Encrypted Data Recovery for HDDs, SSDs, RAID & More

What Is Encrypted Data Recovery?

Common Encrypted Data Recovery Cases

Our team can recover data in many situations despite more robust encryption standards than ever.

Here are some of the most common cases in encrypted data recovery and how we can get your files back:

1. Physical Damage to Encrypted Devices

Restoring data on an encrypted HDD, SSD, RAID, USB flash drive, or mobile device with physical damage is demanding. Engineers must clone the device and repair the damaged media or replace failed components before retrieving data. After addressing the physical damage, we can decrypt data stored on the platter or memory cells. This two-step approach protects the original files throughout the process.

2. Corruption of Encrypted Files

File corruption often develops due to bad sectors or blocks, power failures while writing data, and malware. Encryption makes file recovery more complex. First, specialists need to rebuild the file system and other data structures. However, they must preserve file headers and any encryption keys within metadata. Decrypting files is much harder without these elements. Our experts have extensive experience with encrypted file repair on all operating systems.

3. Lost Encryption Key

Sometimes, users lose encryption keys because they delete them or forget credentials like passcodes. Our engineers can recover encryption keys from a disk’s free space. That is why it is crucial to stop using the hard drive as soon as data loss occurs. Overwriting the key could lead to permanent data loss. Retrieving encrypted files is also incredibly difficult if you forget a password. In that case, extracting data from an encrypted drive would require a backup key.

4. Deleted Files on Encrypted Drive

Retrieving deleted data from storage with an encrypted file system can create a unique challenge. Some standards also erase the key when users delete files on an encrypted drive. When this happens, technicians must bypass the file system to find the deleted key in unallocated space and restore it. With an intact encryption key, they can locate, recover, and decrypt deleted files on the device.

5. System Failure

A crashed operating system can affect encrypted data recovery if the encryption method fails. System failures on a storage device with full-disk encryption often require file recovery because the encrypted volume will not mount. Engineers can use forensic tools to gain low-level access to the drive’s contents without booting into the operating system.