Data recovery case studies — real-world scenarios and procedures

Data recovery case studies — how the laboratory works

Below we have gathered selected case studies from our data recovery laboratory. Each case describes a real failure scenario without revealing sensitive data — client details are anonymised. All recoveries are carried out safely: first diagnostics, then a sector-by-sector copy, and only then work on the copy.

Selected case studies

WD My Passport NVMe — complex case study — a USB-only / NVMe scenario and work in technological mode.
Ransomware on a QNAP NAS — recovery without paying the ransom (case study) — safe handling and minimisation of overwrite risk.
VMware / ESXi — datastore missing after restart (case) — data recovery from server infrastructure.
Water-damaged photographer’s laptop — archive recovery (case) — work under time pressure with a safe procedure.

Why case studies help with safe recovery

They show which user actions most often make the situation worse (formatting, CHKDSK, initialisation, rebuild).
They help recognise symptoms and choose the right direction: HDD / SSD / RAID / flash.
They build trust: procedures, work on a sector copy, confidentiality (NDA) and a rigorous laboratory approach.

How to read case studies without drawing the wrong conclusions

A case study should not encourage visitors to repeat the same procedure at home. Its role is to show the lab workflow: secure the medium first, create a sector copy or technological image, and only then perform the actual recovery. This matters especially with SSD/NVMe, RAID/NAS, USB-only devices and liquid damage, where one wrong step can close the door to safe recovery.

look for a similar failure pattern, not necessarily the exact same device model,
focus on what was done before recovery and what was deliberately avoided,
use the case study as a decision aid: whether to stop experimenting and escalate to a professional lab.

Case studies by media type and business environment

If you want to find a comparable incident faster, jump to the right thematic cluster. This makes case studies support not only trust, but also practical triage of the failure scenario.

HDD — clicking, drops, CRC errors, RAW volumes and read instability.
SSD / NVMe — brick states, no detection, update-related failures and power-loss cases.
RAID / NAS — degraded arrays, offline volumes, failed rebuilds and business incidents.
Ransomware — safer recovery paths without paying the ransom.
Accounting and business data — when the outage directly blocks operations and deadlines.

Want to assess your case quickly?

If the device shows failure symptoms (RAW, 0 B, CRC errors, disappearing from the system, degraded RAID), stop working and do not run “repairs” and contact the laboratory. We handle clients from all over Poland via shipping.

Pillar: data recovery (nationwide in Poland)
Shipping: how to safely ship a device to the laboratory
Contact: contact and case form