What is the difference between data recovery and digital forensics and forensic data recovery?

Data Recovery focuses on retrieving lost, inaccessible, or deleted data from failed or damaged storage media (like hard drives, SSDs, phones, etc.). The primary goal is getting your files back.
Digital Forensics (part of DFIR) involves the identification, preservation, collection, analysis, and reporting of digital evidence in a legally admissible manner. It's often used for investigating cybercrime, data breaches, intellectual property theft, employee misconduct, or supporting legal cases. While data recovery techniques might be used, the purpose is to investigate digital evidence that could include previously lost data and not just file retrieval.
Forensic Data Recovery goes much further than a standard data recovery. It involves advanced techniques, specialised tools, and equipment to extract data from working, non-working, and password-locked digital storage devices. The process focusses on using forensically sound principles to ensure that the recovered data meets the strict forensic requirements for use as evidence in legal cases.

The matrix below highlights the primary differences:

	DATA RECOVERY	FORENSIC DATA RECOVERY	FORENSIC INVESTIGATION
Free Collection and Delivery (SA only)
Free Consultation and Quotation
Online Portal Access
Regular Progress Updates
Confidentiality Guaranteed
Software Data Recovery Lost data from working devices
Advanced Hardware Data Recovery Existing and deleted data from non-working devices
Forensically Sound Bit-by-Bit Duplicate Including calculation of hash values
Extraction of "hidden" service area data
High Security
Chain of Custody log
Detailed Procedure Log
Forensic Evidence Extraction
Forensic Investigation
Expert Witness Report