The lab · costs
Prices in the open. Locked in before work begins.
Our entry figure is £250 + VAT, and every band we work to is set out below — in print, rather than murmured down a phone line. Turning a band into the figure for your own device costs you nothing, and on the majority of jobs nothing is payable at all unless the files come back.
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A price against every job type.
| Price from | Kind of job | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| £250 + VAT | USB sticks & memory cards | USB flash drives plus SD, microSD and CF |
| £300 + VAT | Hard disks & lone drives | HDDs, SSDs and NVMe, internal or external, plus laptops and PCs |
| £300 + VAT | Mac & MacBook | FileVault, T2 and Apple Silicon, APFS and HFS+ |
| £400 + VAT | DVR / NVR / CCTV | Embedded recorders from Swann, Dahua, Hikvision and others |
| starts at £500 + VAT | Servers, NAS & RAID | Synology, QNAP, WD, HP, Dell, Lenovo; RAID 0/1/5/6/10 |
| starts at £500 + VAT | Database files | Exchange, PostgreSQL, MySQL and SQL Server |
| starts at £800 + VAT | Virtual machine images | Snapshots and broken VM folders — VMDK, VHDX, VHD, QCOW2 |
| starts at £800 + VAT | Investigation & forensics | Court-ready reports, workplace matters, custody chain intact |
| starts at £1,250 + VAT | Enterprise storage & SAN | Datastores and storage spread across several arrays |
Can't tell which row applies to your device? Try the free diagnostic — it tells you the band, the likely fault and the sensible next step.
What sits behind those figures.
- Every figure is shown before VAT, charged at the usual UK rate.
- Treat these as entry figures. What you actually pay turns on the fault, and it is set down in writing once the free diagnosis is complete — ahead of any billable work.
- Most cases run on no fix, no fee. Where the files you wanted don't come back, nothing is charged for the recovery.
- A 50% deposit is taken on three kinds of work: drive-level repair using donor parts, CCTV/DVR jobs, and forensic instructions. Each one burns specialist bench hours whether it succeeds or not. What remains falls due only when the data is back.
Why two quotes in the same band differ.
The way a quote plays out.
| The situation | What that tells you | Your cost |
|---|---|---|
| You accept the quote | Work begins and the price is locked | Due only on a checked file list |
| You turn the quote down | The device goes back with our findings | No diagnosis charge, return post free |
| The data proves unrecoverable | Most jobs carry no-fix-no-fee cover | The attempt costs you nothing |
| A surprise turns up mid-job | Work pauses and we speak to you first | Your figure never creeps upward |
| Mechanical, recorder or forensic cases | Half at the outset, the rest once data returns | Spelled out before you commit |
| Devices someone has already opened | Priced case by case once inspected | The no-fee promise may not hold |
How a low advertised figure ends up dearer
- A £49 headline buys attention, not recovery — it exists to get your drive onto their bench, and the genuine number surfaces once it is open and you are committed.
- Ask where you stand if nothing comes back — a lab without a no-fix-no-fee policy gains nothing by admitting early that your disk is finished.
- Ask whether the figure can shift later — once you have signed ours off, it cannot. Trouble arising after that point is ours to swallow, and it never lands on your bill.
- Ask who actually does the recovery — middlemen collect the drive, mark it up and forward it elsewhere. Yours stays on our own bench throughout.
Where any published list stops being useful: the entry figures are genuine — one hard disk with a logical fault costs £300 + VAT, not roughly £300. No table can tell in advance whether a single donor part will do or three are needed. Diagnosis settles that, which is why the number you sign off is on paper before anyone opens anything.
Questions people ask first, answered plainly.
What will data recovery cost me?
Memory cards and USB sticks start at £250 + VAT. One drive of any sort — hard disk, SSD, laptop or Mac — comes to £300 + VAT. Recorders sit at £400 + VAT. Anything with several drives, whether RAID, NAS or a server, starts at £500 + VAT, while virtual machines and forensic instructions begin at £800 + VAT. The table above lists them all, and your own figure goes in writing once the free diagnosis is done.
Is diagnosis genuinely free of charge?
Yes — that holds even when you turn down a quote we've given. Finding out costs you nothing but the postage in; the journey back is ours to pay.
Why is a deposit required on certain jobs?
Three types of job cost us just as much when they fail: repairs at drive level using matched donor parts, work on recorders, and forensic instructions. Each starts with a 50% deposit, with the balance due only when your data comes back. Everything else runs on no fix, no fee.
At what point do I pay?
Once you've signed off the list of recovered files, and before we release the data, as our terms set out. Not up front on a standard job, and not part-way through.
Any hidden costs to expect?
No. Diagnosis costs nothing, postage back to you is covered, and whatever you sign off is the final figure. Priority handling is the one add-on, and it's priced before you decide.
Will you match a lower quote?
Put three questions to the cheaper quote instead: does that price hold once the device has to be opened, what do you pay if nothing comes back, and is the work done in their own lab. Our answers: fixed, no fee, and yes.
You have seen the entry figure. Learning yours costs nothing.
Fill in the form or post the drive — diagnosis is free, the price reaches you in writing, and what happens next stays your call.