Failed solid state drive: episode 2-the looks

After my first SSD failed, it turns out that I did have some important data not backed up. My friend Peter at work tried to recover it and didn't get anywhere. We called a few data recovery companies (using Google, what else?), and was told that they would all take a "look" for $5k.

Five grand to just take a look? No, thank you. Guess my data isn't that important to me.

I happened to be on a business trip to China where I thought I might had a chance for a cheaper "look". Before going, I found a company called "飞客" or "Fix"(as its web site is www.fix.com.cn) which seems legit. I called them and they said that they would "take a look, but no guarantees." There will be no charge if they can't recover the data. So, at least this is a free "look". What made me trust them is that I did talk to an engineer instead of someone who only know how to work the phone and get $5k for a "look".

Four weeks late, I was in Shanghai. After sneaking out a lunch break, I went to their Shanghai branch office with the SSD. An engineer talked to me and took the drive while asked me to wait outside.

After half an hour (whole lot more than I expected), he came back telling me the bad news: the drive is beyond their capability to restore.

Wait,

here's a slim hope: he called the headquarter in Beijing where they have better facilities and more experienced engineers. They said that I can get another "look" there. Since my last stop is Beijing after three days, I opted to bring the drive there myself instead of shipping it from the Shanghai office (for free, they said and no recovered data, no pay).

A slim hope is still hope.

First day in Beijing, I went to the headquarter near the university district. After talking to a girl at the reception, an engineer came out for another "look". I'm sure this would be the end of the "looks" for this SSD. It would straight go to the trash bin if this "look" doesn't work.

After half an hour later, he called me who's wondering around downstairs and let me know it's recoverable (while not sure how much can be recovered). I can take a look at the recovered data before deciding to pay for it.

And the cost is 1500 yuan or $220.

This sound promising! They would keep the drive for a few days and call me when it's done. Before leaving, they asked me to signed a contract as well as a confidentiality agreement which stated that they would not keep the data afterward. So far, very professional. I just hope "a few" days would not exceed my stay there.

The next day, I got a call from them and "almost all data are recovered"!

I went there in a hurry. It's right at lunch hour and the reception girl was already dressed and ready to leave for lunch with a friend. She saw me and stopped at the door. Then she went back for the engineer who then showed me the data on their computer. They wanted to make sure that I'm happy with the recovered data. Once I said yes, he went back with my portable hard drive to copy the data, while the reception girl decided to ask her friend to bring back a take out.

The copy took pretty long: more than one and half hour (the recovered data is about 40GB, may be they need a USB 2.0 port on their computers).

Anyway, after paying 1500 yuan as promised, I got my data back. All lost data (less than 0.1%) were in the Windows directory so nothing with value was lost.

It's a happy ending.

Peter said that all failed hard drives from work will be shipped to China from now on.