Most people who are looking up how much data recovery costs in Aberdeen want a number, rather than a form to complete, so here is the shape of it. The lowest cost range is straightforward logical work (deleted files, a formatted card/drive, a damaged file system, a lost partition) and should be in the lower hundreds. A failed hard drive requiring physical work (head replacement, a seized motor, a rebuilt circuit board) sits several hundred higher, as these jobs consume both donor parts and many hours on the bench. RAID, NAS and server systems cost more again, as they require individual imaging of each disk within the set prior to the array being reconstructed. Lastly, forensic-grade work (e.g. ransomware attacks, CCTV/DVR recorders, BitLocker encrypted volumes) is the top band and is quoted separately.
Nobody can name your exact figure from a description over the phone and anyone that claims to do that is probably guessing or trying to sell something. The only things that can be guaranteed are that there are no costs for diagnostics, the process takes no more than 2 working days after your media reaches us, and at the end of that time the amount owed (including VAT) will be a single fixed written price that will never change. If you choose not to accept that price, then you would owe nothing. In relation to logical work, in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Therefore, even when a recovery on a logical fault fails, you still would owe us nothing.
Logical. The hardware is good enough; the organisation of the data is poor. A deleted file, a formatted partition, some corruption, a new partitioning scheme. All work is done from an image that is read-only and no parts are used, which is why this is the least expensive of all bands and also the reason it can honestly carry our usual terms: in most cases you only pay if we recover your data.
Mechanical and electrical. A failed drive will not be able to read itself. Failure can occur due to many factors such as, but not limited to: failed heads, a seizing spindle, burnt circuit boards, water damage, fire damage etc. The repair needs a matched donor unit from another identical drive, which will cost money, and there will also be time required on our bench, and those costs are incurred whether or not the recovery ultimately succeeds. For this reason, physical work takes 50% of the total quoted amount prior to us beginning work on your drive. The remaining 50% of the total quoted amount will only be charged if we recover your data. If anyone is telling you that a head swap is free except when successful, with no conditions attached, they are either not performing head swaps, or they have included the potential failure in your quoted price.
Arrays. RAID arrays, network attached storage (NAS) devices, servers. The cost of these increases proportionally to the number of disks involved in the setup. This is due to the fact that each disk needs to be imaged separately prior to anything being reconstructed. Beyond this initial increase, costs rise as well when either the controller for the array fails or someone has already attempted a rebuild on an array that is partially down. In fact, attempting a rebuild on an already degraded array is the most common thing that takes a previously recoverable array and makes it only partially recoverable. It also adds to the expense.
Forensic. This includes ransomware, CCTV and DVR recorders, BitLocker and all other forensic related devices that require a documented evidentiary trail. Forensic recovery of data is manual, proprietary, time consuming, slow and unpredictable. You will be required to make full payment before we begin work on recovering your data, and it is not covered by our usual terms, where in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. We say that plainly here rather than you discovering it at the invoice.
A large portion of what appears to be a local Aberdeen data recovery service may be a lead generation site that sends your hard drive off to someone else after adding their profit margin. While there are no legal issues with this process, you will ultimately have paid more, and also lost one level of responsibility/accountability. Three key questions help identify the problem quickly. One: Where does the physical repair occur, and what is the location/physical address? An actual reply is the physical address. Two: What tools/equipment do they use? Naming PC-3000 or DeepSpar is a completely different answer from talking about advanced proprietary technology. Three: Is the quote fixed in writing prior to beginning the work, and what occurs to my payment if they cannot recover data?
Watch for the three tells. First of all, when they quote you a firm price before anyone can even see the drive that you are sending them, that is bait, and it will grow after your drive arrives at their facility. Second of all, an unconditional guarantee that you will never have to pay anything unless your data comes back, over every possible type of fault, is mathematically impossible with physical data recovery. Lastly, if someone promises you an emergency turnaround time, say within hours, be wary and not feel confident. The honest position here is that the free diagnosis takes up to 2 working days from the time that we receive your drive, and the actual recovery takes as long as the fault takes. Nothing under 2 working days is offered, because nothing under 2 working days is real.
The single largest cost driver for data recovery is what happens between the time your drive fails and the drive reaches our bench. Clicking drives that are left on overnight, a corrupted volume that has had chkdsk run on it three times, an array someone attempted to rebuild, a card being reformatted after the problem started: each will take what could be a cheap recovery to become an expensive recovery, or even a partial recovery that no amount of money can improve. Stopping early is free and it's worth more than any discount.
Two practical tips. If your data is located in a laptop, desktop, Mac, server or recorder, please remove the drive or SSD from it and send that to us separately (from a server, take every disk out and label each one with its bay); machines are not dismantled at our site. Storage attached with solder to a main board cannot be taken at all (if you're not sure which type you have, contact us first). And tell us what folders really matter, as targeted recovery of these can often be quicker and cheaper than a full image plus reconstruction. Get a quote from us first via phone or use our free online diagnostic tool, then post the drive tracked and insured, use your own courier service or drop it off at our Edinburgh counter (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, no appointment needed). Nothing will ever be collected from customers. Freephone 0800 689 0668, and the call costs nothing whether or not anything is sent.
There are three elements that create an honest price: the cost to assess was free, the written quote cannot rise after it has been given, and on logical work, in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Companies who offer two of these factors are betting you won't miss the third, and generally speaking, the factor they quietly omit is typically the figure in writing.
The diagnosis is free and takes 2 working days once your disk arrives at our premises. The figure quoted is fixed and given to you in writing, and on logical work, in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Begin online today or call us.