The price list · nothing held back
Every band on the page, for Hull. Yours is fixed in writing before the disk is opened.
£250 + VAT is at the base of this table and all the bands above it are shown below, so you may identify where your device fits in prior to contacting us. We do not charge a fee for settling on the exact figure, regardless of where in Hull the item is posted from, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data.
An engineer will take the details
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Which price band each job starts in.
| Opens at | The work | What sits in that band |
|---|---|---|
| £250 + VAT | Memory cards & USB sticks | Any removable type of flash memory including SD cards, microSD, CompactFlash, pen drives etc |
| £300 + VAT | One drive | Bare hard disk, SSD or NVMe (the drive only, never the whole machine). |
| £300 + VAT | iMacs and MacBook computers. | FileVault encryption, APFS and HFS+ file systems from the drive only. Note: T2 and Apple silicon Macs have soldered storage, which is not taken on (if you're not sure which kind you have, ring us first). |
| £400 + VAT | DVR, NVR & CCTV boxes | Disk only (not the recorder), e.g. Hikvision, Dahua, Swann etc. |
| from £500 + VAT | Servers, RAID sets & NAS units | RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 and 10; Synology, QNAP, WD, Dell PowerEdge, HP, Lenovo |
| from £500 + VAT | Email stores & databases | Exchange, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server |
| £800 + VAT and up | VM disk files | VMDK, VHDX, VHD & QCOW2: missing snapshots / broken VM folders |
| £800 + VAT and up | Forensic work & reports | We write down employment and civil matter details; we also log how the case was handled. |
| from £1,250 + VAT | SANs and large arrays | One volume spanning multiple arrays |
Device not listed? The symptom checker finds out for you in one go what band you belong to, the probable fault and what not to do before posting the unit.
Four things to read with the table.
- All prices exclude VAT, which is added onto the price at standard UK rates.
- These are starting points and not invoices. Your final bill will depend upon the fault we find during the free diagnosis and is then sent to you in writing as part of our formal quote before we charge you anything.
- In most cases you only pay if we recover your data. In normal circumstances you would not incur a fee should your files be missing even though we attempted recovery of them.
- Three kinds of job are charged at 50% up front: forensic instructions, recorders and repair jobs involving donor parts placed within the original drive. These types of jobs use the same amount of our bench time regardless of whether the service works or not. The remaining balance is payable only if we recover your data, once it has been returned to you.
Two jobs in one band, two different bills.
What happens after the quote arrives.
| What happens | What the fault is | The bill |
|---|---|---|
| You approve it | Work begins at the number that was agreed upon | Due after viewing the file list |
| You turn down the job | The device returns with the findings | There will be no charges for either inspecting your device or returning it to you via post. |
| Nothing can be recovered | In most cases, you only pay if we successfully recover your data. | In most cases, nothing |
| An unexpected problem appears | We stop and call you before proceeding further | The number you agreed upon still applies |
| Donor parts/recorders/forensic instructions | We charge half upfront for the service, and then, only if we are able to recover your data, you will be charged the remaining balance | The cost of the service is clearly stated at the beginning (before you agree) |
| If someone has already opened it | It is priced individually after we diagnose the issue | You may not be entitled to only pay if we recover your data. |
The £49 advert, and what it does not say
- £49 is the entry fee, not the recovery fee: this pays for a drive to be sat on some other company's bench. The actual amount you pay will arrive much later, when the job is open, and walking away is difficult.
- Ask what happens if it doesn't work: if there is no promise of a free failure, then no-one will be in a hurry to tell you the bad news.
- Can the price go up? Our prices don't. Whatever additional work we discover once you've accepted the original quote, the invoice will reflect that original quote.
- Where does the work actually happen? Many companies just pass on a markup and send the drive elsewhere. Your drive sits with our engineers from start to finish.
What a table can never answer: take these figures literally. A single hard disk with no physical faults (only a logical fault) is £300 + VAT, not about £300, or £300 plus extras. No table can forecast how many parts are needed to repair a mechanical failure. The diagnosis answers that, which is why we write your figure down before we begin any work.
What people ask before sending it in.
How much will a recovery come to?
There are two factors here. What type of device it is, and how many disks are contained within. Flash media (a memory card, flash drive etc.) opens at £250 + VAT. If it is a single drive by itself (hard disk/SSD), either from a laptop or a Mac, it will cost £300 + VAT. If it is a recorder of any sort, it will cost £400 + VAT. When two or more drives are involved (NASs, servers, RAID sets etc.), the initial figure changes to £500 + VAT. Virtual machines or forensic instructions start at £800 + VAT. The complete pricing table is displayed above. We will write your figure down after the diagnosis.
Is the look genuinely free?
Yes. Read the quote. Say no. Still nothing to pay. Your only cost is the postage to our lab (you don't have to pay for us to send it back).
When is a deposit asked for?
We spend equal amounts of time on the bench and equal numbers of parts (whether or not the job succeeds) on repairs using matching donor hardware, hard disk recovery from recorders, and forensic instruction. When we do any of these types of jobs, the first half of the quoted price is due as soon as we agree to do the job. The second half is paid only if we recover your data, when the files are restored to you. With all other kinds of work, in most cases you only pay if we recover your data.
When does the money change hands?
After you have gone through the file list provided by us and confirmed that everything is correct, and before the new storage media is posted out: the terms of payment say the same. In general, with an everyday job, nothing is charged at the start and nothing at the mid-point.
Anything hidden in the bill?
No. The diagnostic service provided by us costs nothing. We also provide free return postage. You simply agree upon a figure based upon the services required and then pay the figure you agreed to. The one extra service that we offer is called priority handling and its cost must be agreed upon before you opt to take advantage of it.
Someone else has quoted lower. Then what?
You should ask them three questions. After opening the drive, is the quoted price still valid? If absolutely nothing at all is recovered from your device, what amount would be owed? Whose laboratory facility does this work take place in? For us: the quoted price remains valid, in most cases you only pay if we recover your data, and all of the work stays with our own engineers.
The bands end here. Your own figure needs a free look first.
Before you send it, get a quote. Use the phone or use the online form. Then post it, tracked and insured, to the Leeds intake lab, or just drop it off there (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, no appointment needed), whatever fits best. The review costs nothing. Your figure goes onto paper. After that, it's up to you.