Before reading this, disconnect your faulty hard drive now. Further use can cause more damage.
We understand how important your data is and in most cases we can recovery your lost/deleted files - even if you have formatted your hard drive.
Do you backup your data? If not, we can provide you with a backup solution.
Tick of Death?
If you heard your hard drive making a ticking noise, you have a hardware issue (disconnect your hard drive right away), which is costly to fix - but in most cases we can recovery your data.
Why Choose Data Recovery & Backup Solutions for St Helens?
St Helens data recovery is not an IT job! It is a foresnsic job.
There are only a few locations that have the required expensive equipment (i.e. class 100 cleanroom and specialised imager): Large companies based in the cities such as Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin and Hobart that are very expensive (due to large overheads), and companies like us with a small team of talent individuals with a wealth of experience and knowledge.
Data Recovery & Backup Solutions for St Helens are a small team of highly skilled engineers that are based on the Gold Coast, so our prices can not be beaten. Please be cautious of general computer repair shops offering data recovery services, since they generally just download a data recovery software program to recover the data, which is only good for software issues. Most data recovery issues are electronic or mechanical issues, so using a software data recovery program, will just cause more issues with the drive, and therefore increase the difficulty/cost of recovering your data.
For more information, please see our about us page.
Types of Data Recovery & Backup Solutions for St Helens Tests
- IC Logic Board PCB
- Motor/Spindle
- Physical Heads
- Heads Movement
- Actuator
- Actuator Arm
- Platters
- Protective Cover
- Chassis
- Firmware Examination
- Image Repair Drive
Types of Hard Drive Failure (Forensic Scale)
- Level 1 - Logical: No physical damage, Logical minor file system corruption as a result of a possible windows update, user error or possible virus.
- Level 2 - Mechanical/Logical: Disk with up to 1% of bad sectors and a corrupted file system as a result of the bad sectors.
- Level 3 - Mechanical/Logical: Disk with up to 5% of bad sectors and a corrupted file system as a result of the bad sectors.
- Level 4 - Mechanical/Logical: Disk with up to 10% of bad sectors and a corrupted file system as a result of the bad sectors. Or a disk without bad sectors but with a massive logical corruption of the file system and possibly overwritten data, etc.
- Level 5 - Firmware/Mechanical/Electronic: Disk with corrupted firmware modules and with at least 1% of bad sectors and a corrupted file system as a result of the bad sectors. Or a disk without physical damage but with disk encryption applied and underlying file system corruption. This level also covers electronic faults of the board PCB.
- Level 6 - Physical/Mechanical/Firmware: clean room job for physically damaged drive with either R/W heads stiction condition, or with at least one faulty R/W in the stack. In most of the cases these drives will also show bad sectors and possibly firmware corruption and file system corruption.
- Level 7 - Physical/Mechanical/Firmware: clean room job, damaged R/W heads stack or damaged R/W Pre-amp without obvious magnetic platters damage. These jobs will be defined as recovery attempts and will require rebuilding the drive in a clean room from donor parts. Only after rebuilding the drive we will be able to assess if the data will be recoverable or not. In most of the cases these drives will also show bad sectors and possibly firmware corruption and file system corruption.
- Level 8 - Physical/Mechanical/Firmware: clean room job, damaged R/W heads stack or damaged R/W Pre-amp with obvious magnetic platters damage. These jobs will be defined as top complexity recovery attempts and will require rebuilding the drive in a clean room from donor parts. Only after rebuilding the drive we will be able to assess if the data will be recoverable or not – the success rate in these type of cases will be lower because of the magnetic platters damage. In most of the cases these drives will also show bad sectors and possibly firmware corruption and file system corruption. In some of the cases only partial recovery may be possible.
- Not Recoverable: drives with excessive magnetic platters damage – usually carved rings and highly contaminated drive chamber as a result of the carved black particles. With current technology these type of jobs are beyond recovery.
Data Recovery & Backup Solutions for St Helens Process
The hard drive recovery process is very complex and requires a lot of specialized data recovery engineering tools and knowledge, and level 6+ failures require a class 100 cleanroom.
Information About St Helens
Rooted in Your Local Community: COLETEK's Commitment to St Helens, Southwest Queensland
As the beating heart of rural Southwest Queensland, St Helens is a thriving community that embodies the quintessential Aussie spirit. And for over two decades, COLETEK has been proud to call this region home, working tirelessly alongside local businesses to drive growth and prosperity.
Headquartered in Australia, with a strong presence in St Helens and beyond, COLETEK is more than just an innovative provider of business solutions – we're your trusted partner in empowering the people and places that matter most. Our roots run deep in this rich agricultural land, where hardworking farmers, entrepreneurs, and innovators form the backbone of our economy.
In St Helens specifically, COLETEK has worked closely with leading local organizations to develop tailored strategies for success, leveraging our national reach to bring cutting-edge expertise and best practices to the table. By partnering with us, businesses in this remarkable region can tap into a collective wealth of experience, gained from serving industries that touch every aspect of Australian life – from manufacturing to healthcare, education, and more.
What sets COLETEK apart is our commitment to being part of the fabric that binds St Helens together. We understand the importance of community development, social responsibility, and fostering meaningful connections between businesses, not-for-profits, and government entities. By embracing this collaborative approach, we've built a reputation for transparency, trustworthiness, and proactive problem-solving – values that resonate deeply with our clients in this region.
In essence, COLETEK is an integral part of St Helens' local ecosystem, dedicated to driving positive change through our work with businesses, institutions, and leaders alike. Whether you're a long-standing family-owned operation or an ambitious startup looking to leave your mark on the community, we'd be honored to lend our expertise, innovative thinking, and unwavering support.
Join forces with us today, and take advantage of the collective strength COLETEK brings to the table. Let's grow together – for the benefit of St Helens, Southwest Queensland, and beyond!Contact Us
Data Recovery & Backup Solutions for St Helens – Our Clients: Big Brands & Small Businesses
Data Recovery & Backup Solutions for St Helens – Amazing Customer Testimonials
Highly recommended for COLETEK's service! Reasonable price and express service! We have two back up external hard drives at home and for some reason both of them were corrupted (later found out it’s due to some sort of electrical surge??). Both drives contained over 10 years of valuable technical works, numerous photos from our pre-kids travel days, as well as photos and videos of our first born! We tried another company but only recovered around 55% of the data and it costed a FORTUNE! Contacted COLETEK, explained the problems and received my recovered data within 14 days of initial contact (it wasn’t an urgent case). I was over the moon when I was able to locate a technical piece of work that I’ve done 15 years ago, and of course videos and photos of our first born.
An IT consultant confirmed that our hard drive had died and that he was not able to extract information from it as it was completely fried! The IT consultant recommended COLETEK to me, saying data recovery wouldn’t be cheap but it was our only option other than to attempt to reconstruct months of MYOB (and other) data. Luke was easy to deal with and managed to recover virtually all of the information on the hard disc within a few days. Fantastic work!! Luke, you saved us miles of heartache!!
I was exceptionally pleased with the service that I received from COLETEK. I had been advised by a number of different computer "experts" that my hard drive was fried and that nothing was recoverable. I wasn’t too hopeful but Luke was able to diagnose the problem and recovered 99% of all our files. We could not be happier with the outcome. I would not hesitate to recommend COLETEK for all your computer problems.
I had a hard drive malfunction caused by a power surge. Attempts by local IT technicians were unable to recover the data, and ended up making the situation worse. I was advised to give up on getting any data back. After searching around online for an advanced data recovery service I selected COLETEK because of their prompt and professional response to my request for a quote. They also had the cheapest quote I obtained. I posted the drive off to COLETEK, and the team were able to extract much of the data from the drive quite quickly, and they kept me informed at every stage of the process. I have recommended the services of COLETEK to several acquaintances with data recovery needs, and will continue to do so.
I have outsourced many projects through COLETEK over the years for a variety of applications. Applications such as a online based software platform that pulls live data feeds and updates in real-time to the user. A custom built website for adding users and products that achieved over 20,000 listings. Mobile applications. Data recovery and hardware repair. Custom SEO services and secure hosting services. I choose COLETEK because I know that a job will get done as requested and within a reasonable time frame. Also I'm a stickler for security and they're the best.
I had an external hard drive containing valuable data that quit working. I thought everything was lost. I used the services of COLETEK to restore the contents of my drive and i was able to retrieve everything. I would not hesitate to use COLETEK for hard drive recovery.
Massive thanks to Luke and the guys at COLETEK. My Hard Drive was severely damaged (level 4/6) and they managed to recover 100% of the data (including a 400GB single encrypted file I really needed), the price was more then fair and it only took a couple days. I highly recommend COLETEK for their quality, value, speed and friendliness.
I came to coletek when my portable hard drive failed, I had data I needed for work and university and they managed to quickly recover all of it and even replaced the drive within the enclosure for me, all within a relatively quick timeframe and for a reasonable price. I definitely recommend them for data recovery!
In July 2012, my hard drive died, and with it all my data, treasured photos etc. COLETEK was able to recover the data of my old hard drive for me - it had damaged platters so an extensive data recovery process was required. The service was great and fast, Luke came by within 24 hours to do a quick analysis and was then able to proceed with the recovery within days. We were so happy to get all our data back!
Founded in 2001, we are a multiple award winning, highly experienced multidisciplinary company specialising in lean product development through rapid prototyping - transforming ideas from concept to life. Our industry-leading team combines deep expertise, cutting-edge technology, and advanced equipment to validate emerging ideas—transforming them into market-ready hardware and software solutions.
Our experience dates back to the 1990s with ANU "Robotics Systems Lab", CSIRO, NICTA (aka Data61), Seeing Machines, Location Aware Technologies, and Hemisphere GPS (aka BEELINE). For over 10 years now, we've been focused on validating R&D and taking ideas to commercialisation.
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