Consumer Education
Fake Data Recovery Locations
How to spot virtual offices, drop-off counters, and Google Maps listings with no lab behind them.
National data recovery companies create Google Business Profile listings in cities where they have no lab, no equipment, and no technicians. These listings appear local, but when you visit the person behind the counter does nothing but ship your drive off to another state!
Here is what reviewers found in Austin, TX at two national companies.
SALVAGEDATA Recovery Services
The Austin listing at 7801 N Lamar Blvd led to MAV Computers, a local computer repair shop. No data recovery equipment was present. SALVAGEDATA confirmed by phone that drives are shipped to a lab in another city. Their own website describes these locations as a "nearby laboratory or drop off facility."
Secure Data Recovery Services
The listing near UT Austin led to the campus computer store. No data recovery lab exists at that address. Secure Data Recovery claims over 200 locations on its website but labels them "Authorized Partner Locations" — retail storefronts where drives are collected and shipped elsewhere.
The Model
Search Google Maps for "data recovery" in any major city and you will find listings for national companies with local addresses on Google Maps. Many of these addresses are not labs. They are virtual offices, co-working desks, or counters inside unrelated retail stores. The company's name appears on the map pin and the listing shows business hours and a phone number. This tricks people into believing that this address is where technicians are located. Google Maps doesn't tell you that no data recovery equipment exists at this address!
The business model works like this: a national company leases a mailing address or partners with a local computer shop in dozens or hundreds of cities. Each address gets its own Google Business Profile. When you search "data recovery near me," those listings appear in the local results because Google's algorithm weighs physical proximity. You drive to the address and hand your drive to someone at the front desk, but that person is not a data recovery technician. Your drive goes into a shipping box and travels to a centralized lab in another state. You could have shipped it yourself for a fraction of the cost. By dealing with this middleman, the price of the recovery has gone up higher than it would have if you were dealing with a local business.
Google's own Business Profile guidelines prohibit this. The policy is clear: "If your business rents a physical mailing address but doesn't operate out of that location, also known as a virtual office, that location isn't eligible for a Business Profile." The guidelines also require that any listed location be staffed by the business's own employees during stated hours. A building receptionist answering phones for fifty tenants does not meet that standard. A clerk at an unaffiliated computer repair shop does not either.
Despite this policy, Google doesn't really enforce it. Google purged millions of fake locksmith listings between 2017 and 2019 when that industry ran the same playbook with fake addresses and centralized call centers. Subcontractors would go out to customers at sky-high prices. In 2017, Google restricted listings for addiction treatment centers over similar lead-generation fraud. Data recovery operates with the same dynamic. You have high customer stress, high ticket prices, and opaque service delivery. However, data recovery hasn't yet faced the same category-wide action.
What We Found in Austin
We documented two cases in Austin, TX where a Google Local Guide physically visited data recovery listings and found no lab at the address. Both reviews are public on Google Maps.
SALVAGEDATA Recovery Services, 7801 N Lamar Blvd, Austin TX
A Google Local Guide navigated to this address expecting a data recovery facility. The business at 7801 N Lamar Blvd is MAV Computers, a local computer repair shop. No data recovery equipment was present. The reviewer called SALVAGEDATA directly and was told that drives dropped off at this location are shipped to a lab in another city.
SALVAGEDATA's own website describes its locations as a "nearby laboratory or drop off facility." On Google Maps, the listing title reads "SALVAGEDATA Recovery Services." It does not say "drop-off counter at MAV Computers." The distinction matters: you are handing your failed hard drive to a business that does not employ data recovery technicians, does not own imaging hardware, and does not perform any recovery work at that address. Your drive leaves the state before anyone with a PC-3000 touches it.
Secure Data Recovery Services, University of Texas at Austin
A second reviewer brought a server to the Secure Data Recovery listing near the UT Austin campus. The address led to the UT Campus Computer Store. No data recovery lab exists at that location. The reviewer's one-star review documents the experience. Drives brought to this address are shipped elsewhere for recovery.
Secure Data Recovery's website labels locations like this one as "Authorized Partner Locations" and describes them as retail storefronts for "easy and convenient drop off." But the Google Maps listing displays the company's own name and branding! A customer searching "data recovery Austin" on Google Maps sees "Secure Data Recovery Services" with a map pin, a phone number, and business hours, yet nothing in the listing makes it clear that the address is a campus computer store with no recovery capability.
Secure Data Recovery claims over 200 locations and partners on its website. A single data recovery lab requires a clean bench or cleanroom, PC-3000 or equivalent imaging hardware, a donor drive inventory, micro-soldering stations, and trained engineers. Replicating that infrastructure at 200 sites is not economically viable. The math points to a small number of actual labs and a large number of intake counters.
For the full Austin-specific breakdown, including screenshot evidence of both reviews, see our Austin data recovery page.
Why Companies Do This
Google's local search algorithm ranks businesses based on three factors: relevance, prominence, and proximity. For "near me" searches, proximity to you dictates whether you see it in your search results. A legitimate lab in Ohio can't appear in the local results for a searcher in Austin, no matter how good their reputation. The only way to rank locally is to have a local address.
That creates a financial incentive to lease virtual offices and partner with retail stores in every metro area. Each address generates a Google Business Profile, and then appears in that city's local search results. The company captures leads from consumers who THINK they're visiting a local lab. The customer absorbs the hidden costs: shipping risk, longer turnaround, and the loss of direct access to the technician working on their drive.
This is not a fringe tactic used by a single bad actor. Industry professionals have documented it for years. One data recovery engineer in New Jersey wrote that a virtual office address can be rented for as little as $99 a month, and that when he visited one competitor's listed address he found staff who "refused to show recovery equipment or bring out engineers" because none existed in the building. Datarecovery.com's guide to data recovery scams warns that some companies "operate mailing offices … generally staffed by one person, whose only job is to interact with the customer and mail their device to the actual laboratory"—and that hiding this fact is a red flag. On the Recovery Force professional forum, engineers have called out companies that operate under different brand names "based on their virtual office locations." The pattern repeats across the industry.
What You Lose When Your Drive Ships
When you hand your drive to a technician in front of his workstation, you get a direct chain of custody. You can ask questions about its failure and get real answers. You can see whether they have the ability to work on your problem. If something goes wrong during recovery, you can talk to the technician who is accountable. When your drive ships through a middleman to another provider, you lose all of that.
Transit Damage
A failed hard drive with degraded read heads is fragile. Vibration during shipping can score the platters or shift heads out of alignment. The drive that arrived at the drop-off point in recoverable condition may not survive a cross-country trip in a FedEx truck.
Diagnostic Delay
A local lab begins evaluation when you walk in the door. A drop-off counter adds packaging time, shipping time, intake processing at the receiving lab, and queue time before a technician opens the box. The clock on your recovery starts days later than it would at a physical lab.
Retrieval Friction
If you disagree with the quoted price and want your drive back, it is now in another state. You wait for return shipping. Some companies charge evaluation fees and shipping fees even when you decline service.
No Direct Technician Access
You speak with a call center or a sales representative. The person who answers your questions about the recovery is not the person performing it. At a physical lab, the technician who evaluates your drive is the same person who images it and executes the repair.
How to Verify Any Data Recovery Lab
Before handing your drive to any company, confirm that recovery work happens at the address you are visiting. These five questions separate a real lab from a shipping depot.
1. What imaging hardware is physically at this address?
A lab performing mechanical recovery needs a PC-3000 system (from ACE Lab), a DeepSpar Disk Imager, or equivalent professional-grade hardware. These are specialized systems that cost tens of thousands of dollars. If the person at the counter cannot name the equipment in the building, the building does not contain it.
2. Can I see the clean bench or cleanroom?
Head swaps and platter work require a controlled environment. A laminar-flow clean bench with HEPA filtration is the minimum. Ask for the particle count specification. Our bench is validated to 0.02 microns with a particle counter. If the facility does not have one, they are not performing mechanical recovery on-site.
3. Will my drive leave this building at any point during the recovery?
This is the question that ends the conversation. A physical lab performs all diagnostic, imaging, and repair work under one roof. If the answer involves shipping your drive to a "main lab" or "processing center," you are at a drop-off counter.
4. Can I speak directly with the technician who will work on my drive?
A physical lab connects you to the engineer handling your case. A drop-off counter connects you to a receptionist or a national call center. The person who discusses your SMART data and failure symptoms should be the same person who opens the enclosure.
5. Check the address on Google Street View before you go.
Look at the building. If the Street View image shows a UPS Store, a shared office lobby, a university bookstore, or a computer repair shop with a different name on the sign, the listing does not match the location.
What Our Lab Looks Like
Rossmann Repair Group operates a physical data recovery lab at 2410 San Antonio St in Austin, TX. Every step of the recovery process occurs in this building. When you walk in, the technician who evaluates your drive is the same person who images it, performs the head swap if needed, and returns your data. Your drive does not leave.
You can walk into the lab during business hours and watch. You can read what other walk-in customers experienced on our reviews page. If you are outside the Austin area, our mail-in program ships directly to this lab; there is no intermediary facility.
On-Site Equipment
- PC-3000 Portable III systems from ACE Lab for firmware-level hard drive diagnostics and imaging
- DeepSpar Disk Imagers for sector-by-sector extraction from damaged media
- Laminar-flow clean bench validated to 0.02 microns with a particle counter
- Donor drive inventory for head stack and PCB replacements
- Micro-soldering stations for board-level component repair on iPhones and MacBooks
Frequently Asked Questions
Do data recovery companies ship your drive to another location?
Many do. National companies with dozens or hundreds of listed addresses often operate only a small number of actual labs. Drives collected at local drop-off points are shipped to a centralized facility. The listing on Google Maps does not always disclose this. Ask directly whether the work happens at the address you are visiting.
How can I tell if a data recovery company has a real lab?
Ask what imaging equipment is at the specific address. Ask to see the clean bench. Ask whether your drive will leave the building. Check the address on Google Street View before visiting. A legitimate lab will name its equipment and let you observe the workspace. A drop-off counter cannot do any of this.
Is it safe to ship a failed hard drive?
Shipping adds risk. A hard drive with damaged read heads is sensitive to vibration and impact. If you choose to ship, use anti-static packaging, a padded enclosure, and insured overnight delivery. The safest option is to hand the drive directly to the technician who will work on it.
Why do data recovery companies create fake local listings?
Google's local search algorithm prioritizes proximity. A company with one lab in Ohio cannot rank in the Google Maps local pack for a searcher in Austin, TX. By leasing virtual office addresses or partnering with unrelated local stores, the company creates a Google Business Profile in every city it wants to appear in. The listing looks local. The work happens elsewhere.
Does Google allow virtual office listings for data recovery?
No. Google's Business Profile guidelines state that a virtual office address is not eligible for a listing unless the business is staffed at that location by its own employees during stated hours. A building receptionist or a clerk at a partner computer store does not satisfy this requirement.
How do I verify a data recovery company before handing over my drive?
Visit the address. Look at the equipment in the room. Ask to speak with the technician who will handle your case. If you cannot see imaging hardware, a clean bench, and a technician on-site, you are at a drop-off point. For a detailed checklist, read the verification section above.
What happens if I want my drive back from a drop-off location?
If your drive has already been shipped to the company's centralized lab, retrieval requires return shipping. This takes additional days and may incur shipping fees or evaluation charges, even if you decline the recovery. At a local lab, you walk in and pick up your drive.
Does SALVAGEDATA have real data recovery labs?
SALVAGEDATA's own website describes its locations as a "nearby laboratory or drop off facility." When a Google Local Guide visited the SALVAGEDATA listing at 7801 N Lamar Blvd in Austin, TX, the address was a local computer repair shop called MAV Computers. No data recovery equipment was present. SALVAGEDATA confirmed by phone that drives dropped off at this location are shipped to a lab in another city. It is unclear how many of their listed locations are actual labs versus intake counters.
Is Secure Data Recovery a real lab or a drop-off location?
Secure Data Recovery claims over 200 locations and partners on its website. It labels many of them "Authorized Partner Locations" and describes them as retail storefronts for "easy and convenient drop off." When a reviewer visited the Secure Data Recovery listing near the UT Austin campus, the address was the campus computer store. No data recovery lab existed at that location. Equipping 200 sites with cleanrooms, PC-3000 systems, and trained engineers is not economically viable. The math points to a small number of actual labs and a large number of intake counters.
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