What if somehow you lose precious data stored on your storage media? You would definitely opt for one of these three options to recover the lost data.
- Try data recovery on your own by using a DIY data recovery software.
- Hand over your drive to a nearby repair shop for data recovery.
- Opt for a specialized and professional data recovery services provider.
The first option is applicable only when the storage media is functional and the data loss situation is uncomplicated—minor drive corruption, deletion, formatting, etc.
In complex data loss situations such as a dead or physically damaged drive, corrupt data, firmware corruption, etc., you may be tempted to choose local mobile/laptop repair centers as:
- They claim to provide multiple IT services including data recovery.
- It's convenient for you to reach such a vendor.
- They offer you a lower cost for data recovery.
However, the scale tilts heavily to the other side if you try to balance these supposed advantages against the pitfalls of giving your hard disk drive, SSD, MacBook, etc., to a local vendor. You may fall prey to amateur or unprofessional data recovery service providers and lose your valuable data forever.
Before you go to a local data recovery service center, take a look at our customer review page and see what others have said about professional data recovery services.
Pitfalls of Choosing Unskilled & Unprofessional Data Recovery Service Providers
Firstly, there’s a big difference between providing run-of-the-mill IT services and providing specialized data recovery services. The skill sets, protocols, experience, infrastructure, and equipment utilized by professional service providers are vastly superior. Merely having computer/mobile repairing skills or other generic IT skills doesn’t qualify anyone as a “professional data recovery service provider”.
So, beware of local vendors who claim to be data recovery experts but actually don’t have the proven skills, experience, infrastructure, tools, and process rigor necessary for the intended data recovery job.
In fact, many of these local service providers experiment with data recovery at the expense of your storage device and data. Due to the lack of specialized knowledge and experience, they use hit-and-trial methods, which drastically reduce the chances of successful data recovery and can also lead to permanent data loss.
Typically, unprofessional data recovery service providers will entice you by offering a “great deal.” However, handing over the storage media to such vendors is a grave risk to the integrity and privacy of your data.
You get only one shot at a successful data recovery; you need to choose the best available provider to make it happen.
Let’s dig deeper to see how unprofessional data recovery service providers put your data at risk while attempting to recover it.
Must Check : Why to trust Stellar Data Recovery with your important data?
Is Data Recovery Confidential?
In a professional setup, data recovery is always confidential. However, if you are dealing with an uncertified vendor, you will not get 100% data security and confidentiality. You should always verify and check the credentials of your service provider, especially when the data in question is sensitive and confidential. You should always look for an ISO-certified company for data recovery needs.
Why Is It Risky to Hand Over Storage Device to Local Vendors?
Entrusting your HDD, SSD, pen drive, memory card, etc., to a local repair shop may lead to permanent data loss and data theft. Continue reading to understand why it’s risky to hand your precious media over to local vendors.
1. Lack of Knowledge and Expertise
Local data recovery services cut corners to provide their services at lower rates. Hence, they can’t afford to have well-paid, knowledgeable, and expert technicians and maintain cutting-edge tools and technology.
Devices such as SSDs, HDDs, SD Card, etc., come in thousands of different makes and models. Each of the diversified range of storage devices demands a different set of skills and equipment to recover data from them. You cannot expect unprofessional data recovery service providers to have the level of experience, skill set, or equipment required to recover data from your specific storage media.
2. Improper Diagnosis
Suppose you consult a doctor, and they diagnose you with a disease that you aren’t suffering from. The entire treatment would then proceed in a wrong direction, and it could be life-threatening. The same happens when it comes to the diagnosis of the affected storage device.
Device diagnosis helps in analyzing the underlying issue and collecting other information relevant to data recovery. An incorrect diagnosis won’t result in a successful data recovery. Instead, you may have to face the risk of permanent data loss. Remember, you get only one chance to recover your data—particularly in case of physical damage to the drive.
3. Inadequate Infrastructure
For successful data recovery, state-of-the-art infrastructure is a must. Dismantling a hard drive and replacing damaged platters, read/write heads, VCMs, etc. with spares must be done in a special environment—a Class 100 Cleanroom lab—and with compatible spares. Storage media such as HDDs are so delicate that they get damaged even by dust particles as small as 0.5 microns. A typical room has millions of such particles. Hence, it’s essential to attempt recovery from HDDs only in a Class 100 cleanroom.
Moreover, the use of incompatible spares may permanently damage the storage device, resulting in permanent data loss. Such a lab and inventory of spares need a huge investment and commitment, and local data recovery service providers cannot afford this. This is one of the reasons why they offer their services at a lower cost.
4. Non-Adherence to International Standards
The ISO 9001:2015 certificate is issued to process-oriented organizations that are certified on rigorous process parameters to meet customer requirements on quality, delivery, service, and various other key parameters.
In contrast, unprofessional data recovery service providers are not certified by the International Standards Organization and do not follow ISO 9001 quality guidelines. They don’t have to undergo any quality audits and are, therefore, not concerned about delivering great customer service or quality output.
ISO 27001 is the international standard recognized globally for managing risks to the security of information that data recovery service providers are entrusted with. Certification to ISO 27001 allows you to prove to your clients and other stakeholders that you are managing the security of your client information and safeguarding their data privacy. None of the unprofessional or amateur service providers maintain this certification, which poses a great and direct threat of data leakage and theft.
After the successful delivery of recovered data to the clients, professional data recovery service providers permanently wipe out all traces of such data from their system, thereby eliminating any chance of data breach. Local repair shops have no such facility.
Even if they successfully recover your data, there’s no guarantee that they won't misuse or leak your confidential data. Data theft these days is a big concern, and it may inflict huge financial and reputation losses on you.
5. Use of Hit-and-Trial Methods
Local service centers experiment with data recovery at the expense of your device and data. They try different hit-and-trial methods. They use illegal, cracked versions of data recovery software to attempt data recovery. Due to the lack of inventory and expertise, they might replace the parts of your drive with incompatible spares. This further damages your media and makes the data irrecoverable.
6. Deliberate Damage to the Device
Unprofessional data recovery service providers lack long-term customer service goals, empathy, expertise, and the required resources. Once their recovery attempts fail, they may deliberately tamper with the media to protect their credibility by making recovery impossible.
The engineers and technicians at Stellar® have come across numerous cases wherein the hard drives appeared intact from the outside but the platters were found to have deep scratches that can only be made manually!
7. Mishandling in Transit
Storage devices such as hard drives are delicate, and hence they need special care while handling. The first step of the data recovery process is the submission of the affected storage media. Unprofessional data recovery service providers don’t understand the significance of this step.
In transit, the device may get damaged due to mechanical shocks or even due to the electrostatic charge that develops because of friction. Unprofessional data recovery service providers don't provide any specially designed damage-proof, anti-static box to pack the media before transporting it. Any damage caused to your storage device in transit reduces the chances of data recovery and can even result in permanent data loss. Read more about packaging and shipping of storage media.
8. Lack of Transparency
Imagine that you have committed to completing a task, but you don’t have any idea or skill sets to accomplish it. When asked, you won’t have an answer about the status of the job.
It is the same with local data recovery service providers as they look only for a short-term benefits. Customer satisfaction and empathy are never their objectives. They lure you with a lower data recovery cost and false commitments. Once you’re trapped, they don’t communicate and keep you in the dark as they don’t know what they are doing or how to satisfy your queries.
Final Thoughts
Your data is precious. In the unfortunate event of data loss, your best option is to reach out to a Professional Data Recovery Service provider. They have the right infrastructure (such as a Class 100 Cleanroom), the right equipment & inventory, skilled & professional manpower, and a world-class quality process (ISO 9001) to assure you of the best outcome. Moreover, they adhere to Information Security Management System (ISO/IEC 27001) guidelines to safeguard your data privacy.
An unprofessional service provider/local repair center, on the other hand, follows a hit-and-trial approach and relies on limited know-how in an ill-equipped setup to try and recover data by chance. Once the storage media has been worked around in an unprofessional setup, the chances of data recovery get significantly diminished. Besides, you may also face the grave risk of your data getting leaked out to unscrupulous elements.
You get only 1 chance at a successful data recovery; make the right choice and rest easy!
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