According ReStor, an estimated 80,000 drives fail every month in the country, while their warranty is still active.
ReStor, a unit of dStor Technologies Pvt Ltd, has launched what it is calling the ‘first facility for the test and repair of hard disk drives and solid-state drives’ in India, based out of Gurgaon, Delhi-NCR. An ISO-9001:2008 certified lab, the ReStor HDD and SSD recertification/refurbishment initiative serves several clients, from OEMs to warranty/AMC providers and end-users, in the current scenario of expensive hard drives, reduced warranties and restrictive trade tariffs. It also aims to help the green cause by facilitating reduction of e-waste.
The ReStor is an entrepreneurial venture of storage industry veteran Sharad Srivastava, former Country Manager India for both WD and Seagate. According to Srivastava, presently most in-warranty faulty drives are exported out of the country for repair, while out-of-warranty drives are largely junked. This puts a heavy eco-burden on a rapidly growing sub-segment of electronics hardware, and is considered a time consuming, expensive and restrictive practice.
This also presents a huge potential business for the ReStor initiative, says Srivastava, “Locally available refurbishment/recertification facility will enable storage manufacturers to considerably reduce the buffer inventory required in India to service their customers and bring down the cost of warranty support. While AMC providers, and systems integrators will be able to cut down on support cost beyond manufacturer warranty. Not all faulty drives are junk, ReStor can help provide substantial financial value to manufacturers and AMC providers from these services.”
Srivastava added, “The hard disk drive is one of the most fragile items in the computer, requiring extreme care in handling and protection from shock, vibration and electrostatic discharge. Among other reasons, the complex requirements of the repair process and the lack of scale resulted in a situation that no facility came up in India for the test and repair of HDDs. Now, with the scenario fast changing, we have set up the first fully equipped centre for the purpose.”
As a tip to service and support personnel handling drives, Srivastava said, “We request all users and service engineers to treat faulty drives also with care just like new drives to minimize handling related damage and increasing chances of restoration or recovery.” He revealed that test runs at his centre have enabled them to revive up to 50 percent of the defective drives received. Drives can be repaired/refurbished for roughly 40 percent of the cost of new units. A 90-day warranty will also be provided.
Elaborating on his plans for the new initiative, Srivastava added, “Our first test and repair facility in the NCR has just gone on stream. We expect to be servicing about 10,000 drives per month within the next 9 to 12 months at this facility, after which we will take the lab to other key metros.”
ReStor offers a variety of services related to rehabilitation of drives/data, including: repair and restoration, data recovery, reverse logistics, customized support for field-returns, RMA management and, secure-erase, etc. The facility incorporates a completely sterile clean room type environment with electro-static discharge (ESD) safe set-up, a combination of indigenously developed testing bays/racks and imported diagnostics jigs, and is backed by a highly trained, experienced technical team. More details on ReStor services can be found on http://www.Restor.Co