Tampered or Open Device
When you submit a data recovery order, we expect an honest answer from you whether the failed device has been opened or tampered with in any way before, that includes if the failed device was sent to another data recovery company for estimation / diagnostic and was opened there.
- It does not apply to external devices itself, RAID systems, this is all about the actual physical data medium, i.e. internal hard drive.
- If you have extracted the actual hard drive from the enclosure - then it is not considered as tampered device – you may disregard the question.
- If your drive was previously opened by another data recovery firm – it is considered as opened, regardless the fact it was done for diagnostic or estimation purposes only – that will cost you tampered drive fee.
- For USB key drive, flash memory – tampered fees will be applied - if any sorts of soldering were done on it before.
About tampered drives
The internal and external hard drives, various flash memories and numerous other electronic data media are now ubiquitous. Such devices often require repairs, upgrades or other servicing by the manufacturer or provider, and it is often discouraged or even prohibited for an ordinary consumer or other unauthorized user to open or tamper with the device.
Unfortunately, some users, against all odds do open their data storage devices in the desperate attempt to repair things within the device. Of course, one drawback to such unauthorized access is that - that one or more internal items may be destroyed or compromised, thus limiting the ability of the data recovery lab to provide effective data recovery servicing of the device.
A tamper resistant labels indicate whether a device has been opened are covering some of the assembly screws for hard drives.
In the event that visible tampering has taken place, the chance of successful data recovery outcome can be significantly reduced or completely eliminated.
It is absolutely impossible to open the device without affecting some condition, such as by damaging an outer seal for example. The experienced lab personnel will always determine whether an electronic device has been opened or not even if there are no warranty labels. There are many effective techniques that can help the specialist to determine whether such devices have been previously opened and alert for the possibility of tampering with the internal components of the device.