Recovery library

Data recovery guides

When something goes wrong with a drive, an SSD, or a phone, the first decision is usually the most important one. These guides walk through what's happening inside the device, what to do in the first hour, and what professional recovery actually involves.

Diagnostic guide
My hard drive is making a clicking sound. What do I do?
A clicking drive almost always means the heads have crashed onto the platters. Every power-on makes it worse. What the click means, what not to do, and how recovery works.
8 min read Read guide →
Water damage
I dropped my phone in water. Can I save the photos?
The phone may be finished, but the storage chip usually isn't. Why the rice trick doesn't work, when chip-off is the answer, and what to do in the first hour.
7 min read Read guide →
Diagnostic guide
My external hard drive isn't showing up. How do I get my files back?
Cable, port, driver, or dead drive? Walk through the self-checks in the right order, learn when to stop trying yourself, and what specialist recovery does.
9 min read Read guide →
Panic recovery
I accidentally formatted the wrong drive. Is my data gone?
No, almost certainly not. Format removes the file system map, not the data. As long as you stop writing to the drive immediately, most files are recoverable.
7 min read Read guide →
SSD recovery
My SSD just died with no warning. What now?
SSDs fail differently from hard drives. There's no clicking, no slow death. DIY tools rarely work. Why SSD recovery is its own specialty, and what's actually possible.
8 min read Read guide →

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