Data recovery FAQ: answers to your questions
Find answers from our specialists to the most frequently asked questions about data recovery: hard drive failures, SSD, RAID, USB drives, pricing, turnaround times and process. SOS Data Recovery (Tesweb SA), Swiss specialist since 2006 with over 10,000 cases handled, answers your questions.
Why consult our data recovery FAQ?
Our technicians answer the most frequently asked questions about hard drive, SSD, RAID, NAS, USB drive and memory card failures. Each answer is based on over 10,000 cases handled since 2006 and regularly updated. If you cannot find the answer to your question, contact us — free diagnosis within 3 hours.
Is data recovery possible after a ransomware attack if the system has been reinstalled?
It depends on the type of storage and how the reinstallation was performed.
On a HDD (mechanical hard drive): if the disk was formatted without "secure erasure" (simple deletion of partitions), the encrypted files are often still physically present on the magnetic platters. A laboratory extraction can allow us to recover the encrypted files, which our experts will then attempt to decrypt.
On an SSD: the situation is more complex. The SSD firmware may trigger a TRIM operation automatically after formatting, permanently erasing the data. On some models or if TRIM has been disabled, partial recovery is still possible.
In both cases, the faster you act after the reinstallation, the higher the chances of recovery.