Computer systems and computer media that have been flooded, whether by Hurricane Ike or the heavy rains that fell in Houston and Southeast Texas after the storm, do suffer water damage. But some, or all, of your data may still reside on the media, whether hard disk drive, tape, or DVD. Even if computer media has been under water and even if other components of a submerged computer system may be a total loss, data recovery from the media is still possible.
If you may need a data recovery for your water-damaged computer media, be sure to minimize further damage to the media. Here are some tips:
1) Leave the computer turned off and unplug it. Do not turn the system on or boot up. Turning on a damaged system usually will cause further damage, making a data recovery attempt more difficult and sometimes impossible.
2) Remove the media from the system--such as a hard disk drive from a computer--and immediately place it in an air-tight plastic bag, such as a ZiplocŪ brand bag. Do not leave the media out in the air to dry. Do not dry the media using a hair dryer or other blower. Do not open the media. Allowing the hard drive or other media to dry out may cause additional damage, which may make the recovery more difficult, if not impossible.
3) Act quickly to send the media to a vendor offering professional data recovery services. For water-damaged media, swift action may make a difference, especially if the media was exposed to salt water.
Do you need a data recovery? It depends.
You may want to consider a data recovery on your media if:
- There is no other access to the data,
- Access to the data is needed quickly, or
- The cost of the data recovery is less than the cost of reconstructing
the lost data.
However, you may not need a data recovery if:
- A known, good, recent back-up of the lost data was stored in a safe
location and is available.
- Important data is kept in another way, such as in documents,
and the cost of reconstructing or re-entering the data is affordable.
- The data on the computer was not extremely important.
If you need help evaluating your options, please phone ACS at 713-664-8200. Or email us at acs@acsworldwide.com.
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