07.21.2010

How to choose a data recovery company If you search for “data recovery” on any major search engine, you'll notice that there are millions and millions of results. Not only can the number of companies look confusing and a little intimidating, but the variety can as well. After glancing at the results, you'll find both large and small organizations. You'll find companies with one central location, companies with a couple locations in your country and you'll also find those that have several locations all around the world. Of course, every company will tell you that they are the best in the industry.

But which data recovery company is the right choice for you? How do you choose a good data recovery company?

The data recovery industry grows every day and every company that opens up will claim to be expert in the field of data recovery. Of course, all of these companies are not equal.

Just by looking at a company's website, it's often very difficult to distinguish between an established, reputable company and one that runs out of a basement somewhere. There are a few tips that can help, however.

Look at the prices. Unfortunately, data recovery is very expensive. Hard drive data recovery can involve replacement of the physical parts inside the drive, transplantation of the drive's platters, logical analysis and repair at a system level and many other costly, difficult procedures. When working on a hard drive recovery case that requires parts, such as a head transplant, an identical hard drive must be purchased in order to have the parts necessary. In some cases, data recovery technicians will need to perform multiple transplants before they are successful. These parts come at a cost. The cost of the technical staff and the clean room facility needed to complete the work also factor into the process. Any data recovery company that claims to be able to do any recovery for a few hundred dollars is not telling the truth.

These companies do not have the resources to successfully recover most damaged hard drives. The way they operate is by only completing the easiest, most basic recovery jobs. If a small percentage of the cases they receive can be recovered by running a software program, they will make enough money to stay in business. The more difficult cases are out of their league. Most of these smaller recovery companies will state that these cases are “unrecoverable” in order to hide their flaws. Some will send these cases to a larger organization and charge you a premium for their efforts. Worse yet, some small, inexperienced data recovery companies will attempt to conduct the physical data recovery cases themselves and put your valuable data at risk.

Another way to distinguish between the large, reputable companies and the smaller ones is to pay attention to how long they have been in business. Most of the major companies in the industry have been in operation for several years. They have a track record of success. Many smaller companies cannot survive for very long in a competitive market. Some of these companies do not even wish to stay in business for a long time. They simply wish to make a quick profit off of some easier jobs and get out before they are exposed. You do not want to trust your most important data with an unknown, unproven company.

Finding a reputable data recovery company can be quite difficult. It is often tempting to look for the cheapest price or the location closest to you. However, what is most important is choosing the company that has the best chance of recovering your data.
You may have only one chance to recover your data, so select your data recovery company well. At Data Recovery Services, we have a track record extending back to 1981 and an A+ Better Business Bureau rating to protect. All work is done in our own labs, staffed by our own highly skilled engineers from all over the world. None of the work is out-sourced. As a 100% employee owned company, we take great pride in each and every data recovery job. Give us a call today and let us earn your trust.