DriveSavers Data Recovery

How do you modernize decades of enterprise data—and where do you start?

Tape inventory is just one step. True modernization begins with data triage: discover what you have, determine what still matters, and prioritize what needs to remain accessible.

The compatibility window has narrowed across tape generations, shifting from broad backward access in earlier LTO systems to much tighter read support in modern drives.

The tapes may be intact. The question is: can you still access—and interpret—the data on them?

Read "The Asset Isn’t the Tape:
Protecting Historical Enterprise Knowledge" at the link in the first comment.

Andy Maus, Head of Cyber Recovery at DriveSavers, told the Financial Times that rather than prohibiting payment for an attack that has already happened, subsidized backup infrastructure or tax incentives for cybersecurity spending would do more to reduce the underlying exposure.

Organizations can't set tax policy, but they can document what an incident response would need before one happens. 5 things worth storing outside your primary systems.

Full article in the first comment.

The UK is advancing plans to ban ransomware payments for public sector organizations and critical national infrastructure providers. The asked DriveSavers whether that's the right call.

Andy Maus, Head of Cyber Recovery Services at DriveSavers, said it depends on whether restoring operations is technically possible. A ban makes sense when there's a viable alternative to paying the ransom. When a water utility doesn't have one, for example, the systems stay offline, and customers go without service.

This article goes into greater depth on DriveSavers Data Recovery's viewpoint, as developed from our direct experience working with customers who have been victims of attacks: https://drivesaversdatarecovery.com/press-coverage/to-pay-or-not-to-pay-drivesavers-weighs-in-after-being-quoted-in-the-financial-times/

Financial Times Asks DriveSavers to Weigh In on Ransomware Payment Bans Quoted in the Financial Times, DriveSavers explains why blanket ransomware payment bans can backfire, and what years of ransomware data recovery casework show.

When ransomware strikes, there's no one-size-fits-all answer.

The Financial Times published an in-depth analysis this week on whether governments should ban ransomware payments. Our head of cyber recovery services, Andy Maus, was quoted making a critical point: blanket bans could cause more harm than they prevent.

Here's why it matters: payment decisions aren't one-size-fits-all. They belong between an organization and its legal counsel, informed by the specifics of that breach.

What data was stolen? Does it involve HIPAA or PII? Can all necessary critical data be recovered without payment? These are the questions that should guide the decision—not a blanket prohibition.

Read the full Financial Times analysis in the comments below.

A ransomware attack hit a law firm's production systems and its backups in the same strike. The SQL Server databases were encrypted, and the Veeam files holding its restore points were damaged.
With no working backups left, the firm faced extended downtime and permanent data loss.

They did not pay the attackers. DriveSavers data recovery engineers rebuilt the damaged backups remotely, with the data never leaving the firm's site, and recovered the SQL Server databases.

How each layer was reconstructed, and how much came back, is in the full case study at the link in the first comment.

Most people assume iCloud is backing up their phone. It may not be.

Backups can stop without any notification — insufficient storage, no Wi-Fi connection, or an iOS update that interrupted the schedule. The toggle being on does not mean backups are completing.

We saw this firsthand when a customer brought in a fire-damaged iPhone 12 Pro Max. His last successful backup was 13 months old. He had no idea.

The last successful backup date is visible at Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup.

Read the full story of this customer's data recovery at the link in the comments.

James's iPhone 12 Pro Max fell into a bonfire in Mexico. By the time he noticed and pulled it out, the screen had separated from the body, and the casing had turned black. He burned his fingers on the metal grabbing it from the fire.

He didn't realize his last iCloud backup was 13 months old. Every photo and video from the trip was on that device, as were the files for a business he'd just started.

Find out what it took for DriveSavers to get his data back at the link in the comments.