It can be a nightmare when your hard drive crashes and stops working. Whether your personal files are at risk of being lost or your business data is on the line, you’re probably thinking: How much will data recovery cost me?
In this article, you can learn about the factors that determine the cost of data recovery and what you should expect from a data recovery company.
What is the standard price for data recovery?
Users look online for price lists for most products and services. So, it’s not unusual for data loss victims to go online and try to find out how much they have to spend to retrieve gigabytes of data.
However, there’s no standard price for data recovery as no specific feature can determine the cost of a data recovery service.
For example, there is no “dollars per GB” recovery fee. The final price varies according to several factors, such as the device, the type of damage, and the time.
Therefore, each client will get a price according to the specifics of their service. And the only way to know the data recovery service cost is by asking for an expert quote
What determines the total cost of data recovery
Data recovery services might seem expensive. However, the services available for recovering lost files, deleted files, and broken hard drives provide a specialized service to ensure your data has the highest chance of being restored.
Additionally, a reputable data recovery company will budget for new processes and technology in their research and development. Budgeting for the most modern technology and techniques used to recover broken drives or files ensures that data recovery success rates are high.
Some of the main factors in data recovery costs are:
- Expert labor by the hour
- Quality guarantee
- Professional-grade imaging equipment (hardware and software)
- Safe & protected laboratory location
- Type of device
- Severity of damage
- Type of file
- Type of failure
- Cleanroom
- Turnaround time
- Onsite or remote data recovery
Type of device failure
The data recovery service price will vary depending on the damage of your device, as it results in the difficulty of extracting the files from it.
Device failure types include mechanical failure and physical damage, logical failure, malware, ransomware, or viruses.
Mechanical failure
Mechanical failures and physical damages to the hard drive are easier to detect compared to other devices failures. That is because these errors usually result in loud noises.
If you suspect your drive has experienced a mechanical failure, turn it off immediately. Any further use of the damaged drive can result in irreversible damage to the internal components and may cause permanent file loss.
This type of device failure requires a cleanroom, where data recovery experts carefully retrieve the data without dust or debris getting in.
Logical failure
Logical failures might be less evident than mechanical ones because they occur due to operating system or file corruption in the disk drive.
Complications in the software and other issues may arise, such as:
- Directory damage
- Formatting issues
- Accidental file deletion
A logical failure might also exhibit problems where the hard drive fails to boot or read certain partitions.
Malware or ransomware
You may be a victim of ransomware or other malware that can potentially damage the hard drive and files. Common signs of ransomware or malware in data loss scenarios include:
- Deletion of files
- Ransom note on the desktop
- Changed file extensions
- Locked files or data
Ransomware recovery services can help you understand the process of recovering your data if it is related to locked files or malware.
Logical, firmware and mechanical drive failures
In a perfect storm, hard drive failure can have all types of failures. This scenario presents a challenge because a business or a home user might be unaware of the extent of the damage to their device.
A data recovery company is likely to charge higher recovery fees for devices that have experienced logical, firmware, and mechanical damage.
Cleanroom cost
The expense of building a cleanroom for a data recovery laboratory location is significant. A cleanroom is an investment taken by a data recovery company to ensure a professional atmosphere during the data recovery process. Cleanroom upkeep can be a time-consuming and costly process, but it is necessary to provide a high chance of hard drive data recovery.
Time to recover
Most data recovery service providers will have different tiers of turnaround time, depending on how quickly you need your files recovered. These can range from standard to emergency level, and the exact business days may differ between companies.
If you need to recover the data in the fastest possible way, you can expect a much higher cost since the recovery experts will be working on your case with the highest priority.
Can I recover the data on my own?
You might be exploring data recovery solutions for your personal files from a broken hard drive or data storage device and thinking about doing it yourself. However, a DIY solution for data recovery is extremely risky and can result in permanent, irreversible data loss.
Data recovery tools are great helpers in case of accidental deletion or even in some cases of data corruption. There is a lot of free data recovery software and resources available that can give you pointers and guidance about how you might be able to recover the files on your own.
But you must remember that it will not work for all types of errors and failures, and in case of physical damage to the device (including fire and water damage), only experts with proper tools can retrieve the files.
Data recovery is a delicate procedure that requires years of experience and training with many different data recovery operations.
Does a data recovery company charge a per-gigabyte fee?
No. Big names in the data recovery industry will set their price for many reasons, including time and damage type. However, the amount of data recovered is not part of the final cost.
The size of your hard drive and the amount of data that needs to be recovered will impact the cost of recovery. But that’s because of the hours spent on your case & how much time a data recovery engineer allocates.
Part of the data recovery process includes placing your recovered files onto a new drive, which will be an expense factored into the quote. If the size of the data set is larger, it might take longer for the whole data recovery service to finish, which may impact the cost.
Get a free data recovery quote
If you need help restoring lost files, contact Proven Data recovery experts for a free quote.
Our data recovery services include:
