On Data Loss
Some real world data loss examples
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The shock of suddenly losing data can be an almost heart stopping moment. What you seemingly had in the palm of your hand just a moment ago has apparently disappeared. What’s worse is that you have little idea whether it is still retrievable. Data loss can happen to anyone, in so many unpredictable ways. Thankfully, I have also helped bring about plenty of happy endings and small miracles in the recovery lab.
Take for example a wedding photographer who only has one chance to capture a special moment in time for his newly wedded clients. Armed with expensive cameras and gear they’ve used countless times, the whole engagement seemed to go as smoothly as hoped. Only upon transferring the digital images from their media cards did the photographer learn that one of the SD cards was unreadable! If these photos could not be retrieved, there was the possibility of having to stage a re-shoot or offer a refund to this very dismayed and unhappy couple.
Let’s also consider the accountant who has spent the past week analyzing his client’s Quick Books data. To their horror, they’ve now discovered that this file is now missing and has apparently been deleted?! Even worse, they can't recall when the last backup was done or locate another recent copy of the file. If this file cannot be found, it could take weeks to recreate all of this work for this company.
One final example would be the father who has taken years of video footage of his now six year old daughter growing up. Disaster struck all too suddenly when the family dog ran into a dangling power cord, pulling his 2 TB external hard drive off the living room table onto the floor. When he tested his drive afterwards, he found that it could no longer recognized by his laptop and it was also making an unfamiliar and worrisome clicking sound. Although he’d recently purchased another drive to backup these videos to, he had neglected to do this soon enough...
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Looking for options (and finding few good ones)
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These stories I've just recounted are true and based on projects I've received in the past. Many of these were almost the same story reliving itself again for a different person. Unfortunately, such scenarios are almost inevitable if you’ve never made another copy of your valued data. Or maybe it was simply that you'd procrastinated for too long and just hadn't gotten around to making a more recent one?
Even worse, maybe you had been diligent about making copies, but suffered a rare simultaneous failure of both your original and backup copies? Or maybe you copied in the wrong direction when doing your backup and overwrote the newer copy?
Data loss isn’t always caused by negligence as a treacherous device failure can occur just days or weeks after purchase. Sometimes it's just an awful twist of fate when data loss happens before there's even an opportunity for backup, as in trying to photograph or record a live event.
I’ve had many customers bring their failed hard disk drives to a local computer repair shop, only to learn that the problem is beyond their knowledge and expertise of that shop to address. They’ve offered to ship your drive out to another partner who does data recovery somewhere out of state, but this is likely to either take too long or cost way too much.
As a last ditch effort, you’ve decided to reach out to the company that made your hard drive in hopes that they’d know best. Nearly all hard drive manufacturers will offer to replace your malfunctioning hard disk drive, but only if your warranty hasn’t already expired. Recovering your lost data is another matter entirely that isn’t covered by their standard warranties. Many companies do offer “data recovery insurance”, but you must purchase these plans in advance. Many consumers aren’t even aware of this option or possibly weren’t paying attention when it was offered to them.
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In the event that you do pursue data recovery through the manufacturer, they will typically point you to a list of “authorized service providers”. These companies aren’t necessarily your best option as they will all have different pricing, procedures, levels of expertise and have almost certainly PAID to be on this “preferred vendors” list.
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Bonafide Data Rescue is here to help
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These are just a handful of the scenarios that my clients have described to me. Many of my customers had never experienced profound data loss before and had little idea about how expensive it could be to recover their data. Others had already spent a great deal of time trying to locate a reputable company to help them with their data loss issue. Whether its your HVAC unit that's failed, your car or your hard disk drive, choosing a reliable, honest and affordable contractor can be a real challenge.
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With my nearly 15 years of experience in the data recovery field, I can give you the answers you require for your data loss scenario and help you solve your problem without any nonsense. I have always believed in the importance of honesty, integrity and reliability in all things, both personal and business. I believe it's important that we choose to engage with people that exemplify these values. However, trust must be earned and I will do everything in my power to show the good faith which my company name and the phrase "bona fide" represents.
Feel free to reach out to be directly with any questions or concerns you might have and I'd be happy to assist you in any way that I can.
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Robert Dwyer
Owner
Bonafide Data Rescue
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