Horsemeat value burgers & data recovery services

In Blog, Information by Administrator

‘Cheap’ Data Recovery Companies.

So you might ask, what on earth could the horse meat scandal and data recovery have in common? Admittedly it is rather tenuous. But whilst listening to Radio 4’s The Now Show the other week something sounded all too familiar. Here’s an extract to the bit I meant:

 

 

Suspiciously cheap. Yes, the same goes. If you search on Google for data recovery services you might notice that quite a few of the paid advertisers state that for nearly any data recovery service they offer on a hard disk drive it will cost £75 / £97 etc. If you phone and describe the fault with your hard disk drive that’s the quote you’ll get, they usually state that there are one or two exceptions to this pricing, but these instances are rare.

So why, when you phone through to other data recovery companies, do on the same fault description given, do they give a quotation of somewhere, of say, between £400 to £600 for the same work?

Real data recovery quotations in advance

If you have dropped your 1TB hard disk drive on the floor, and it is making a clicking or a buzzing sound it is most likely your disk has a serious mechanical failure, or if your HDD is be detecting with an incorrect model number or capacity then there is likely to be a firmware failure. To recover the data specialist equipment will be required, and the staff conducting the work will require extensive training to use it.

Let’s take two of the best quality data recovery tool manufacturers; AceLabs in Russia and HDDSurgery in Serbia. You’ll find the pricing marked for items on the HDDSurgery website. As you’ll see a significant investment is required. Equally, to import the latest HDD recovery equipment from AceLabs it is likely to set you back nearly a 5-figure sum once VAT, insurance and duty are taken care of, plus the annual update fees. (Might I clarify that both sets of tools are of high quality and represent good value for money). Then there is the small matter of needing matching donor parts to conduct the work. A new off the shelf 1TB HDD would cost approximately £65, and often it is necessary to go to specialist hard disk drive dealers to ensure the acquisition of the correct model of HDD. For the man that always has that rare HDD go and see Fred Farzan of Access Computer Parts in California. Again take a look at the cost associated with a matching donor HDD. Then there is the small matter of ensuring that the data recovery company turns a profit. A search of Companies House will reveal that a number have gone into liquidation over the last two years.

Be realistic – if it sounds too good to be true…

So to conclude, it is simple; be realistic about the cost of data recovery. Like with many things in life, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably isn’t. Check the reviews of the company that you are going to send your failed storage device to and quiz their staff members on whether there are any additional or variable fees which are not outlined in any quotation they might have given. In short, keep an eye on those which seem Suspiciously Cheap.

As a postscript, after a quick google search we found this: Why “cheap” data recovery can cost you more. It is from May 2008, all the same still applies.