What To Look For in Professional Data Recovery Services?

In theory, you should never need to use professional data recovery services because you should always have everything backed up all the time. In practice, the fact that there are so many companies out there offering professional data recovery services is pretty compelling proof that these services are very much in demand. With that in mind, here’s a guide as to what to look for in professional data recovery services.

Clarity about the location where the work will be done

Data recovery labs are really expensive places to equip, maintain, and staff. This means that even the biggest players in the industry are only likely to have a few of them across the whole country. When companies advertise that they have multiple data recovery centers what they usually mean is that they have multiple locations where you can drop off your hard drive. 

These centers may be able to run some initial checks and possibly deal with minor issues, basically anything which can be resolved through common software, but essentially they’re only going to do the sort of work any IT-competent person could do themselves. They’re not going to do anything which involves opening up a hard drive and dealing with the actual mechanics.

Think carefully about whether or not you’re happy to have your hard drive sent away to another location, especially if it’s far away. Not only will this expose your hard drive to the risks of transit (basically damage and theft), but it will also mean that any subsequent dispute between you and the company would be handled in their local courts, not yours.

1. Appropriate premises

You want professional data recovery services to be based somewhere there is unlikely to be much in the way of civil disruption or natural disasters. You also want their specific business premises to be effectively protected from theft. This means that they need to implement good physical security, good network security, and good hiring practices. Last but by no means least, you want the lab itself to meet ISO 5 Cleanroom standards (or better, but currently ISO 5 Cleanroom is the industry standard). 

2. A clear path forward

Ideally, the data recovery process should be along the following lines. You take your hard drive to the data recovery service and they acknowledge receipt and give you a time frame for initial diagnosis. 

They provide a diagnosis within that time frame and confirm whether your issue can be solved through software or whether it will need physical repair (or both), how long the data recovery will take and how much data you can expect to be recovered. This diagnosis should be free and should come with pricing information. 

If you agree to the repair, you should expect regular updates on progress and when your data is recovered, the company should keep a backup copy of it for an agreed period or until you confirm that you have received it safely and that it can be deleted.

3. Pricing based on the success

Any price quoted to you by a professional data recovery service should be based on success. In other words, you should only be charged anything if the company can retrieve your data. There may be different pricing options available depending on how quickly you need your data and obviously, the price of the service will depend greatly on the complexity of the job, but the key point is that any price quoted should ultimately be based on success.

This approach has a lot to be said for it in most contexts and it’s particularly relevant in the case of data recovery because data recovery is generally easiest on your first attempt. Because of this, if a company has any doubts about its ability to do a job, you want them to admit it and hand it back to you for you to try someone else (or just save your money). You do not want to create a financial inducement for them to “have a go” and not only fail but potentially reduce someone else’s chances of success.

4. Ability to handle SSD drives

If you have a solid-state drive, as opposed to a regular mechanical hard drive, make sure to double-check that any data recovery company can handle it as this can save you the frustration of handing it in only to have it handed back to you.

5. Solid business credentials

Data recovery is a serious task and you only want to hand your hard drive over to a company that appreciates this fact and recognizes that good customer service is essential not a nice-to-have.

If you’re looking for one of the top professional data recovery services in Sacramento CA, please click here now to contact Aperio.IT.

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