iPhone vs. Snowblower: The Video

Dr. Mark Wade recounts his chilling story of data recovery after a severe incident involving his iPhone and a snowblower. Despite the extensive damage to his phone, DriveSavers successfully retrieved all of his data, including critical patient information that required a HIPAA-compliant solution.

Hear his story and see the photos of Mark’s mutilated iPhone. Also, read the in-depth account: Snowblower-Demolished iPhone, a Data Recovery Miracle.

My name is Mark Wade. I live in Fairbanks, Alaska, and I’m an orthopedic surgeon by profession. The problem I had with my phone was, is that it went through a snowblower. It was in March of 2022. I had my phone in my pocket as I was clearing my driveway after a heavy snowfall and, uh, I went through accidentally an episode where I dropped my phone, didn’t know it was in a foot of snow, and ran it over with my snowblower.

So because I’m a doctor, I had a lot of patient information on my phone that under security, the privacy of those patients is very important. Of course, like everybody else, I had all my photographs, had passwords to different accesses to different accounts. You know, I had my life on that phone like we all do.

Some of that stuff was irreplaceable. Photographs from patients. I had accumulated tons of data over the years that I had collected from my office. And so I was really in a quandary now because a lot of that stuff had not been backed up. And so I didn’t know what to do. So, in my search, I called around, asked around, I got on the internet, and I found DriveSavers.

I gave them a call, saw their testimonials, and I was very skeptical, because essentially what I had to do was, I had to get snowshoes and a metal detector and go through four feet of snow and find the pieces that I could, which I only wound up finding maybe 20 percent of the phone. Because it was March in Alaska, the snow didn’t melt till May, so I had to wait three more months for all of the snow to melt before I could get out in my yard and actually find the rest of the pieces of the phone. So when I contacted DriveSavers and told them my situation, I was very skeptical. They said, “nah, send it in.” He goes, “we’ll take a look at it.” My phone was sent in a Ziploc bag. And about two weeks later, I got a phone call and they said, “yeah, we think we can retrieve your data.” I went, “there’s no way.” And sure enough, a few weeks later, I got it mailed. They sent it back and it was an encrypted device, privacy secured for my patients. I couldn’t be more pleased with these folks. These folks are very good at what they do. So if they could grab it out of a hat for me with my phone, they could probably help you.

So in regards to their ability, the technicians and the engineers, whatever they can do, I mean they essentially pulled a miracle out of a hat. Pulled a miracle out for me. I mean it, if you saw what my phone looked like, I mean there was just no way that I could see how you could retrieve any data from that, because it was in pieces.

So, if those guys can do that, if those technicians and those engineers have that ability to do that, and they’re professionals, and they, you should give them a strong consideration if there’s been damage to any of your computers or your phones. I couldn’t be more pleased. I recommend them highly. Any type of electronic device that stores data for you, that you’ve lost it, don’t give up hope.

Give these folks a call. I’d be surprised if they couldn’t help you.