Data loss and that lump in your throat

[comprx]

I had 5 computers come in with bad hard drives last week. I was able to get the data from 4 of them and one I was unable to recover anything.

I of course have a waiver and I explain it to each customer. But it never makes me feel any better when they are getting worked up over the "last x years of our family photos" ect. It never fails that the person somehow holds the tech responsible. Nothing fixes the solution and I always feel horrible for the client.

It doesn't happen often, but when it does I get depressed for a few days.

The conversation usually goes like this: "I am sorry but your hard drive was too far gone to recover anything without sending it out to a data recovery center."

Them: "I just don't get it, if I had known I might lose everything I wouldn't have replaced the drive."

I know there is a logical problem there. The client was informed they might lose everything, and obviously a new drive means no data (unless it is recovered from the failed drive).

Still I never know what to say to make the situation any better. And as a result I feel terrible. I don't place any blame, and I don't accept any. Only thing I have ever admitted to in that situation is a failing of communication (if they feel they didn't know, then I obviously didn't tell them well enough)

Still I guess this whole rant is simply to ask. What do you do?

 

[MotzTech]

If I get a drive in that I cannot recover the data for, I get in touch with drive savers and get a general quote. Then I take that quote to the customer. Instead of saying that nothing can be done, I'm giving them a viable option. Granted most of the time people can't spend the kind on money that it requires to recover data from truly dead drives, but at least they have the option.

Now on the other hand, if the data loss was caused by something you did, then I'm not sure what to tell you. I always back up drives when I'm doing anything that may result in data loss (I.E. resizing partitions, removing rootkits, etc).

 

[seedubya]

Well for starters, telling the customer that the data is unrecoverable BEFORE replacing the drive might be a good idea. Should you not know this as part of your diagnostic?

 

[nonchalant]

Meh, this used to bother me but I realised over time that once customers get over the intial shock of the data loss they tend to take a 'oh well' attitude & sometimes realise later its not as catastrophic as they first thought.

 

[gikstar]

I always feel for the customer's loss also... but to make myself feel better after they have left, I mumble to myself 'didn't they ever hear about doing a backup?', and continue to rant on about how they should have done this or done that and how they would not have been in this predicament if they had taken my advice that I had given them in the past about having a backup solution.

By the way, that's the time to sell them a backup solution. Someone is going to be asking the question - "what have you put in place to protect us from this never happening to us again"! "Well dear, I just purchased a backup solution".

 

[MobileTechie]

I can't say I feel all that bad about it unless it was there when I got it and it failed in my care before I got a chance to back it up., then I feel irrationally guilty for a bit.

 

[coffee]

I have to say that I have seen alot of smaller businesses using 6 year old dell dimentions and such to run their businesses on. In fact, Had a body shop that did all their accounting on a laptop! Its just most people never bother to backup. Infact, Even with a good backup scheme in place I find alot of times they just dont bother to backup. Then when the drive dies they find that they havent done a backup in over a year or something like that. They are the only ones they can blame.

Dont feel bad. Its not your fault and never will be. Even if you are working on their system and the drive dies. Its their system and their data. They are responsible for their own data. Your only responsibility is to explain the need for good backups.

Most customers think Im just trying to make extra money when I suggest a backup scheme to them.

I give recommendations. I provide stories of woe to help them understand and if they decide to not pursue a backup scheme then they are on their own.

 

[bg.graf]

It's kind of like being a divorce attorney. What happened had nothing to do with you. They mIght get frustrated with you but I the end they caused the problem and came to you to try and recover as much of the loss as possible.

 

[ccritchie]

Give them options

All of us in the computer repair business have faced or will face this issue at some point. I have to admit that I have previously shied away from mentioning data recovery services as an option to my customers because I have always assumed that it would just be prohibitively expensive. I am beginning to re-think that now.

I have begun working with a Technibble advertiser (IWantMyDataBack.com) and just spoke with them yesterday about a dead hard drive from a residential customer that has a lot of family photos and other personal information on it. Sassinsky (the company behind Iwantmydataback.com) offers a no-obligation quote with a listing of what files can be recovered, free shipping (both ways) & put the recovered data on an external hard drive to send back to the customer. I have been told that a logical recovery is in the $500 range and a physical recovery can be as much as $1800, but usually in the $900-$1300 range. Yes, it's expensive, but my thought is to leave that decision up to the customer. Perhaps they would be willing to pay for personal data that cannot be replaced.

As a bonus (though not my main reason for offering this to customers), this vendor will offer you a 10% commission if the client decides to go through with the data recovery.

 

[mraikes]

We all face this from time to time. And the mini-rants about old computers and customers failing to backup are normal.

But the reality (at least for me) is that it's a pretty rare problem. Even a hard drive that is failing is usually largely recoverable. Even the OP mentions this was only an issue 1 out of 5 times for him.

It all contributes to the cavalier attitude many users have about backing up and/or ancient computers. It's just not that often that someone gets really badly burned by the lack of prior concern. Usually it's no more than an inconvenience and small expense.

 

[comprx]

When I noticed the hard drive was bad I immediately called and told them the drive was bad and that I was going to attempt to recover the data but that there was a chance it would be gone.

I also had them sign my "not responsible for data loss" waiver when they dropped off the machine (as I have EVERYONE sign)

I also informed them that the data was not retrievable by me (once I was sure I couldn't get it) and informed them of sensible computer (local company) who can do non clean room recoveries for about $3-400.


They declined and threw their rant. I felt bad. My mini rant in here was the result of my feelings.

Am I in the wrong? no, do I still feel bad for them? yup. Will they ever come back to me? Probably not.

 

[tallship]

Them: "I just don't get it, if I had known I might lose everything I wouldn't have replaced the drive."

Still I guess this whole rant is simply to ask. What do you do?

That's bullhockey! And they're lying. You explained this to them, and you need to have a hardcopy memorandum of understanding whenever you tackle issues - especially viruses and disaster recovery issues.

You're not exhibiting professional behavior either. You must objectify the patient, and in the computer industry, part of the patient is the client and part of the patient is the machine.

When someone comes in with data recovery, you need to approach the issue with the mindset of, "Whatever was there is gone, but I might be able to get something back."

And tell them so. Ask them how important their data is, and whether they want you to send it out to the clean room or not. If they ask how much, you tell them too much, if they have to ask.

If they persist, act like a grand is nothing, and explain to them that they already know better, and now they have to decide if their data was worth losing or saving, because they knowingly asked for this to happen.

Becoming personally involved with someone's data is not healthy for you - especially when it wasn't important to them - no matter how furiously they state the contrary, you have the cold dead hard drive of proof in your hand to wave around at them.

If you're going to slave over data recovery, then you should, IMO, charge what the clean room charges if you get it back. Don't cut someone a break and teach them to do the same thing again, make them pay what they always heard they would have to if they were irresponsible with their data.

Contact me off list and I can turn you onto a source that doesn't cost you anything - even shipping, and you can provide the client with an estimate to recover the data (actually, once the data has been recovered from a clone of the HDD), so they can decide.

You'll make money if they want the data, will know that hey can have the data, and you don't have to lift a finger in the process, even the shipping packs are pre-paid, pre-labled, and ready to seal and ship!

And if they won't pay for the recovery, then you won't feel blue because you know that they simply opted out of it - not that you failed at recovering data from a sealed flying saucer rotating at 7200rpm

Truly, this isn't your fault, don't be empathetic on this point, the time for that is when they come to you after getting burned somewhere else, when you can make a difference for the better.

 

[tallship]

When I noticed the hard drive was bad I immediately called and told them the drive was bad and that I was going to attempt to recover the data but that there was a chance it would be gone.

I also had them sign my "not responsible for data loss" waiver when they dropped off the machine (as I have EVERYONE sign)

I also informed them that the data was not retrievable by me (once I was sure I couldn't get it) and informed them of sensible computer (local company) who can do non clean room recoveries for about $3-400.


They declined and threw their rant. I felt bad. My mini rant in here was the result of my feelings.

YOU: "Your drive is bricked dude. Your data is gone. You say you have no backup, and you know that it is utter stupidity NOT to have backups. Tell me if I'm wrong before we proceed".

THEM: "I know I know I know better. It was stupid, as you say, so what can we do?"

YOU: "I can send out the drive and see if the data can be recovered, it probably can. Do you even want to hear what it might cost? Because it isn't going to be cheap and can run up between 800 and 1500 dollars. If you're not willing to spend that much then you should just toss it in the trash right now. The upside is that you won't pay if the data is not recoverable, but if it isn't you don't get the drive back either. It's your choice, but if your data is really as valuable as I think I'm hearing you say then you stand nothing to lose by trying. If you want I'll call you in a few days and let you know either how much, or that it's completely gone."

Am I in the wrong? no, do I still feel bad for them? yup. Will they ever come back to me? Probably not.

Let's hope not. You don't want goombah's like that for customers. It's not on you, so don't accept the burden of grief for idiots like that.

I hope that helps

Kindest regards,

.

 

[andcorptech]

Wow , 800-1500 is cheap. Most cleanroom recovery quotes i get here in Australia range from $2000-$3500.
They will inspect and quote the recovery at no cost though.

 

[smashedbotatos]

This is the worst feeling ever. It really gets to me to, because I love helping people and doing every last thing I can for each and every person.

If someone calls or walks in and by their explanation if you feel it might even remotely have anything to do with a hard drive issue, I always explain at the point their data maybe compromised and already lost.

In my opinion they need to know from square one that their data is possibly gone, and their drive might be dead.

When they are irate about it being gone, it is best to have a manager and a tech present to diffuse the situation. If things get real ugly and they seem to be "one of those customers" I try and knock up to 15% the final bill....if that doesn't seem to work then I just get them out the door. Give them their equipment back in the order it was in and waive the bill.

Using this strategy I have actually had a few folks call back and apologize. Usually because Geek Squad told them the same thing I did and wanted $299. For whatever reason people seem to gravitate toward "big box" stores for help and assume they are being 100% honest, but look at us as if we were lying through out teeth all day to get their money.

 

[randy4053]

If the drive still spins, there are tools like R-Studio that may able to recover some to most data.

Most cases I've seen where the drive was totally dead, I discovered that right away and told the customer. The culture here (small western US town) tends to be kind of laid back, and most people shrug with a "that's the way the cookie crumbles" attitude. I've never had anyone blame me, nor do I blame myself.

Randy4053