# File lib/big_record/connection_adapters/hbase_adapter.rb, line 315
      def deserialize_with_header(data)
        return unless data and data.size >= 2

        # the type of the data is encoded in the first byte
        type = data[0];

        case type
        when TYPE_NULL then nil
        when TYPE_STRING then data[1..-1]
        when TYPE_BINARY then data[1..-1]
        else data
        end
      end