Data Recovery FAQs

We inspect and evaluate most drive or devices within 5 working days of receiving them, however if the device has suffered severe damage then it may take longer to evaluate properly.  We do offer an express service at an additional cost.  

After accepting the quote, most recoveries take between 1-5 days to complete though it does depend on the extent of the damage to the drive or device.  In some cases modern SSD drives or severely damaged mechanical drives can take weeks just to read the data.  You will be told how long it’s like to take alongside your price quote.

Price does depend on what device you are giving us and what physical state it is in but start at £89 inc vat.

See our data recovery pricing page for a guide to costs.

Most recoveries come in between £89 and £349 but does vary on what device we are recovering from and what the fault is. Our data recovery evaluation is free on our standard service and we will provide you with a report on the condition of your drive and a price quote for recovery upon inspection. You have the option of accepting the quote or rejecting it at this point. As data recovery can be quite complicated and varies from job to job then we really do need to see a device or drive be be able to make a definitive assessment. We conduct ourselves at all times in a professional manner and this includes your privacy and our honest appraisal of your drive.  We offer very competitive prices while maintaining a very high degree of success and only charge if we are successful at recovering your data. Why not give us a call or email to discuss your particular problem, we can usually be quite accurate with advice and pricing with the information you provide

 

 

In most instances the data is recoverable.  It will likely require the careful sourcing and replacement of key internal components and then careful work cloning the drive to allows us to extract the data but in the majority of cases this is possible. Sometimes when a drive is dropped, knocked or left switched on while its making unusual noises then major damage occurs to the surfaces where the data is stored. In these cases a partial recovery is sometimes possible and in others cases no data is recoverable. If your drive is making clicking, grinding or beeping noises it is essential that you switch it off and leave it switched off until we have inspected it.

When we receive a drive we first determine what is wrong with the drive, what the cause of the failure is and whether it is going to be recoverable.  We first must determine if it is a logical issue, an electronic issue, firmware issue or a physical issue.  Logical issues mean that the drive or device is physically fine but corruption or system file error is preventing access to the data.  Electronic issues mean that one or more of the electronic components has been damaged and will require repair or replacement.  Firmware issues relate to damage to the underlying programming that allows the hard drive to operate, it exists either on a chip on the drive or on the platters in the drive itself.  Physical damage means that the drive or device has suffered physical damage to one or more of its components and in the case of a hard drive will likely require opening up in a clean room and replacement parts being sourced.

When we receive a drive we first determine what is wrong with the drive, what the cause of the failure is and whether it is going to be recoverable.  We first must determine if it is a logical issue, an electronic issue, firmware issue or a physical issue.  Logical issues mean that the drive or device is physically fine but corruption or system file error is preventing access to the data.  Electronic issues mean that one or more of the electronic components has been damaged and will require repair or replacement.  Firmware issues relate to damage to the underlying programming that allows the hard drive to operate, it exists either on a chip on the drive or on the platters in the drive itself.  Physical damage means that the drive or device has suffered physical damage to one or more of its components and in the case of a hard drive will likely require opening up in a clean room and replacement parts being sourced.

If the recovered data is less than 32GB it will be returned on a USB pen or a Dropbox link with no additional charge.  If the recovered data is larger than this, then it will be copied to a new external drive of a size of your choosing.  There will be a charge for the new drive but this will be discussed and quoted for during the job when we know how much data is recoverable and what data you require. If you are close by and plan to drop the drive or device off with us, you can also leave us a new, blank drive, for the recovered data if you wish.

We do not view the recovered data.   We validate recovered data using tools that verify the file header and match file length to what it should be.  We take privacy very seriously.