Plain answers, without all those phone-quote guessing games. Recovery starts at £250 + VAT, and once your free diagnostic is done, the exact cost will be stated in writing; in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Below is a breakdown of what each type of job costs, what can move the price up or down, and how to avoid being charged too much. Most of these quotes are for hard drive recovery, and the bands listed below cover exactly that.
The specific amount is put in writing once the free diagnostic is completed, and not before.
How much your disk holds does not matter: two disks that fail the same way cost the same. What actually changes the price is the type of failure and how much time is needed to rebuild the data.
Software fixes logical failures (a lost partition, corruption or deleted files). Physical failures (NAND-level repair, a dead board, failed heads) need donor parts and hands-on bench time, so naturally these recoveries fall into a higher pricing group.
The bottom tier is a single card or stick; a hard drive, SSD or laptop gets you a step up; RAID, NAS and multi-disk servers climb higher again, as each individual disk needs to be imaged and the array has to be reconstructed.
With RAID, NAS and SAN, the price depends on how many disks are present, what RAID level was set, and whether a controller failure or rebuild has mangled the disk layout, which we then need to reassemble.
In some instances, a physical job may require a like-for-like ‘donor’ drive to obtain matching heads or circuit boards; the cost of the donor drive contributes to the quoted price, which is why a 50% deposit is required for drive-level repairs.
Where each of the different types of work starts, prior to adding VAT: your specific costs will be confirmed in writing upon completion of the initial free diagnostic.
The initial price for each device type, and what we recover. Follow each row to find complete information regarding device-specific pricing.
No recovery should be based upon a punt on an inaccurate, vague phone estimate. Our pricing model keeps things clear: first, we provide a free written diagnostic, usually within 48 hours, so for nothing you get to know what broke and what can be salvaged. Only after your diagnostic has been completed do we send you a fixed price in writing. There are no range estimates and no “starting at” teasers, and nothing billable goes ahead until you have approved the quote. In most cases you only pay if we recover your data. However, there are three exceptions: forensic work, CCTV/DVR and physical drive-level repairs. These require specialist hours regardless of whether a recovery occurs, so each of them requires a 50% deposit before work starts, and the remaining balance is only due once a successful recovery has occurred.
A headline such as “£49 data recovery” nearly always changes the moment the device is opened. The initial low number is used to get you through the door, but it’s just a teaser: once they have opened the device, the real cost appears. Worse still, a cheap outfit may crack open your failed drive without the right equipment, or use software on failing hardware, and end up rendering all of your data irretrievable before any specialist has seen it. What really matters is the fixed, written price you agree to before any work begins, and the real value lies in recovering your data the first time around, since a failing drive rarely provides another opportunity. That’s why we perform diagnostics free, quote you in writing, and complete all data recoveries in-house instead of sending them to third-party companies.
The price-related questions we are asked most often.
A single hard drive is a flat £300 + VAT regardless of capacity: a 500GB drive and an 8TB drive with the same fault will cost exactly the same. The diagnostic is free, in most cases you only pay if we recover your data, and only physical, drive-level repairs (donor heads, a new board) require a 50% parts-and-bench deposit. Your exact cost is agreed in writing before work starts.
A single SSD is also charged at £300 + VAT, the same as a single hard drive. A RAID array, NAS or server starts at £500 + VAT because there are multiple disks to image and the array must be reconstructed, whilst enterprise SAN or datastores start at £1,250 + VAT. Pricing is based on the work required and the fault, never the volume of data, and is fixed in writing after a free diagnostic.
Prices start at £250 + VAT for a single card or stick, then £300 + VAT for an individual hard drive, SSD, laptop or Mac, then from £500 + VAT for a RAID or NAS array, and finally from £1,250 + VAT for enterprise SANs and datastores. Whichever applies, the exact price is fixed in your written quote after a free diagnostic; it is never estimated over the telephone.
No. Our pricing is based on the type of problem that needs to be solved and the effort it demands, rather than on the volume of data on the device. For example, two drives with the same fault will cost the same to recover, even if one holds 4TB and the other 500GB.
No. VAT is added on top at the standard UK rate, so the prices we list are quoted before VAT. Whatever you decide, your written quote states the full total including VAT first.
Yes. We offer this service at no charge, and it usually takes us up to 48 hours to complete: we determine what failed, what can be recovered and the fixed price to recover it, with no obligation to continue.
The price depends on the fault. A physical failure (anything from work at NAND level to a dead board or failed heads) requires matching donor parts and time on the bench, so it costs more, and in these cases an initial 50% deposit is required. However, a logical failure, such as a scrambled array layout, corruption or deleted files, typically involves lighter, software-based work.
In most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Three types of work are exceptions to this rule, namely forensic jobs, CCTV/DVR and physical drive-level repairs, as they require significant amounts of specialist time regardless of whether we succeed in recovering your data. As such, each of these requires a 50% deposit up front.
It’s our standard flat charge for any single drive: £300 + VAT. All diagnostics are complimentary, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Where problems lie within the enclosure or its USB bridge, that work is included in the overall job quotation rather than added separately. Should we determine that donor components are required to recover your data, the normal 50% parts-and-bench deposit will apply.
While you alone know the true value of the accounts, the project folder or the photos on the drive, the decision does not have to be made blindly. We offer complimentary diagnostics, and our diagnostic report gives you a written quote outlining specifically what can be recovered and what it will cost, so the numbers are real before you commit. In most cases you only pay if we recover your data, so a failed attempt costs you nothing. When the data cannot be replaced, a single professional attempt often provides far greater value than the original purchase price of the drive.
Begin with a complimentary written diagnostic. This allows us to identify exactly what can be recovered from your device and what it will cost, and once we’ve given you this information, the decision is yours. Please drop off your device at our offices in Guildford, or post it to us fully insured.