FAQ
Q? How do I know when I need the help of data recovery specialists?
A. The moment your hard drive starts acting up; the moment your computer stops recognizing your flash drive; the moment your digital camera claims it can’t read your memory card. Seek help from a data recovery professional as soon as you suspect that your data is lost. This will maximize your chances of a successful recovery. If you attempt to fix the problem yourself, you might make it even more difficult to recover your data.
Q? How much do you charge for diagnostics/up front?
A. Our Economical Data Recovery service plan (recommended for cases in which you aren’t in to hurry to have your data recovered) offers absolutely free, two business-day diagnostics, a free quote, and an estimated recovery time of seven business days. If time is a factor, however, we have many other service plans to choose from that expedite both diagnostics and recovery for a nominal fee.
Q? How much do you charge for recovery?
A. Approximately 80% of cases fall in the $200 to $300 range. More complicated cases (e.g., hard drives with mechanical issues, malfunctioning “monolithic” memory cards, media devices with complex logical issues, etc.) that require the use of a cleanroom and/or donor parts start at around $600 and can sometimes get as pricey as $1200. The prices of RAID data recovery services and SSD data recovery services range quite a bit and are largely dependent upon the RAID level used/the size of the SSD; some cases are as cheap as $300, while others are in the thousands.
Q? Can you give me a quote over the phone?
A. Certainly! Simply call us up and describe to one of our representatives the events leading up to the failure of your media device. The representative may ask also you a few questions in order to better understand your case. If you are able to answer the representative’s questions and provide a sufficiently informative description, we’ll be able to give you a relatively narrow price range that your quote will fall in. Circumstances of failure aren’t always a great indicator of how much damage your media device has sustained, though, so there’s always a chance your official quote will fall outside that range (higher or lower).
Q? Can I back out after you give me a quote/after diagnostics are complete?
A. Of course! Customers have absolutely no obligation to follow through with the service after diagnostics are complete. If the amount we quote you is too high, you’re more than welcome to cancel and pick up your media device. If you aren’t able to pick up your media device in person, we’ll ship it back to you for a flat-rate shipping and handling fee ($30 per drive for hard drives/RAID configurations and $10 for other devices).
Q? How do you return my recovered data back to me?
A. After we successfully recover your data, we will return it to you on a separate external hard drive, USB flash drive, or DVD called a “transfer drive” that you must either provide yourself, or purchase from us (no charge for DVDs). If you aren’t able to pick up your “transfer drive” from our lab in Los Angeles, CA, we’ll ship it to you free of charge. For information on how much we charge for our “transfer drives,” please speak with one of our representatives.
Q? Where do I start?
A. You can start by either calling us and speaking to one of our representatives or submitting a request for a quote on our website (a representative will usually call you within three business hours of your submission to discuss your case).