WD Blog: What’s Possible with Modern Data Recovery

Originally published on the WD Blog.
By Alfredo D. Troche, Senior Marketing Communications Specialist, WD
Let’s face it, any data that’s not backed up frequently is in danger. And when data loss happens to you, it can seem like the end of the world.
Data storage, regardless of the form factor—rotational hard drives, solid state drives, magnetic tape, USB drives, smartphones, tablets, etc.—are all subject to loss. Fire, moisture, theft, accidental destruction, degradation, or hardware failure are just a few ways your valuable data can be wiped out in an instant.
Strategic data recovery has always been an essential contingency service for businesses big and small, online retailers, datacenters, governments, and banks. And now, data recovery is available to anyone—and yes, recovering data intact from all types of devices is not only possible, it happens every day at DriveSavers.
A colleague of mine and I had the pleasure of visiting DriveSavers recently to tour their facilities and learn more about what’s possible with modern data recovery. We arrived in Novato, California, an hour drive from Oakland Airport to find what looks like a typical office building tucked in a remote business park. But once inside, it was clear that DriveSavers does big, important things for important people every day.
DriveSavers takes security very seriously, and upon arrival, we were required to provide a government-issued ID, our company badges, and sign in before we could proceed beyond the entrance lobby. Personal items, cameras, or smartphones are not allowed. Every room was meticulously clean, bright, and air-conditioned, to lessen contaminants and keep the huge amounts of tech equipment running at optimal, cool temperatures. There were some labs we were not allowed to enter because they required full body HVAC suits, goggles and gloves in a sterile environment.
Employees in every department undergo a rigorous screening process, and most have been working there for ten or more years. Each one is expert-level at what they do—whether its shipping and receiving, accounting, 24-hour customer service or technician—they all work under one roof to expedite the data recovery process and deliver peace of mind to their customers as quickly as possible.
DriveSavers receives anywhere from 80 -100 recovery jobs every day. Confidentiality is critical; each order must be registered and assigned a case number to begin its journey. Digital forensics, diagnostics, physical condition, and type of device determines which lab it gets routed to. A myriad of recovery methods are used, with literally hundreds of drives being scanned and reconstituted using proprietary software DriveSavers has developed exclusively for their labs. Some projects are straightforward, while others require more intensive methods, and can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days to complete. In most cases, DriveSavers is successful, and data is fully recovered. The customer receives a brand-new drive with their recovered data, along with their original drive.
Of course, there are cases where data cannot be recovered—and that’s usually when the drive has suffered irreparable physical damage, completely overwritten or magnetically compromised. The good news is, data recovery is entirely possible in most cases—even with dead solid state cells, broken RAID arrays, flood or fire—DriveSavers have been experts at saving people’s data now for over thirty years.
This WD blog post is first in our Data Recovery Experts Save the Day series. Join me in upcoming posts as we explore data storage, recovery options, methods, and what’s possible (or not possible) in the exciting world of data recovery.
DriveSavers is located in Novato, CA and is available 24 hours a day/7 days a week. Visit them atdrivesaversdatarecovery.com.
Read more: http://www.wdc.com/en/blog/Whats-Possible-with-Modern-Data-Recovery/?__prclt=DW3B7mr7