by James Walsh
Established data recovery companies such as Disklabs and DSI offer the latest clean-room technology promising a full recovery of nearly 99% of lost data. Data recovery companies of CBL and Vogon International provide storage and data recovery solutions to small enterprises — international market and the basic consumer. Thus, these corporations end up setting the service model for consumer choice. Usually data recovery companies are built around three guidelines:

• Customer base
• Technology being used
• Pricing

Companies such as Vogon International provide data recovery services to both big businesses as well as small manufacturing enterprises. In other words, every data recovery company has a niche market which dictates market usage and function. This means that a personal user is not likely to recruit the services of a data recovery company which supplies data recovery services to big businesses. Similarly, every company in the data recovery business has its target audience and caters to them alone.

The second criterion is that of data recovery technology used by the company. This includes the varied procedures of evaluation and recovery — clean-room technology and the machines used in dusting the clean room. A user or business is able to gauge the professionalism of a company just by looking at their brochure. Companies such as Ontrack and CBL employ the best practices of 100 Class clean-room technologies. This means that the clean-room where the damaged disks are opened is stripped clean of any microscopic air and bacterial pollutants. The intensity and magnitude of clean-room technology determine the success of the data recovery process.

A third criterion which helps to build the service model of a functional data recovery company is that of pricing and data recovery evaluation. The data recovery company has to provide the user with a price quote of the entire process including free evaluation of amount and type of data lost and the amount and type of which can be recovered. This guideline decides the niche market of the company including the technology being used. A user has to look for certain factors — the existence of these factors ought to send warning signals to the user about the company.

Duration of Existence: Data recovery was firmly established as a lucrative business only since the 1990s. But, in order to recover data from damaged drives, a user ought to look for data recovery companies which have been in the business for more than a year. The user has to choose a data recovery company which is firmly entrenched in the data recovery business — makes use of known established recovery procedures. A user should stay away from a new data recovery company as there is a trend of renaming bankrupt notorious data recovery companies.

Reputation: A user has to check out the reputation of the company on many fronts — employee, consumer, and technology and price level. Are previous customers satisfied with the data recovery service provided by the company? Are the employees committed and focused? Can the customer trust and rely on the company for the security of his or her data? Many new and small data recovery companies keep a copy of the recover red data and later sell it to other willing consumers. Thus, individual private data is compromised. A user has to consider this ethical and legal issue very seriously. Usually, reputable companies destroy copies of recovered data ensuring that the consumer has sole authority over recovered data. This determines user choice of a data recovery company to a large extent — data security and maintenance of privacy. Users are also advised to look at the previous record including testimonials and client record of the company.

Pricing and Free Data Evaluation: Many new and recently established data recovery companies charge very less for the entire recovery process. This is not possible as data recovery is a costly affair requiring immaculate skilled professionals and the latest technology. When this happens, it puts a question mark on the type and level of technology being used. A user should not consider a data recovery company which provides a free data recovery evaluation of less than 50%. Usually, it is possible to have a full recovery of data lost. In addition, the entire process should not cost less 1,500 pounds — the amount varies in accordance with the customer type. Data recovery companies charge more for huge businesses amounting to more than 3,000 pounds. Small enterprises and personal consumers are often charged less than 1000 pounds.

Finally, technology level decides consumer choice. Usually data recovery companies use precision-scanning technology combined with clean-room technology. But some small data recovery firms do not have a clean-room. This raises doubts about the company’s function and recovery process. Will the data recovered be infallible or will it be prone to constant errors? The absence of a clean-room means that there is no guarantee of disk safety and data recovery. Chances are that the entire disk might get corrupted destroying huge chunks of protected data even though a small portion of the disk was damaged when the user gave it for recovery. Thus, technology determines amount of data that can be recovered. It also determines the speed at which data can be recovered.

James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. For more information on computer crime and Computer Forensics see http://www.fieldsassociates.co.uk

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