Data recovery on the cheap?
June 22, 2009 8:58 AM Subscribe
Anyone ever have any experience with Drive Fish? It's a data recovery company.
I stumbled across them in my quest to revive a hard drive that crashed over the weekend. I've been quoted some pretty steep prices (high end was $2,195) and this one seems too cheap to be true.
I stumbled across them in my quest to revive a hard drive that crashed over the weekend. I've been quoted some pretty steep prices (high end was $2,195) and this one seems too cheap to be true.
Sorry, should have continued..
The real question is, do they have more advanced capabilities, and are they willing to use them, because at that point they are losing money on your job.
posted by Chuckles at 9:30 AM on June 22, 2009
The real question is, do they have more advanced capabilities, and are they willing to use them, because at that point they are losing money on your job.
posted by Chuckles at 9:30 AM on June 22, 2009
Their "why us" page seems pretty clear that they don't have the super advanced features, which is why they are cheaper. Their blog is pretty useful reading. They are very upfront about not handling head crashes.
If you search Google for +drivefish, you find decent-enough reviews. (Not that you wouldn't Google, but there's a lot of fishing info out there.)
posted by smackfu at 10:07 AM on June 22, 2009
If you search Google for +drivefish, you find decent-enough reviews. (Not that you wouldn't Google, but there's a lot of fishing info out there.)
posted by smackfu at 10:07 AM on June 22, 2009
Best answer: I don't know smackfu, reading that "why us" page I'm left with the impression that they are deliberately obfuscating the difference between component failure and damage to drive platters.
For example, they only say they can't do anything about a head crash, but they define that as actual physical damage to a platter. Does that mean I can expect them to be able to do a head swap? They aren't saying.. In fact, on their blog they have this entry: My disk is clicking so I need advanced recovery right? Note that they carefully avoid talking about what electronic repairs they are willing to attempt. From the root blog page you can see that there have been 28 comments on that post, but none of them are visible.
Also, compare the comments by Floyd and Jessica here, to the comments by stevelist and jlsisrad at TomsHardware forums. And, note that those two users at TomsHardware have only one comment each.
On the other hand, they say this, which is great: How to choose a data recovery company. I'm not sure what to think..
posted by Chuckles at 11:17 AM on June 22, 2009
For example, they only say they can't do anything about a head crash, but they define that as actual physical damage to a platter. Does that mean I can expect them to be able to do a head swap? They aren't saying.. In fact, on their blog they have this entry: My disk is clicking so I need advanced recovery right? Note that they carefully avoid talking about what electronic repairs they are willing to attempt. From the root blog page you can see that there have been 28 comments on that post, but none of them are visible.
Also, compare the comments by Floyd and Jessica here, to the comments by stevelist and jlsisrad at TomsHardware forums. And, note that those two users at TomsHardware have only one comment each.
On the other hand, they say this, which is great: How to choose a data recovery company. I'm not sure what to think..
posted by Chuckles at 11:17 AM on June 22, 2009
Thanks for the inspiration to go digging though, smackfu, cause I was totally being lazy about it before :)
posted by Chuckles at 11:18 AM on June 22, 2009
posted by Chuckles at 11:18 AM on June 22, 2009
Response by poster: Thanks Chuckles. I found those comments as well and was suspicious. As far as data recovery goes, I'm learning a lot about the industry just based on the three sales people I've talked to and the six quotes I've gotten for data recovery.
Prices vary wildly and unfortunately on the high end. The highest quote I got was for $2195 and the lowest was $800. The main thing they like to stress is the use of a "clean room" which allows them to work on a drive in a dust/particle free environment. This clean-room charge is the bulk of the price and unsurprisingly every data recovery company I talked to said a clean-room would be necessary.
Now I'm all for capitalism and the American way, free-enterprise shit but seeing as how YouTube has videos of nerds in their dirty little bedrooms, opening hard drives and recovering data, I'm a little skeptical.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 1:26 PM on June 22, 2009
Prices vary wildly and unfortunately on the high end. The highest quote I got was for $2195 and the lowest was $800. The main thing they like to stress is the use of a "clean room" which allows them to work on a drive in a dust/particle free environment. This clean-room charge is the bulk of the price and unsurprisingly every data recovery company I talked to said a clean-room would be necessary.
Now I'm all for capitalism and the American way, free-enterprise shit but seeing as how YouTube has videos of nerds in their dirty little bedrooms, opening hard drives and recovering data, I'm a little skeptical.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 1:26 PM on June 22, 2009
Well, good skepticism, but more importantly are you sure you've exhausted every possibility that doesn't involve opening the thing up? (which has nothing to do with your question, so I didn't ask directly originally). Of course the data might be so valuable that you don't even want to try. In that case, I think any place that you can find lots of legitimate recommendations for, no matter the price, would be worthwhile.
There are some old AskMe threads with what appear to be legitimate recommendations, and caveats (1 2 3, and lots of links within those). I just memailed the asker of number 3 to see if he has any further updates.
Most any recommendation I can remember reading from anywhere could easily have been software only recoveries.
posted by Chuckles at 5:09 PM on June 22, 2009
There are some old AskMe threads with what appear to be legitimate recommendations, and caveats (1 2 3, and lots of links within those). I just memailed the asker of number 3 to see if he has any further updates.
Most any recommendation I can remember reading from anywhere could easily have been software only recoveries.
posted by Chuckles at 5:09 PM on June 22, 2009
Gillware has been recommended here before as a cheap, professional recovery business.
posted by ijoyner at 5:44 PM on June 22, 2009
posted by ijoyner at 5:44 PM on June 22, 2009
Response by poster: Gilware did quote me a price of $678 on the high end which, compared to others, isn't so bad.
Thanks for all the recommendations!
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 5:38 AM on June 23, 2009
Thanks for all the recommendations!
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 5:38 AM on June 23, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
Well.. I think the freezer trick worked, but there were some other variables that might have had an effect.
posted by Chuckles at 9:09 AM on June 22, 2009