Came across this article on Backblaze’s design for their online automated backup product. This is a great inside look at how the big boys are doing it. Backblaze crushes Dell and Amazon on return on money through smart buying and well thought out design.

Hard drives make horrible noises when they are failing. Grinds, scratches, whirring are all common. On top of that, each manufacturer’s hard drive makes a different sound. But what does each sound mean? Take a look at this guide to match up the sound you are hearing with the problem inside your hard drive.

It is important to have a clear vision on what business you are in. Most people stop at their first thought and run the company with this idea, generally without good results. Once you know what business you are in you can separate yourself from the competition. Home Depot doesn’t sell hammers and nails they are in the helping DIYers to…do-it-themselves. JetBlue isn’t in the airline business they are focused on a happy jetting experience.

Is FreshCrop in the developing and selling software business? This is how I would describe what I did early on when the company was only a few years old. With some more experience I realize that we are in the rescue business. People have an accident and a dire need to get their files back. With this perspective it changes everything and gives us an edge over the competition. How we answer the phone, our message on our website, our products, services, pricing, support are all changed and focused. What business are you in?

We’ve worked for the past few months on a facelift for the new http://freshcrop.com. The last major design release was in 2008, so we were due for a facelift.

Over the past 2 years our target market has remained the same – providing photo recovery and data recovery software and services to those in need. We’ve added complimentary products like secure file deletion software, backup software and iPhone repair services and wanted to give them their own space. Previously they were stuffed behind layers of pages focused on data recovery.

Let us know your thoughts on the new design! The website is under constant change as we like to measure and tweak to make the best site possible.

Run Time: 3:12 | 7.02.10 | Download MP3

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Summary

FreshCrop’s data recovery service saves the day for an accountant….just before April 15th!

“The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.”

- Oliver Wendell Holmes

We’ve just released our latest software, FreshCrop MediaBACKUP.  I’m very excited to tell everyone about it! It has been months of coding and testing work and it is exciting to finally have it available to the public.

There are many drawbacks to traditional backup software: only saves one version or a snapshot of your files, if you lose a document during editing you can’t get those changes back, setting up is difficult and even then it may not be getting the files that are most important to you.

There is an opportunity here to have a better experience and give you peace-of-mind knowing that your documents, photos, music and video are safely backed up. Setup is quick and simple, taking under 10 mins while automatically selecting the files and folders that you use the most. The BackInTime feature gives you a time capsule view of all versions of your files. Travel back and forth to find the file you want.

Try FreshCrop MediaBACKUP free for 30 days!

You’ve heard it before, word of mouth is the most powerful way to grow your business. The ROI can’t be beat. With blogs and social media, word of mouth is on steroids. The “problem” is it takes a good and  functional product, sprinkle in consistent work over time and top with great customer service. After lots of hard work you get to enjoy great customers like this one.

I wanted to share a recent personal story from a FreshCrop customer:

“Had a terrible scenario come true this weekend. A compact flash card was formatted before the images had been downloaded. It happened so fast and unintentional, yet I knew what I had done seconds after it happened. I put the card aside and didn’t use it for another session.

I didn’t panic too much, as there are companies out there that will retrieve the files. But the thought that the formatting of the card may have wiped them out, that it may cost hundreds of dollars and weeks of delay, was still cause for a few steepness nights.

On a forum I found a link to MediaRECOVER software: www.freshcrop.com. For $30 the software worked just as was advertised. It took a deep scan and within 10 minutes every raw file that had been recorded that day appeared in a folder. Oh, you know I was dancing!

Just had to let you know that there is hope if you should make the same mistake. But of course you are smarter than I and you will not let it happen in the first place.”

If a customer has a great experience, don’t be afraid to ask! She went on to say:

“Yes, you have my permission to use it on your website. Every time I visited your site, I read the testimonials and gained more confidence in purchasing your product.

I found your link on the Boston Photographers Guild forum. Two photographers linked your site in their posts along with positive feedback after using your software.

I was dreading making the phone call to tell my clients I had “lost” their images. Now I’ll get to sleep tonight!”

Feels great to have a customer like that!

Run Time: 5:38 | 6.22.10 | Download MP3

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Summary

FreshCrop’s data recovery service expert discusses common signs and symptoms that your hard drive is failing.

Today I’m excited to announce our new iPhone repair service. FreshCrop has offered data recovery services for hard drives and removable media since 2001. It is a natural fit for us as the technology you use to store your photos, music and video is moving from desktop computers to handheld devices.

The Apple iPhone is very susceptible to damage from daily use. Drops, bumps and weight on the screen can cause glass/digitizer and LCD damage. As much as we use our phones, it is important that after an accident we have the problem fixed immediately so that we can go back to using our phone.

To kick off our iPhone repair service we will begin with offering glass/digitizer repair, LCD repair and battery replacement for the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3Gs and iPod Touch with plans to add the iPad and iPhone 4 shortly.

iPhone 3G glass/digitizer repair – $79.00
iPhone 3G LCD repair – $79.00
iPhone 3G battery replacement – $35.00

iPhone 3Gs glass/digitizer repair – $89.00
iPhone 3Gs LCD repair repair – $99.00
iPhone 3Gs battery replacement - $45.00

iPod Touch glass/digitizer repair – $79.00
iPod Touch LCD repair repair - $79.00