The Cost of Data Recovery
Data recovery is something that most of us will have to consider at some time, as every computer hard drive has a lifetime that will likely be pushed to the max. A hard drive is only meant to last about five years or 20,000 hours of processing time. This is a long time for a computer, given that most computers are obsolete fairly quickly, but as much as we use computers we really take them to task and data recovery will need to be considered.
Varying Costs
You’ll find that the cost of data recovery really does vary from city to city as well as from case to case. If you have a very large drive capacity your data recovery cost will obviously be higher than if you have just 600 MB of drive capacity. Also, the type of drive that you are dealing with will also affect the total cost. For instance, if you are dealing with a typical DOS, Windows, Macintosh, NT workstation, Linux, Unix, or XENIX system your costs will usually be less than if you are dealing with a single or multiple drive NT server.
Not only will the type of system that you are working with affect cost, but so to will the problem at hand. If you have had serious water or fire damage it may be easier to save data than if you have had a computer virus running rampant on your computer for six months, though the opposite can be true depending on the circumstances.
What to Expect: How much you’ll have To Pay
Depending on the professional you are dealing with, there may be a diagnostic fee that will help to determine the problem. Diagnostic fees range from as little as $15 to as much as $100. If you want to get around paying a diagnostic fee, you typically can. There are many experts that offer free estimates to recover all of your data and convert it to a new technology, if applicable.
This is what should generally be expected:
· DOS, Windows. Macintosh, NT Workstation, Linux, UNIX, XENIX Systems ranging from 600MB to 9.1 GB will usually cost from $400 to $5,000 depending on the drive capacity as well as the issue at hand. Diagnostic fees vary here, as mentioned above.
· Single Drive: NT Server, Novell, O/S 2, Sun, SGI, AIX, HPUX systems with a total drive capacity ranging from up to one GB to 15.1 GB will usually range from $1,500 to as much as $12,000 depending on the system, the drive capacity, and issue at hand.
· Multiple Drive: NT Server, UNIX, Novell systems ranging from up to 8 GB to 20.1 GB will range from $2,000 to as much as $10,000 based on the drive capacity and issue at hand. There are often diagnostic charges for these systems regardless, because they do require a lot more work.
· Other data sources such as Iomega Zip, Iomega Jaz, Tapes, and 360-2M Diskette can also be recovered, if needed. Prices on data recovery for these sources usually starts right around $400 to $600 and goes up based on the source and the circumstance surrounding potential data loss.
Remember that these are very general prices and they may be more or less in your area, with the professional that you are working with, or based on the circumstances surrounding your potential data loss. Data recovery is something that is expensive at first glance, but when you consider all of the information that is stuck on your hard drive it’s usually more than worth it!