How much does data recovery cost in Virginia?

There is no Virginia price list for data recovery, and a price quoted over the phone is a guess. What you pay depends on what is wrong with the drive, how much data you need, how fast you need it and whether the lab succeeds. The reliable way to compare is a written evaluation: what they found, what they can likely recover, the price for that result and the terms if they recover nothing.

What moves the price

Labs usually sort jobs by how deep the repair goes, and the bill follows.

• The kind of failure. A drive that is readable but has a damaged file structure is mostly software work. A drive with a mechanical fault needs specialist equipment and parts, which is the expensive end.
• The drive itself. A solid-state drive, an encrypted drive, a multi-disk RAID set or a very large drive adds time and complexity.
• How much you need. Recovering one folder of photos is a different job from imaging a whole drive.
• Turnaround. Rush and weekend service costs more.
• What was done before. A drive opened at home, or run through repair software while failing, can be harder to recover and can raise the price.
• Media and shipping. Many labs return files on a new drive, which you may be asked to supply or pay for, and some charge for return shipping.

Prices from a lab's website, if any, are the lab's own marketing and change often. Treat any range you read as a starting question, not a promise, and ask for the figure for your drive in writing.

What to ask for in the quote

Ask the shop to put these on paper before it does the work, or before it does anything beyond a free evaluation:

1. What the evaluation costs, and whether it is credited against recovery.
2. The price for the likely result, and any higher price if the job turns out harder.
3. What happens if nothing useful is recovered, including whether you pay anything.
4. Whether you get a file list before you pay, so you can check the files you care about are there.
5. How long it will take and what the rush rate is.
6. What is sent back, on what media, and whether your original drive is returned.

Virginia's Consumer Protection Act lists as a prohibited practice: "Misrepresenting that goods or services have certain quantities, characteristics, ingredients, uses, or benefits".^[4] It also lists "Advertising goods or services with intent not to sell them as advertised, or with intent not to sell at the price or upon the terms advertised".^[4] A written, itemized quote makes it easy to see whether you got what was offered.

Cheaper than recovery

Recovery is the costly way to learn about backups. Before you pay, check whether you already have a copy. Windows Backup can sync your Desktop, Documents and Pictures folders to OneDrive: "Your free Microsoft account comes with 5 GB of OneDrive cloud storage".^[3] Apple says you can use Time Machine on a Mac to "automatically back up your files, including apps, music, photos, email, and documents" to a USB or other external drive.^[2] Phones, cameras and email also keep their own copies.

If you are weighing a lab against replacing the drive, remember that a new drive does not bring back the old data. Apple says: "If Disk Utility tells you the disk is about to fail, back up your data and replace the disk—you can’t repair it."^[1] That protects the next drive, but it is not a recovery.

Stop and call a pro if

• The drive clicks, grinds, beeps or never spins up. Power it off and leave it off. Running it risks more damage, which can mean a higher bill.
• The drive was wet, burnt or dropped.
• A shop will only quote a firm price without looking at the drive, or wants full payment before it has told you what it found.
• You are tempted to open the drive or repair it with software while it is failing. Apple says of a disk that cannot be repaired: "it may be physically damaged and need to be replaced."^[1]

Getting help in Virginia

For what a lab can and cannot recover, read can data be recovered from a dead hard drive, and for how to decide, when to pay for professional data recovery. Loclis lists local repair businesses: browse small repairs, more electronics repair answers, or describe the drive and local shops can quote an evaluation.