Data Recovery in Irvine

It depends on the kind of failure. Logical recoveries (deleted files, formatted drive, corrupted file system, no physical damage) usually run $149 to $349. Drives needing a board (PCB) or controller swap run $299 to $599. SSDs and NVMe with controller failure typically $399 to $799. Drives that need a cleanroom for head replacement go through our partner lab and run $1,000 to $2,500. Free evaluation up front, so you'll know the bucket before you commit.

If we can't recover the files you came for, you don't pay for the recovery attempt. The free evaluation is always free. The only exception is when you authorize the cleanroom partner lab work, since that lab charges us a per-attempt fee, and we pass that through transparently.

Power it off right now. Don't try to plug it in again, don't try to copy files off, don't run any 'free recovery' tool. Clicking usually means the heads are damaged or the platters are getting scratched. Every minute the drive stays powered makes recovery harder and more expensive. Bring it in.

Yes. SSD recovery is harder than HDD because of wear leveling and controller encryption, but we recover from Samsung, Crucial, WD, Kingston, SanDisk, and other common drives regularly. If the controller is dead, sometimes we can swap the NAND chips. If TRIM has already wiped the deleted data, that part is gone (a real answer, not a sales pitch).

iPhone and iPad recovery is limited because of Apple's hardware encryption. If the phone boots and you remember the passcode, we can usually pull data. If the phone is dead, we sometimes do board-level repair to get it to boot, then pull data. Pure 'recover from a dead encrypted iPhone' is rarely possible without the passcode, regardless of what other shops promise.

Logical recoveries are usually 24 to 72 hours. Board swaps and SSD work run 2 to 5 business days. Cleanroom cases go through the partner lab and typically take 1 to 3 weeks. We give you an honest timeline at the evaluation.

If a drive got wet, do not turn it on. Don't dry it with rice. Bring it in or call right away. We clean the board ultrasonically, replace damaged components, then attempt the recovery. The longer corrosion sits, the more it eats.

Often yes, as long as nothing has been written to the drive since the format. If you formatted last week and have been using it heavily since, the chances drop. If you formatted yesterday and stopped, the chances are good.

Yes. We don't browse files. We don't share them. After we return the recovery and you confirm everything is good, we securely wipe our copy. If you need a written NDA we'll sign one.

Yes. RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 across most NAS brands (Synology, QNAP, Drobo, WD My Cloud, Buffalo). We work with the array as a whole, not just individual drives, which is where most consumer-grade software recovery tools fail.

Be careful here. Ransomware files are encrypted by the attacker. Real decryption requires the attacker's key, which we don't have. Anyone promising to 'decrypt ransomware' without specifics is selling you something. What we can do: recover from backups, snapshots, shadow copies, and any files the ransomware missed. We can also help harden the network to prevent reinfection.

Big labs like DriveSavers handle every case in a cleanroom and charge $1,500 to $5,000+ on every job. We handle logical recoveries, board work, SSD controller work, and RAID in-house at much lower cost. When a case actually needs cleanroom head work (a small share of drives), we partner with a Class 100 lab and the price reflects their work.