. Some problems can be handled by a junior data recovery technician, while others may require our resident genius to step in. Data loss may be the result of the accidental deletion of a few files, the dropping of a laptop or the failure of multiple hard drives from a 12 drive RAID array. Obviously the skill set and resources required to bring a crashed hard drive back to life or to reconstruct a damaged RAID array are much greater than the expertise required recovering a few deleted files.

Data Recovery is a service business with no guarantees. Sometime the data is just not recoverable no matter how much effort and parts we throw at it. And of course nobody likes to pay you for NOT recovering their data. So most reputable data recovery companies have adopted a somewhat unique service guarantee, where if we cannot recover the data you need, you will not be charged a dime. Consequently when data recovery jobs are quoted, the odds of us being able to recover the data successfully are built into the equation. In other words if we estimate the odds of a successful recovery are only 10%, then the recovery case will be quoted quite high. Looking at it slightly differently, if we attempt 10 such cases, we will be successful and get paid for just one of them. On the other hand, if our experience determines a recovery case is recoverable in 99% of the time, than the cost may be quite reasonable as there will be no risk factor built in.

What is you data worth? The most expensive data recovery I’ve been involved in was from a large world class hospital in one of the southern U.S. states. The hospital had been downloading all of its medical images, from ultrasounds to MRIs, to one server that was supposedly being backed up every night. When the server’s RAID array crashed one rainy night, they quickly learned their backup tapes were useless. The cost to re-book and recreate the over 200,000 images would have been in the millions of dollars, and many of them could never be replicated as the patients condition had changed. The job took us 3 months with a team of 4 techs and we ended up charging somewhere just over a $100K. And imagine this: we actually LOST money on it!

Providing a thorough and world class recovery service demands an investment in high end people and expensive equipment. Yes we could do data recovery cheaper like many on the web that scoop off the easiest cases and declare the rest unrecoverable (a real crime and disservice to everyone). Or we could charge ridiculous pricing like the big boys of the industry. But, doing just the easy cases so we are super profitable, or quoting everything super high so that when we do get an approval we make big money, is NOT our philosophy. We want to provide every client with the best chance of getting their data back and at a reasonable cost. Reasonable must mean we are able to be profitable enough to stay in the business and profitable enough to continue to invest in our people, our equipment and our processes. We have consciously set our pricing to be somewhere between these two extremes. A Guide to Data Recovery Pricing

So, if you find yourself in need of a data recovery service, please take the time to consider the value of your data. If it’s not worth much, go ahead and take a chance on a cheap fly by night recovery service or call you geeky brother-in-law Stan. But if you or your company can’t live without your data, don’t waste the first and best chance of a successful recovery with anyone but a professional recovery service like Memofix. … David Foster