What is the single most important part of data recovery?
Posted on 7th January 2022 at 13:10
You think getting your data recovered is easy?
The process of recovering data from a damaged, corrupted or deleted device can be fraught with danger, especially for those that are researching the service for the first time.
A quick web search will show many companies offering what appears to be the same service – professional data recovery, low or free evaluation fees, no data / no fee guarantees and remarkable success rates of 90%+.
So this should be easy right? Just pick one that has the most appealing website, or is closest to you and the rest is taken care of?
Wrong.
It is imperative to dig a little deeper and make sure that you can rely on the claims of the company you choose to entrust your valuable and private data to, as there are many disreputable companies out there to avoid.
What are the pitfalls to avoid when choosing a data recovery company?
1. First and foremost, you need to make sure your data is secure. You might think that the cost of recovering data is unpalatable (particularly as it is rarely expected or budgeted), but the cost to your reputation can be astronomical if you have your confidential or private data compromised.
Only work with companies that have clearly stated commitments to data security, including relevant certifications that can be proved.
2. Secondly, you need to be comfortable that the company is as technically competent as they declare. Simply stating a ‘high nineties’ success rate is not enough, these are just words, you need to ask for the proof.
Do they have their own research and development teams to support these success rate claims, do they have Class 100 (or above) clean rooms that can be visited, and do they have relationships with hardware and software manufacturers and technology exchange programmes?
Check online reviews and make sure that past customers are happy with their data recovery outcome, avoid companies with lots of reviews citing underwhelming results.
3. Thirdly, there are many horror stories of ‘bait and switch’ pricing from data recovery companies, despite the apparently transparent fee structures discussed at the outset. Initial offers of free evaluations to encourage you to ship the media in are enticing, but once they have your drive, they have leverage.
Additional fees to evaluate the media, extra funds required for donor parts, extortionate recovery fees to be paid before any media or data is returned – all are unfortunately too common in the industry.
The industry standard is a low or free evaluation, as well as free collection, and then a guaranteed a fixed price for recovery with no additional charges should you decide not to proceed. Ask for terms like this in writing, and take the time to do a little research rather than just picking the company that appears to be the best value at the outset.
Picking the right company is the key to successful data recovery
There are many aspects to a successful data recovery, and many pitfalls.
• A good technical recovery but with compromised data = a bad outcome.
• A quick recovery but only a fraction of the files = a bad outcome.
• A cheap evaluation with a free collection but data held to ransom when recovered = a bad outcome.
Fortunately there are several data recovery companies that tick all of the boxes, and a little research will tell you who they are. And more importantly, who to avoid.
If you want to see who we recommend, either to start your data recovery journey or simply to validate the research that you have already done, just click below.
What else can I do to ensure the best data recovery outcome?
One final piece of guidance here would be don’t try this at home! The majority of data loss cases that the reputable companies see require a physical intervention of some description, before a software reconstruction, and this is not for the faint hearted.
Many millions are invested by these companies to ensure the best possible outcome for you, and often a recovery is an extremely complex operation. (Another reason to avoid the companies offering $97/€97/£97 recoveries – you get what you pay for!)
So please, resist the urge to bang your drive on the table, put it in the freezer, or take it apart / clean it / put it back together again (we’ve heard it all!) – this will not help. Get the storage device to a reputable data recovery professional quickly, as every time you turn your system on you are potentially causing more damage.
In summary then, the single most important part of data recovery is picking the right company, quickly!
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