Success with Remote Data Recovery™

Data loss can happen to anyone and usually without warning. Remote Data Recovery™ service uses patented technology and trained engineers to allow us to recover data right on your server, desktop or laptop through an Internet connection or a modem. Remote Data Recovery is an excellent option especially for server recoveries because there is no need to dismantle and ship your drive or hardware in for service – which can be very challenging for server recoveries due to security and shipping costs. It also eliminates shipping time which is of the essence when a server is inaccessible.
This article will highlight specifics surrounding instances in which Remote Data Recovery (RDR®) saved the day.
Success Story #1A scheduled data migration to new equipment presented a challenge to IT staff. After the equipment was successfully installed, a migration of user data was started. During the migration, a bug in the destination server's operating system caused the source and destination volumes to become corrupt, making the user data inaccessible. The failed migration happened over the weekend and users had to have their critical files accessible by Monday morning.
Remote Data Recovery was the only option due to time and shipping concerns. While this organization did have a backup, it was weeks old and had limited value. The client had to have the original data recovered.
Success Story #2
A mid-sized enterprise had a rapidly growing storage pool on a SAN system. The user's area was regularly increased on an as needed basis. Using the SAN storage management software, additional storage was added to the user area. While expanding the Logical Unit Number (LUN) the user volume became corrupt and was inaccessible. The storage administrator could not determine what had caused the problem; a full diagnosis of the hard drives inside of the SAN was started. After two days of running the SAN through lengthy tests, it was concluded that the hardware was sound. The volume was still inaccessible and the only options were to reformat the user volume and restore from backup or engage a professional data recovery company. This enterprise chose Ontrack Data Recovery because of the Remote Data Recovery service. Remote Data Recovery engineers discovered that the Logical Volume Management database had become corrupted and that some file system damage had been sustained. Engineers worked around the clock to piece the original volume back together and then copied out the data to another SAN volume.
While ideal for servers, Remote Data Recovery is also ideal for other media ranging from flash drives to floppy drives to desktops and laptops. This next success story outlines how RDR was able to recover multiple laptop users’ data quickly.
Success Story #3 An untested login script was accidentally released to the user groups. This login script started a reinstall of the operating system from core install images. Users logged in Monday morning only to have to wait for an unusually long time to complete the login process. Users quickly discovered that all their data was missing.
This script affected 300 users. The IT department was overwhelmed with angry users. This enterprise engaged Ontrack Data Recovery immediately and chose the Remote Data Recovery™ service because of the logistical nightmare it would be to send all of the laptops in.
The recovery consisted of a three-phased effort for each user's laptop: 1) recover original data from the newly reinstalled operating system, 2) search the entire media for specific files that were not found in phase one, 3) search the entire drive for Microsoft Outlook Personal Store (PST) files.
The IT department was able to get 30 laptops connected at one time and domestic and international engineers worked to complete the recovery within four days.
Remote Data Recovery can truly be an around the clock service. Ontrack Data Recovery can utilize our domestic and International locations to complete remote jobs quickly and efficiently.
We’ve outlined how RDR can help solve data loss situations, but how does Remote Data Recovery really work? Here is a behind the scenes look at how we utilize Remote Data Recovery to recover lost data.
Ontrack Remote Data Recovery consists of three main components:
1) Communications Client – The customer initiates a connection to an Ontrack Data Recovery RDR Server using the specially designed RDR QuickStart™ software. The software is available in a form native to your operating system and also in a self-booting diskette for situations in which the operating system is not bootable. After initiating the application the customer selects the mode of communication, which can include a direct modem or Internet connection.
2) RDR Server – Once the connection is established to the Ontrack Data Recovery Server it is distributed to the next available Remote Data Recovery engineer in any of our worldwide locations.
3) RDR Workstation – A specially designed application allows the RDR engineer to run advanced data recovery tools on the computer system that lost data. Before beginning the recovery process, the engineer enables proprietary technologies that track and backup all changes that will be made to the system. This process provides the engineer with the ability to complete the recovery “virtually” before any changes are made to the system. Any changes made can be reversed or modified in order to provide the most complete recovery possible.
With security identified as a major concern, Remote Data Recovery implements several secure elements to help keep your data safe. Remote Data Recovery uses Port80 TCP/UDP and the client software initiates the connection, not Ontrack Data Recovery. Ontrack Data Recovery also uses proprietary communication protocol and packets in which the packets are encrypted using your IE encryption libraries.
So whether you have a single flash drive with family vacation photos or a server filled with thousands of user’s files (like the success story below), Remote Data Recovery can help you get access to your data again.
Success Story #4During a scheduled firmware update of all servers, storage controllers, and backup tape library machines a large enterprise's Microsoft® Exchange server became corrupted and inaccessible. This organization did have a regular backup schedule, yet the most recent backup was corrupted. This server was one of four servers that handled user's email. The Exchange Information Store contained 3,000 user mailboxes, including many that were of the executive staff, and it was over a hundred gigabytes in sizes.
Onsite technicians started an Information Store repair utility and it had been operating for days with no end in sight. By the end of the 3rd day users were demanding their archived messages. This organization decided to engage Ontrack Data Recovery because they were running out of time.
Initially Remote Data Recovery was started to analyze the Information Store. However due to hardware issues, the IT staff requested onsite staff. One of Ontrack Data Recovery's Remote Data Recovery engineers traveled to the site. During the travel time, the analysis provided by Remote Data Recovery continued on and this was able to give the onsite engineer a jump on the recovery efforts.
Within 15 hours of the engineer arriving, user mailboxes were begun to be copied out. Over the next two days of around the clock service, all of the mailboxes were delivered back to the users. These results show how important it is to engage professional data recovery services early on in the disaster.