Is it common for smaller data recovery businesses to outsource services that are outside of their capability (ex head replacement, platter exchange, flood damaged drives, etc.)? If so, do most of these smaller companies advertise this outsourcing or do they just do it and remain mum? In my personal opinion advertising the outsourcing company ahead of time is the best course of action, but I am just curious on how it is routinely done.
An ex colleague of mine takes in a lot of the more complicated outsourced data recovery work from different UK companies - they invariably do not want the wider public to know this.
From the perspective of the chain of custody, I don't know how you could legally withhold information related to outsourcing even if you didn't advertise the fact. And I'm not sure how you could hide this from your customers unless you are willing to gamble that nothing bad could happen.
As an example, suppose someone sends me a system to be imaged for a legal case and the drive is DOA. If I send it out to a data recovery firm without first clearing this with my client and client counsel, and the media is damaged, lost or stolen, what is going to be my explanation?
IMHO when you are dealing with potential evidence, decisions such as this must be left to the owner of the data or media, not to me.
I think the OP was more in the line for traditional data recovery rather than forensics. For forensic DR I would expect a statement from who ever had done the work..
I think the OP was more in the line for traditional data recovery rather than forensics. For forensic DR I would expect a statement from who ever had done the work..
Even so, in the US, where litigation runs wild, I would not accept a job doing data recovery unless my contract spelled out very clearly that I reserved the right to rely on third parties when I deemed it necessary, and what the limits of my liability were if I did.
In the UK it may be different.
We have some computer shops and small data recovery businesses that outsource their physical recoveries to our lab. They do not want the public to be aware of this fact. Since we keep this confidential to protect our clients and our partners I can not comment more on this, other then saying that most businesses want to keep this private and quiet.