Even the thought of losing critical or valuable data can be very disturbing. When people face the risk of data loss, their first instinct is to look for quick solutions. Typical options include:
- Search Google for "data recovery near me" and related search queries.
- Contact nearby mobile/laptop repair shops and dealerships.
- Visit well-known locations in the city where organized/unorganized data recovery services are offered.
- Ask friends and colleagues who may have had a similar experience with data recovery.
- Consider reputed data recovery service providers with a strong track record.
A few of the abovementioned options have merit. This article will guide you in making an informed decision when trying to recover lost data.
Overview of Data Recovery Services in India
The “data-recovery-as-a-service” market in India can be understood as having three different categories.
- The first category comprises unorganized data recovery services. Typically, these service providers offer relatively cheap and quick data recovery solutions. They might even make claims like "2-Hour Data Recovery." However, almost always, these claims are tactics to compel somebody who has lost their data into giving away their storage devices. As such service providers do not have the proper infrastructure, expertise, or even data security provisions, their success rate is very low, but the risks of losing data permanently are quite high.
- The second type is mid-sized data recovery labs. These labs can handle common data loss situations, but but they are likely to struggle with complicated cases and may not even accept cases of RAID failure, firmware corruption, malware attacks, or severe physical damage to HDDs, SSDs, and other storage devices.
- The third category is that of reputed, organized, and professional data recovery service providers. These companies have dedicated infrastructure, certified security practices, and highly experienced technicians, which reflects in their high success rates. For example, at Stellar Data Recovery, data recovery success rates are north of 98.6% across different data storage devices.
To choose among the three categories, you should consider the following factors.
- Extent of data loss: How much data is lost?
- Importance of data: Is it mission-critical, confidential, or replaceable?
- Data sensitivity: Can you risk unauthorized access to your files?
- Device condition: Improper or DIY recovery attempts may cause irreversible damage.
- Backup availability: Do you have a backup in case further data loss occurs?
- Urgency: How soon do you need the data back?
- Regulatory compliance: If recovering corporate data, are there any legal or regulatory prerequisites to consider (such as ISO 27001 certification)?
- Data privacy risks: Can you afford the risk of an unauthorized copy of your personal/professional data being stolen or misused?
Note: Data recovery, when done correctly, is a complex and slow process, so you will always face a trade-off between success rate, cost, and turnaround time.
In this guide, we will help you choose the perfect data recovery solution based on the five most important success factors for such a service.
5 Crucial Things to Consider Before You Choose a Data Recovery Service Provider
1. Data Recovery Service Capabilities
Different data recovery service providers have varying capabilities across device types, storage media brands, causes of damage to storage devices, and the scope of data recovery. Not all situations are the same, and that is why it helps to understand whether a data recovery service provider can help you in your particular situation. Here is a quick overview of the different capabilities that a data recovery service provider has to build to be able to offer comprehensive services.
- Device type: Data recovery techniques differ across different device types, such as HDDs, SSDs, RAID servers, SD cards, and DVRs.
- Storage media make and model: Every storage device, for example, Seagate Barracuda or WD Black, has unique internal construction, such as head assemblies and PCB configuration. These variations exist across all device types.
- Underlying cause of data loss: In some cases, data loss happens because of logical issues, such as accidental deletion, malware attacks, etc., while in other cases, data is lost due to physical damage to the device.
- Extent of damage: A good data recovery service is able to deal with minor corruption as well as severe damage, such as a scratched HDD platter or a short-circuited SSD.
- Volume: Recovering 10 gigabytes of specific files is different from recovering complete data from a 1 TB hard drive. The higher the volume of data, the more time is required for data recovery. A sophisticated data recovery service provider can prioritize targeted data recovery using custom tools.
When you choose a data recovery service provider, you would also want them to be able to diagnose the root cause of the problem. This includes the use of advanced hardware, like oscilloscopes and microscopes, and proprietary software to pinpoint the root cause of data loss. Niche skills and capabilities are very relevant, but a data recovery service provider's capability is not enough; they must have the right infrastructure to execute those capabilities.
2. Data Recovery Infrastructure
Even when a service provider has the right capabilities, they need the right infrastructure to translate those capabilities into positive results. In a professional data recovery lab, separate zones are designated for data recovery from HDDs, SSDs, and SD cards, among others, due to the distinct approaches and setups required for each type of data recovery.
One of the most important success factors is having a donor library of spare parts, such as head stack assemblies and controllers. Typically, a data recovery lab needs thousands of spare parts because even when data recovery is possible, the availability of these parts is important so that the technicians can clone the storage device to attempt recovery.
The next most important component of infrastructure is a Class 100 Cleanroom Lab. This is a special area for data recovery from HDDs, where every cubic foot of space has fewer than 100 particles larger than 5 microns. This is important because when a hard drive is disassembled, even microscopic dust particles can settle on the platters and scratch them. This is because the gap between the platter and the head of a hard drive—known as flying height—is on the scale of nanometers. If a hard drive is opened outside a Class 100 Cleanroom Lab, the risk of permanent data loss becomes very high. Because of a Class 100 cleanroom, the success rate of a data recovery lab can go up significantly.
Another aspect of infrastructure is having provisions for technicians to wear anti-static uniforms, use discharge devices, and work on specially coated floors to avoid static damage to the circuits of devices they are handling.
3. Data Security and Privacy
Service providers have to ensure that during the data recovery process, your data remains completely private and that it should be impossible for anybody to access or steal that data. Some of the best practices followed at professional data recovery labs are as follows.
- There are controlled areas where only assigned technicians can work on a given storage device. The technicians do not have access to mobile phones, cameras, etc., once they enter the data recovery lab.
- Data recovery laboratories are completely isolated from cellular and data networks. There is a dedicated, secure computer terminal with very limited application access so that copying or storing a client's data becomes impossible.
- A data security lab should have the right ISO certifications, such as ISO 27001:2013 and ISO 9001:2015.
In 99% of cases, unorganized and mid-sized data recovery labs do not follow these practices.
4. Customer-Focused Service
Data recovery is a very technical service. At the end of the day, it is also a customer-focused service. So, when you choose a data recovery service provider, look for the following.
- Your data recovery service provider should not make unsubstantiated or false promises. Rather, they should focus on helping you diagnose the root cause and understand the chances of data recovery.
- Your data recovery service provider should offer a transparent consultation so that you can understand the true problem with your data storage device.
- Look for a vendor that can help you with secure pickup and drop-off of your storage device because you might cause physical damage by carrying your storage device yourself or shipping it somewhere without proper precautions.
5. Technician Skills and Expertise
The success rate of data recovery eventually is a function of human skill, expertise, and finesse. So, look for the following in your data recovery service provider.
- Do they have different specialists for HDDs, RAID servers, SSDs, and flash storage devices? This is because data recovery for these device types is very different.
- Do they have data recovery technicians with 10–30 years of experience? This level of exposure to a similar nature of problems helps hone intuition, which is what amateurs miss out on. Technicians should have familiarity with different models of data storage devices. For example, when a technician is an expert on data recovery from WD, Seagate, or Samsung devices, their ability to recover your data becomes very high compared to a generalist.
Conclusion
Data recovery services can be very difficult to evaluate. It can be tempting to choose unorganized vendors because of their promises of quick turnaround time and low-cost data recovery, but a user should make such a choice after a careful risk assessment.
Data recovery is a complicated venture, but the success rates of professional services are also very high, and the data security practices are also very robust. So, please assess your data recovery needs across variables such as the volume of your data, the urgency, the sensitivity, and your risk tolerance. Then, evaluate providers based on their capability, infrastructure, security policies, and technician quality. Ask them all the questions that are important to you. We strongly recommend you go for quality over cost because it is better to pay reasonable fees for your data recovery rather than pay a small amount for not even getting your data back and possibly losing the device and all the data on it.
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