Data Recovery, Round 1 left my drive on it’s way to ESS Data Recovery with “symptoms of a severe head crash” that were beyond the capabilities of Aero Data Recovery. ESS turned around an initial evaluation within a few days:
Recovery Chance: Good (70-84%)
Medium Failure Details:
Disk Head Failure
Rotational Scoring Present (moderate)
Evaluated Cost: $995.00 - 10% = $895.50
Needless to say, even with the 10% discount for Aero transfers, the price was a bit shocking. I called to find out why is data recovery so expensive? It pretty much comes down to the physical failure and damage (scoring) of the disk requiring more time-consuming procedures and more expensive equipment. In contrast, Aero’s $279 flat-fee generally only covers software-oriented fixes.
I was only after one directory (my unpublished Colorado photos), but it wasn’t an option to do a partial recovery for a partial fee. I also asked about damage during debugging, and once the drive heads fail and sit on the surface of the disk, every spin-up can worsen it. Though without knowing it’s a mechanical failure, you’re always going to end up rebooting a few times and trying to access the disk through other means. Asking the drive to be fault-tolerant enough to detect a head failure and not spin up is probably a bit much for consumer drives.
As for the lost photos, it is a real shame. There was some good stuff in there from Western Rocky Mountain and Trail Ridge Road. I’ve done my best to capture it in words, but as a photographer, I always feel that a picture is worth a thousand words. I am a bit annoyed with Apple’s defective software and customer service here, and kicking myself for not backing up to the blank DVDs I had taken along. It’s a lesson learned for me, though, and I know this tale has already cautioned a few people to think about their own photo backups.
December 31st, 2008 at 10:16 am
Again - I got almost the exact same email from both companies- We paid the fee and did get most of the photos back. Only 900 out 8000 could not be rerieved- Still think it is a scam. Everyone needs to back up their computers regularly- Who would ahve thought that a MAC book after less than one year on it- 9 months- would have a hard drive failure with no warning at all-
My other daughter got her MAC book at the same time and has no issues with hers- Oh well- An expensive to learn
December 31st, 2008 at 11:33 am
Glad to hear you were able to get most of your photos back, Adlai. I hear more stories about MacBook hard drive failures than other brands, which really reinforces your point: it’s much cheaper to back up file than to recover them.
January 24th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
My college age son’s MacBook died without warning 3 days before Christmas. Thank goodness it didn’t crash mid-semester. Ironically, I had bought him a USB hard drive for backup for Christmas. He remvoed the dead drive and we sent it to DiskDoctor. They says it had a physical failure and will recover the data (for $1600). Sorry, can’t do that. Much better to spend the $99 on a 500 GB backup drive. We bought his MacBook as a refurb from Apple about 1.5 years ago. The drive that died was a 160 GB Seagate Momentum. At home I use Carbonite but it won’t work with Mac. I’m happy to send them $50 a year to keep all my stuff backed up without doing a thing.
January 25th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
@Bummed out - I’ve tried a few online backup services for Mac recently, and Backblaze is the one I found to be the most functional.
February 18th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Aero Data Recovery are complete scam artists, and there are alot of companies out there who will do the same thing and just try to take your money. It is important to do your research and I would suggest going to http://www. datarecoverycomparison.com as that website allows you to read reviews about other people’s data recovery experiences with ALL companies out there, and if there is not a data recovery company out there they will add them to their list. Plus if you have ever had a bad experience with a data recovery company, you can post a comment about that company and rate that company, therefore making the chances higher of someone not falling for the same data recovery scam as other people have. This way it will weed out these basement operations data recovery companies.
February 18th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Sorry about the repost, for some reason it would not allow me to post the original and i missed out when I reposted, so leave this post and erase the one above. Aero Data Recovery are complete scam artists, and it is a well known fact that Aero Data Recovery and ESS Data Recovery are one in the same, and there are alot of companies out there who will do the same thing and just try to take your money. It is important to do your research and I would suggest going to http://www. datarecoverycomparison.com as that website allows you to read reviews about other people’s data recovery experiences with ALL companies out there, and if there is not a data recovery company out there they will add them to their list. Plus if you have ever had a bad experience with a data recovery company, you can post a comment about that company and rate that company, therefore making the chances higher of someone not falling for the same data recovery scam as other people have. This way it will weed out these basement operations data recovery companies.
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Make sure that you check this site (datarecoverycomparison.com) out thoroughly before you believe a word that is said about any of the companies listed there. It appears that it is owned by a data recovery company that is just engaging in liable and defamatory statements so that honest hard working data recovery companies look bad. If you look at this website you will notice that there is no real way to contact them if your company has been wrongly bashed by one of their so called reviewers. The site is a total scam and has been created for the soul purpose of bashing other data recovery companies. Like everything on the internet don’t believe everything you read.
If you really want to know if a company is capable and legitimate ask some questions about your data recovery situation. If they know what they are doing they will be able to give you information about what is wrong with your drive, how much it will cost to recover the data, and how long it will take to get your data back to you.
Also guru obviously works for this company and has posted this same article all over various forums in order to build back links to his site.
March 1st, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Lol, I checked out data recovery comparison, and you can definitely contact them by clicking in the top right hand corner on a button that says “CONTACT US”, and you can report abuse on different reviews. Do your research there systemsec, before you bash what looks like an honest website. I was going to go with aerodr but not anymore because of what was written ont hat site and this blog, and i would recommend checking out data recovery company reviews at this site before choosing your data recovery company. I went with an expensive, but honest company in the long run.
May 12th, 2009 at 9:42 am
(datarecoverycomparison.com) is completely useless. 200+ companies signed up? And there are only 50+ reviews? Is there any oversight or is it just a forum for companies to bash each other?. Looks like a poor attempt at trying and drum up some ad revenue.
August 3rd, 2009 at 12:00 pm
8/1/2009
I just shipped my drive to the Aero and got the EXACT same scenario as described in the previous posts. I should have headed the warnings.
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.
I opted to waste the $25 dollars to get it back. So I am back to square 1.
Here is my email the sent me:
We have examined your hard drive and have found that it exhibits symptoms of a disk head failure with media damage. As explained in our initial correspondence with you, and/or on our website, we do not attempt recovery in these severe cases. Unfortunately our capabilities are not extensive enough to safely perform a recovery attempt in this situation, and such recovery will require the use of a ‘research’ data recovery company - a company that invests a great deal of time and money into developing complex and obscure methods of recovering data from situations like yours.
There are three options left regarding your case:
Ship the drive back to you ($25 flat fee for shipping and handling)
Ship the drive to a data recovery research and development firm. (suggestions below)*
Securely destroy your drive to prevent the remote possibility of someone stealing your information (no cost).
We believe that the following companies are technically advanced enough to handle your situation, and we have arranged special discounts on your behalf.
ESS Data Recovery 1.800.237.4200 (datarecovery.com)
ESS offers free same-day shipping from Aero Data Recovery, and offers a free evaluation for standard service cases. There is no cost to you to get an estimate, so we recommend at least getting a quote. We have arranged a 10% discount if you mention Aero Data Recovery. Their prices overall currently seem to be the most affordable. ESS has three US locations. You can reach ESS at 1.800.237.4200 or at https://www.datarecovery.com/submit.php?r=aerodatarecovery .
Drivesavers
Drivesavers has been around just as long as ESS and they also claim to spend a great deal of money on research. They tend to be much more expensive, but they do a good job. By mentioning Aero Data Recovery, you receive a 10% discount from Drivesavers. Their location near San Francisco is convenient for many. You can reach Drivesavers by visiting drivesavers.com or calling 415.382.2000.
August 11th, 2009 at 10:56 am
I was referred to Aero Data Recovery after another data recovery company was unable to salvage the data on my hard drive. Aero Data Recovery took over the case and recovered my data at a fraction of any other competitor’s estimated price. I would recommended this incredible company to anyone whose hard drive has betrayed them. There is no reason to spend more than twice as much money somewhere else. Their great value is only outdone by their incredible service.
August 11th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
I am grateful for the services provided by Areo Data Recovery. We had a hard drive failure on a business WorkStation with important information. I sent the drive to them and they reported that they expected to be able to recovery most or all of the data.
Rather than restoring to a USB drive, I requested that the restore to another 500GB SATA drive. They purchased the drive and restored my data. When I recieved the new drive, I was able to boot to it and ALL of my data was intact.
I thank Areo Data for an excellent and very affordable job, well done!
August 11th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
I hope you got your employee discount, John!
http://www.ip2location.com/99.130.159.94
August 11th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Here is a page with our testimonials.
August 12th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Bwahahahaha! Nice try John!
August 30th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
How long have you been blogging…your good at it.
January 13th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
I believe the answer is quite simple- Aero Data Recovery WAS CREATED BY ESS Data Recovery just for these stupid bait-n-switch tricks…
January 31st, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Interesting comments… if such is the case (creating a web company as a prepromotion channel for another data recovery service, this blog needs be pushed up google. If said is NOT the case, then it is still an more objective ‘jusry’ then a string of ‘testimonials’ on Aero Recovery (ESS Data Recovery ?) website. I John Daniel’s Ip was truly logged above - may the Karma Police school this guy and company with proper swiftness!
Thanks Matt for sharing your experience,
Barack O’ Bush
January 31st, 2010 at 10:26 pm
Apologies for the typos it is 11 degrees in the Northeast tonight.