India’s first facility for the test and repair of hard disk drives and solid-state drives came into being with the launch of a, ISO-9001:2008 certified lab, ReStor, in Delhi-NCR. 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.
Started as a unit of dStor Technologies Pvt Ltd, the entrepreneurial venture of storage industry veteran Sharad Srivastava, the ReStor HDD and SSD recertification/refurbishment initiative aims to help the green cause by facilitating reduction of e-waste, provide more consumer choice with an economically priced segment, and enable warranty/AMC service providers cut down their support cost. Sharad Srivastava, the founder-Director of dStor Technologies said, “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 Electro Static 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.”
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, not to mention being time consuming, expensive and a restrictive practice. Moreover, all major HDD manufacturers have reduced the warranty period on desktop and mobile drives in recent years.
According to estimates by analysts at CyberMedia Research, there are approximately 68 million currently active installed drives in the country and their average active life is about five years. However, a large proportion can enjoy an extended life with proper care and restoration. Also, other estimates say that about 80,000 drives fail every month in the country, while their warranty is still active.
Apart from these factors, consolidation in the HDD industry has left a limited number of manufacturers in the business. The Average Unit Price for a hard disk has more than doubled in last two years and there could be a segment of consumers looking for cost-effective alternatives. The inclusion of drives in several Consumer Electronics devices is also adding to the HDD proliferation that could become commonplace in coming years.
All of this presents a huge potential business for the ReStor initiative. Said 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 derive substantial financial value to manufacturers and AMC providers from these services.” 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 per cent of the defective drives received.
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.”
At the ReStor facility, the Company offers a variety of services related to rehabilitation of drives/Data, including: repair and restoration, data recovery, customized support for field-returns, RMA management and, secure-erase, etc.
