Data Recovery

I remember someone saying here that they work for a company that does data recovery. I may have some work for you, but I need to know the rates. If you can let me know either here or by email.

Thanks.

Neil Z.
Resident since 1999

 

Neil I lost a hard drive a few years ago and my nightmare began.

I finally used AI Networks Lou Zeleznil Ivine , CA recommended by a internet buddy of mine Joe Stoddard and they were fast recovered everything and an excellent price. All I know data recovery people that I contacted at that time local and afar were mostly extremely expensived and could not recover all the data I needed. I am sure there a good people here I just don't know any of them but Lou Zeleznil was excellent.

Joe Stoddard a who writes, has a computer forum on the journal of light construction and is a God to us in the building industry that helps us figure the bull from the good and writes many coulumns and gives many shows in our industry and has his own consulting comapany for us in the construction industry. Anway he posted below just recently on his forum again the importance of backup and gives some advice what data recovery is all about. I think this about the 10th time he has posted about data recovery over the years.

Lee J Buividas





Lou Zeleznik - AI Networks (www.ainetworks.com) Irvine, CA 800-233-3648

CBL Data Recovery Technologies Inc. of Armonk, N.Y. (800/551-3917)

I agree - OnTrack is the best there is. There are only a handful of clean rooms in the USA last I knew - one is run by OnTrack. Those are a last resort. The companies above, and 1000s of other data recovery outfits you'll find on the web are typically going to be resellers of one of the "big" recovery services. Disclaimer - I'm an OnTrack reseller/OEM partner myself. I joined it primarily to save money on our own client issues (don't send me your hard drive

You can deal with OnTrack directly, or you can deal with an OEM partner, the process is going to be roughly the same.

1) You send in the drive, and they test to see if they can mount it and recover anything without sending to a clean room. If the drive motor etc is still OK, chances are, they can. This part is usually free, or under $100.

2) They will send you a quote based on what they can recover. If they can mount the drive with utility tools etc. and get your files, recovery cost is much less - probably $500 or less for the typical drive (but don't quote me on that.... depends on a lot of factors).

3) If you OK it, they will pull the files on to CDs or DVDs (or sometimes, another hard drive) and send it back to you. Just because a file is "recovered" does NOT mean it's going to be readable by the program that created it. Usually yes - but not always so don't count on it. Example - QuickBooks databases. If you think data recovey will save you from not having good backups - think again.

4) If they can NOT get the files via software utilities, now the meter starts. You pay a non-refundable upfront fee of anywhere from $100 to $1000 for the clean room to give it a shot. Last I knew OnTrack charged their resellers $100 and the reseller marks it up to cover whatever handling costs etc are. If you go direct to OnTrack I think it's $300-500, but again don't quote me.

5) The clean room will crack the drive, re-build everything on a working motor/read head, and try to pull files. If they can, they will send you a quote of exactly what you can get back, with the cost. You will have a few days to ponder and OK the quote, after which they move on. It's going to run $2-3000 or more (sometimes much more - $15-20,000) for the typical drive, depending on how much tinkering is involved and how much time in the clean room, which gets something like $750-$1000/hr.

6) At this point your drive is toast. No putting it back together. If you OK the quote, they go ahead and do the deed. If you do not OK the quote, you lose the deposit, and they put the disassembled drive in the garbage.

Same basic procedures for recovering backup tapes or other media.

Moral of the story: Data recovery can be a godsend, but it should be treated as a LAST RESORT. My best advice is to backup redundantly, religiously, and do periodic test restorations to make sure your backup media can be read and restored. Check your backup logs daily to make sure it actually ran.

I have been recommending TWO redundant backups - use something in-house (tape, external hard drive, copy to a different computer, etc.) ... and back up the back up with an online service like Connected.com . Still -my clients drag their feet and wind up having emergencies. Human nature I guess. But data loss is nearly 100% preventable, and it's not expensive to bulletproof your setup so it is.

JLS
__________________

 

Neilz, my company does data recovery. Email me if you would like help.

p.s. I'll be glad to help even if you want advise about another company or the work that is being done on your recovery.

 

My disclaimer is my company does disaster recovery work, and we also have clean rooms throughout the country. There are several companies that have them. OnTrack is the best known and also the most expensive.

I don't agree with several things in this post (at least he admits being an OnTrack reseller) but a lot of it is accurate. The pricing quoted seems really wacked. Not that it can't be expensive, for example, I think the high end reference i.e. 10 to 15K is for RAID devices not individual drives.

Individual drive repair will run between $100 and $1500. Depends on the problem and parts needed. The clean room is necessary, in some instances, but isn't the magical cure it seems to be portrayed as in this post. The clean room is basically a sealed room with a reverse flow air system. They cost about $20,000 to build. OnTrack likes to tout the magic to justify big fees.

Lee I bet you could build it cheaper. Just a bunch of white board, aluminum fastners, shower door, and a lot of caulk. Plus some fans and filters.

 

So where were you afgm when my hard drive died several years ago????

I know nothing about this stuff and Joe was helpful when I was in desparate need and this was 3 or 4 years ago.

Now I know where to go locally if this ever happens again!!

Thanks a bunch for the clarification and information afgm

Lee J Buividas