i365 is a subdivision of Seagate, the famous hard drive manufacturer. This is a plus because they might possess advanced proprietary data recovery tools made by Seagate. One of these tools is called SignalTrace (http://www.actionfront.com/ts_whitepaper.aspx) I scanned through the PDF and it looks legitimate. When my Seagate Barracuda was not being recognized by BIOS, I knew I needed the help of the data recovery company. Since this was my first experience with data loss, I Googled the most well known company in NYC (where I live). I sent my drive to WeRecoverData.com I was sent a quote of $1900. After 2 weeks, they emailed me to inform that the data recovery failed and charged a $270 materials fee. (See my detailed review) My second choice was DriveSavers. A phone call was required to start a case. The quote was $1400. I sent my drive and received a phone call the next day informing me that the drive was too severely damaged for data recovery. They sent the drive back free. Third time's a charm. I sent my drive to i365 (Chicago lab). Upon receiving the drive, a senior case manager in Ontario emailed me a quote of $4200. The quote was significantly higher because i365 has a policy of increasing the recovery fee if the drive was previously opened by another party. Since WeRecoverData.com and DriveSavers both opened the drive (and left permanent stickers on them), my quote was probably increased by $2000. I agreed to the quote. I figured it was a long shot since 2 other companies failed to recovery anything. After 2 weeks, the case manager emailed to say that the recovery process was complete and that data from the partitions I specified has been recoverted. She then asked whether or not I would like to give the lab 4-5 more days to make a complete data recovery. I agreed. After 5 days, the case manager called and emailed me the lists of good and bad files. (Each partition had its own folder and in each folder text files listing good, bad, zero-byte, no-access files.) She suggested that I check the bad files lists and make sure all critical files were recovered. They were. I then paid through credit card on their SSL website. When the payment went through, the lab started preparing the data to a free Maxtor OneTouch external HD. It was sent 2 days later UPS Next Day Business. I received it along with my Barracuda (it will my new living room centerpiece). In conclusion, i365 actually does what it was meant do: recover data. The case manager was friendly and professional. The lab technicians were extremely competent (as they saved my data.) All through the process I checked daily to see the data recovery process updated. My quote was higher than normal because I made the mistake of not sending it to them first. I strongly believe that SignalTrace was the reason they were able to save my data. I highly recommend i365. Yet I hope never to have to use them again because I've learned to backup now.

5 / 5

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