Data Recovery Process, Prices and FAQs

Announcement

We’re not currently accepting new recovery cases. Existing cases will be seen through to completion as usual, but after this time, Data Retriever will no longer be performing in-house data recovery.

For new and existing clients, we recommend the capable, competent and efficient services of Kroll Ontrack – tell them Data Retriever sent you!

Best of luck with your recovery and to our existing customers, thank you very sincerely for your business over the past decade. It has been a pleasure.

What's the difference between Standard, Urgent and Emergency Priorities?

Standard Priority recoveries have no set time-frame and can vary significantly by recovery complexity. HDDs requiring clean lab repair often need significantly longer for recovery to be performed. Typically allow 1 to 2 weeks for non-clean lab recoveries and 3-6 weeks for clean lab recoveries. Very complex cases can take sometimes several months, but we work to minimise your wait in all cases.

Urgent Priority recoveries are given attention in our lab before all open Standard Priority cases. We’ll work hard during our normal business hours to deliver your recovery result as quickly as possible. The total time required is often halved (or better) over Standard Priority cases.

Emergency Priority recoveries are started immediately upon receipt of drive. No expense is spared and every effort is made to deliver your data as soon as physically possible. We work through nights, weekends, holidays and may bring on additional specialists (local and international) to assist with complex cases – whatever it takes for soonest possible delivery.

If you book a Standard Priority recovery, you may upgrade to Urgent or Emergency Priority at any time if your circumstances change.

How do I get my drive to you?

Post: Express Post is recommended for reliability. Wrap your drive in 3 layers of bubble wrap and the fit into a snug and sturdy box. Australia Post outlets sell both of these items for a few dollars. We do not recommend Parcel Post as this mail is handled by a different physical network, making timing and delivery reliability harder to predict.

Courier: Metro and interstate courier services are also fine – please send the consignment note number and carrier name after booking so we can coordinate delivery as necessary.

In person: if you’re local to the Yarrambat area, hand delivery is fine by arrangement, too.

What do I need to send along with my hard drive?

In most cases, we just need the hard drive itself (or whatever storage medium you’re sending for recovery). However, for external hard drives it’s often helpful for us to have the circuit board from the external drive enclosure. This doesn’t usually apply to Seagate or Maxtor drives but is certainly helpful for most other brands – particularly desktop (3.5″) variants of WD and Buffalo but also often for Samsung, Toshiba and Hitachi drives.

As always, if you’re unsure about anything, please just send an email or give us a call to check before you send.

How do you get my data back to me?

Your invoice will include a new portable hard drive of sufficient size (we generally match or exceed your old one’s size) at a reasonable price. If your data is small enough to fit on a USB flash drive, that’s fine too. Whatever suits you best. You could also supply your own spare drive when you send the failed one, of course.

For your added protection, we keep a secure backup for 14 days before erasure.

Do I have to pay an invoice if I don't like the price or recovery results?

There’s no pressure to pay your invoice, even for a complete recovery outcome. The only payments you may make are the attempt fee for Urgent or Emergency recoveries, some array recoveries, complex cases where clean lab repair is needed from larger drives (some, not all) and of course simply for covering return shipping for declined outcomes if you need the drive returned.

We’ve streamlined the quote and invoice process into one simple step to minimise potential confusion and hassle: we recover your data first, then you may decide whether to accept and pay or reject and decline the results and invoice.

We try to be transparent in all our dealings with you and encourage you to ask if you have any questions before, during or after a recovery.

What payment methods do you accept?

We offer a variety of payment methods. Direct bank deposit is preferred. We also accept PayPal (2.4% surcharge for PayPal’s fees) and major credit cards (1.9% surcharge for card processing fee), cryptocurrency, cheque (funds must clear before data released) and of course cash if collecting your recovery in person (by prior arrangement; no change kept on premises).

Do you recover from RAID or NAS devices?

Yes! We’re strong on recovery from disk arrays. Please get in touch if you have specific questions or an unusual situation – in most cases we’ll surprise you with very competitive pricing and speedy results.

Can you recover from Macs?

Absolutely. We specialise in recovery from Apple computers and have a high level of familiarity of the physical design and logical systems they use, both new and old.

Can you get my files and folders back exactly as last seen?

In most cases, yes. Sometimes an exact recovery isn’t possible, but the majority of our recoveries will result in your files and folders being found exactly as last seen on the failed drive. We can give an indication of what to expect after our initial inspection, so you’ll have a good idea of the likely outcome before you authorise the work and commit to payment.

Do you do mobile phones?

We do not offer data recovery from mobile phones but please feel free to get in touch for friendly recommendations of reputable companies who may be able to help you. (We’re not commercially or financially affiliated with any other lab but we genuinely want to see you get the best help you can – so do feel free to call or email for a chat).