jim@hop.toad.com (Jim Joyce) (02/02/88)
Typing rm * on UNIX systems need not mean the removed files are gone forever. The Gawain Group has a Data Rescue Service which, given readable media, can reclaim data on the free list with actual loss kept as low as less than one half of one percent. Sometimes data recovery can be 100% successful, if conditions are right. We talked one client through a recovery that involved gluing together data from two tar tapes to make a complete tar file from which the needed files could be recovered. However, the service does not guarantee recovery of the data. Data loss occurs because someone took a gamble and didn't have proper backups. We can help, but we can't recover what is truly gone. The client who does not have a readable backup has already gambled with the data. We don't know how they've thrown the dice: we just try to read the spots. The Data Rescue Service can be reached from 9 am - 5 pm, Pacific Time, at 415/626-7581. An answering machine is checked outside those hours for emergency calls. Jim Joyce and Bob Nystrom, who developed the software for the service, are giving a paper about the Data Rescue Service at Usenix in Dallas.