Data Recovery Service Terms and Conditions

General Terms and Conditions for ONTRACK Data Recovery Services

Please read these T&Cs carefully before you send your order to us. These T&Cs tell you who we are, how we provide the Services to you, how you and we can change or end the contract, what to do if there is a problem and other important information.

1. THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1.1 These General Terms and Conditions ("GTC") govern the provision of data recovery services by KLDiscovery Ontrack Pty Ltd, hereinafter referred to as "Ontrack", with its registered office at Suite 9, 28 Donkin Street, West End, Brisbane, QLD 4101, Australia.

1.2 Our Service Description for data recovery services is part of these GTC. For more information on the features and limitations of our data recovery service, please read our service description.

1.3 For information on how we, as the responsible party, collect, process and store personal data, please refer to our privacy policy.

1.4 Terms and conditions of the customer or third parties are explicitly excluded and shall not apply. These Terms and Conditions and Service Description shall also apply to all future business relations, even if they are not expressly agreed again.

1.5 The services are predominantly provided in our laboratory in Australia. Ontrack has technical facilities and locations in Asia-Pacific and the USA. If required in specific circumstances, you hereby grant Ontrack (remote) access to data from other technical facilities in order for Ontrack to provide the services. See section 6.4.

2. CONTACT DETAILS

2.1 How to contact us. You can reach us by calling our customer service team on 1800 872 259, writing to us at our registered office address or emailing us at ask.au@ontrack.com.

3. INTERPRETATION

3.1 The following definitions apply to these Terms and Conditions:

(a) "Business customer" means a customer acting for the purpose of their business, trade or profession including, without limitation, a sole trader, partnership, limited company or public authority.

(b) "Confidential Information" means any information disclosed or communicated by one Party to the other Party in the course of the Business Relationship and where the receiving Party had a legitimate expectation, based on a marking of the relevant information as confidential or in good faith based on the nature of the information, that the disclosing Party had a particular protectable interest in keeping the relevant information confidential.

(c) "Consumer" means any natural person who enters into a legal transaction for purposes which are predominantly neither commercial nor self-employed.

(d) "Contract" is defined in Clause 4.4.

(e) "Customer" means both a business customer and a consumer.

(f) "Data" means data in electronic form of any description, including 'personal data' as defined by the General Data Protection Regulation EU 2016/679and/or local data protection laws.

(g) "Devices" means your storage media and, if applicable, your mobile phone or tablet.

(h) "Fee" means the fee payable by you for the Services as set out in the relevant Offer.

(i) "Storage Media" means media such as hard drives, USB drives, SSD, memory chips, tapes or other data carriers.

(j) "Offer" and "Acceptance" are defined in Clauses 4.3 and 4.4.

(k) "Service Description" means the specific processes used by Ontrack and described at the following link: https://www.ontrack.com/en-au/legal/data-recovery-terms#description, which sets out, among other things, the scope and limitations of the data recovery services we provide.

(l) "Data Recovery Services" (or "Services" for short) means the services to be provided by us to you as described in Clauses 4 (Ordering Process) and 6 (Our Data Recovery Services) of these T&Cs as well as in the Service Description.

(m) "Website" means our website at www.ontrack.com

(n) "Backup Media" means an Ontrack data carrier on which the recovered data is stored in encrypted form. This is usually a USB hard drive.

4. ORDER PROCESS (offer and acceptance)

4.1 Following an initial telephone consultation, submission of an online form via our website or email correspondence, you provide us with your equipment. In the case of a standard data recovery, an Evaluation is carried out first, which is defined in our Service Description. Depending on the type of device as well as the type of damage, the Evaluation may be carried out free of charge (except for deleted or formatted media, CCTV systems, some large/complex RAID and enterprise storage and some Ransomware cases), unless otherwise agreed during the ordering process. Thereafter, we will provide the Evaluation (as well as other data recovery services, if applicable) in accordance with the service description.

4.2 After the evaluation, you will receive an overview of the extent to which a data recovery might be successful. In the case of a diagnosis, you will receive information on the files that can probably be recovered. For an explanation of the categories for the assessment as well as the exact procedure, please refer to our Service Description. Based on the assessment, you will receive a fixed price offer for the data recovery (data recovery offer). You can usually choose between different service levels in the data recovery offer, which are described in more detail in our Service Description.

4.3 Upon receipt of our data recovery quote, you have the following options: (i) electronically authorise the order ("Offer"); (ii) request us to return your Devices at cost; or (iii) request us to irretrievably delete your data and/or destroy your Devices; in the latter case, we are obliged and entitled to carry out the deletion/destruction without delay. If we do not receive an order, deletion instruction or request to return your equipment within 14 (fourteen) calendar days from the date of the offer, we will send you a reminder by email and ask you to tell us how to proceed in accordance with the above options. If you do not respond to this reminder, we will send you 2 (two) further reminders at 2 (two) week intervals. If you again fail to respond to these reminders and instruct us how to proceed with your equipment, we will dispose of your equipment (including your data) in accordance with the applicable law.

4.4 We accept your order (i.e. your offer in accordance with clause 4.3) by sending you an order confirmation by email ("Acceptance"), which creates a legally binding contract between you and us ("Contract"), which contains all provisions in accordance with the Offer, the Service Description, and these GTC. We will assign an order number to your order. It will help us if you can provide us with the order number when you contact us.

5. SENDING DAMAGED STORAGE MEDIA AND DEVICES AND RETURN OF STORAGE MEDIA AND DEVICES AND BACK-UP MEDIA

5.1 You have the following options to provide us with your Devices: (i) you may drop off your Storage Media in person at our business premises during opening hours (prior notice required); or, (ii) you may arrange for a courier service of your choice at your own expense; and, if this option is chosen, Ontrack will provide you with packaging instructions for your Devices.

5.2 We only accept your data carriers and - with the exception of the devices defined above - no complete hardware (e.g. laptops and desktops). Please remove your data carriers (hard disk, SSD, etc.) from your hardware. Mobile phones or tablets are excluded from this.  

5.3 All storage media should be packed in accordance with the instructions at https://www.ontrack.com/en-au/articles/media-shipping-instructions as Ontrack will not be liable for any damage to your equipment during transit if the packages are incorrectly packed.

5.4 Following the diagnosis or restoration (see point 4), we will send your backup media to your address by means of a recognised courier service. Please contact Ontrack before completing the order if you do not want Ontrack to return your backup media by courier. You can also collect the backup media in person from our business premises during opening hours (by prior appointment).

5.5 The costs for returning your equipment are based on the information in the respective offer. You will be informed of the exact costs during the ordering process. 

6. OUR DATA RECOVERY SERVICES

6.1 In return for your payment of the Fee, we will provide the Services with reasonable care and skill. Our data recovery services usually include the following services: Evaluation and - if possible - data recovery.

For a detailed description of these services, please refer to our service description. The service description is part of these GTC.

6.2 When examining the Devices, we will take reasonable precautions to determine: (i) what data on the Devices is accessible and recoverable; (ii) what damage to the Devices and/or data structures may be identified; (iii) how much data (if any) on the Devices is likely to be recoverable; and (iv) to advise you of the expected results of recovering data from the Devices. Our data recovery services may include data recovery of data in the laboratory, through the provision of software solutions and, for business customers, by means of remote data recovery.

6.3 We will use reasonable endeavours to: (i) restore your Data and provide you with the restored Data on an encrypted backup media; or (ii) perform any other services that we have agreed with you in writing to provide, such as erasing the Data from the storage media.

6.4 We provide most of our services at the premises of KLDiscovery Ontrack Pty Ltd, Suite 9, 28 Donkin Street, West End, Brisbane, QLD 4101, Australia. However, we may also be required to access your data (remotely) from outside Australia to provide the Services.

6.5 At the time of entering into the Contract, we can only estimate the time when your data recovery is likely to be completed. It is not possible to provide a specific date for a completed Data Recovery due to the nature of the Services. However, you will be informed of the estimated completion date during the provision of the service. When you receive your backup media containing your recovered data from Ontrack, we ask that you immediately check the backup media (USB hard drive or other storage device) for technical functionality. Ontrack can only reproduce your recovered data in the event of a failure of the backup media within our data retention period for your recovered personal data as set out in Ontrack's Data Processing Agreement.

6.6 Please note that we do not accept all Apple products for data recovery. Our data recovery services do not usually include data recovery from iPhones/iPads after a factory reset. Please contact our customer service before sending in Apple products.

6.7 For some Services, we may require certain information from you, such as username, password or access codes. If you do not provide this information within a reasonable time of our request, or if you provide incomplete or incorrect information, we may make an additional charge of a reasonable amount to compensate us for the extra work this causes. We will not be responsible for any delay or partial non-delivery of the Services where this is due to your failure to provide us with the required information.

6.8 We may need to suspend the provision of the service to (i) resolve technical issues or make technical changes or (ii) update the service to reflect changes in relevant laws and regulations. We may also suspend the provision of the Services if you do not pay after giving you notice.

6.9 No success is owed within the scope of our service provision. In particular, we do not warrant that all or any part of your data will be recoverable or usable, that the mobile phone or tablet, if relevant, can be used in accordance with its original purpose or that we will achieve any other particular result.

6.10 The following provision only applies to customers who are business customers: 

Remote Data Recovery. With Remote Data Recovery (RDR), we connect to the customer's internal network. No devices are submitted to us. In the case of an RDR, you will receive a link from us to a diagnostic quotation, which you must authorise electronically in the case of our commissioning. After the diagnosis, you will receive details of the files that are likely to be recoverable. Based on this, you will receive a fixed price offer for data recovery (data recovery offer). You can usually choose between different service levels in the data recovery offer, which are described in more detail in our service description.

For remote data recovery, you must download and install the Ontrack RDR customer software from the link provided by Ontrack. Once installed, the RDR customer allows the user to connect to Ontrack via an encrypted internet connection. The RDR connection is used by Ontrack solely to run the Ontrack recovery tools directly on the customer's computer. Ontrack uses the RDR connection to store the Ontrack Recovery Tools on the customer's computer in a protected folder. Your data will not be transmitted to Ontrack during this process. Once the RDR is complete, the Ontrack Recovery Tools are deleted from the customer's computer.

Ontrack warrants that the RDR Customer Software, (a) is free of program code or program instructions intentionally designed to interrupt, disable, damage, interfere with or otherwise adversely affect computer programs, files or operations; and (b) does not contain other malicious or harmful code typically referred to as viruses or described by similar terms including Trojan horse, worm or backdoor.

7. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

7.1 Your Equipment and Data shall always remain your property and we shall have no ownership, use or other rights in them other than the right to possess and use your Equipment and Data to provide the Services. You retain all intellectual property rights you have in your data.

7.2 All intellectual property rights related to the provision of the Services shall remain with Ontrack, including the development, creation and provision of the Services, inventions, copyrighted works, methods, processes and know-how used to develop or comprise the Services, together with any hardware, firmware, platforms, software and any modifications, enhancements, new features or functionality created or used by Ontrack as part of the Services.

8. TERMINATION RIGHTS

8.1 The service relationship may be terminated only by either contracting party for good cause without observing a notice period if facts exist on the basis of which the terminating party, taking into account all circumstances of the individual case and weighing the interests of both contracting parties, cannot reasonably be expected to continue the contractual relationship until the agreed termination of the contractual relationship, in particular if:

a) either party (i) materially breaches a term of the Contract in a manner which cannot be remedied; or (ii) if such breach is remediable, fails to remedy such breach within a period of 7 (seven) days after the party has been given written notice to remedy it; or (iii) repeatedly breaches the Contract (including these GTC); or

b) (Ontrack's right of termination): the Customer fails to pay the remuneration for the Data Recovery Services when due; and/or

c) a party ceases (or threatens to cease) to carry on business wholly or partly, or a liquidator, receiver or administrative receiver is appointed in respect of it or any part of its undertaking or assets, or it is dissolved (unless for the purpose of a proposed solvent merger or reconstruction in which the resulting entity assumes all liabilities), or a competent court issues an order of insolvency, liquidation or similar order, or the party enters into a settlement with its creditors, it is unable to pay its debts as they fall due or, if an individual becomes insolvent.

8.2 We (Ontrack) may terminate the Contract if, by performing the Contract, we may breach any applicable export and sanctions laws relating to dealings with certain companies and persons as determined by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), US Department of State, United Nations Security Council, European Union, His Majesty’s Treasury in the United Kingdom and/or other relevant national sanctions. You agree to provide, upon our request, proof of identity for the purpose of verifying the applicability of applicable export and sanctions laws.  

8.3 If the termination is for a reason for which Ontrack is not responsible, the Customer is obliged to pay the agreed remuneration for all data recovery services provided by Ontrack until the termination takes effect.

9. WARRANTIES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT BY THE CUSTOMER

9.1 You acknowledge and warrant to us that (i) you are legally capable of entering into binding contracts; (ii) you are fully authorised, empowered and entitled to agree to these T&Cs and, if you are a business customer, have the appropriate legal authority to enter into the contract; (iii) all information you provide to us in connection with your order is true, accurate, complete and not misleading; (iv) you own the Equipment or have the permission of the owner of the Equipment for us to provide the Services; (v) it does not breach any obligation or right of any third party for you to hand over your Equipment or data to us; (vi) it is not in breach of any applicable law for you to hand over your equipment or data to us; (vii) you are legally entitled to provide access to the data; (viii) your equipment does not contain any material (such as data) that may infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party; and (ix) your equipment does not contain any material (such as data) that infringes any applicable law.

9.2 We reserve the right (and you hereby acknowledge that we have the right) to request documentary evidence of your ownership, permission or legal right to authorize the Services and to suspend or not commence the Services in the absence of such evidence. You agree to provide us with documentary evidence of identity upon request to enable us to verify the applicability of any applicable export and sanctions regulations in accordance with Clause 8.2.  

9.3 You hereby acknowledge and accept as a condition of the Contract that your Equipment and/or Data may be damaged before we receive it and that our efforts to complete the Services may result in the destruction or further damage of your Equipment and/or Data. We will use reasonable care in performing the Services but will not be responsible for any existing or additional damage that may occur to your Equipment or Data during the performance of the Services. This does not affect the provisions of clause 13.

10. PRICE AND PAYMENT

10.1 The price of the services is the fee stated in the respective Offer (including GST, where relevant). Payment may be made by cash, bank transfer or credit card, or for business customers also by order on account (purchase order).  

10.2 In the case of cash payments, advance bank transfer or credit card payment, the fee is generally payable prior to the commencement of the Services (prepayment) or, if applicable, at the time specified in the payment agreement made separately with Ontrack. If you fail to pay any amount due to us under the Agreement, we may retain the Equipment and Data until payment is made in full. In the event of a cancelled, late or non-payment, you will receive a first reminder (text form) after payment is due. If payment is not received after the first reminder, you will receive another reminder before we reserve the right to hand the claim over to our collection agency. We further reserve the right to claim default interest or issue further claims.

10.3 In the case of credit card payment, Ontrack will send you a payment link to a secure third-party payment platform to authorise the payment and complete the payment process after the work has been completed but before the backup media is sent to you.

10.4 Business customers will receive an invoice. If you do not pay the invoice in full within the agreed payment period, we will send you a reminder (text form). If payment is not received after the first reminder, you will receive another reminder before we hand the claim over to our collection agency. We will charge interest on arrears at the legally permissible rate in the event of late payment. We reserve the right to assert further claims (e.g., for damages caused by default).

11. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

11.1 Claims of the customer for damages are excluded. Excluded from this are claims for damages by the customer arising from injury to life, limb or health as well as liability for other damages based on an intentional or grossly negligent breach of duty by Ontrack or Ontrack's legal representatives or vicarious agents.

11.2 Ontrack shall only be liable for the foreseeable damage typical for the contract if such damage was only caused by simple negligence (i.e. not gross negligence or wilful misconduct), except in the case of claims for damages by the Customer arising from injury to life, body or health. Unless the damage was caused intentionally or by gross negligence or liability for injury to life, body or health exists, Ontrack shall in any event only be liable up to a maximum amount of 20,000 Australian Dollars (AUD). You acknowledge and agree with us (Ontrack) that the aforementioned maximum liability amount exceeds the foreseeable damage typical of the contract.

11.3 Clause 13.2 does not apply to any liability Ontrack may have under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), including liability for breaches of consumer guarantees under Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. Nothing in this clause is intended to exclude, restrict, or modify any rights or remedies available to consumers under the ACL.

11.3 Without prejudice to clause 13.1 above, we will not be responsible for any physical or other damage to or destruction of your Equipment and your data or for the forfeiture of any warranties in relation to your Equipment in the course of providing our Services if such damage, destruction, deterioration or forfeiture arises as a result of the performance of the Services in accordance with this Agreement. This does not apply to damage caused by Ontrack's or our legal representatives' or agents' intentional or grossly negligent breach of duty.

11.4 Although we will use reasonable endeavours to take care of your equipment or data while it is in our possession, we will not be responsible to you if your equipment or data is lost, destroyed, damaged or otherwise harmed through normal wear and tear or due to the nature of the Services through no fault of ours.

11.5 Neither party shall be liable to the other, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty or otherwise, arising out of or in connection with these T&Cs or any Contract, for any indirect or consequential loss or damage, loss of profit, loss of revenue or loss of business.

11.6 Use of Couriers. Consistent with the provisions of clause 5, if the Original Data Media is shipped by a third-party courier engaged by Ontrack, Ontrack shall only be liable to the extent of the compensation offered by the third-party courier. You agree to read the terms and conditions of the third-party courier beforehand.

12. INDEMNITY

12.1 You will indemnify Ontrack against any third-party claims brought against us as a result of your unlawful conduct. This indemnity applies to claims for breach of data protection, competition, or copyright laws in particular.

12.2 In the event that your representations under clause 11.1 are not accurate in whole or in part, you indemnify Ontrack against all third-party claims which would not exist if your representations had been accurate.

12.2 You indemnify Ontrack against any third-party claims based on the fact that you are not the (sole) owner of the devices and its data, that your authority to dispose over the devices and data is otherwise restricted or that the data was collected, created, stored or otherwise processed in breach of third party rights or in an unlawful manner.

12.3 In addition to damages, the indemnity under this Clause 14 shall include fines as well as proven reasonable costs of proceedings (including costs of prosecution and defence). 

13. DATA PROTECTION

13.1 Information on data protection can be found at the following link on our website: https://www.ontrack.com/en-au/legal/privacy-policy. 

14. HOW WE PROCESS PERSONAL DATA (RECOVERED DATA)

14.1 The Customer remains responsible for compliance with applicable privacy laws in relation to personal information provided to Ontrack. Ontrack acts as a service provider and will handle personal information only on the Customer’s documented instructions and as required to deliver the agreed services.

14.2 Ontrack will implement and maintain appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles. Ontrack shall ensure that such technical and organisational measures are appropriate to the particular risks that are presented by its processing activities to protect personal information against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure, or access.

14.3 In the event of a data breach involving personal information, Ontrack shall notify the Customer without undue delay and provide available details to assist the Customer in meeting its legal obligations.

14.4 Where Ontrack transfers personal information outside Australia (e.g., to affiliated entities within the same corporate group) for the purpose of providing services under this agreement, Ontrack will take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient does not breach the Australian Privacy Principles in relation to personal information, including through contractual safeguards and security measures.

14.5 Upon completion of the services or at the Customer’s written request, Ontrack will delete or return personal information, unless retention is required by law.

15. CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

15.1 The transferring party has a confidentiality interest in the Confidential Information disclosed to the receiving party. The receiving party therefore undertakes to treat the Confidential Information provided to it or otherwise made available to it as strictly confidential and not to make it available to third parties, either in whole or in part, unless the providing party has given its prior written consent to disclosure to third parties and the third party has undertaken to maintain confidentiality in a manner consistent with these GTC.

15.2 The confidentiality obligations do not extend to Confidential Information in respect of which the Receiving Party can demonstrate that (a) it was already known to the Receiving Party prior to the communication, or (b) it was already in the public domain, in the public domain and freely accessible at the time of the communication to the Receiving Party, or thereafter became so, or (c) it became in the public domain after the communication through no fault of the Receiving Party without breach of these GTC, or (d) it is substantially the same as information disclosed or made available to the receiving party at any time by an authorised third party, or (e) it was developed by the receiving party independently of the Confidential Information, or (f) it has been expressly authorised in writing in advance by the providing party for disclosure, or (g) its possession, possession or knowledge violates any applicable criminal law, or (h) it is required to be disclosed pursuant to a binding governmental or judicial order or mandatory legal requirement.

16. OTHER IMPORTANT TERMS

16.1 This Contract is between you and us. No other person has the right to enforce its terms. Each clause of these T&Cs operates separately. If a court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful and/or unenforceable, the remaining clauses will remain in full force and effect. If we do not take immediate action against you in respect of your breach of this contract, this will not prevent us from doing so later, to the extent that this is in accordance with applicable law.

16.2 We may adjust the Services to reflect changes in relevant laws and regulatory requirements and to make minor technical adjustments and improvements, for example to address a security threat. These changes will not affect your use of the Services. In addition, we may make other material changes to these GTC or the Services, but if this happens, we will notify you in advance and you may then terminate the Contract before the changes take effect and receive a refund for any Services paid for but not received.

16.3 The GTC and all matters arising in connection with our provision of the Services shall be governed by the laws of the State of Queensland, Australia. In the event of a dispute, the parties agree to submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Brisbane, Queensland. Nothing in this clause limits the rights of a consumer under the Australian Consumer Law to bring a claim in a court or tribunal in their own state or territory.

 Valid from 1 January 2026 

Service description for Ontrack Data Recovery Services

1. The data recovery process, Ontrack's service and limitations

a) Data recovery services are carried out in several steps:

• The Initial Evaluation - see section 2 below -; or/and
• The Evaluation - see section 3 below -; and
• Data Recovery after Evaluation - see section 4 below -, or RDR Remote Data Recovery for business customers - see section 5 below.

b) Ontrack will recover as much data as possible from one or more damaged media by taking the appropriate measures. Ontrack does not test usability or compatibility on any application software.

c) It is possible that deleted and/or corrupted data cannot be read even when using Ontrack's tools and technologies. Therefore, Ontrack cannot guarantee that data on damaged media can be recovered, repaired or read.

d) Ontrack will examine media to determine what damage needs to be overcome in order to recover data and data structures to the point where they are likely to be read and used again in their respective applications. To do this, Ontrack applies the highest technical standards and proprietary processes, as well as software and hardware tools. Due to the nature of Ontrack's work with damaged data or media, there is a general risk that any remaining data on the damaged media may be partially or completely lost or destroyed.

e) The customer acknowledges that there remains a risk that:

• once existing data can no longer be recovered, additional data may be lost;
• recovered data cannot be used by the customer;
• the information content embodied in the data carriers may be destroyed in whole or in part; and
• the data carriers, software and other items provided may be damaged, unusable or destroyed.

2. Initial Evaluation

a) The Initial Evaluation is an initial assessment by an experienced data recovery engineer that determines what damage can be seen on the media to give an estimate of the amount of data that can be expected to be recovered. The Initial Evaluation can be used for HDDs, SDDs and RAID/NAS systems. Excluded from the Initial Evaluation are, among others, mobile phones, tablets and flash media, as well as media with deleted data, water and fire damage, and storage media that have already been opened. During the evaluation, the Customer’s data carrier is connected to our own proprietary systems and opened if necessary. In the Evaluation, a small amount of data may be recovered if the engineer deems this necessary to confirm that recovery is possible. No listing of recoverable data sets or indication of which files can be recovered is produced. Ontrack does not provide a standalone damage report.

b) Ontrack will inform the Customer after the Initial Evaluation whether (i) a data recovery is eligible, (ii) or a data recovery cannot be performed by Ontrack in the circumstances.

c) An assessment of the likely success of a data recovery after the Initial Evaluation is made on the basis of the following classifications:

• Excellent – We expect 95-100% of your data to be successfully recovered.
  
  
• Partially recoverable – In these cases where less than 95% of the data is expected to be recoverable, an estimate of the maximum percentage may be provided in some cases.
  
  
• Complex – Due to the complexity of the failure, we cannot yet give an exact percentage for the recoverability of your data. Therefore, we recommend an extended diagnosis in this case.
  
  
• Not recoverable – We cannot access the data on your data carrier.

d) The assessment of the chances of success of a data recovery based on the above classification is no guarantee that the percentages listed in section 2 letter c) will be met, as neither physical nor data structural damage is repaired in an Evaluation.

e) The Customer may decide not to proceed to the Evaluation or Data Recovery stages after the Initial Evaluation. If the Customer so wishes, the media will be returned to the Customer for a return shipping fee. Otherwise, the customer may choose to have the media securely disposed of.

f) Please note that processing during the Evaluation may damage the customer's equipment.

3. Evaluation

a) If after receiving the results of the Initial Evaluation the customer opts to proceed further, Ontrack will carry out the full Evaluation process. This evaluation is free of charge in most cases with the exception of:

• Deleted Data or reformat cases
• CCTV systems
• Some large/complex RAID and enterprise storage systems
• Some Ransomware recovery cases

In cases where an evaluation fee applies, this will be disclosed prior to commencement and the customer may choose whether to proceed further.

b) The Evaluation will determine the type and extent of the data damage, the exact determination of the possibilities of data recovery on the data carriers provided by the Customer and the amount of files/data that can probably be recovered. Ontrack will provide the Customer with access to a proprietary platform that will allow the Customer to track the status as well as provide the Customer with a final file list (Verifile) if data recovery is possible. In some cases, Ontrack may not be able to access the data and therefore not be able to provide a file list (Verifile).

c) The file list (Verifile) contains an indication of the quality of the data in terms of its usability in the traffic light system:

• Green - the data will most likely work or open in the respective application.
  
  
• Yellow - the data or files are partially damaged - this may mean that the files cannot be opened and edited in the respective application. It is possible that the damaged files can be repaired. However, such a service is not generally offered by Ontrack. Ontrack’s Sales Representative may contact you directly if such service may be provided by Ontrack in the specific case.
  
  
• Red - the data or files are corrupted - this probably means that the files cannot be opened and edited in the respective application.

d) It is not possible for Ontrack to guarantee the usability of the data with the customers respective applications as part of the diagnosis. Ontrack Engineers will provide guidance to the overall status of the recovered data, however these predictions cannot be guaranteed due to other causes of damage that cannot be identified. This applies in the special case to database files of all kinds. The import of the data sets, the effort for cleaning the data sets according to the state of the art of the respective database software and application and the consultation of further experts is the sole responsibility of the customer.  Ontrack will support the customer and commissioned contractors as far as possible.

e) There are special data loss scenarios in which the coloured statements in the file list (Verifile) may not be accurate. In the case of such severe structural damage, Ontrack does not guarantee the functionality of the files.   If such a case exists, this is indicated in the diagnosis result.

f) Evaluation is carried out in Ontrack's laboratory.

g) Depending on the type of media, the diagnosis may result in the transfer of data to another storage medium and the destruction of the original customer device.

h) If the Customer places an order for data recovery based on the results of the Evaluation (see section 4 below), Ontrack will complete the data recovery.

i) The Customer may decide not to perform the data recovery after the Evaluation. At the request of the Customer, the Customer's media will then be returned to the Customer for a return shipping fee. Otherwise, the customer may choose to have the media securely disposed of.

4. Data recovery after Evaluation

a) Offer for data recovery after Evaluation

After the evaluation, Ontrack will send the Verifile List to the Customer, where possible, and inform the Customer how long the data recovery process may take and what the costs for the data recovery will be. The Customer will receive a data recovery quote as described in our Terms and Conditions, which will include the data recovery price in relation to the Service Levels (see paragraph c.) that indicate the processing time for the respective data recovery process.

b) Service levels

For the data recovery order, the customer can choose between the following service levels depending on the urgency:

Emergency service
Processing takes place immediately after receipt of order around the clock.

Priority service
Processing takes place immediately after receipt of the order from Monday to Friday from 8.00 to 18.00. The duration of the
data recovery process is usually 2-3 working days.

Standard service
The data medium is processed after receipt of the order from Monday to Friday between 9:00 and 17:00. The duration of the data recovery process is usually 5-10 working days.

c) Acceptance of the data recovery

The customer accepts the data recovery offer as described in our GTC.

If the customer decides not to carry out the data recovery on the basis of the evaluation results or file list (Verifile), the order is deemed to be cancelled. At the customer's request, the data media will be returned to the customer for a return shipping fee. Otherwise, the customer may choose to have the media securely disposed of.

d) Carrying out the data recovery

If the customer places an order for data recovery based on the data recovery quote after reviewing the results of the Evaluation results, Ontrack will perform the data recovery.

The customer receives the data that was recoverable by Ontrack. After an evaluation, this is usually the data shown in the file list (Verifile).

The data recovered by Ontrack is stored on a portable storage device and sent to the Customer. In addition to the separate media containing the recovered data, Ontrack will return the damaged media.

At the Customer's request, Ontrack may erase the data on the Data Carrier free of charge and/or dispose of the Data Carrier in accordance with applicable regulations.

5. RDR Remote Data Recovery Service

a) RDR® stands for Remote Data Recovery™ ("RDR"). RDR is a patented technology that allows Ontrack engineers to perform a lab-quality data recovery directly on the Customer's server, desktop or laptop via an internet connection. The only requirement is that the disk is operational. Ontrack's RDR consists of three main components:

i) Communication Customer: the Customer initiates a connection to an Ontrack RDR server using the specially developed RDR Customer software. The RDR Customer works with common operating systems. The drives to be recovered do not have to be from a particular operating system.

ii) RDR Server: Ontrack has several server locations around the world.

iii) RDR workstation: It is used by Ontrack engineers to remotely control the tools on the Customer's machine and recover the Customer's data.

b) First, the Customer downloads the appropriate RDR Customer version and installs it on the server, desktop or laptop that will be used for recovery. Next, the Ontrack Customer software connects as an outbound TCP/IP connection from the Customer's location to the Ontrack server, creating a tunnel or point-to-point connection across the Internet. As the connection is likely to use a web connection, it can pass through most firewalls without any additional configuration requirements. Data security is paramount due to Ontrack's proprietary communication protocol, encrypted packets and secure Ontrack facilities.

RDR protects customer data via an RDR connection in four ways:

1. direct connection to the RDR server: The Customer software uses a direct TCP connection from the Customer's computer to the Ontrack RDR server. RDR does not use a third-party hosting product.

2. encryption: the communication link uses 256 bit encryption on all packets.

3. Proprietary Protocol: RDR communications use a proprietary protocol, but not HTTP or any other common protocol that others would understand.

4. no customer data is transmitted over the connection: the RDR connection is only used by the Ontrack engineer to remotely control Ontrack utilities directly on the customer's machine. Screen updates and keyboard packets are sent over the connection, but not actual customer data files. Instead, the Ontrack engineer controls file system structure repair tools to make the data accessible to the customer.

c) As soon as the connection is established, either the diagnosis begins, or, the recovery process starts, if a data recovery order is placed.

Status: January 2026