Our data recovery team aim to have a free diagnosis completed as soon as possible, and it is following this that a no-obligation quote is given. But what sort of prices should you expect?
In short, the cost of data recovery depends on a number of factors, and the question “how much will it cost to recover the data on my broken device?” is not one that can be answered easily.
Factors that determine the price are wide ranging. What sort of technology does the device utilise to store data? For example, is it a mechanical hard disk drive (HDD), or a flash-based storage device such as a solid-state drive (SSD), USB flash drive, or SD card? Perhaps it is a legacy format that is not widely used anymore.
Then there’s the cause of why you can’t access your data, i.e. what is wrong with the device? Is it a logical problem, such as an accidentally-deleted file or folder, or is it a physical fault that requires the device to be disassembled in a clean room environment, like a hard drive head crash? All of these factors and more will determine how much the data recovery work will cost.
An analogy we like to use to explain to customers why pinning an exact price on a data recovery job is difficult is a car that won’t start. If you get into your car and it won’t start, phoning a garage and asking how much to get it running again won’t give you a definitive answer; it varies depending on the model and age of the car, and what exactly is wrong. A drained battery will be significantly cheaper than a problem with the engine, for example. Data recovery is similar in this regard.
Despite this, however, we are able to give rough estimates if the cause of the problem with your device is obvious, and our data recovery team will try and do this where possible. However, you will only know how much the data recovery work will cost until a full evaluation of your media has been completed. When this has been done, you’ll get given a no-obligation quote, which you can either accept or decline – there are no hidden up-front charges. If you accept, then we will go ahead with the data recovery; if you decline, your media will be returned to you free of charge. You can find out more about the data recovery process here.
In terms of rough estimates, the cost of data recovery is determined by how easy it is to repair your media to a point where data can be extracted. Upon arrival in the data recovery lab, your media will first be seen by the Initial Assessment Team, and if no intrusive intervention is required, they will complete the data recovery and return your media to you. Prices are generally around £200 for this type of data recovery work.
Severe corruption, micro soldering, and any work requiring media being disassembled is handled by our Continued Assessment Team, who work in a clean room environment, dealing with physically damaged drives. The Continued Assessment Team is made up of a number of technicians, each with a different area of expertise in data recovery techniques. Jobs completed by this team include head crashes, motor failure and PCB repair, with work typically starting at £400.
Finally, our Specialist Assessment Team deals with technically challenging work, with a strong emphasis on research and development. This team deals with RAID virtualisation, helioseal hard drives, and legacy formats. Prices are generally around £600 but could be much higher, depending on the nature of the work. This team typically deals with large businesses.
Data recovery is a specialist process, and unfortunately it doesn’t come cheap. This is why Data Recovery Specialists do not charge up-front fees for diagnostic tests, so you only pay what you agree to, and if we can’t get your data back, you won’t pay a penny.
