The lab · pricing
Published prices. Fixed before we start.
Data recovery starts at £250 + VAT, and here is every starting price we work to — printed, not whispered down a phone. The diagnosis that turns a starting price into your price costs nothing, and on most jobs you pay nothing at all unless your files come back.
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Every job type, priced.
| Starting price | Job type | What that covers |
|---|---|---|
| £250 + VAT | Memory cards & USB sticks | SD, microSD, CF and USB flash drives |
| £300 + VAT | Hard drives & single drives | Internal and external HDDs, SSDs, NVMe, laptops and PCs |
| £300 + VAT | Mac & MacBook | APFS and HFS+, T2 and Apple Silicon, FileVault |
| £400 + VAT | CCTV / DVR / NVR | Hikvision, Dahua, Swann and other embedded recorders |
| from £500 + VAT | RAID, NAS & servers | RAID 0/1/5/6/10, Synology, QNAP, WD, HP, Dell, Lenovo |
| from £500 + VAT | Databases | SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL and Exchange |
| from £800 + VAT | Virtual machines | VMDK, VHDX, VHD and QCOW2 — snapshots and broken VM folders |
| from £800 + VAT | Forensic & investigation | Chain of custody, workplace matters, court-ready reports |
| from £1,250 + VAT | SAN & enterprise storage | Multi-array enterprise storage and datastores |
Not sure which line yours falls on? Run the free diagnostic — it names the band along with the fault and what to do next.
The terms behind the numbers.
- Every figure excludes VAT, added at the standard UK rate.
- These are starting prices. Your exact figure depends on the fault and is fixed in writing after the free diagnosis — before any chargeable work begins.
- No fix, no fee applies to most jobs. If we can't recover the data you asked for, there's no recovery fee.
- Three job types take a 50% deposit up front: physical drive-level repairs needing donor parts, CCTV/DVR work, and forensic instructions. All three consume specialist bench time win or lose. The balance is due only on success.
What moves your price within a band.
How the quote behaves.
| What happens | What it means | What you pay |
|---|---|---|
| You approve the quote | Recovery starts; the figure is locked | Pay only on a verified listing |
| You decline the quote | Device returned with our notes | No diagnosis fee, free return post |
| We can't recover it | No-fix-no-fee applies on most jobs | You pay nothing for the attempt |
| Something unexpected emerges | We stop and talk before spending your money | The quote never quietly grows |
| Physical, CCTV or forensic work | 50% deposit up front, balance on success | Stated plainly before you commit |
| Previously opened devices | Quoted individually after inspection | No-fix-no-fee may not apply |
Why a cheaper headline often costs more
- The £49 advert is a doorway, not a price — it gets the device through the door, and the real number appears once it's open and you're invested.
- Ask what happens when it isn't recoverable — a firm with no no-fix-no-fee policy has no incentive to tell you early that your drive is beyond help.
- Ask whether the price can move — ours can't once you've approved it. Complications after that point are our problem to absorb, not your invoice to discover.
- Ask where the work happens — brokers take your drive, add a margin, and post it to someone else. Ours never leaves our own lab.
The honest limit of any published price: these are starting figures, and they are real — a single hard drive with a logical fault is £300 + VAT, not £300-ish. What a price list cannot know in advance is whether your drive needs one donor part or three. That's what the free diagnosis establishes, and why the number you approve is written down before anyone touches anything.
Asked before sending, answered straight.
How much does data recovery cost?
Cards and USB sticks begin at £250 + VAT. Any single drive — hard disk, SSD, laptop or Mac — is £300 + VAT. Recorders are £400 + VAT. Multi-drive work on RAID arrays, NAS boxes and servers runs from £500 + VAT, and virtual machines or forensic instructions from £800 + VAT. The table above has the full set, and your exact figure is written down after the free diagnosis.
Is the diagnosis really free?
Yes — including on devices we've quoted and you decline. The only cost of finding out is the postage to us, and return postage is on us.
Why do some jobs need a deposit?
Three kinds of work cost us the same whether or not they succeed: drive-level repairs that need matched donor parts, recorder work, and forensic instructions. Those carry a half-share deposit at the start, and the rest is payable only if we get your data back. Every other job is no fix, no fee.
When do I actually pay?
After you've approved the file listing of what we recovered, and before the data is released, per our terms. Never up front on a standard job, never mid-job.
Are there any hidden extras?
No. Return postage is included, the diagnosis is free, and the quote you approve is the total. The only optional extra is priority handling, priced before you choose it.
Do you price-match a cheaper quote?
We'd rather you asked the cheaper quote three questions: does it survive the device being opened, what happens if recovery fails, and does the work stay in their own lab. Our answers are fixed, no fee, and yes.
The starting price is published. The exact one is free to find out.
Send the form or the device — the diagnosis costs nothing, the quote is fixed in writing, and the decision stays yours.