Frequently Asked Questions

No. Evaluations are free. If a case requires deep lab work to determine feasibility, we will tell you up front before any paid work begins.

If we accept your data recovery job under our No Data = No Fee policy and cannot recover the agreed-upon target data, you owe $0 for recovery labor. Exclusions: devices heavily tampered with by other shops, donor parts you ask us to buy specifically for your case, and shipping/return media. We will disclose any exclusions before you approve the job.

We provide a free evaluation and a firm quote before paid work. Typical ranges: Logical / minor firmware: $100-$600. Board-level / electronics repair: $400-$1,200. Complex (HDD head swap, chip-off SSD, RAID/NAS): $900-$2,000+. You only pay for approved work. If it turns out easier than expected, you pay less.

Most repairs include a 1-year warranty; certain services carry 3 months. We will note exceptions on your quote. If something is not right, talk to us.

Simple cases: 3-5 business days. Complex cases (head swaps, RAID/NAS, severe SSD controller damage): 1-2+ weeks depending on parts availability and drive stability. Rush service may be available. Ask when you submit your case.

Yes, mail-in is common. Pack the device in an anti-static bag with padding, include your contact info, and ship to our Austin lab with tracking and signature. We will evaluate it and send a firm quote before work.

No. All work is performed in-house by our team in Austin. This keeps chain-of-custody tight and timelines predictable.

You need clean, particle-free air over the open drive. We use a professional laminar-flow clean bench that achieves cleanroom-level conditions without the theater or unnecessary overhead.

Often, yes. Opening a drive outside proper airflow can cause irreversible head/media damage. Repeated power-ons after a crash can worsen failures. If your data matters, stop using the device and let us evaluate it.

Usually, if decryption keys or credentials are available, or if we can restore the original controller/firmware so the device can decrypt as designed. Without keys and with destroyed secure elements, recovery may be impossible.