Hard drive data recovery from $100. Free diagnostic evaluation. No recovery fee on qualifying jobs if we can't recover your data.
| Your Symptom | HDD | SSD / Flash | ETA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drive works, need data copied off | $100 | $200 | 3-5 business days |
| Drive not recognized by your computer | From $250 | From $250 | 2-4 weeks |
| Drive detected but inaccessible or shows wrong size | $600–$900 | $600–$1,200 | 3-6 weeks |
| Drive won't power on or has shorted components | Quoted after eval | $450–$600 | 3-6 weeks |
| We find failed read/write heads on the bench | $1,200–$1,500 | N/A | 4-8 weeks |
| Drive dropped, platters scratched | $2,000 | N/A | 4-8 weeks |
| SSD with a severely damaged circuit board | N/A | $1,200–$1,500 | 4-8 weeks |
All prices + tax + target drive. Head swap, surface damage, and NAND swap tiers require 50% deposit. Donor parts additional on mechanical tiers. Helium-sealed HDDs (Exos X-series, Ultrastar DC HC5xx and above, MG helium models) have higher pricing at every tier.
No data recovered, no recovery fee. Free diagnostic evaluation. +$100 rush fee available on any job to move to the front of the queue.
None of these drivers move until after the free diagnostic, so the quote you approve is the number you pay. If the recovery fails, you don't pay a recovery fee. That's our no-fix-no-fee guarantee. All work happens in-house at our Austin, TX lab; one location, no franchises, no outsourcing.
Failure class carries most of the number. Copying files off a hard drive that still reads runs $100. A head swap on that same drive runs $1,200–$1,500, & platter surface damage runs $2,000. Ten megabytes of tax returns & four terabytes of video sitting on one failed drive land in the same tier, because the bench work that produces either one is the same work.
The next question is whether the lid comes off. Logical & firmware jobs are done over the drive's own interface with the drive sealed, which is what keeps those tiers low. Mechanical work moves to the 0.02 micron ULPA-filtered clean bench & needs a head stack matched to the patient drive, & that labor does not shrink because the drive was half empty.
Donors are consumed only on the mechanical & chip-level tiers, billed at our purchase price on top of the tier fee; what a donor costs tracks the model & how hard it is to source, not the file count on the patient. The donor cost table below lists what we pay.
Imaging effort tracks unreadable sectors rather than capacity. When a head starts to fail, the drive's firmware retries a marginal sector many times over before it reports an error, & it does not answer the host for the length of that retry loop. We image on hardware that sets its own read timeouts and retry limits. DeepSpar Disk Imager works at millisecond-level ATA timeouts. We turn off background auto-relocation and suppress the drive's SMART subsystem, so the drive isn't writing to its service area mid-image.
A terabyte that reads clean end to end passes in hours. A few thousand sectors that stall the drive on every attempt can hold the same job on the bench for days.
Capacity does move the bill, through three mechanisms:
Standard hard drive data recovery costs $100–$2,000 for non-helium consumer and enterprise drives, depending on the failure type. Simple copies start at $100. Firmware repair runs $600–$900. Head swaps run $1,200–$1,500 plus donor drive cost. Surface damage is $2,000.
Your drive works, you just need the data moved off it
Functional drive; data transfer to new media
Rush available: +$100
$100
3-5 business days
Your drive isn't recognized by your computer, but it's not making unusual sounds
File system corruption. Accessible with professional recovery software but not by the OS
Starting price; final depends on complexity
From $250
2-4 weeks
Your drive is completely inaccessible. It may be detected but shows the wrong size or won't respond
Firmware corruption: ROM, modules, or translator tables corrupted; requires PC-3000 terminal access
CMR drive: $600. SMR drive: $900.
$600–$900
3-6 weeks
Bench diagnosis found the read/write heads have to be replaced. Clicking can also come from firmware, the preamp, or the spindle
Head stack assembly failure. Transplanting heads from a matching donor drive on a clean bench
50% deposit required. CMR: $1,200-$1,500 + donor. SMR: $1,500 + donor.
50% deposit required
$1,200–$1,500
4-8 weeks
Your drive was dropped, has visible damage, or a head crash scraped the platters
Platter scoring or contamination. Requires platter cleaning and head swap
50% deposit required. Donor parts are consumed in the repair. Most difficult recovery type.
50% deposit required
$2,000
4-8 weeks
Our "no data, no fee" policy applies to hardware recovery. We do not bill for unsuccessful physical repairs. If we replace a hard drive read/write head assembly or repair a liquid-damaged logic board to a bootable state, the hardware repair is complete and standard rates apply. If data remains inaccessible due to user-configured software locks, a forgotten passcode, or a remote wipe command, the physical repair is still billable. We cannot bypass user encryption or activation locks.
No data, no fee. Free evaluation and firm quote before any paid work. Full guarantee details. Head swap and surface damage require a 50% deposit because donor parts are consumed in the attempt.
Sealed helium drives are on their own price list, $200–$5,000+. When a head swap or platter repair opens one, we refill it with helium. That adds $400–$800, and the donor has to be an exact match. Helium drive prices
By brand: Seagate · Western Digital · Toshiba · Full HDD recovery details
Helium-sealed enterprise drives (Seagate Exos X-series, WD Ultrastar DC HC5xx and above, Toshiba MG08ACA) cost more to recover at every tier. Opening the sealed chamber for head swaps requires helium refill and a compatible helium donor drive, both additional costs. Head swaps start at $3,000.
Helium-sealed drives (Seagate Exos X-series, WD Ultrastar DC HC5xx and above, HGST Ultrastar He series, Toshiba MG08ACA) have sealed chambers filled with helium gas. Opening these drives for head swaps requires breaking the hermetic seal, swapping heads from a matching helium donor, and refilling the chamber with helium before re-sealing. Helium refill cost and compatible donor drives are additional on mechanical tiers; see per-tier details below.
Low complexity
Your helium drive works, you just need the data moved off it
Functional drive; data transfer to new media
Rush available: +$100
$200
3-5 business days
Low complexity
Your helium drive isn't recognized by your computer, but it's not making unusual sounds
File system corruption. Accessible with professional recovery software but not by the OS
Starting price; final depends on complexity
From $600
2-4 weeks
Medium complexity
Most Common
Your helium drive is completely inaccessible. It may be detected but shows the wrong size or won't respond
Firmware corruption: ROM, modules, or translator tables corrupted; requires PC-3000 terminal access
$900–$1,200
3-6 weeks
High complexity
Bench diagnosis found the read/write heads have to be replaced. Clicking can also come from firmware, the preamp, or the spindle
Head stack assembly failure. Transplanting heads from a matching helium donor drive on a clean bench. Helium refill required.
50% deposit required. Helium cost ($400-$800) and donor drive cost additional.
50% deposit required
$3,000–$4,500
4-8 weeks
High complexity
Your helium drive was dropped, has visible damage, or a head crash scraped the platters
Platter scoring or contamination. Requires platter cleaning, head swap, and helium refill
50% deposit required. Helium cost ($400-$800) and donor drive cost additional. Most difficult recovery type.
50% deposit required
$4,000–$5,000
4-8 weeks
Our "no data, no fee" policy applies to hardware recovery. We do not bill for unsuccessful physical repairs. If we replace a hard drive read/write head assembly or repair a liquid-damaged logic board to a bootable state, the hardware repair is complete and standard rates apply. If data remains inaccessible due to user-configured software locks, a forgotten passcode, or a remote wipe command, the physical repair is still billable. We cannot bypass user encryption or activation locks.
No data, no fee. Free evaluation and firm quote before any paid work. Full guarantee details. Head swap and surface damage require a 50% deposit because donor parts and helium are consumed in the attempt.
SSD data recovery pricing depends on the failure type and drive interface. SATA SSD recovery runs $200–$1,500. NVMe SSD recovery runs $200–$2,500. The highest tier for both is NAND swap recovery, which we do when an SSD's circuit board is severely damaged. Free diagnostic evaluation included before any paid work begins.
Low complexity
Your drive works, you just need the data moved off it
Functional drive; data transfer to new media
Rush available: +$100
$200
3-5 business days
Low complexity
Your drive isn't showing up, but it's not physically damaged
File system corruption. Visible to recovery software but not to OS
Starting price; final depends on complexity
From $250
2-4 weeks
Medium complexity
Your drive won't power on or has shorted components
PCB issues: failed voltage regulators, dead PMICs, shorted capacitors
May require a donor drive (additional cost)
$450–$600
3-6 weeks
Medium complexity
Most Common
Your drive is detected but shows the wrong name, wrong size, or no data
Firmware corruption: ROM, modules, or system files corrupted
Price depends on extent of bad areas in NAND
$600–$1,200
3-6 weeks
High complexity
Your drive's circuit board is severely damaged and requires NAND chip transplant to a donor PCB
NAND swap onto donor PCB. Precision microsoldering and BGA rework required
50% deposit required; donor drive cost additional
50% deposit required
$1,200–$1,500
4-8 weeks
Our "no data, no fee" policy applies to hardware recovery. We do not bill for unsuccessful physical repairs. If we replace a hard drive read/write head assembly or repair a liquid-damaged logic board to a bootable state, the hardware repair is complete and standard rates apply. If data remains inaccessible due to user-configured software locks, a forgotten passcode, or a remote wipe command, the physical repair is still billable. We cannot bypass user encryption or activation locks.
No data, no fee. Free evaluation and firm quote before any paid work. Full guarantee details. NAND swap requires a 50% deposit because donor parts are consumed in the attempt.
Low complexity
Your NVMe drive works, you just need the data moved off it
Functional drive; data transfer to new media
Rush available: +$100
$200
3-5 business days
Low complexity
Your NVMe drive isn't showing up, but it's not physically damaged
File system corruption. Visible to recovery software but not to OS
Starting price; final depends on complexity
From $250
2-4 weeks
Medium complexity
Your NVMe drive won't power on or has shorted components
PCB issues: failed voltage regulators, dead PMICs, shorted capacitors
May require a donor drive (additional cost)
$900–$1,200
3-6 weeks
Medium complexity
Most Common
Your NVMe drive is detected but shows the wrong name, wrong size, or no data
Firmware corruption: ROM, modules, or system files corrupted
Price depends on extent of bad areas in NAND
$900–$1,200
3-6 weeks
High complexity
Your NVMe drive's circuit board is severely damaged and requires NAND chip transplant to a donor PCB
NAND swap onto donor PCB. Precision microsoldering and BGA rework required
50% deposit required; donor drive cost additional
50% deposit required
$1,200–$2,500
4-8 weeks
Our "no data, no fee" policy applies to hardware recovery. We do not bill for unsuccessful physical repairs. If we replace a hard drive read/write head assembly or repair a liquid-damaged logic board to a bootable state, the hardware repair is complete and standard rates apply. If data remains inaccessible due to user-configured software locks, a forgotten passcode, or a remote wipe command, the physical repair is still billable. We cannot bypass user encryption or activation locks.
No data, no fee. Free evaluation and firm quote before any paid work. Full guarantee details. NAND swap requires a 50% deposit because donor parts are consumed in the attempt.
iPhone data recovery runs $500–$750 and requires board-level microsoldering to restore power to the encrypted storage subsystem. Android phone recovery runs $500–$750, a single range quoted firm after a free evaluation. Flash drive and SD card recovery starts at $200. NAS and RAID recovery is priced per member drive based on its condition, plus a $400-$800 array reconstruction fee. Free diagnostic evaluation on all device types.
Low complexity
Your flash drive or SD card works, you just need the data moved off it
Functional media; data transfer to new storage
Rush available: +$100
$200
3-5 business days
Low complexity
Most Common
Your flash drive or SD card isn't showing up, but it's not physically damaged
File system corruption. Visible to recovery software (R-Studio, UFS) but not to OS
Starting price; final depends on complexity
$300–$600
2-4 weeks
Medium complexity
Your flash drive or SD card has shorted components or won't power on
PCB issues: simple shorts, failed components on the drive's circuit board
May require a donor drive (additional cost)
$600–$900
3-6 weeks
High complexity
Your flash drive or SD card needs physical NAND chip extraction to recover the data
NAND chip extraction via soldering, pin-out identification, and raw data reconstruction
50% deposit required
50% deposit required
$1,200–$1,500
4-8 weeks
Our "no data, no fee" policy applies to hardware recovery. We do not bill for unsuccessful physical repairs. If we replace a hard drive read/write head assembly or repair a liquid-damaged logic board to a bootable state, the hardware repair is complete and standard rates apply. If data remains inaccessible due to user-configured software locks, a forgotten passcode, or a remote wipe command, the physical repair is still billable. We cannot bypass user encryption or activation locks.
No data, no fee. Free evaluation and firm quote before any paid work. Full guarantee details. Chip-off recovery requires a 50% deposit because the extraction process is destructive to the original media.
All prices are plus applicable tax.
Standard complexity
Original iPhone through iPhone 8 Plus
Older iPhones without Face ID
Single-layer logic board. Simpler power architecture; iPhone 5 and later use a discrete Tristar or Hydra USB controller IC. Fewer board layers to diagnose.
$500
Current turnaround 2-6 weeks
Higher complexity
Most Common
iPhone X, XR, XS, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 series
Face ID models with stacked sandwich board design
Sandwich board architecture on most models, two PCBs soldered together; the XR uses a single-layer board. Hydra USB controller IC through iPhone 14. Higher component density increases diagnostic and repair time.
$750
Current turnaround 2-6 weeks
Our "no data, no fee" policy applies to hardware recovery. We do not bill for unsuccessful physical repairs. If we replace a hard drive read/write head assembly or repair a liquid-damaged logic board to a bootable state, the hardware repair is complete and standard rates apply. If data remains inaccessible due to user-configured software locks, a forgotten passcode, or a remote wipe command, the physical repair is still billable. We cannot bypass user encryption or activation locks.
No data, no fee. Free evaluation and no diagnostic charges. Full guarantee details. All work performed in-house at our Austin, TX lab.
Android recovery is board-level microsoldering work priced as a single range, quoted firm after the free evaluation. No data, no recovery fee.
NAS and RAID recovery is priced per member drive (each drive imaged individually based on its condition) plus a $400-$800 array reconstruction fee. When multiple drives in an array need the same type of work, we apply multi-drive discounts so total cost stays reasonable.
The reconstruction fee covers the array-level stage that follows imaging: mdadm, LVM, XFS, EXT4, Btrfs, or ZFS virtual reconstruction from cloned members. That assembly runs against the clones, which is why per-drive imaging is a separate line priced by each member's condition.
A 4-bay NAS where every drive needs a head swap doesn't cost 4x the single-drive price. We quote the array as a package. Full RAID pricing breakdown.
On head swap, surface damage, and NAND swap tiers, the donor drive costs extra on top of the labor fee. We charge it at our purchase price.
We source the cheapest compatible donor available & pass the cost through at our purchase price. Competitor labs that exclude donor costs from their base quote (check the Terms of Service) create a gap between the number on the phone & the number on the invoice. We publish ours here.
| Drive Type | Typical Donor Cost | When It Applies |
|---|---|---|
| Standard HDD | Donor drives are matching drives used for parts. Typical donor cost: $50–$150 for common drives, $200–$400 for rare or high-capacity models. We source the cheapest compatible donor available. | Head swap ($1,200–$1,500) & surface damage ($2,000) tiers |
| Helium HDD | Helium donor drives must be an exact match. Typical donor cost: $200–$600 depending on model and availability, plus helium refill cost ($400–$800) required after opening the sealed chamber. | Head swap ($3,000–$4,500) & surface damage ($4,000–$5,000) tiers |
| SATA SSD | A donor drive is a matching SSD used for its circuit board. Typical donor cost: $40–$100 for common models, $150–$300 for discontinued or rare controllers. | NAND swap ($1,200–$1,500) tier |
| NVMe SSD | Disclosed before you approve the job | NAND swap ($1,200–$2,500) tier |
The labor fee covers engineering time, imaging, clean bench work, and firmware rebuilds. The donor fee covers the physical part. We list them separately because the donor cost varies by model and availability.
If we bundled donor cost into the labor fee, we'd have to quote the worst case on every job.
We don't want to pad every quote with worst-case donor pricing. We also believe you should see real price ranges before you ship your drive, not a "call for quote" form that tells you nothing.
We publish our pricing because we want you to know what you're getting into before you do business with us, not after your drive is already in someone else's hands in another state.
On T2 and Apple Silicon MacBooks, the SSD is soldered to the logic board. Fixing the board is how we get your files back. We quote liquid damage by how far the spill traveled and how many separate circuits on the board need rework. We repair the board instead of doing an expensive board replacement. Logic board repairs come with a 1-year warranty. Liquid damage repairs come with a 90-day warranty. No fix, no fee. We do not replace MacBook screens, batteries, keyboards, or trackpads.
When the total starts to approach what the machine is worth, we tell you so and recommend you do not repair it through us. We would rather lose the job than have you spend more fixing the laptop than it would cost to replace it.
We don't buy pay-per-click ads. We use a 0.02 micron ULPA-filtered clean bench instead of an expensive ISO-certified cleanroom. What you pay for is engineering time, donor parts, and imaging hours.
DriveSavers' own site describes a multi-million dollar clean room certified to ISO 5 that visitors enter in a suit.
What actually protects your data is a 0.02 micron ULPA-filtered clean bench and an image-first workflow. We ran the particle counter test on our own bench and show the proof on video.
See a full breakdown of how we compare to the big-name labs.
Our "no data, no fee" policy applies to hardware recovery. We do not bill for unsuccessful physical repairs. If we replace a hard drive read/write head assembly or repair a liquid-damaged logic board to a bootable state, the hardware repair is complete and standard rates apply. If data remains inaccessible due to user-configured software locks, a forgotten passcode, or a remote wipe command, the physical repair is still billable. We cannot bypass user encryption or activation locks.
The no-diagnostic-fee policy on this page is written against two billing practices that are ordinary elsewhere in data recovery. One moves money before anybody knows whether your files come back.
The other keeps the number off the page until you ask for it. Here is what each one is called & where it lands on a quote.
A fee a lab publishes is at least a number you can weigh before you ship. A rate card with nothing on it is the harder one to plan around, since nothing on the page tells you what the work costs. Fee structure & price level are separate problems; what drives the price of a recovery is failure class, donor parts, & bench time, while these two practices decide what you owe when the answer comes back no.
Our side of it is short. We don't charge an attempt fee, an evaluation fee, or a diagnostic fee. There's no recovery fee either when we can't deliver the files you asked for. That's the whole no data, no recovery fee guarantee.
The tiers above are visible before you pack the drive, the firm quote comes out of a free evaluation, & every drive is worked in-house at our Austin, TX lab. One location, no franchises, no outsourcing.
We give you a firm quote after a free evaluation, along with honest odds of success.
No sales scripts, no pressure. Just an engineer explaining what's wrong, what it takes to fix it, and what it will realistically cost.
| Service | Rossmann |
|---|---|
| Firmware repair (standard HDD) | $600–$900 |
| Head swap (standard HDD) | $1,200–$1,500 |
| Head swap (helium drive) | $3,000–$4,500 + helium |
| SSD data recovery (SATA) | $200–$1,500 |
| NVMe SSD data recovery | $200–$2,500 |
| iPhone data recovery | $500–$750 |
| Evaluation fee | Free |
Note on iPhone pricing: iPad Rehab has documented DriveSavers quoting $2,800-$3,500 for iPhones whose only problem was a bad screen. A bad screen isn't a data recovery problem. Their free evaluation does not involve opening the device. See our full analysis with evidence.
Louis Rossmann posted this message from Jessa Jones of iPad Rehab.
We don't buy PPC ads. What you pay for is engineering time, donor parts, and imaging hours. Here's how bait-and-switch pricing works. Read our analysis →
Data recovery cost depends on the device type and failure mode, not the brand. Standard hard drive data recovery runs $100–$2,000 across 5 published tiers. Helium HDD recovery (Seagate Exos X-series, WD Ultrastar DC HC5xx and above, Toshiba MG08ACA) runs $200–$5,000+, plus a $400–$800 helium refill on the head swap and platter damage tiers.
SATA SSD recovery runs $200–$1,500. NVMe SSD recovery runs $200–$2,500. Flash drive and SD card recovery runs $200–$1,500. iPhone data recovery runs $500–$750.
Android phone recovery runs $500–$750, a single range quoted firm after the free evaluation. Every job starts with a free diagnostic and a firm quote, and if we can't recover your data, there's no recovery fee. You pay return shipping if you want your original drive back.
SATA SSD data recovery costs $200–$1,500 across 5 tiers. Simple copies cost $200. File system recovery starts at $250. Circuit board repair runs $450–$600. Firmware recovery runs $600–$1,200. PCB and NAND swap (severe board damage requiring NAND chip transplant to a donor PCB) runs $1,200–$1,500.
NVMe pricing uses the same tiers but tops out higher, at $1,200–$2,500 for a PCB / NAND swap. Free diagnostic, firm quote before paid work, and no recovery fee if we can't recover the data. You pay return shipping if you want your original drive back.
Jessa Jones of iPad Rehab says the DriveSavers pricing model is a leftover from its hard drive recovery days, when data was often only partially recoverable. Getting data off an iPhone means repairing the board at the component level so the encrypted storage gets power again.
Because the data is cryptographically bound to the main processor, a successful board repair typically allows the processor to decrypt and mount the entire user partition, so recovery is nearly all-or-nothing. In the cases iPad Rehab documented, DriveSavers quoted $2,800-$3,500 for phones whose only problem was a bad screen. Their "free evaluation" does not involve opening the device. Jessa Jones of iPad Rehab has documented these cases on YouTube.
Our Austin lab operates on a transparency-first model. We use industry-standard recovery tools, including PC-3000 and DeepSpar, combined with strict environmental controls to maintain drive integrity. This approach allows us to serve clients nationwide with consistent technical standards.
Open-drive work is performed in a 0.02 micron ULPA-filtered laminar clean bench.
Serving clients nationwide via mail-in service since 2008. Our lead engineer holds PC-3000 and HEX Akademia certifications for hard drive firmware repair and mechanical recovery.
Our repair work has been covered by The Wall Street Journal and Business Insider, with CBC News reporting on our pricing transparency. Louis Rossmann has testified in Right to Repair hearings in multiple states and founded the Repair Preservation Group.
Our "No Data, No Charge" policy means we assume the risk of the recovery attempt, not the client.
Louis Rossmann
Our engineers review all lab protocols to maintain technical accuracy and honest service. Since 2008, his focus has been on clear technical communication and accurate diagnostics rather than sales-driven explanations.
We believe in showing the bench rather than just describing it. Open-drive work runs on a 0.02 micron ULPA-filtered laminar clean bench, and we filmed it.
See the particle counter test at the benchRelated services
Nationwide Coverage
We serve all 50 states with secure mail-in data recovery. Ship your failed drive to our Austin lab and we'll diagnose it within 24-48 hours. All work is performed in-house at our Austin, TX lab. There are no other locations and no outsourcing.
Tell us about your drive and we'll provide a free diagnostic and firm quote. Mail-in service available from all 50 states.
Since 2008
Established
As Featured In
Verified on Google
“Sent my hdd for data recovery, process was simple and I was able to pre-authorize an amount. They worked on my drive within 2 days of receiving it and the total cost was literally 1/10th of the amount of another service I got a quote from. Professional, quick, affordable. Nothing to complain about.”
Andrew Hansen
“Had a raid 0 array (windows storage pool) (failed 2tb Seagate, and a working 1tb wd blue) recovered last year, it was much cheaper than the $1500 to $3500 Canadian dollars i was quoted by a Canadian data recovery service. the price while expensive was a comparatively reasonable $900USD (about $1100 CAD at the time).”
Christopolis
Seagate
“Walked in with my wife's dead hard drive, walked out 20 minutes later with it fixed. They were friendly, professional, did the work in a snap, and saved me the hefty repair prices for other (mail in) hard drive recovery services!”
Patrick Dughi
“USE THIS COMPANY!!!! You will not regret it. Extremely professional and transparent about everything, including cost. I sent my hard drive out for repair with another company that quoted me $1500. for a simple recovery. Rossman did better, faster, and significantly more accurately priced ($1300 less!). I loved everything about the interactions I had with their employees.”
Melissa Hazlett
