Every band, out in the open
Data recovery prices for Reading. Here is the whole ladder, and your own figure follows in writing.
£250 + VAT is the bare minimum, and each band further down covers a level of recovery, so you can place your own device before contacting us. By comparison, very few others publish their prices for recovery. We do not charge to work out your figure wherever your parcel comes from (Reading or the far end of Berkshire), and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data.
An engineer answers, and looking is free
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The price each kind of job starts at.
| Priced from | What sort of job | What sits in the band |
|---|---|---|
| £250 + VAT | Memory cards and USB sticks | All types of removable flash media, including SD, microSD and CompactFlash cards and USB sticks |
| £300 + VAT | A lone disk | Any hard disk, SSD or NVMe drive: bare, or removed from the laptop |
| £300 + VAT | A drive from a Mac | FileVault, APFS and HFS+ volumes on a drive taken out of a Mac; soldered T2 and Apple silicon storage is not accepted |
| £400 + VAT | Recorders — DVR, NVR, CCTV | Disks taken out of DVRs, NVRs and other recorders made by Hikvision, Dahua, Swann and the rest; not the recorder or the cameras |
| from £500 + VAT | Server, RAID and NAS units | QNAP, Synology and WD boxes; PowerEdge, ProLiant and Lenovo servers; RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 and 10 |
| from £500 + VAT | Database and email stores | PostgreSQL, MySQL, Exchange and SQL Server |
| £800 + VAT and up | Virtual-machine disk images | Faulty VM folder structures and broken snapshot chains: VMDK, VHDX, VHD, QCOW2 |
| £800 + VAT and up | Forensic jobs and the write-up | Civil and employment matters documented, with each step recorded |
| from £1,250 + VAT | Big arrays and SAN volumes | One volume spread across several arrays |
Something entirely different? The symptom checker gives you your answers after only three questions: which band applies, what has most likely gone wrong, and what to avoid doing with the device before packing it.
Four notes that go with the table.
- All rates listed here are exclusive of VAT; VAT is charged at the current UK rate on top of our charges.
- Please use these as a starting point only, not as a bill. Your final price depends on the fault found during our free diagnosis, and it is given to you in writing once the diagnosis is complete, before any charge.
- In most cases you only pay if we recover your data. There are some specific exceptions, as noted below.
- We take 50% at the start for three kinds of job: recorder jobs, forensic instructions, and any repair that fits donor components into your drive. Regardless of the outcome, the hours and parts used are still spent. The remainder is due once your data is back in your hands.
One band can still mean two separate bills.
What happens after the quote lands with you.
| The circumstances | What is likely wrong | The amount due |
|---|---|---|
| You give the go-ahead | We begin at the figure you agreed | Due after you have checked the file list |
| You pass on it | The device goes home with the findings | No charge, not even for the look or the postage home |
| No data can be retrieved | In most cases you only pay if we recover your data | Nothing falls due |
| An unforeseen problem appears | We stop and call you before going any further | The figure you agreed does not move |
| Recorders, forensic jobs, donor parts | Half at the outset, half on success | Said plainly before you agree |
| Another lab has already had it open | Priced individually once the look is done | Pay-on-recovery may not apply |
The £49 advertisement, and what that £49 actually buys
- The £49 is an initial inspection fee, not a recovery fee: it buys a place in a queue and a look at your drive. The recovery charge is quoted separately afterwards, by which time your drive is already on someone else's workbench and walking away has become awkward.
- Ask what a failed job costs: if a company doesn't clearly state in writing that a failed recovery costs nothing, there is little incentive for them to tell you of the problem as soon as possible.
- Ask if the quote can vary: ours cannot. Whatever our engineer finds after you've agreed is ours to carry, and the final bill will match the original quote.
- Ask who is going to physically open the unit: a fair number of companies add their markup before sending it off to someone else. Here the engineers opening the unit are the ones doing the actual work, and no third party touches it in between.
When a table stops being useful: take all of the above as literal values. A hard disk whose only problem is a logical fault will cost you £300 + VAT; this is the actual price, not an approximation, and nothing is added after it. What we cannot know is mechanical failure, since no published grid can state ahead of time how many matched donor parts a particular hard disk will require. This is exactly why the free diagnosis exists to settle this first, and why your figure is put in writing before anyone starts.
The questions that come first.
How much will this cost?
First count how many disks the hardware holds, then identify the device; between them they put you in a band. Any flash-based media, such as an SD card or pen drive, is priced at £250 + VAT. Any single-disk media, whether spinning or solid state, loose or taken out of a laptop or iMac, is priced at £300 + VAT. Video recorders sit at £400 + VAT. As soon as two disks are involved (RAID set, four-bay NAS, rack server), pricing starts at £500 + VAT. Virtual machine datastores, and any work done to a forensic instruction, start at £800 + VAT. The grid further up the page says the same thing in fewer words, and your own price is put in writing once the free diagnosis has run.
Is the look really free of charge?
Yes, and it also costs you nothing to decline our quote. All you spend is the postage out to us. We cover whatever it costs to post your drive back after that.
When is a deposit required?
There are three types of work that require half payment up front: work done to a forensic instruction, work on a recorder's disk, and any repair for which we need to source and match donor components. What these three have in common is that the hours and parts involved are spent whether or not we can recover your data. The remaining half falls due when the data is handed over. Work on the rest of this website is billed the other way round: in most cases you only pay if we recover your data.
When exactly do I settle up?
Payment sits after the recovery is completed and before the new media is posted. First you review the list of what was recovered to verify it reads as expected; only after you confirm that is the new media posted. The terms set out that order in writing, and on a normal job there is nothing to pay when the drive arrives, nor while it is being worked on.
Any hidden charges on the bill?
There are none. There is no charge for the diagnosis, the postage back to you comes out of our costs, and the number you agreed is the number on the invoice. We do offer one option at extra cost, priority handling, and we quote this price to you before you commit.
Someone quoted us less. What now?
Ask them three questions. Will that price stay the same once the drive is opened? How much would I have to pay if absolutely nothing was recovered? And who's doing the work: will my drive go off to someone else? Here the answers are: yes, it holds; in most cases you only pay if we recover your data; and no, your drive isn't passed on to a third party.
That is the entire list. Your own figure follows a free look.
Get a quote first, by phone or with our form, and then post your drive tracked and insured to the Oxford intake lab. You can also drop it off at the Oxford intake lab, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, no appointment needed. There is no cost for the diagnosis. We will give you a written price, after which you decide how to proceed.