Tip for a data recovery from Iomega Prestige Hard Drive

Here is copy of the chat I had yesterday with iomega customer service. I thought it would be interesting for everyone to get a test of how safe data can be.

Before, I wanted to give you few more detail:

1 - The Iomega Prestige 1Tb was purchased on August 2009 and has not been responding I guess since October-November 2009I

2- The vendor has recognised the disk failure and is happy to replace it but no recovery for to the saved data;

3 - I do understand HD can fail and you should have more than 2 backups, in my case, unfortunately, the two backups failed.

4 - What I do not understand is : why iomega didn't answered earlier, why they never even tried to have a look at the HD and try to repair it AND why can't I at least have a discounted price for recovery as a gesture.

5 - With so many digital documents to backup, just think of all these precious pictures collected for many years - we do need to trust as much as possible backup storages. How did I choose this model, simply from a friend's recommendation. You only know the value of a product and the customer support when something goes wrong. Thanks god, not every iomega products fail. Actually, talking with IT expert friends, It was pointed to me the case of iomega Zip drives:

Looking at the Wikipedia: 'In 2006, PC World rated the Zip drive as the 15th worst technology product of all time'

Further, "Iomega also produced a line of internal and external recordable CD drives under the Zip brand in the late 1990s, called the ZipCD 650... Early models of ZipCD drives were rebadged Philips drives, which were also so unreliable that a class action lawsuit succeeded." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iomega_Zip_drive

You can read more about the class action and its settlement here on iomega website:

http://www.iomega.com/rinaldi/

You will notice - see here: http://personal.riverusers.com/~s/action.htm - that the class action started in 1997 regarding purchases between January 1, 1995 and March 19, 2001 - The original settlement dates March 2001 and the revised version May 2002!!!

That means that between 1995 and 2001, customers suffered from a faulty product while iomega refused to take its responsibilities for a class action to be initiated.

Now, I hope sensitive materials such these hard drives could be appropriately tested before commercializing and receive a ranking of quality from an independent body in order to allow the customer to make a wise decision of purchase.

UPDATE: after opening the Hard Drive a small loose piece was find, Could it be repaired?

I let you read the copy of my chat with iomega.

Claudio: Hi, my name is Claudio. How can I help you?

clarinette: Hi, I have already emailed you - I believe last week - also been contacted by your colleagues on Twitter without success.

clarinette: The external hard drive is dead - after only few months - the vendor is happy to replace it.

clarinette: Of course, as you can imagine this only very partly resolve my issue:

clarinette: 1- I have all my data and backups to recover - HOW?

Claudio: unfortunately we do not provide data recovery directly. You can contact our data recovery partner at http://www.iomegadatarecovery.com or alternatively you could go through a local company who provides this service.

clarinette: 2- how to trust a second Iomega product if it's to loose precious files I've been happy to spend money to protect

Claudio: every electronic device can fail, that does not depend on the brand or the specific model actually

clarinette: ok, I have to move to them now. Shame you didn't answered my previous email.

clarinette: you think then that backing up on iomega devices are by definition 'hasardous' and no recovery to envisage?

Claudio: every hard drive of whatever brand or model can fail suddenly with apparently no reason, that's why we always recommend to have a backup of the data and the reason why we sell backup solutions

clarinette: If I go 'through a local company who provides this service. ' would that be charged on me or iomega?

Claudio: I am sorry; warranty does not cover data loss.

clarinette: ' every hard drive of whatever brand or model can fail suddenly with apparently no reason, that's why we always recommend to have a backup of the data and the reason why we sell backup solutions' and the customer should be the only one to suffer from the failure.

Claudio: I am very sorry to hear of the problems you have experienced with your Iomega product and empathize with your data loss. I recognize that your data is priceless to you which is why Iomega, along with the computer industry stresses the importance of having a backup location for your critical data. If the unfortunate situation arises where data was stored only in one location, we do offer a data recovery service for a fee. You are also welcome to check with other data recovery services of your choice if you wish to have this service performed.

Claudio: At Iomega we pride ourselves in providing outstanding customer service to our customers. With millions of drives sold, we believe we have an outstanding track record in providing a very high quality product and excellent customer service and support. Iomega cannot, however, guarantee that no one will ever lose a file. Iomega makes plain in every statement of our warranties for all Iomega product sales that data loss is explicitly NOT covered by our warranty.

Claudio: Data recovery services are very expensive to provide, and are not built into the cost structure for each Iomega product, and indeed, the computer industry in general does not make any guarantee that you will never lose a file or lose any data once you buy a computer. For example, if your computer crashes and you lose a file from your Dell or Gateway computer, you cannot recover for data loss. Data recovery is an extra service performed by trained specialists, after studying the specific details in a particular data loss situation.

clarinette: Would you have any idea of how much it would cost me for the recovery by your colleagues you mentioned?

Claudio: sorry, I cannot tell, that depends on the damage, the machineries they have to use and the time they have to spend, you can ask a free evaluation though

Claudio: you can find all the contacts at http://europe.iomegadatarecovery.com/datarecoveryfaq-contactus.html

clarinette: This is a different link, does it replace the previous one? I have already sent a request to the first.

Claudio: that's the same company, it's just the direct link to the contact page

clarinette: Last question: Would they charge me as a iomega client victim under warranty or careless of the rapid failure of iomega product?

Claudio: I'm sorry, they are our partner but I don't know exactly which is their policy, I still confirm that the price will basically depend on the damage

clarinette: Ok, I'm going to talk to them.

clarinette: I guess I should thank you for your assistance.

Claudio: thanks for your understanding

Claudio: do you have any other question at the moment?

clarinette: oh, last point, yes, Do I have to give pack the faulty HD to get a new one? or can't I keep it for eventual recovery as I have been deprived of HD the last few months and now urgently need a new HD?

Claudio: yes, sorry, the unit must be returned for the replacement, there's the possibility to have an advance shipment but this service costs 23.80 euros

clarinette: Therefore, you are not offering your customers any hope of help on data recovery. Thanks

Claudio: the replacement can be still provided after you have recovered your data

clarinette: on their page, your colleagues mention: if need to open, no warranty, if no warranty no replacement isn't it?

Claudio: if you contact our data recovery partner the warranty will not be voided, even if you contact a local company and the you provide a data recovery documentation we can still replace the unit

clarinette: If I wanted to use the replaced iomega HD, how many mirrored hard drive should I need to secure the backups?

Claudio: a backup is "two or more up-to-date copies of your important data located on different disks."

Claudio: this is by definition, so at least two copies of the data, but in different disks

clarinette: I had two copies: for most data: one on my Vista desktop and the other on the iomega. I could not believe both would fail and the iomega failed after only a short time - I guess 3 months!!!

Claudio: sorry, this is a very unfortunate situation, actually that doesn't happen so often

Communication with the RightNow Live service has been lost. Please wait while attempts are made to restore the connection. (retry 1 of 47)

Connection resumed.