What does data recovery cost? Fixed prices by storage type.
Clear price tiers for every storage type. The diagnosis is free, after which you know which tier your case falls into — and you only pay the recovery price if the recovery succeeds.
Air-filled hard drives
1.Logical
Deleted data, formatting, damaged file system, lost partition
Price for a successful recovery
€249
2.Technical
Electronics damage, firmware fault, damaged Service Area, read errors, unstable drive without opening
Price for a successful recovery
€449
3.Clean room
Faulty read/write heads, motor failure, mechanical damage, opening in the clean room required
Price for a successful recovery
€699
Helium hard drives
1.Logical
File system damage, deleted data, controlled imaging of a stable drive
Total on success
€499
2.Technical
Electronics, firmware, Service Area, weak heads or unstable reading, drive stays sealed
Total on success
€1,299
3.Clean room
Opening the helium chamber, head swap, donor drive, controlled operation after opening
Total on success
€3,499
€999 labour share + €2,500 on successLabour share payable regardless of outcome
A standard donor drive up to €500 is included. Additional head stacks or exceptionally expensive donor parts are agreed with you in advance.
SSD
1.Logical
Deleted data, formatting, damaged file system or partition
Price for a successful recovery
€249
2.Technical
Faulty power supply, components or board, firmware or controller problems
Price for a successful recovery
€549
3.Lab-intensive
Direct NAND access, multiple memory chips, complex reconstruction or transplant
Price for a successful recovery
€699
USB sticks, SD and microSD cards with a separate memory chip
1.Logical
Deleted data, formatting, damaged file system
Price for a successful recovery
€149
2.Technical
Faulty connector, trace, power supply or board
Price for a successful recovery
€299
3.Direct read (Chip-Off/ISP)
Controller failure, chip-off, reading the memory chip directly
Price for a successful recovery
€499
Monolithic SD and microSD cards
1.Interface
Card still partly responds, special access via the existing contacts
Total on success
€299
2.Direct read
Known pinout, exposing and contacting the pads, reader time up to about 7 days
Total on success
€499
3.Complex cases
Heavily degraded memory, many read parameters, ECC, XOR or page reconstruction, reader time up to 6 weeks
Total on success
€1,299
The labour share only becomes due once you approve the respective tier. It covers the irreversible preparation, contacting, setup and reader time used. It remains due even if no usable data can be reconstructed.
Cases with an unknown pinout, an unsupported controller or more than six weeks of reader time are reassessed before any extension. There are no automatic weekly surcharges.
Smartphones and tablets
1.System access
Boot problems, damaged system, data access via the existing device
Price for a successful recovery
€299
2.Board repair
Power supply, charging circuitry, short circuit or other repairable board faults
Price for a successful recovery
€499
3.Transplant
Elaborate CPU, NAND or board transplant
Price for a successful recovery
€899
Displays, batteries and other parts needed only for data access are included for common devices. Exceptionally expensive spare parts are agreed with you in advance.
Soldered storage in MacBooks and laptops
1.Logical
System or file system damage with responsive hardware
Price for a successful recovery
€299
2.Board repair
Repair of the power supply or other components for data access
Price for a successful recovery
€799
3.Transplant
Storage, controller or CPU transplant and complex reconstruction
Price for a successful recovery
€1,299
RAID, NAS and server storage
1.Small systems
Up to 2 required drives, RAID 0, RAID 1 or simple JBOD
Price for the reconstruction
€499
2.Medium systems
3 to 4 required drives, for example RAID 5 or RAID 10
Price for the reconstruction
€799
3.Large systems
5 to 8 required drives, damaged metadata or complex configuration
Price for the reconstruction
€1,299
Recovering physically or technically faulty individual drives is charged additionally at the respective HDD or SSD price. With RAID 1, only the drive actually needed for the recovery is worked on.
Systems with more than eight required drives receive an individual fixed-price offer in advance.
Previously opened hard drives
Previously opened air-filled HDD
Total on success
€1,498
€799 labour share + €699 on successLabour share payable regardless of outcome
Previously opened helium HDD
Total on success
€3,499
€1,499 labour share + €2,000 on successLabour share payable regardless of outcome
A hard drive counts as previously opened if its top cover has been removed and its platters have been exposed to ambient air. Opening a USB enclosure or removing the electronics board does not count as previous opening.
The preparation includes:
- complete disassembly in the clean room
- documentation of the condition as found
- microscopic inspection of heads and surfaces
- inspection for dust, fingerprints, abrasion and other contamination
- cleaning as far as technically possible
- check of the mechanics and any previous third-party work
- controlled reassembly
- final assessment of recoverability
The preparation remains due even if the data recovery is not successful.
All prices incl. VAT.
Free diagnosis. Your choice of pace.
The regular diagnosis costs nothing. If you need your data faster, we prioritise the entire job for a fixed surcharge. The recovery price itself is only charged on success.
Regular
€0
free diagnosis
Diagnosis within about 3 to 5 working days
Free shipping both ways
Express
+€149
Surcharge incl. VAT
Diagnosis within 24 hours and prioritised further processing
Free collection and return
Emergency
+€349
Surcharge incl. VAT
Immediate processing, outside regular working hours if needed
Express collection and return
The regular diagnosis is free. The surcharge for Express or Emergency covers prioritising the entire job and is not offset against the recovery price.
General pricing rules
- All prices include VAT.
- The regular, non-invasive diagnosis is free.
- The recovery price is only charged if the data recovery is successful.
- A recovery counts as successful if at least 90 percent of the important data named beforehand is restored.
- A partial recovery also counts as a success if the customer expressly accepts it after reviewing the file list.
- Diagnosis, working time, standard spare parts, file list and normal return shipping are included.
- Encrypted delivery of up to 100 GB is included.
- A new target drive can be added on request, transparently at its retail price.
- Rare or exceptionally expensive donor parts are only charged after your prior approval.
- The previous-opening fee and the labour shares for monolith and helium cases are expressly excluded from the success principle.
- Floppy disks, magnetic tapes, optical media and other historical special media receive an individual fixed-price offer after a free assessment.
Answered briefly.
What does data recovery cost?
That depends on the storage type and the fault pattern. Every storage type has fixed price tiers — for hard drives, for example, €249 for logical errors, €449 for technical defects and €699 for clean room cases. The diagnosis is free, and the recovery price is only charged on success.
What happens if the data recovery does not succeed?
Then you pay no recovery price. A recovery counts as successful if at least 90 percent of the important data named beforehand is restored. The only exceptions to the success principle are the labour shares agreed in advance for monolithic memory cards and helium clean room cases, and the preparation of previously opened hard drives.
Is the diagnosis really free?
Yes. The regular, non-invasive diagnosis is free. If you need answers faster, choose Express or Emergency for a fixed surcharge that prioritises the entire job.
What is included in the price?
Diagnosis, working time, standard spare parts, file list and normal return shipping. Encrypted delivery of up to 100 GB is also included. On request, we add a new target drive at its retail price.
Data Recovery Professionals
A worldwide group of independent, owner-run data recovery companies. Members share methods from professional data recovery, forensics and software development — so on rare damage patterns the knowledge of the whole group stands behind your medium.
Your storage medium, your fixed price.
Send it in or drop it off: after the free diagnosis we tell you the price tier — and you decide whether we continue.
Wasserweg 8–10 · 60594 Frankfurt am Main