subject: Five Things To Look For In A Mac Hard Drive Recovery Provider [print this page] Five Things To Look For In A Mac Hard Drive Recovery Provider
So you're working on an important document, and bam! Your Mac goes down. The hard drive appears, for all intents and purposes, to be inaccessible. When this is the case, it may be likely you've encountered a catastrophic mechanical hard drive failure. Basically, no data recovery software around is going to help you. So what to do now?
Unless you have your own clean room and lots of experience with the inner workings of hard drives (if you do, it's doubtful you're reading this article, frankly), you're going to need the help of a professional Mac Hard Drive Recovery Provider. Here are some things to look at when weighing your options:
1. Importance Of Data First off, how important is the data on your drive? If you can afford to lose your data, and simply get a new drive, this is probably the cheapest alternative out there. It's easy as pie to install Mac OS X on a clean drive, so if you didn't have many important files anyway, this is your best route. If, on the other hand, your Mac contains important business or personal data, a professional will be necessary.
2. Mac Experience The fact is, there are a million shops that claim to do Windows-based hard drive recovery. Mac data recovery is a very different animal. While the concepts are typically the same, the equipment and familiarity with the Mac file system is critical when choosing your vendor. Don't just settle on anyone, ask them for recent examples.
3. Testimonials In a similar vein, if the data recovery provider you call upon says that they offer Mac data recovery, ask them for some references. While many companies will not provide actual names and phone numbers due to security concerns, they will at least have a good library of customer testimonials on hand. It never hurts to get references, especially when it comes to your critical data.
4. Partial Telephone Diagnosis A lot of data recovery services providers do this: rush you to ship your drive to them fast so that you have no choice in the matter. In fact, some aggressive Mac hard drive recovery sales people don't even ask questions beyond "how fast can you get it here?" The fact is, a company that doesn't ask questions about the data loss is probably just looking to scam you and hold your Mac hard drive for ransom. Which brings us to the next point.
5. Get A Quote Up Front - Typically, if you've spoken to a Mac data recovery shop that's worth its salt, you'll be able to get a very good idea, if not a guarantee on price. One of the issues that many people have with smaller data recovery service providers is that they charge more than they initially quoted, and then play the hostage scenario (see number 4). Make sure you get a guaranteed quote in writing before you ship anything anywhere. It'll save you more money than you thought.
Fact is, no one wants to be in a situation where they need Mac hard drive recovery services. But if you are in that situation, remember to stay smart and don't panic. Your data is retrievable you just need to be sure it's in the right hands.
