Imagine that you just purchased a brand-new server a few months ago and you are running a mission-critical database application on it when one of the hard drives fails. Before you worry about having the hard drive replaced, your primary concern is recovering your critical data. So, you hire a professional data recovery company to extract your data from the crashed drive. When you try to return the hard drive to have it replaced under your warranty, though, the vendor tells you that the warranty is void because the hard drive has been opened.

It is a bit of a catch-22: Recovering your vital data is essential, but violating the hardware warranty is not advisable. How can you recover your data without violating the warranty on your hardware?



Use An Authorized Data Recovery Company

Doug Owens, director of CBL Data Recovery Technologies' San Diego lab, says, "If the data recovery company [you] choose is recognized by the manufacturer to perform recovery services, then there is nothing to worry about. The end user will be able to return the hard drive just as they would be able to prior to the recovery efforts." Owens warns, though, that "customers dealing with nonrecognized data recovery companies may have to pay a [higher than retail] cost for a replacement drive, or in the case of laptop products, have the warranty of the entire unit voided."

There is some relative safety in sticking with the larger, industry-leading companies to perform the data recovery. Owens advises, "Since most major manufacturers have already recognized the larger data recovery companies as capable of handling drives correctly, there is not too much risk to the end customer. However, they can call ahead to their vendor and see what the policies are specifically."

Jim Reinert, senior director of software and services for Ontrack Data Recovery, says, "Ontrack Data Recovery—like several of the professional data recovery service providers—is recommended by all of the major hard drive manufacturers and is authorized by Fujitsu, IBM, Maxtor, Quantum, Samsung, Seagate, Toshiba, and Western Digital to open the seal on any of their hard drives to perform data recovery without voiding the manufacturer's warranty. This applies for all of their storage devices, so customers should have no concerns whether the recovery is being performed on a laptop or their server system."



Other Considerations

Reinert offers a caveat, however: Companies should do some homework not only on which companies are authorized to perform the recovery without violating the warranty but also on which company is best to perform the recovery. "Deciding whom to trust with your valuable data is crucial because failed recovery attempts can also lead to permanent data loss. So it is critical to select a reputable and reliable company that has a solid record of recovery, as well as relationships with the hardware providers."

While recovering the data is critical, another consideration is getting the server back online as quickly as possible. Owens says, "Generally, hard drive manufacturers will offer an ‘advanced warranty exchange' type program, wherein they will ship the customer a brand-new hard drive directly and give the customer 15 (or 30) days to return the defective unit. This gives the customer plenty of time to have the data recovered and the defective unit returned to the manufacturer."

In the end, hard drives are relatively cheap these days. Recovering irreplaceable data from a crashed drive most likely offers a much higher value to the company than the price of replacing the hard drive. When push comes to shove, voiding the warranty and eating the cost of a new drive is worth it to recover your existing data. But if you follow the steps outlined here and communicate with the hardware vendor to find out what its policies are, you can have your cake and eat it too.

by Tony Bradley