fzabkar wrote:
@R2D2_WD, could you please tell us in what capacity you are employed by or represent WD?
Could you explain why Western Digital does not offer its own internal data recovery service, but prefers to rely on independent external service providers?
Could you also tell us what constitutes a WD "partner"?
IIUC, WD's "partners" are not provided with spare parts by WD, nor are they given access to WD's internal technical documentation or factory diagnostic tools. Instead these "partners" have to source their components from the secondhand market, their hardware tools from various external manufacturers, and their software tools from third parties who develop them from stolen, leaked, or reverse engineered information (that observation comes from a Seagate employee involved in data recovery).
By way of analogy, let's consider a car manufacturer with a network of "partners" (aka dealers). If I take my car to one of these dealerships, I know that it will be serviced with new factory parts, and I can be confident that the people who work on my car have been trained to a minimum standard by a recognised and accredited educational institution. Moreover, these professionals will most likely have attended seminars provided by the manufacturer whenever new products are released. They will have access to the manufacturer's diagnostic tools, both hardware and software, and they will have full factory service manuals.
Now let's compare this professional arrangement to what exists in the data recovery game. We have a network of "partners", none of whom have a recognisable data recovery certification (because none exist). They learned their trade by practising on cars in their backyards until they decided they were good enough to go into business. These people go scrounging for their spare parts in wrecking yards because the car manufacturers only service cars by replacing them, during the warranty period, with refurbished vehicles. What's more, they can never be certain that a spare part from one vehicle will work in another because the manufacturer can't, or won't, tell them. Instead they have to rely on experimentation, trial and error, or consultation with other partners. Their manuals, if they have any, are provided by third parties who have developed them after stripping down a vehicle into its component parts.
Hi, fzabkar
Data recovery requires, as you probably know better than most people, in depth knowledge of partitions, file systems and formats. And these all vary by OS. Data Recovery companies have in depth knowledge of this type of stuff, so it is better to rely on a proven company with some experience on the field. Data Recovery partners can vary. WD works with some of the largest data recovery companies to help them understand how our drives work, providing information about the physical specs of the drives, which is handy when trying to help with recovery.
These companies have to send an application of their recovery room specs such as the level of clean room they have, etc. After the application is approved, they appear on the list on the WD web site. In other words, Western Digital selects and approves those data recovery companies and works alongside them when it comes to new technologies, new drives, etc.
Going back to your first question. I am an official WD representative.
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