What is a Cleanroom?
Cleanroom facilities are widely used not only in the data recovery industry but in others as well. Such industries as pharmacy, food manufacturing, scientific research, and medical equipment also utilize cleanrooms.
A cleanroom is basically a space that creates a controlled environment and minimizes the level of pollutants with appropriate temperature and humidity. We all know how harmful the external environment can be. Although we do not feel it in our daily life, such pollutants as dust particles, airborne microbes, dirt, and chemicals are dangerous even for people.
Imagine preparing a medical product or doing scientific research in an office full of dust and dirt. Well, the same thing is about the data recovery industry.
Failed hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), and RAID arrays are very vulnerable. Pollutants of the regular environment can affect damaged devices so severely. This is why opening and repairing them in a cleanroom is crucial for a successful recovery.
These spaces are generally are very bright, way too clean, and full of equipment.
Clean Room Classifications
The purpose of cleanroom technology is the same, but still, they differ depending on their classification. The ISO classes range from 1 to 9. The classification of these spaces is determined by the concentration of air particles. The lower range, the fewer particles it allows.
Our data recovery service utilizes a certified ISO 5 Cleanroom. The class of the cleanroom stands for the number of particles per cubic foot. So, utilizing ISO Class 10 cleanroom facility, we allow only a maximum of 10 particles per cubic foot. Meanwhile, the class 100 cleanroom allows 100 particles per cubic foot, which is ten times more than the Class 10 facility.
According to ISO 14644-1 standard, an ISO 4 cleanroom allows a maximum of 352 particles of 5 µm / m³. In a general environment, there are billions of pollutants of 5 µm / m³ in the air.
Interesting, right? Billions of tiny pieces that we cannot even see. The world is full of things that we can not detect with the naked eye – without appropriate equipment. This is exactly why the use of clean room facilities is irreplaceable for the accurate data recovery process.
ISO Cleanroom Standards
A clean room’s environment is supported by appropriate and constant 50% humidity, 70 degrees Fahrenheit temperature, and, of course, clear air. Developing this space, it is crucial to pay attention to materials choice.
It requires special ceilings, floors, partitions, desks, and much more specific details. In addition, we need to keep the place clean all time long. Thus, the space requires specific air filtration to support constant airflow in a room.
The cleanroom facilities have advanced air filtering systems equipped with HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) and ULPA filters to catch airborne particles as tiny as 0.0005 millimeters in the air and deliver clean air to the necessary application zones.
These facilities must be constantly controlled and monitored very closely, starting from cleanroom construction and following the whole usage process.
This is why we regularly measure and test our ISO-certified class 10 cleanrooms to ensure they are running properly. We use various state-of-the-art techniques and processes to guarantee that our cleanrooms meet all the requirements set forth by ISO 7 standards. As part of our commitment to quality, we run regular tests on the air pressure, temperature, humidity, and airborne particle count in order to ensure that it meets.
Repairing Media Without Cleanroom
We can not imagine the data recovery process without a certified cleanroom. Utilizing clean room facilities is crucially important for optimizing and performing even basic recovery procedures. In repairing any physically damaged hard disk, engineers should work in a clean room to preserve the initial state of the media.
The data is stored in the magnetic plates (platters). In most cases, engineers need to open a hard drive to expose these platters. Without a clean room, dust particles or microbes can settle on the disk platters. This can seriously affect the data recovery process in a terrible manner.
For example, the heads of the disk can catch on the foreign contaminants and scratch the platter surface. As a result, we risk losing all data permanently.
Recovering Media in a Cleanroom
We would like to share some of the guidelines that we follow when recovering data in a cleanroom. After our customer service team receives a data recovery case, our engineers get it right in our cleanroom facility. No one is allowed to enter the cleanroom without preliminary preparation.
The engineers need to wear specific lint-free bodysuits, overshoes, head coverings, gloves, and masks. Then, at the entrance, our specialists pass through an air blast to minimize contamination of the environment and remove all particles.
Our cleanroom facilities employ local parts storage and state-of-the-art technology to provide a smooth and fast data recovery process. We store all recovered data on our secure servers.
After a customer receives his data recovered, we delete the files from our servers. To assure our customers of our responsibility, we hold different international certifications, including the one for data privacy controls.
Sometimes people, trying to save some money, watch DIY videos to create the cleanroom themselves. Well, they are not effective. Trying to open the drive yourselves and recover the files is not a good idea. You will probably lose a lot of time and risk facing permanent data loss.
If you have any questions regarding cleanroom facilities or data recovery, please contact our customer service and consult with experienced professionals. You can fill in the request form or call us at (888) 611 0737. We will get back to you in a few minutes.