Potomac River Plane Crash Data Recovery
After a mid-air collision with a Black Hawk helicopter, American Airlines Flight 5342 plunged into the Potomac River, submerging dozens of laptops. File Savers recovered the important data.
Tragic Crash, Impossible Odds
Submerged SSD laptops from Flight 5342 faced extreme damage.
The Challenge of Flight 5342
The January 2025 collision of American Airlines Flight 5342 and a Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River was catastrophic, claiming 67 lives. Over a dozen badly damaged SSD-based laptops were pulled from the wreckage in the frigid, fuel-contaminated river, battered, corroded and seemingly beyond recovery. File Savers was chosen to take on the impossible.
Why They Chose Us
Turning Wreckage Into Hope
Advanced tools & techniques saved data from water-damaged SSDs.
Our SSD Recovery Process
File Savers’ engineers used specialized SSD recovery methods to address the Flight 5342 computers. We carefully disassembled the water-damaged laptops, treating corrosion on NAND chips and circuit boards. Proprietary protocols and custom tools were used to maintain data integrity while bypassing physical damage and gaining access to the data—where others might have failed.
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Data Restored, Lives Honored
Memories and Important files recovered for families and businesses.
Success Against the Odds
File Savers achieved a 90%+ success rate, recovering documents, photos, and business files from Flight 5342’s SSD laptops. Our work provided closure to families, restoring cherished memories, and preserved vital data for businesses. This case underscores our commitment to never giving up, even in extreme conditions. In the end, we did our part to deliver results that mattered.
Get a QuoteMore Extreme Recovery Triumphs
Crushed by a Car
A laptop crushed by a car, yet all data was saved.
Crushed but Not Lost: Laptop Run Over by a Car
A client’s laptop met a catastrophic fate when it was accidentally left on a car roof, only to fall and be crushed under the vehicle’s tires. The laptop arrived at File Savers bent nearly in half, with its hard drive so deformed it wouldn’t sit flat. The warped chassis stressed the glass platters, and the motor was seized, risking total data loss. In our ISO 5 Class 100 clean room, our engineers delicately disassembled the drive, relieving pressure on the platters and replacing damaged components. Using precision tools, we restored the drive’s functionality enough to extract all data. Against all odds, we achieved a 100% recovery, saving critical files and proving File Savers’ relentless commitment to data restoration.
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Dropped from a Balcony
A laptop fell two stories, but its data survived.
Defying Gravity: Laptop Dropped from a 2nd Story
When a laptop plummeted from a second-story apartment balcony, it shattered into pieces, leaving its hard drive severely damaged. The client feared their data was lost forever, but File Savers took on the challenge. The drive’s internal components, including the read/write heads and platters, were misaligned from the impact. In our ISO 5 Class 100 clean room, our engineers meticulously repaired the physical damage, realigning the heads and stabilizing the platters. Using specialized recovery tools, we extracted every file intact, achieving a full recovery. This case highlights File Savers’ ability to restore data from even the most physically compromised devices, delivering results where others might see only wreckage.
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Fire-Destroyed Drive
A business burned, but its data was saved.
Rising from Ashes: Fire-Destroyed External Drive
A devastating fire reduced a client’s business to rubble, leaving an external hard drive inside a safe as a melted ruin. The drive’s enclosure was nearly obliterated, its label gone, and internal components—heads, motor, and PCB—severely damaged by heat and smoke. File Savers’ engineers, leveraging deep hard drive expertise, identified the drive’s make and model to source precise replacement parts. In our ISO 5 Class 100 clean room, we painstakingly repaired the drive, addressing melted components and smoke-damaged platters. The recovery process was meticulous and slow, but our persistence paid off, successfully restoring 100% of the client’s critical business data. This triumph showcases File Savers’ ability to conquer extreme fire damage and deliver hope in the face of disaster.
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Melted NAS in Fire
A fire-melted NAS, yet all data was recovered.
Melted but Miraculous: NAS Recovery from a House Fire
A house fire left a two-drive NAS device in ruins, its enclosure melted into an unrecognizable mass, barely resembling a hard drive. The client believed their data was lost, but File Savers saw an opportunity. The drives’ platters, though housed in a charred chassis, were potentially salvageable. In our ISO 5 Class 100 clean room, our engineers carefully extracted the platters, cleaning them of soot and debris. We rebuilt the NAS configuration, addressing motor and head damage, and used advanced tools to reconstruct the RAID array. Despite the extreme heat damage, we achieved a full recovery of all data, preserving irreplaceable files. This case underscores File Savers’ expertise in tackling fire-damaged storage devices with precision and determination.
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