I came to me while reading (and responding) to a few posts recently that there is an untapped market for DR. ****NOT SERIOUS****

Pay as You Go DR

The idea is simple. The client would register on a website to request service and input a credit card number. After waiting in a queue for hours they would be picked up by the next available "tech".
The tech would walk the client through the recovery over the phone or IM.
For Head transplant operations a webcam would be required.

The services get billed by the minute.

If the recovery fails, it can be blamed on the client being inept.

Imagine 30 employees all answering these calls all day long for people who would like to DIY. Since it is scripted diagnostics, you could use minimum wage workers.
Anyone have any ideas to make it better?

it called remote recovery
software problems are doable, others - not

Here is an example how we doing it - http://www.i365.com/data-recovery/remote-recovery.html

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SAN, NAS, RAID, Server, and HDD Data Recovery.

While we have never marketed a product we have done quite a few logical recoveries remotely. I was hoping to capitalize on the minimum wage workers and internal repairs. j/k

BTW Doomer, I now see why you are "The Seagate guy"

Well, there are some down to earth problems and questions, when it comes to remote recovery. (If we are taking it seriously)....
First, how to overcome the basic problem? Usually the process for normal logical recovery is- We perform recovery on the the drive and recovers the data on our local disk. Create a list of files names and their preview. Handle that to client to verify it thoroughly. Then, if client satisfies, and says it's the data he wanted, we charge him -take the payment and copy the recovered data to DVD/HDD and handles him the media.

Now, let's take the remote recovery example. There are two basic approaches to do a recovery remotely. First is, install the main software on our side and say the customer to (sitting in another country) install only the required module (console application) to support the main software. Or the second is, grab the client's desktop remotely, install the software on his machine and perform recovery. Now the practical problems are-
If we take the first way, where will we put the recovered files? If we will put the recovering data on our local disk, the process will take impractically large amount of time -no matter, how fast your internet access is, copying hundreds GB of data over the internet (especially some data being recovered by a software) is a pain. And if, put the files to client's local disk, then it becomes more complicated. In this way, client will be having all the data being recovered on his local disk. So, he may deny to pay at any point of time. He can say, it's not the data he wanted. Or he could simply refuse. And, when it comes to internationally, Legal Agreements or any such thing is a waste.

In another situation, if grab the client's desktop and perform the whole recovery on that, it generates more burden. The above problems are already there, plus -The client will be seeing all the procedure of the recovery. And this is something, which at least I don't want to let happen.

Oh, and yes...Charging him advance (like credit card number or such thing) will not work also. Without the surety of his data, no one will be brave enough to handover the cash to the firm. Not just because of fraudulent worries, but also headache of returning the money in case of unsuccessful recovery -for us too.

So, any practical solutions?
And Doomer, How do you handle that?

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I just hate spammers...It was a Spammer, who ruined my life!

I think its a pretty terrible idea! You could not charge for any labour involved, which is actually the most profitable part. this is dependant on customers knowledge of parts and if and when they needed. Also, there could be mis-disgnosis on customers parts, as well as potnetial mis diagnosis by the tech. Trade secrets would be given away. And how can you accurately explain to a customer how to seperate heads correctly? Even top DR techs still have problems with certian disks and certain scenarios. There are so many small DR outfits who make mistakes that I end up rectifying, if so called competant DR outfits can make these mistakes, failure is almost inevitable with your average customers.

This really a idea you are looking into doing???

Sounds like a bunch of bullshit myself. The whole point of sending something somerwhere to be fixed is to have someone who is trained do the work

You dont take your own appendix out while on the phone to a surgeon and you dont repair a car yourself while having a web chat with your local garage.

People who come up with ideas like this are complete idiots and should not be allowed to breed. This is the type of mongaloid thinking that leads to perfectly recoverable drive being completley unrecoverable.

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The last I heard of God he was worshiping me

If you look good at the first post, there is written "NOT SERIOUS".
He just wanted to laugh with the people who want to do the recoveries themselves with home-made equipment.

Dobre

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Murphy was an optimist

Datarecovery in Belgium, Holland, France and Germany
Datarecoverytools http://www.drtools.eu

hddguy, Boo!

oops, guess i missed this bit

I would like to make a public apology about my rant previously. My thoughts are still the same but I missed the not serious bit. I apologise to you all.

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The last I heard of God he was worshiping me

In some or most of the scenario's customers never have another PC or system or Laptop to do IM/Chat/WebCam kinda setup. Most of the home based customers which is large in number would not tend for this idea(mostly go with the telephonic conv'n which does not give results). Yes if its corporate level then its a good idea still at large limited to SW DR.
This is a what I could find myself hands on difficulty to do remote DR and many are not really comfortable to do a guided DIY due to lack of awareness though its scripted/spoon fed articles of procedure.

Measure of technology
Depth of thought
A Mirage of Universe

sillyminds