It is commonly accepted among data recovery specialists that the primary reason for data loss is hardware failure.  The number two position is held by human error.

Surprisingly, technicians are often the cause of the data loss or they compound the original problem to a point where data recovery is either very expensive or the data is unrecoverable.  In all fairness to technicians, this is largely due to the fact that there is little (if any) basic training in the causes of data loss, how to recognize potential data loss situations and how to handle potential or real data loss situations.

 We have spoken with many service providers who state, as a protection mechanism, that they are not concerned about their clients’ data and they have no intention of changing this policy.  They will replace hard drives; but, it is their client’s responsibility to find ways to back up or recover their lost data.  Service companies are reluctant to provide available options to their clients because they don't want to be held responsible for the data.  While we understand the service company's position we would certainly prefer that they don't exacerbate the problem by ignoring the fact that the data is lost and then continue on with the service work.

Unfortunately, most end-users are not informed of their available options and they accept, without question, what they are told by their technician.  This often leaves the customer with an unpleasant opinion of that service provider; regardless of how "helpful" the service company is the customer's data is still lost.  These feelings of ill will are heightened when the customer hears from someone else that other options were available.  The customer's data likely would have been recovered more cost-effectively if data recovery experts had been involved prior to unsuccessful attempts by untrained technicians using incorrect tools and bad methodology.  The first thing any service technician should do if they believe data has been lost is to get in touch with a data recovery expert. 

We, at Recovery Force, often hear the sad refrain: “I wish I had known!” from people who lost their data and were told by their service provider it was unrecoverable.  In many cases the service provider doesn't even know it's recoverable.   Even worse; many service providers, who are informed of their options, still choose to play “Russian Roulette” with their clients’ data rather than bringing the data loss to the clients attention thus creating a potentially embarrassing situation.  The reality is that most clients would rather know the data has been "misplaced" and that the technician is doing something to find it.

Recovery Force Inc.  personnel have presented seminars in schools where technicians are trained and where the instructors themselves were not aware of most of the facts we presented.  If the instructors aren’t aware, how are the students to know?  Data recovery companies are very aware of this and we try to find ways of encouraging service providers to better represent their clients by using our services.  We utilize different strategies, but have the same goal.

A few years ago, people didn’t trust computers, and so they kept hard copies of their data.  Today, they store great amounts of important data, including irreplaceable photos, family trees, personal and business accounting information, etc.  When this data is lost, it can cause much grief and, often, great financial hardship.  The Recovery Force Inc. team works with service providers and/or their clients to provide cost-effective solutions to real or potential data loss problems.  Each client is treated as a human being and each job as a personal challenge with distinctive characteristics.  Because of all the variables, data recovery needn't run in to the thousands of dollars.  Obviously, the earlier we receive the call, the easier the recovery and the lower the cost.  The support of technicians, prior to attempting the recoveries themselves, means a much greater chance for success and happy clients, service providers and the data recovery specialist.