DriveSavers is one of the leading data recovery companies in the world. Founded in 1985, DriveSavers specializes in recovering lost data from failed hard drives, smartphones, tablets, and other storage devices. The company is known for its ability to recover data even from severely damaged drives with innovative techniques in their state-of-the-art cleanroom facilities.
Based in California, DriveSavers offers data recovery services for consumers and businesses of all sizes. They recover data from all types of storage devices that have been damaged physically or suffered logical failures. With over 30 years of experience, DriveSavers uses proprietary techniques to maximize the chance of recovering lost files and has maintained an industry-leading recovery rate.
Founding
DriveSavers was founded in 1985 by CEO Jay Hagan and former company President Scott Gaidano near the dawn of the personal computer era https://drivesaversdatarecovery.com/company/about-us/. The company began operating out of Novato, California as one of the first data recovery services focused on recovering data from personal computer storage devices. Hagan and Gaidano saw the need for data recovery services with the rise of personal computing and founded DriveSavers to meet that need.
Early History
DriveSavers was founded in 1985 by Jay Hagan and Scott Gaidano, former executives at Jasmine Technologies, operating initially out of Gaidano’s condo with just $1,400 in startup funds (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DriveSavers). The company focused on data recovery services, aiming to help individuals and businesses recover lost data from failed storage devices. DriveSavers opened its first data recovery lab in Greenbrae, CA and quickly expanded to a dedicated facility in Novato, CA by 1989.
In the early 1990s, DriveSavers pioneered techniques for recovering data from physically damaged drives and expanded from mainly consumer clients to serving more small and medium businesses. By the mid-1990s, the company had over 50 employees and data recovery labs in California, New York, Texas and Germany to provide services globally. DriveSavers continued to invest in R&D and new techniques for recovering data from increasingly complex storage devices and failures.
Acquisition by Ontrack
In February 2003, Ontrack acquired DriveSavers for an undisclosed amount. Ontrack, based in Minnesota at the time, was one of the leading providers of data recovery and electronic discovery services. DriveSavers had established itself as a top provider of data recovery services for consumers and businesses. The acquisition allowed Ontrack to expand its service offerings and geographic reach on the West Coast where DriveSavers was based (“Old KLDiscovery”). According to Enterprise Storage Forum, the purchase price and terms were not disclosed publicly, but DriveSavers operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Ontrack after the acquisition (Enterprise Storage Forum).
Operations Under Ontrack
In 2002, DriveSavers was acquired by Ontrack Data Recovery, an international provider of data recovery services founded in 1985 [1]. Under Ontrack, DriveSavers expanded its services and opened additional locations around the world.
Some key changes after the acquisition included:
- Launching capabilities to recover data from SSDs and flash drives
- Adding remote data recovery options
- Expanding into new regions like Europe and Asia
- Opening a large engineering and ransomware lab in Minnesota to service U.S. clients
By acquiring DriveSavers, Ontrack gained an established brand and expertise in mechanical hard drive recovery. Together, the companies were able to provide more comprehensive data recovery services globally.
Spin-Off as Independent Company
In 2007, DriveSavers spun off from its parent company Ontrack to once again become an independent company DriveSavers: Data Recovery Experts & Service Company. This was done to allow DriveSavers to focus entirely on data recovery, while Ontrack focused on providing data recovery software and services to corporate clients.
As an independent company, DriveSavers was led by CEO Scott Gaidano. In 2011, Gaidano purchased the company through a management buyout to gain full ownership of DriveSavers NY Times: E.R. for Hard Drives. This gave Gaidano and DriveSavers more flexibility to expand its data recovery services and operations globally.
Today, DriveSavers continues to be privately held with Gaidano as the CEO and primary owner. Under his leadership, the company has expanded to offer industry-leading data recovery services for all types of storage devices and operating systems.
Recent History
Since becoming an independent company again in 2011, DriveSavers has expanded its data recovery services and locations. Some key events include:
In 2012, DriveSavers opened a new engineering and technical support center in Memphis, Tennessee to provide 24/7 technical support (DriveSavers Rescues P&H Creative Group’s 100-Year …). The facility has class 100 cleanroom capabilities for advanced recovery of solid state drives and mobile devices.
In 2015, DriveSavers launched its first directly operated facility outside the United States, in Ontario, Canada (DriveSavers – Wikipedia). This expanded data recovery services for Canadian customers.
As of 2023, DriveSavers operates data recovery labs and cleanrooms throughout the United States (California, New York, Washington D.C., Texas) and in Canada. The company has continued expanding its capabilities, now offering services for RAID, NAS, SAN arrays, removable media, tape and backup systems, mobile devices, and more (About DriveSavers Data Recovery Services).
DriveSavers reports completing over 400,000 successful recoveries for customers as of 2015, including recovering data from a disk drive that sat at the bottom of the Columbia River for over a year (DriveSavers – Wikipedia). The company continues promoting itself as an industry leader in difficult and complex data recovery cases.
Current Ownership
DriveSavers is currently owned and operated as an independent company after being spun off from Ontrack in 2015 (About DriveSavers). The company is led by a veteran executive team with decades of data recovery experience.
DriveSavers’ CEO is Michael Hall (LinkedIn), who previously served as the company’s Chief Operating Officer. Hall has been with DriveSavers since 2003 and took over as CEO in 2015 when the company became independent again.
Other key executives include Chris Bross who serves as Chief Operating Officer (LinkedIn), and Amy Feldman as Chief Financial Officer (LinkedIn). The leadership team brings deep expertise in data recovery and drives the company’s mission to be the worldwide leader in data recovery solutions.
Services and Operations Today
DriveSavers currently offers a wide range of data recovery services for all types of storage devices and operating systems. They have capabilities to recover data from hard drives, solid state drives, smartphones, tablets, operating systems like Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and more. Some of their specialty services include:
- Hard Drive Data Recovery
- RAID Data Recovery
- Solid State Drive Data Recovery
- Encrypted Data Recovery
- Tape Data Recovery
- Smartphone Data Recovery
- Tablet Data Recovery
- Forensic Data Recovery
DriveSavers operates data recovery labs in Novato, California and Minneapolis, Minnesota to service customers across the United States. They also work with businesses and individuals globally by providing remote data recovery where customers can ship devices to the labs for analysis and recovery. Some of their notable business clients include NASA, Tesla, Google, Lucasfilm, Cisco, Oracle, and many more large enterprises and government agencies.
Conclusion
In summary, DriveSavers was founded independently in 1985 by Scott Gaidano and Jay Hagan. The company operated independently for over a decade before being acquired by data recovery firm Ontrack in 2000. DriveSavers continued to operate as a subsidiary of Ontrack for the next 14 years. Then, in 2014, Ontrack spun off DriveSavers once again into an independent, privately held company. Today, DriveSavers operates as one of the leading data recovery services in the industry, providing specialized capabilities to recover lost data from failed hard drives, SSDs, RAID arrays, removable media, and more. The company is still privately held, with leadership from veterans like CEO Scott Gaidano who have been with DriveSavers since the beginning.