DATA LOSS NIGHTMARE . . . WITH A HAPPY ENDING!…read more
Not long ago, due to the negligence of the so-called "computer repairman" around the corner from me, all of my personal files were wiped from my hard drive. To make matters worse, I found that my backup drive (which the repairman also tinkered with) no longer showed up on my computer, even after doing everything I could think of to gain access to what was now the only copy of my personal files I had left. The drive also wasn't recognized on any of my friends' or family members' computers. My life was over. Important documents, treasured photos, even the pride and joy of my life (my music collection), were all gone in an instant.
So I did the only thing I could really do at that point: send my drive to a data recovery service. In fact, within a month's time, I ended up sending my drive to no less than three such services. The first one I sent it to (which claimed to be "the industry leader in data recovery and customer service") told me that although their techs didn't see any of my files in their initial diagnosis, they still believed there was a "good chance" of recovery. They went on to tell me that "right now" (while the drive case was still open) was the "best time" to attempt recovery, and that any further delay could possibly "ruin" my chances of a successful recovery. That sounded pretty serious and awfully scary, but I had to decline because the price they quoted me was $2,400-$3,200, which was well beyond my means.
The second company I sent my drive to also claimed to have opened up my drive, felt that there was a good chance the data was recoverable, and warned me of the dangers of not allowing them to recover the data while they had the drive case open. Their fee for successful recovery of my files was $1,200 to $1,600, which was half the asking price of the previous company. But that was still beyond my financial reach.
The third data recovery service I sent my drive to offered a flat rate of only $199 dollars for a successful recovery, and boasted a 90%-successful-recovery track record. It sounded too good to be true, and it was; for they merely used that price to lure me in, so they could end up sending me to their parent company, which, for $2,400-$3,200, would certainly be able to retrieve my data. The company they wanted to send me to? You guessed it--the very first company I sent my drive to! The perfect bait and switch!
At this point I was ready to just call it quits and cut my losses. Then, at the eleventh hour, I miraculously discovered the fine folks at ACS Data Recovery. ACS technician and all around great guy, Greg Duffield, took one look at my drive and knew right away what was actually wrong with it. It was something that none of the three companies I'd previously sent it to could have possibly missed in any of their so called "analyses." A relatively inexpensive device within the drive called a "bridge controller" had fried out (while the drive was in the "care" of the original repairman I brought it to) and merely needed to be replaced. And when it was, my drive was instantly recognized on Greg's computer and all my data was found to be intact. Simply put: There was no need to recover the data because it was right there along! And all three aforementioned recovery services (representing the industry's least expensive to the most expensive) knew it. I was flat-out lied to. Period! And if I just happened to have had $1,200-$3,200 in my bank account at the time, I wouldn't have been the wiser.
These companies also lied to me about something else. All three claimed to have actually opened up my drive in order to do their analyses and come to their conclusions (lies), and yet Greg Duffield emailed me photos showing that such a thing could never have occurred because the actual "drive seal" had never been broken, which is the tell-tale sign that the drive has in fact been opened--and something a computer novice like me would never have even known to be aware of, or to look for. These companies were playing the deception game and counting on my ignorance. Greg Duffield and ACS Data Recovery, on the other hand, were forthright, professional, and honest--qualities that are rarely seen in today's business world.
I'm one of the lucky ones, for my data loss nightmare ended up with a happy ending. But who knows how many poor souls these companies (and others) have deceived and stolen from over the years--and continue to do so even now. Do yourself a favor and avoid this terrible fate by having a look-see at the very informative web site of this group of highly proficient technical wizards who reside in Temple, Texas--about an hour's drive northeast of Austin.
Thanks, ACS Data Recovery, for helping me get my life back!
Scott Smith
Orlando, FL
