Complaint Review: DataRetrieval.com

DataRetrieval.com is a total scam. Worse still, I believe DataRetrieval deliberately damaged my drive after I opted not to use their services. 

Here was my nightmare experience with Data Retrieval: I brought in an EHD to their Chicago office. The drive had crashed, all signals pointing to firmware failure or issues with file partitioning (logical damage) and no signs of mechanical issues or physical damage. Anxious to determine what amount of data was recoverable, I paid $99 for DataRetrieval’s expedited (24-hour) diagnosis. When I received the diagnosis (exactly 24 hours later, no sooner), it appeared to be a canned report that simultaneously trumped up “a severe mechanical issue” with my EHD

(they claimed it “suffered from a head crash”) while promising their “technicians are confident that [the] data can be successfully, completely restored.” DataRetrieval hedged their promise of complete restoration by stating next that “there can never be a 100% guarantee of success for any data recovery due to the uniqueness and varying complexity and severity of every case.” The bottom line was that I could pay $2125 and recover very little to none of my data. They wanted $325 to simply move forward. 

I tried calling my case manager (located in Shaker Heights, Ohio oddly enough) to discuss the diagnosis a few different times. He never picked up the phone. Any time I spoke to a different DataRetrieval employee, I was advised that my case manager would be off the phone in “10 to 15 minutes.” It was impossible to reach him on my own. When he finally returned my call and I spoke to him & his supervisor about the diagnosis, I decided to simply retrieve the drive. Here again, warning bells went off when DataRetrieval made the pick up process complicated ~ “Please allow several days for your media to be safely released from our laboratory. Once your media has undergone the security release procedure it can be shipped or picked-up. Please note that no media may be released to anyone until you have received a release confirmation.”

We were able to pick up the EHD, now out of the case, the same day. I took the drive to another data recovery service, recommended by a computer consultant. This service diagnosed the drive three hours after I dropped it off, for FREE. Their diagnosis? 1) Firmware corruption (no surprise) 2) Physical Bad Sectors and 3) Damaged File Paths. No mention of a head crash or the need for a head stack replacement. They said that the physical bad sectors and damaged file paths were from “U” shaped scratches on the drive that were made when the drive was dropped while it was powered off. 

The scratches were bad enough that the drive would not have been operational with them. Hmmm. When was the drive dropped?  I did not drop the drive before I brought it in to DataRetrieval. The drive was operational in my computer and signaling only partition issues before they got it. The only conclusion is that DataRetrieval damaged the drive - either out of spite because I wasn’t using their service or to make data recovery at the next place more expensive and more in line with DataRetrieval’s inflated cost. 

Fortunately for me, after my experience with DataRetrieval, I found a back-up of about 80% of the data that was on my EHD. The current data recovery service hopes to provide a partial recovery, for a cost of $750. I will not pay until the recovery is made and that amount may be reduced depending upon the amount and quality of data recovered. Even if they don't recover any data at all, the experience with them has been much more professional and encouraging. I haven't paid a dime so far and won't have to pay until I see what has been recovered.

STAY AWAY from http://DataRetrieval.com.