How to get started with Data Recovery?

Hello,

my basic question is, how do I best get stated with my own data recovery business?

What I did & What I know:

My name is Matthias, I offer IT Services and want to get also in the Data Recovery Business. I watched a lot of YouTube Videos (Data Medics: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLnYARrzMvRyRRXuSwhuCUw, Data Rescue Labs Inc.: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOok_Bwr9dqR1mq_BzqKOng, HDD Recovery Services: https://www.youtube.com/user/hddrecoveryservices, Louis Rossmann: https://www.youtube.com/user/rossmanngroup/featured) and read in forums like this one.

I found a great instruction from ruSolut on Nand recover (https://rusolut.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/VNRspecification.pdf and https://rusolut.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/VNRbook2.pdf). I had a look at Acelabs "First Steps in Data Recovery" (https://blog.acelaboratory.com/data-recovery-first-steps) and also asked for prices on training and hardware (ouch :shock: ).

I researched for data recovery tools like: https://www.r-studio.com/, https://www.ufsexplorer.com/de/, https://www.isobuster.com/de/, https://www.reclaime.com/default.aspx.

I know the basic structure of a HDD https://de.slideshare.net/codeblue_jp/cb16-shimogaito-en.

I know how to solder and also how to use a hot air solder station (just unsure about correct temperatures).


Where I need your help:

It feels like a big puzzle, of which I got moste of the pieces, but I'm not sure where to start with putting them together and where to look for the missing ones.

  1. How did you get into the data recovery business & what is your advice on getting started with data recovery?
  2. Which tools/companies would you recommend? (I read many times ACELab is the best (PC3000), are they also best in SSD and Flash recovery?)
  3. Which acquisition strategy worked best for you?
  4. Did you self teach yourself or bought expensive courses?
  5. Should I just start (learning by doing) or have Skill 1, 2, 3, ... bevor starting?
  6. Which CRM/MSP do you use?

I hope you can give me some advice, I'm looking forward to your replies.
Best wishes and stay healthy.

Matthias
 

Jared

Administrator
Staff member
1. A large investment into tools and equipment, months & months of reading everything I could find online on forums, in manuals, etc. Building connections with people in the business willing to do consulting for me when I got stuck.
2. PC-3000 is your starting point. The others will just need to be replaced in time when you want to get serious and actually solve more cases. Ace is generally the best in everything except for Flash (not SSDs but flash drives) which has a couple other good competitors.
3. Not sure I follow what you are asking here. You talking about getting customers?
4. Courses are all 100% useless, don't bother with them. Find someone willing to train you.
5. There aren't many meaningful prerequisites that'd be a lot of help beyond just a basic knowledge of computers and linux (which is handy at times). Best way to start learning is to buy up boxes of broken drives (not ones with customer data) and start trying to "recover" those as practice once you have the right tools like PC-3000. Then when you get actual cases, always consult with someone experienced to be sure the correct steps are followed.
6. I don't use any, but I keep my operation small by design. So haven't needed this.
 
Hey Jared,

thanks for you reply.

Jared":2b5upged said:
[post]17477[/post] 2. PC-3000 is your starting point. The others will just need to be replaced in time when you want to get serious and actually solve more cases. Ace is generally the best in everything except for Flash (not SSDs but flash drives) which has a couple other good competitors.

What would you recommend for Flash recovery? I heard of: http://flash-extractor.com/ and https://rusolut.com/. Any other companies I should consider for Flash recovery?

Jared":2b5upged said:
[post]17477[/post] 3. Not sure I follow what you are asking here. You talking about getting customers?

Sorry for my English, yes I was asking about how to get customers.

Jared":2b5upged said:
[post]17477[/post] 4. Courses are all 100% useless, don't bother with them. Find someone willing to train you.
You're taking trainees? ;) I'm sure I could also give something back.
 

Jared

Administrator
Staff member
FE is good, but has a major drawback that you have to pay the full price of the software every single year. VRN is a good system, but the company that sells it is HORRIBLE and will treat you like dirt: See my VNR Review Here

So, I'd probabaly still start with the Ace solution for flash, then get the others later on. Ace's system is definitely the easiest, but the reader itself doesn't always work so good. That's why it's good to have more than one system.

As to getting customers, that's the hard part. Early on, you probably will want to focus on all the computer repair businesses in your country and see if you can get some who will use your services to send out their customer's drives. But, ultimately, you'll want to have a strong web presence to get jobs in from Google. I now get like 90% of my work from Google organic searches, but it took years to get to that point. Plan on doing a fair amount of blogging, SEO, etc.

I've long been considering creating a proper training course, but not until after I retire from this business first :D
 

pclab

Moderator
My 2 cents:


[*]How did you get into the data recovery business & what is your advice on getting started with data recovery?
[*]Which tools/companies would you recommend? (I read many times ACELab is the best (PC3000), are they also best in SSD and Flash recovery?)
[*]Which acquisition strategy worked best for you?
[*]Did you self teach yourself or bought expensive courses?
[*]Should I just start (learning by doing) or have Skill 1, 2, 3, ... bevor starting?
[*]Which CRM/MSP do you use?[/list]

1: Also started as an IT guy, and after seeing many cases for recovery I started research and decided to invest in tools. My first (and wrong) purchase was Salvation Data tools ehehehe. After passed for all the others until I stopped at Ace PC3000 tools and I found it was finally the best decision.

2: As said before, PC3000 is the way to go. Don't look at the rest. About Flash I don't have my own experience about what's best. But I will also start to invest into Flash in the next few weeks/months.

3: contact local stores, companies that you do this kind of work and also make some good advertising on the Internet.

4: Mostly, as Jared said: reading, self training, exchanging solutions with other friends/colleagues. Training classes are expensive, although they can give you a good initial boost when you know nothing about the business.

5: same as 4 ehhehe

6: I use my own IT repair software. Nothing special.
 
Jared":22uwpatv said:
[post]17481[/post] FE is good, but has a major drawback that you have to pay the full price of the software every single year. VRN is a good system, but the company that sells it is HORRIBLE and will treat you like dirt: See my VNR Review Here

Thanks for linking to your VNR Review, I was thinking about getting their System, but probably will start with ACE then. I also didn't know that FEs Software has to be renewed every year.

@pclab Thank you for your answers, seems like the right way to go is investing into ACElab's tools and practice while doing SEO and building cooperations with other companies.
 
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