Drives, SSDs, cards, phones
Data recovery
Clicking drives, dead SSDs, formatted cards, deleted photos. Assessment is free and we give you the real odds before spending anything. If the data isn't recoverable you pay nothing.
Stop using it
Continued use overwrites what we could have recovered. Power it down and call.
Honest odds
Mechanical failure, controller failure or logical damage — each has different chances. You'll hear which.
Then a backup
Automatic local plus cloud, configured and tested, so the next failure is a non-event.
Areas we cover
Stop using the drive
This is the most useful thing on this page. If a drive is failing, every additional minute of use reduces what can be recovered — and more recoveries are lost to repeated boot attempts than to the original fault.
- Switch the machine off and leave it off if you hear clicking, buzzing or grinding
- Do not install recovery software onto the drive you are trying to recover from
- Do not run repair tools that write to the disk — some make things permanently worse
- Do not put a drive in the freezer; that advice is decades out of date and causes condensation damage
Three different problems, three different prices
People use "my drive died" for several unrelated failures. Which one you have determines both the cost and the odds, and it is the first thing the free assessment establishes.
- Logical damage
- Files deleted, a drive formatted, a corrupted file system. The hardware is fine. Best odds and lowest cost — from $150.
- Electronic failure
- The drive does not spin up or is not detected. Often recoverable, and the price depends on the specific fault.
- Mechanical failure
- Clicking or grinding — the heads or motor. This needs the drive opened in a controlled environment. Most involved, and we quote the range before anything is spent.
- SSD failure
- Different again. SSDs fail without warning and, when the controller goes, recovery is harder than on a mechanical drive rather than easier.
How the assessment works
It is free, and it is free whether or not you proceed. We establish which category the failure falls into, what is likely recoverable, and what it will cost — before you commit to anything. If we cannot recover your data you pay nothing at all.
What we recover from
- Mechanical hard drives from laptops and desktops
- SSDs and NVMe drives
- External and portable drives
- SD and microSD cards, and camera media
- USB sticks
- Phones and tablets, for accessible storage
Then we set up a backup
Recovery is the expensive way to get your files back, and it works only sometimes. A backup is the cheap way and it works every time. We set one up as part of the job — typically $90–160, tested with a real restore before we leave, because an untested backup is not one.
There is a fuller explanation of what actually protects you in our guide to backups, including why sync services and permanently connected drives are not enough on their own.
Data recovery — common questions
How much does data recovery cost?
Logical recovery — deleted files, a formatted drive, a corrupted file system — starts at $150. Mechanical failures needing the drive opened cost more and we quote the range first. The assessment is free and you pay nothing if we cannot recover it.
My drive is clicking. Can you still recover it?
Often, but switch it off now and leave it off. Clicking means the heads are struggling across the platter, and every further attempt to boot reduces what survives.
Can you recover from an SSD?
Sometimes, and it is harder than a mechanical drive rather than easier. When an SSD controller fails the data can become genuinely unreachable. The free assessment tells you where yours stands.
How long does recovery take?
Logical recoveries are often same-day or next-day. Mechanical failures take longer because the work is slower and more careful. We give you a timeframe with the quote.
Ready to get it sorted?
Call and you'll usually get a diagnosis on the phone. Or book online and we'll confirm within the hour.