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$300 Data Recovery charges $300 to recover a hard drive, USB flash drive or memory card 1TB or smaller, $500 for the same devices up to 6TB, and $700 above 6TB. Any SSD up to 6TB is $500 regardless of capacity, and a phone or tablet recovered in our lab is $500 flat. RAID and NAS arrays are priced per drive, each at its own tier. There is no charge if we can’t recover your data.
How much does data recovery cost? $300, $500, or $700.
Our pricing is 100% transparent — pre-determined and agreed upon before we start. No surprises at the end.
Pricing is based on the capacity of the device, not how much data is on it — a 4TB drive with 50GB of data on it is still a $500 recovery.
Every price $300 Data Recovery charges is published on this page. There is no quote process, and no evaluation step that changes the number after we open your device.
Not sure what kind of device you have? See photos to identify your device →
“The charges were exactly as listed on their flat fee schedule and the final cost was far less than any other data recovery service…” –G
How Transparent Pricing Works
Once your device arrives at our shop, we image it and tell you exactly what we found. From there, the math is simple:
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If we recover at least 99% of the sectors on your device
The pre-determined rate is due — based on your device type and capacity.
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If we recover less than 99% of the sectors on your device
It’s your choice. Approve the recovery and pay the pre-determined fee, or decline the recovery and pay a $100 labor fee.
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If we can’t recover any of your files: there is no charge
Excluding our up-front Priority Service fee, the open cover fee, the cost of donor parts, and return shipping, if applicable. The open cover fee and donor part costs apply to hard drives only.
We charge a $100 labor fee if 99–100% of the sectors are recovered but no files are found. This is the case if your device is completely empty (formatted, files previously deleted) or if your device was encrypted and you don’t remember the password or have the recovery key.
Not sure what size or type of device you have? Or how much it’ll cost?
Take ~2 minutes to fill out our Chances Form. We’ll tell you what we think the odds of recovery are, exactly what it’ll cost, and the average cost of a donor drive (for hard drives) if one is needed.
What’s Included
Our flat-rate recovery price covers all of these scenarios:
Included in the price
- Physical & logical repairs
- Encryption — BitLocker, FileVault, factory SED/Smartware, LUKS, VeraCrypt (assuming you have the password or recovery key)
- USB enclosures & PCB issues
- SSDs, NVMe, and PCIe drives
- Helium & SMR drives
- Clean-room work — head swaps, platter swaps
- File system corruption & partition repairs
- Firmware corruption
Billed separately (when applicable)
- Donor parts — at our cost, no markup. You approve and pay before we order. More details below.
- Transfer drive — see pricing below. You can also provide your own.
- Return Shipping — $25 with signature confirmation in the US, or $20 without signature confirmation. Customers may also provide their own return shipping label. International customers must provide their own return shipping label. More details below.
- Open cover fee — $100 up-front for opened hard drives. Applied toward your total. More details below.
- Specialist fee — if your phone or Mac/soldered-SSD laptop has to be outsourced. Details below.
Does a harder recovery cost more?
No. $300 Data Recovery charges the same price whatever the failure is. A clicking drive that needs a full head swap in the cleanroom costs the same as a drive with a corrupted partition table, as long as they’re the same capacity.
Included at no extra charge: encryption of any kind, including BitLocker, FileVault, LUKS, VeraCrypt and factory self-encrypting drives; USB circuit board and enclosure work; cleanroom time and head swap labor, though the donor drive itself is billed separately at our cost; and complexity of any kind.
Several surcharges that used to exist here were eliminated, and they’re worth naming because many labs still charge them: a $100 encryption fee, a $100 USB circuit board fee, a $100 over-2TB fee, a $200 over-8TB fee, and helium drive fees. None of those exist at $300 Data Recovery any more.
Transfer Drive Pricing
A transfer drive is a drive we use to deliver your recovered data — we copy the recovered files onto it and ship it back to you (or you pick it up).
You can buy a transfer drive from us or provide your own.
If you want to buy a drive from us
All our transfer drives are brand new, name-brand (typically Seagate, Toshiba, or Western Digital), and backed by at least a one-year manufacturer’s warranty.
We sell several sizes of external USB 3 drives (these also work on USB 2 computers).
Portable drives (powered from your computer using a USB cable):
| 1TB | $125 |
| 2TB | $150 |
| 4TB | $200 |
Desktop drives (larger capacity, powered using a power adapter/wall outlet):
| 8TB | $300 |
| 12TB | $425 |
| 16TB | $500 |
| 22TB | $600 |
Larger drives are available upon request. Transfer drive prices do not include sales tax (for CA residents only).
If you want to provide your own transfer drive
There are some requirements (the drive must be empty, must be a USB external or bare SATA, must arrive with the bad drive, etc.). See our transfer drive FAQ for the full list.
Shipping & Drop-Off
Drop off in Los Angeles (free)
If you’re local to Los Angeles, you can drop off your device at our shop in Studio City: 11390 Ventura Blvd #5, Los Angeles, CA. Please submit our drop-off form before stopping by so we can prepare for your arrival. Drop-off saves you the cost of inbound shipping and is the fastest way to get your device to us.
Mail-in shipping (anywhere in the US)
If you’re not local, you can mail your device in. Mail-in form →
For return shipping back to you, we offer two options:
| Service | Price |
|---|---|
| Return shipping with signature confirmation | $25 |
| Return shipping without signature confirmation | $20 |
You can also provide your own return shipping label at no charge to you — just include it with your inbound shipment.
International shipping
We accept devices from anywhere in the world. For international return shipping, customers must provide their own return shipping label — we don’t quote or arrange international shipping ourselves.
Specialist work (phones and modern Macs with soldered SSDs that we can’t recover in-house) involves additional shipping legs. See Specialist Work below.
Open Cover Fee — Hard Drives Only
If your hard drive’s cover has already been opened — by you, by another shop, by anyone — we charge a $100 fee up-front. This is non-refundable and applies to hard drives only (not SSDs, USB drives, phones, etc.).
The $100 is applied toward your recovery total, not added on top of it. So if your 1TB drive recovery would normally be $300, you pay $100 up-front and $200 if the recovery is successful. The total is still $300.
Donor Drives — Hard Drives Only
Some hard drive recoveries — especially physical failures — require a donor drive: components are harvested from a working drive identical to yours. The donor drives customers pay for help solve:
- Bad read/write heads — when the heads are damaged or worn out
- Motor/spindle assembly issues — when the drive can’t spin up properly
Note: PCBs (printed circuit boards) are also sometimes needed, but we keep most common PCBs in stock — those are included in the recovery price at no additional charge.
How donor drives are priced
Donor drives are billed at our cost, with no markup. The cost varies depending on the drive model — older or more common drives are cheaper to source, while newer or rare models cost more.
For an estimated donor cost specific to your drive model, submit our Chances Form — we’ll tell you the average donor price for your specific drive model along with our estimate of recovery odds.
You always approve the donor part cost in writing before we order. If you decline, the recovery doesn’t proceed and you only pay any up-front fees that already applied — such as the open cover fee (if your drive was already opened), the return shipping cost, and the $100 labor fee (if we recovered some data but you don’t want it).
Donor Drive Workflow
- We diagnose your drive in our lab. We always try to recover as much data as possible first using our standard methods, before resorting to donor parts.
- If donor parts are needed, we source the part and send you a written quote with the exact cost.
- You approve and pay for the donor part. We then order it.
- Once the part arrives, we use it to recover your data.
- If the recovery is successful, you pay the standard recovery fee on top.
- If we recover only a partial amount of your data without the donor part, we’ll let you know what we got. You can either accept the partial recovery (and skip the donor) or approve the donor part to try to recover the rest.
- If the recovery is unsuccessful, you’ve still paid for the donor part (we can’t return it once used).
Donor drives apply to hard drives only — SSDs, flash drives, memory cards, and phones typically don’t require donor parts.
Optional Add-Ons
Optional services for customers who want something beyond standard data recovery:
Priority Service
Faster turnaround. We expedite your recovery to the front of every queue, plus you can download up to 25GB of essential files immediately after approving the file listing. $100 up-front (non-refundable) plus $200 if the recovery is successful.
Clone or Disk Image
Want a full clone of your bad drive in addition to the recovered files? $100 add-on. The clone goes to a new SATA drive (which we can supply at cost, or you can provide), or as a disk image file on your transfer drive.
Corrupt Video Repair
For videos that were fully saved but became corrupt (camera powered off mid-recording, etc.). ~50% success in-house. If we can’t repair it, no charge — and we can escalate to a specialist for $300 + $150–$350 per video.
iMac / All-in-One Drive Removal
For iMacs, All-in-One PCs, and certain hard-to-open laptops, we charge a $100 add-on to remove the internal drive(s) — hard drive, SSD, or both halves of an Apple/Mac Fusion Drive — so we can attempt recovery. This is in addition to the standard recovery rate.
Moving Fee
For transferring already-recovered data after the initial recovery is complete (e.g., a second copy on another drive, or after you initially declined and changed your mind — provided we still have your data on file). Labor only — transfer drive and shipping are billed separately at standard rates.
Transfer Drive Encryption Fee
We will encrypt your Transfer Drive (the drive we move the recovered data to) with BitLocker or FileVault before shipping it back to you.
RAID & Multi-Drive Arrays
For RAID, NAS, and other multi-drive arrays, we price each drive at its own tier (using the same rules as single-drive recoveries — including the $500 floor for SSDs) and multiply by the number of drives in the array. We have to image, analyze, and reconstruct the entire array regardless of how many drives have actually failed.
| Configuration | Total |
|---|---|
| 4-drive RAID-0, all 4TB HDDs | 4 × $500 = $2,000 |
| 2-drive mirror, both 1TB HDDs | 2 × $300 = $600 |
| 8-drive helium NAS in RAID-5, all 14TB | 8 × $700 = $5,600 |
| Mixed: 2× 2TB + 2× 8TB JBOD RAID | (2 × $500) + (2 × $700) = $2,400 |
| 4-drive all-SSD RAID, any size up to 6TB | 4 × $500 = $2,000 (SSD floor applies per drive) |
For more about our multi-drive recovery work, see our RAID data recovery and NAS data recovery pages.
Other Pricing Notes
A few less-common scenarios that don’t fit the standard tier structure:
Chip-off recovery
$500 per chip. When a USB flash drive, SD card, MicroSD, or CF card can’t be recovered through standard methods (controller failure, severe physical damage, etc.), we can physically remove the NAND chip(s) and read them directly. Learn more about chip-off recovery.
Chip-off pricing is per chip, multiplied by however many chips your device has (most have 1 or 2). This is a separate workflow from the standard capacity tiers.
If your device requires physical chip removal as part of the initial recovery process (most commonly Microsoft Surface Pro 5/6/7 and certain other eMMC tablets/laptops), we charge a $100 chip removal fee. This doesn’t apply to SD/CF/USB Flash drives. This fee is due up-front/non-refundable, but deducted from the $500 data recovery fee if the recovery is successful.
CD, DVD, or floppy disk imaging
$300 per disc. We use specialized hardware and software to image optical and magnetic media. Per-disc pricing — no bundle discount.
Specialist Work
Occasionally, laptops with soldered SSDs and phones can’t be recovered in-house and have to go to a specialist. We always send you a written quote first — you must approve the specialist fee, shipping, and any other costs in writing before we ship your device anywhere. If you decline, we ship the device back to you and you owe nothing (just the return shipping, if applicable). Once you approve, we ship your device to the specialist, then ship it back to you when they’re done.
We don’t charge our standard recovery rate on top of the specialist’s fee — you pay the specialist’s fee plus shipping, and that’s it.
Phone Recovery — when in-house isn’t possible
For modern phones we can’t recover ourselves, the specialist fee depends on your device:
| Non-iPhone phones (Android, etc.) | $700 |
| iPhone 14 and earlier | $600 |
| iPhone 15, 16, 17 | $800 |
Macs & Soldered-SSD Laptops
Modern Macs with soldered SSDs (and some other modern laptops) may require specialist work depending on the failure. The specialist fee is $800.
Shipping for specialist cases
For both phone and Mac/soldered-SSD specialist work, shipping is three $25 legs ($75 total): we ship to the specialist, they ship back to us, then we ship to you. If the specialist can’t recover your data either, you pay only the $75 shipping — no recovery fee. Drop-off customers skip the final return-to-customer leg, so their shipping is $50 instead of $75.
How specialist cases work — and why it benefits you
Our role for these complex cases is to serve as the project manager. We handle all client communication, logistics, and billing. Our partnership agreement is structured this way so the specialist can focus entirely on the intricate technical work, which is crucial for maximizing the chances of a successful recovery.
This arrangement offers several key benefits for you:
- A discounted specialist rate — because of our ongoing partnership and volume, our customers get a discounted rate from the specialist that they wouldn’t get going direct.
- A single point of contact — you have one person and one company to communicate with for everything.
- Full accountability — we take complete responsibility for the entire process, from securely shipping your device to delivering the final data.
- Streamlined service — we manage all the technical communication, so you don’t have to.
Pricing FAQ
My drive is labeled as 1TB but reports 1.02TB. Which tier?
$300. If your device is marketed/labeled as 1TB, it’s $300 — regardless of raw capacity. Same for 6TB drives that report a hair over 6TB.
My drive is mostly empty. Do I still pay the full price?
Yes. The price reflects the work of imaging the entire device, not the amount of data on it. A 4TB drive with 50GB of data is still a $500 recovery.
Is there a “no data, no charge” guarantee?
Yes. If we can’t recover any of your files, there’s no recovery charge. The exceptions are: the up-front Priority Service fee (if you opted for it), the open cover fee for opened hard drives, the cost of donor parts (if approved by you), shipping, and the $100 labor fee for empty or undecryptable devices.
What if I only need a few specific files? Can you do a partial recovery?
No — we don’t do partial-recovery pricing. We image the whole device whether you want all the data or just one folder.
Do you have any surcharges or hidden fees?
No. Our pre-determined price covers everything — encryption, USB enclosures, NVMe, helium, SMR, complexity. The only things billed separately are donor parts, transfer drive, shipping, open cover fee, specialist fees if applicable, and optional add-ons.
How long does a typical recovery take?
Most recoveries are completed within 7–14 business days from when we receive the device. Larger drives, severely damaged drives, or specialist cases can take longer. If you need it faster, our Priority Service moves you to the front of every queue.
What payment methods do you accept?
We accept credit/debit cards (including American Express & Discover), Bitcoin/Ethereum, Zelle, Venmo, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. We also accept cash for drop-off customers.
Do you ship internationally?
Yes, we accept devices from anywhere in the world. For international return shipping, customers must provide their own return shipping label — we don’t arrange international shipping ourselves. See our Shipping section for full details.
Why do SSDs cost more than a same-size hard drive?
SSDs require similar labor regardless of capacity — controller-specific tools, thermal cycling, and chip tracing don’t get easier on smaller SSDs. A 256GB SSD takes about the same hours as a 4TB SSD. Pricing them at $500 (any size up to 6TB) reflects the actual work involved, while keeping hard-drive pricing capacity-based. Not sure if your device is an SSD or a hard drive? See photos to identify your device.
Why did the pricing structure change?
We simplified. The old way had small surcharges that customers couldn’t predict — encryption, USB enclosures, big drives — and it created surprises. Now there are just three primary tiers based on capacity, plus a $500 floor for SSDs and a $500 flat rate for phones. Most customers can read the capacity off their drive label and know what they’ll pay before they even contact us.
I got a quote a while ago. Does the new pricing apply to me?
If you submitted our mail-in or drop-off form, and received a ticket number, you can keep that ticket number and we’ll honor the price you were quoted at the time. If you got a quote and want to know whether the new pricing would be cheaper for your situation, just ask — we’ll quote you whichever is lower.
Ready to start your data recovery?
Drop off your device at our Los Angeles laboratory, or mail it in from anywhere.