Most of what decides a recovery happens before the media reaches us. These are the things we end up saying on the phone most often, written down so you can act on them now.
Almost every unrecoverable case we see was recoverable at some earlier point. Here is what to do, and what to stop doing, in the hour after you notice.
Microsoft's own repair tool works in place, on the only copy you have. That single design decision is behind a large share of the mailbox cases that arrive partial.
A degraded array is not an emergency. A rebuild started on the wrong member is. Why the controller's suggestion is sometimes the worst available option.
Data Recovery Lab