Sea-Front or Action-gate

June 25, 2005

Seagate Technologies' web site now indicates the company offers data recovery services. Further investigation shows the shipping address, the place to send your subject drive for data recovery service, actually belongs to ActionFront Data Recovery. Many may already be aware of this little tidbit, to others it may be a surprise.

When asked about their arrangement Seagate's Mike Hall responded, "The services are in trials with a limited number of customers at this time so, as with any other Seagate beta program, there's little we can share about them other than what appears on our web site." ActionFront's Ron Austin responded with a simple, "No comment". So much for gathering facts.

Hard disk drives wear-out by nature, a percentage fail prematurely, their storage content can be corrupted and often consumers neglect or are unaware of their responsibility to backup the data. Messages posted in forums and other comments I've received suggest that those who experience drive failures, place the blame for failure on the drive manufacturer. Subsequent occurrences almost always result in a "black-ball the brand" attitude by consumers. These people are not happy at the prospect of spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to recover data. It's doubtful that a hard drive manufacturer offering such services will be well received.

Until this recent change hard drive manufacturers have not offered the service, presumably for liability reasons. Hence, the birth of the data recovery service industry. ActionFront is an industry leader that has, over the years, expanded at a fast pace. They are technically capable and have surpassed many competitors. They are also, quite obviously, veracious sales and marketing experts. I've always held the belief that if drive manufacturers offered data recovery services it would kill the independent shops. Kudos to ActionFront for such a prestigious achievement, with one caveat. It's always dangerous for a mouse to sleep with a lion.

Any hard disk drive manufacturer would be more qualified to perform data recovery services than an independent firm. They certainly have the knowledge, equipment and technology necessary. Why would Seagate need, or want, to align themselves with any data recovery service company? Is this arrangement profitable for Seagate? Does Seagate get access to competitive technology with this arrangement? Could this be a prelude to a Seagate buyout of ActionFront? If there is no intent to purchase ActionFront, will this adversely affect Seagate in the long-run? Does ActionFront just have an excellent inside connection with Seagate? If ActionFront does have an excellent inside connection with Seagate, what technologies or information has Seagate provided to ActionFront that other data recovery shops don't have access to? No comments and limited responses do allot to raise questions not to mention suspicion.

Some may feel that this union brings a certain amount of legitimacy to the data recovery service industry. That may be true from one point-of-view. From another point-of-view Seagate stands to lose goodwill if consumers perceive the company as taking advantage of them. There is no foreseeable benefit to the consumer, as there is no apparent motivation for ActionFront to reduce prices or improve service as a result of the alliance. For now there is only one clear winner, and that's ActionFront.

Richard K. Myers Owner/Webmaster http://www.data-recovery-hub.com

---

PARLOT.COM: Turnkey Money Making websites

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery - Reducing Your Risk Profile

Like all plans, there is an ultimate goal to achieve.... Read More

How To Limit Hard Drive Data Recovery Costs

With the value on information rising day by day, one... Read More

Do I Really Need To Backup?

Okay, computers a machine, right? Okay, maybe not yours. You... Read More

How to Survive an Operating System Crash

"We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows could not be... Read More

Data Recovery - What Not to Do!

Data recovery is a tricky thing, and if you've somehow... Read More

Data Backups ? One Key to Business Survival

Your customer data is a precious resource that can literally... Read More

Avoiding Hard Disk Data Recovery Services

As a home computer owner, one of the greatest threats... Read More

Computer Data Recovery Options

Losing files on your computer can be a frightening experience... Read More

Big Time Disaster Recovery Solutions Available for the Little Guy

There was a time - not too long ago -... Read More

When Disaster Strikes: How Long Would Your Business Survive if Files On Your Computer Disappeared?

A Tornado? In Birmingham? In The United Kingdom? Unthinkable!Yes, in... Read More

The Importance of Data Backups

All computers and their components are subject to failure. In... Read More

How to Effectively Back Up Your Data

What to backup, and what to loseThe oldest "computer expression"... Read More

Offsite Data Backup Not Just for Fortune 500 Companies Anymore

In today's high paced digital world there is a very... Read More

Bill Gates Made Data Recovery Easy

Bill gates provided a ready made option in Microsoft windows,... Read More

Backup Schmackup: Im Afraid, Very Afraid!

"Why should you be afraid?", I can hear you ask.I... Read More

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery - Selecting A Business Continuity Strategy

The risk analysis and business impact analysis have identified risks... Read More

I Lost It! Simple Guide To Recovering Corrupted Images And Files

WinUndelete http://www.deprice.com/winundelete.htmWinUndelete? is an easy to use undelete software utility... Read More

Backup Your Data Or Lose Your Life!

Oh the perils of collecting those precious photos on your... Read More

How To Use Spyware Elimination Software

Spyware elimination software is designed to detect and eliminate spyware.... Read More

Data Backup for Beginners

It's 10pm. Do you know where your data is?Data. Small... Read More

Do You Have The One Key Ingredient Necessary For Disaster Recovery?

It is not rocket science, we all know that we... Read More

Comparing Data Recovery Software

Software programmers recognize the importance of data files, and thankfully,... Read More

The Importance Of Email Backup

Viruses, software failures, power failures, human errors, hard drive failures... Read More

Are The Words Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning Rolling Off Your Lips?

It might be more fun to talk about those free... Read More

5 Simple Tips to Prevent MS Access Database Corruption

It's important to understand that any time an Access client... Read More