Kotar Data Recovery

What Kotar Data Recovery does

Kotar Data Recovery is a privately held, founder-led professional data recovery service provider operating a single in-house laboratory in San Jose, California. Founded by Robert Kotar in 1999 in Europe and expanded to Silicon Valley in 2012, the company recovers data from failed hard drives, SSDs, RAID systems, NAS devices, servers, Mac systems, smartphones, flash media, virtual machines, cloud platforms, and helium-sealed enterprise drives. Customers include individuals and families, small and medium businesses, and organizations across verticals including healthcare (Kaiser Permanente, John Muir Health), government and legal, academic research (UC Berkeley, Stanford, UCSC, Cal State East Bay), and technology (NASA Ames, Nvidia hardware teams, Apple-adjacent engineers, automotive R&D).

The technical platform is anchored by the Data Recovery Research Department founded in 2005, which develops proprietary tools including the WD-HA Pro recovery tool and AI-assisted diagnostic and recovery processes. Kotar operates a Class 100 cleanroom for physically damaged drives and maintains micro-soldering capability for board-level repair. All recovery work is performed in-house with no subcontracting. Service coverage spans HDD, SSD (SATA, NVMe, PCIe, M.2, U.2), RAID levels 0/1/5/6/10, NAS, SAN, VMware/Hyper-V/KVM virtual platforms, and helium-filled enterprise HDDs, alongside cloud storage and SaaS recovery (OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, Microsoft 365, Salesforce, AWS S3, Azure, GCP).

The business model is professional services billed on a per-case fixed-quote basis. Customers receive a free evaluation, typically within two hours of device arrival, approve a fixed quote before work begins, and pay only upon successful recovery under a no-data-no-fee guarantee. Three service tiers are offered: standard, express (up to 72 hours), and 24/7 emergency. Distribution is regional across the Bay Area and Northern California (approximately 20 cities), with free courier pickup, free shipping labels, walk-in appointments by request, and a referral channel through hundreds of IT consultants and technology service providers. The company is privately held with no external institutional investment and remains under the founder's ownership and R&D leadership.

Name

Kotar Data Recovery

Legal name

Kotar Data Recovery

Website

https://kotar.us

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Kotar Data Recovery is a privately held Bay Area-based professional data recovery service founded in 1999, operating a single San Jose laboratory to recover data from HDDs, SSDs, RAID, servers, Macs, smartphones, cloud, and virtual machines using proprietary tools.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Data Recovery Services

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAEALAC

Managed Backup Operations (On-Prem & Hybrid)

Business & Public Services/IT & Digital Services (Managed Services, Systems Integration)/Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery & Backup Services

SECONDARYBPAEACAJ

Cloud DR, Backup & Business Continuity

Business & Public Services/IT & Digital Services (Managed Services, Systems Integration)/Cloud Services & Cloud Migration

Keywords

• Data recovery services
• Hard drive recovery
• RAID data recovery
• SSD data recovery
• Professional recovery lab

Headquarters

HQ city

San Jose

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Data Recovery Services: Professional data recovery services billed on a per-case, fixed-quote basis. Customers pay only upon successful recovery (no-data, no-fee guarantee). Pricing based on problem complexity and device type. Services include hard drive recovery, SSD recovery, RAID/NAS recovery, Mac recovery, smartphone recovery, photo/flash recovery, VM recovery, cloud recovery, and helium HDD recovery.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Kotar Data Recovery is a professional data recovery service provider that retrieves lost or inaccessible data from failed hard drives, SSDs, RAID/NAS arrays, servers, Mac systems, smartphones, USB flash drives, memory cards, virtual machines, and cloud platforms. All recovery work is performed entirely in-house at its San Jose laboratory using proprietary tools (including the WD-HA Pro tool), a Class 100 cleanroom, advanced HDD/SSD recovery equipment, micro-soldering for board-level repairs, and AI-powered diagnostic and recovery processes. Services are offered on a fixed-quote basis with a no-data, no-fee guarantee, free evaluation, and tiered turnaround options including standard, 72-hour express, and 24/7 emergency service.

Product overview

Kotar Data Recovery is a professional data recovery service provider offering a comprehensive portfolio of specialized recovery services rather than a single unified software product. The core offering consists of ten distinct service lines covering all major storage device types: Hard Drive Data Recovery, SSD Data Recovery, RAID Data Recovery, Mac Data Recovery, Smartphone Data Recovery, Photo and Flash Memory Recovery, Lost File Recovery, Virtual Machine Data Recovery, Cloud Data Recovery, and Helium Hard Drive Recovery. These services are delivered through a single in-house San Jose laboratory using proprietary tools including the WD-HA Pro, Class 100 cleanroom capability, advanced HDD/SSD recovery tools, micro-soldering for board-level repairs, and AI-powered recovery processes. All recovery work is performed entirely in-house with no subcontracting, supported by free courier pickup across the Bay Area, free evaluation, and a no-data-no-charge guarantee.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Hard Drive Data Recovery Professional data recovery service for failed, clicking, damaged, not-detected, and external hard drives across all brands, interfaces, and operating systems, using Class 100 cleanroom capability for physically damaged units.
• SSD Data Recovery

Quantifiable outcome

• 96% success rate mentioned for Oakland service area
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers19 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles7 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• IT Consultants and Technology Service ProvidersminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCollaborates with hundreds of IT consultants, technology service providers, and resellers across local, national, and international markets. These partners refer clients to Kotar for professional data recovery services.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Salvation Data: SalvationDATA is a Chinese-headquartered data recovery company offering professional HDD/SSD/RAID recovery services alongside proprietary forensic and recovery hardware/software tools - overlaps with Kotar in the underlying recovery service and is also a tooling peer given Kotar's in-house WD-HA Pro.
• Cleverfiles (Disk Drill): Cleverfiles' Disk Drill is a widely-used consumer data recovery application for macOS and Windows covering HDDs, SSDs, USB drives, and memory cards - an indirect competitor that addresses deletion/loss cases Kotar services at the prosumer end of the market.
• Stellar Data Recovery: Stellar offers consumer and prosumer data recovery software for HDDs, SSDs, RAIDs, and mobile devices - a downstream substitute for the simpler cases Kotar handles, capturing budget-conscious customers before they would consider a lab service.

Broad incumbents

• Ontrack Data Recovery: Ontrack (a KLDiscovery business) is one of the largest global data recovery providers with a broad portfolio spanning HDD, SSD, RAID, tape, email, and enterprise storage; while it overlaps with Kotar on the core recovery services, it competes as a larger incumbent at a wider scope rather than a local specialist.

Direct peers

• Secure Data Recovery Services: Secure Data Recovery Services runs multiple SSAE-18 certified labs across the U.S. offering RAID, server, HDD/SSD, and enterprise storage recovery with chain-of-custody and cleanroom capability, competing head-to-head with Kotar for regulated-industry and enterprise recovery work.
• Gillware Data Recovery: Gillware provides professional data recovery services for HDDs, SSDs, RAIDs, NAS, and mobile devices with in-house cleanroom labs and a no-data, no-recovery, no-charge guarantee - a very close functional match to Kotar in service catalog, pricing model, and target SMB/enterprise customers.
• ACE Data Recovery Services: ACE Data Recovery Services offers professional HDD, SSD, RAID/NAS, server, Mac, and mobile recovery with Class 10 cleanroom facilities and 24/7 emergency service, serving individual and enterprise customers - directly comparable to Kotar on service lines and SLA structure.
• WeRecoverData: WeRecoverData is a U.S.-based data recovery lab offering HDD, SSD, RAID, NAS, SAN, and mobile device recovery with in-house cleanroom capability and a no-data, no-charge guarantee; a close functional peer to Kotar targeting similar SMB and enterprise customers.
• Data Tech Labs: DataTech Labs provides data recovery services for hard drives, SSDs, RAID arrays, servers, and mobile devices with multiple cleanroom facilities and a no-recovery, no-fee policy - a directly comparable service offering and pricing model to Kotar.
• DriveSavers: DriveSavers is a long-established, California-based data recovery service offering HDD, SSD, RAID, server, and mobile recovery with in-house cleanroom capability and 24/7 service - the closest direct competitor to Kotar on service breadth, customer segments (enterprise, healthcare, legal), and Bay Area/California geography.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/kotardatarecovery
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kotar-data-recovery
• Pinterestpinterest.com/kotardatarecovery
• Xx.com/RobertKotar

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Kotar Data Recovery