Topic: Holy &#$%!!! Data recovery services are expensive!

[scottws]

We are paying $12,000 to recover data from a server that had two drives in a RAID 5 fail.  Crazy.

[PyroMenace]

Holy shit, is the equipment to recover HD data like really pricey too?

[scottws]

I'm not sure.  I'm guessing they have to take the platters out of the hdds and put them in a machine that recreates a RAID and has to be able to handle common vendor RAID setups like LSI, Adaptec, 3ware, etc.  I'm sure they have to have a clean room so that must be pricey in and of itself.

[Pugnate]

My uncle works in a data recovery company in the US.

But $1200? I guess that sounds expensive to us, but to a company that's probably an acceptable cost considering the money it would take to recreate similar data or something.

[scottws]

No, not $1,200.  12 thousand dollars!  I am still taken aback.

As a result of the issue we had, we are probably going to invest around $100,000 in backup.

[Pugnate]

I don't know why I wrote 1200... I understood it as 12 grand.

Again, that's a lot for an individual, but it is probably OK for a midsized company in the context of the bigger picture.

Like you said, they will have to invest ten times that just to bring their backup up to par.

The data backup and recovery company my uncle works for is one of the largest in the US. I really can't remember the name, but yea he said they have some huge clients that are charged more than that annually for backup.

Recently BP oil had a spill in the US and apparently the cost of cleaning it up will be at least 5 billion.

That sounds like a lot, and made me wonder if BP would survive. Turns out, 5 billion is merely a blip on their radar and they will be fine.

Again, twelve grand sounds a lot to employees, but for a company, that data is probably worth a lot more than that. I am sure they have cheaper options, but I guess they don't want to risk it.

[gpw11]

Recently BP oil had a spill in the US and apparently the cost of cleaning it up will be at least 5 billion.

That sounds like a lot, and made me wonder if BP would survive. Turns out, 5 billion is merely a blip on their radar and they will be fine.

Again, twelve grand sounds a lot to employees, but for a company, that data is probably worth a lot more than that. I am sure they have cheaper options, but I guess they don't want to risk it.

Well, BP is easily one of the top ten largest companies in the world (I'd guess top five).  They have been known to clear more than the cost of cleanup in a quarter - pure profit. Energy companies are generally always profitable, especially when dealing with oil, which requires payments before the actual transfer of goods (generally). The vast majority of the companies in the world are in a very different boat.  More than revenue or profit, staying alive in business is all about cash flow.  It doesn't seem like much money, but if the timing is wrong an unexpected $12K hit could possibly sink a lot of mid-sized businesses.  It's unlikely, but it is possible.

[scottws]

I don't know why I wrote 1200... I understood it as 12 grand.

Again, that's a lot for an individual, but it is probably OK for a midsized company in the context of the bigger picture.

Like you said, they will have to invest ten times that just to bring their backup up to par.

The data backup and recovery company my uncle works for is one of the largest in the US. I really can't remember the name, but yea he said they have some huge clients that are charged more than that annually for backup.

Recently BP oil had a spill in the US and apparently the cost of cleaning it up will be at least 5 billion.

That sounds like a lot, and made me wonder if BP would survive. Turns out, 5 billion is merely a blip on their radar and they will be fine.

Again, twelve grand sounds a lot to employees, but for a company, that data is probably worth a lot more than that. I am sure they have cheaper options, but I guess they don't want to risk it.

The company we are dealing with is Kroll Ontrack.  They seem to be pretty big, but I've never dealt with any others so I don't have a frame of reference.

[Pugnate]

Well, BP is easily one of the top ten largest companies in the world (I'd guess top five).  They have been known to clear more than the cost of cleanup in a quarter - pure profit. Energy companies are generally always profitable, especially when dealing with oil, which requires payments before the actual transfer of goods (generally). The vast majority of the companies in the world are in a very different boat.  More than revenue or profit, staying alive in business is all about cash flow.  It doesn't seem like much money, but if the timing is wrong an unexpected $12K hit could possibly sink a lot of mid-sized businesses.  It's unlikely, but it is possible.

You are right about the cashflow. I've seen a lot of leather related businesses here run into issues because of a loose part of the chain.