North Sydney , NSW : (02) 9957-2288
Melbourne , VIC: (03) 9510 5753

Email: help@payam.com.au

Cost of Data Recovery

Note: LaCie RAID-0 and RAID-5 Disks may attract a different cost. We will examine the disk and confirm the cost by giving you a free quote before we begin work.

For individual hard disk drives, we offer an obligation free evaluation and quote within 24 hours. We will professionally test your disk, determine what kind of problem it has and the type of data recovery service needed. At this stage we will give you a quote and seek your approval before you are charged anything.

Each type of hard disk problem takes our staff a different amount of time to recover data from. Some simple cases take us 1-2 hours and some very badly damaged disks may take up to 40-50 hours of our time and cost us hundreds of dollars in spare parts.

The cost can vary from $250 to $2400. We always give an honest evaluation and quote and the decision is yours to proceed or not. We are proud to offer a professional data recovery service provided by experienced data recovery professionals. We don't claim to be the cheapest data recovery company in the world, how often is the cheapest also the best of any service? We offer low, affordable prices and are proud to be the best data recovery company in Australia! We are confident that we have the technology, specialised tools and experience to provide you with your very best hope of getting your data back!

Most recoveries we perform are on a "No Fix, No Fee" basis. We only charge you the prices below only if we can successfully recover your data. If the data cannot be recovered for some reason and you are not happy with the result, there is no charge to you at all. We offer this as we are generally successfully in over 90% of cases.

Once the data has been recovered we will inform you of the results then we will email you a list of the files saved or you can test the files at our office before you agree to pay for the recovery. Once the recovery is completed we expect you to pay for the completed recovery within 14 days.

"Through your company this all my files were able to be successfully retrieved. I was particularly grateful for the patience you demonstrated in taking me through the steps on how to access the information to be transferred to my new computer. I had occasion to call you when did not know how to access and copy certain files and you took the time to take me through each step.

This level of service was in such contrast to a previous experience with another company that I was I feel I must record my gratitude"

- Graham Swann
Read our testimonials

Prices

Economy Service (50% Discounted)	Priority Service
$250 - Basic Software Data Recovery. Example 1: Cannot start Windows due to a Windows problem such as constantly restarting and asking to go into safe mode.	$500 - Basic Software Data Recovery. Example 2: Windows Blue screen error message.
$475 - Advanced Software Data Recovery. Example 1: File system corruption or Damaged/Deleted Partition(s).	$950 - Advanced Software Data Recovery. Example 2: Disk is detected in BIOS but not in the operating system.
$575 - Bad Sector Data Recovery. Example 1: The hard disk is working very slowly or is making some occasional noises. You can copy some files but some files cannot be accessed or copied at all.	$1150 - Bad Sector Data Recovery. Example 2: This is a common problem with Maxtor hard drives especially. The hard disk may be detected but caused your computer to freeze or hang when accessing it.
$675 - Firmware Problems. Example 1: The BIOS detects the hard disk but reports an unusual model # or disk capacity. The operating system cannot access the data.	$1350 - Firmware Problems. Example 2: The BIOS detects the disk but reports 'SMART Status: Bad' backup data and replace hard disk immediately or a similar message. Or 'Primary HD failure, press F1 to resume'.
$495 - Electronic Problems (Printed Circuit Board). Example 1: The hard disk does not power up, no sound or noises can be heard from the disk at all. Usually due to a power surge or using a wrong power supply. It's common to see a burnt chip on the controller board.	$990 - Electronic Problems (Printed Circuit Board). Example 2: You can see or smell smoke when you power the hard disk on. Sometimes the disk may actually turn your computer off when switched on. Usually caused by a power surge or incorrect power supply. It's common to see a burnt chip on the controller board.

$2400 - Complex Hardware Recovery (Standard Service, No Economy Service Available) This $2400 service is comprised of a $450 fee to attempt this recovery then $1950 if the recovery is successful. This $450 fee covers our engineers time for work in our clean room lab and cost of spare parts and shipping for these parts needed for this kind of recovery. If the recovery is unsuccessful, you do not pay the $1950 fee. Examples of hard disks requiring this service: A dropped hard disk now making clicking/knocking sounds Or a hard disk with damaged heads Or a disk with a seized spindle motor , making a faint buzzing sound and not spinning.

There are 4 exceptions to our 'No Fix, No Fee' policy.

Case 1.
We charge a $150 Search Fee in some rare cases which we deem to have a very low chance of success to cover our engineers time to attempt this recovery.

Examples of such cases are: 1) A file has been deleted and has potentially been overwritten. 2) A hard disk has been reformatted and windows has been re-installed and you need some of the data back before the formatting was done. Our staff will inform you if a search fee of $150 is applicable in your case. If so - you do not have to proceed, we will always ask your approval before we begin work. This fee is not refundable once paid, it covers our time to try to help you with the expectation of a low chance of success in this particular cases. In over 70% of cases of deleted files or formatted disks we are still able to recover important data needed.

Case 2.
Our Complex Hardware Recovery process fee is charged in 2 parts. We ask for an initial payment of $450 up-front before the actual clean room work begins. This fee covers our engineers time in attempting to recover data from a badly damaged hard disk with a physical/mechanical fault (e.g damaged heads).

This process requires our company searching for an identical hard disk to use for spare parts. We need to locate this disk, purchase it (if we don't have it already) and ship it to our office usually from overseas by Fedex couriers. As any data recovery company will tell you, this is often the most time consuming part of the data recovery process, finding the 'donor drive'. We go to considerable effort to recover your data ASAP and in many cases due to damage to the disk in some cases no data can be recovered. For example in cases where the platter is scratched.

This fee is charged so that as a business, we do not loose money by spending many hours of our engineers time, company resources and hundreds of dollars on spare parts in an attempt to help you by recovering your data. In some cases no data can be recovered due to severe damage and there may not be any way to recover your data. Our business should not incur a loss trying to help you. This is why this fee is being charged.

This fee is not refundable once paid regardless of the outcome. In over 85% of cases we are able to recover all data from disks with internal faults or damage.

Case 3.
All NAS (Network Attached Storage) external hard disk drives incur a $150 'Search Fee' to be paid up-front. NAS devices often use unique or customised file systems based on Linux. Sometimes we need to clone your disk to another disk then convert or modify the file system in addition to our standard data recovery methods in order to access the data. These networked or NAS drives take more our time. We charge this $150 fee up-front to attempt the recovery due to the additional time needed to perform a successful recover. This fee is not refundable once paid regardless of the outcome. In over 85% of cases we are able to recover all data from network enabled hard disks .

Case 4.
If your hard disk requires our complex hardware recovery procedure and your disk has been opened up (i.e the screws have been removed and the cover opened to examine the disk platter or heads) by anybody we charge a $1000 fee up-front to attempt the data recovery work. Usually in cases where a hard disk has been opened up then brought to us, from experience the chances of success are about 15% compared to a success rate of over 85% if we get the disk 1st before it has been tampered with.

We charge this fee to cover our engineers time on our clean room and cost of spare parts that need to be purchased in order to attempt to recover your data based on a low chance of success. If your data is recovered this fee of $1000 is taken off the total price of the recovery. For example in a case of a disk which is making loud clicking sounds due to damaged heads. If your local computer shop opened the disk then told you they cannot recover your data for you. We charge you $1000 up front to attempt the recovery then if the recovery is successful you pay an additional $1400 inc GST (instead of the normal $2400 we charge).

We prefer not to work on any opened hard disks at all, but if you seek our professional services for a 2nd opinion we will do everything possible to recover all of your data for you if possible.

 

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Note: Our Economy Option cannot be used with any other discounts, coupons or other offers. It is already 50% discounted.

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We also offer a High Priority Service Option - For $150 we will put your data recovery request at the top of our waiting list, You skip the wait and we begin work immediately. For Complex Hardware Recoveries this High Priority service is an additional $500 . If you are in a hurry - please ask our staff for this option when you bring your disk to us. This high-priority service option is not refundable and is a fee for our time if you would like special attention given to your request and special treatment to provide you with the fastest possible service.

Interest Free Finance Available! We are the only data recovery company in the world offering a 12 month Interest Free Installment Payment Plan option for our $700, $900 and $3400 Data Recovery Services if required. Read more about our 12 Month Finance option

 

Time Needed to recover your data

These are average turnaround times for our Priority Service Only. Our Economy Service option costs less but takes an average of 3 to 4 times longer.

• 1 Days for Basic Software Data Recovery.
• Example of problem: The hard disk is working with no physical faults or malfunction but you cannot access the files. In these cases the partition or file system is not damaged in anyway. Usually you simply cannot start your computer or load windows or any other operating system.
• 1-2 Days for Advanced Software Data Recovery.
• Example of problem: Hard disk detected in BIOS and by operating system but you cannot see the files & folders due to damage to the partition, file system. Also if files have been deleted or a hard disk has been reformatted accidentally.
• 5-10 Days for Bad Sector Data Recovery.
  Example of problem: Hard disks with minor read/write head problems or reporting bad sectors. These disks normally work but very slowly.
• 2-3 Days For Firmware Problems.
  Example of problem: Hard disk is detected in BIOS with a SMART status error, incorrect model number, capacity/size, incorrect disk ID or reporting 'primary disk failure, press F1 to resume'.
• 5-10 Days for Electronic Problems (Dependent on availability of spare parts).
  Example of problem: A power surge caused damage to the Printed Circuit Board. Normally 1 chip will be damaged or burnt.
• 2 to 4 weeks for Complex Hardware Problems on average. (Dependent on availability of spare parts). This is the most complex and serious of all hard disk problems.
  Example of problem: clicking hard disks, damaged heads, seized spindle motor, head crash or other internal hardware faults requiring your hard disk to go into our class-100 clean room for 'hard disk surgery'. Note: If a donor drive to use for spare parts is hard to locate or your hard disk has other problems this process can take longer. 2-4 weeks is a realistic timeframe based on the average.

In some cases of severe hard disk damage or difficulty to locate spare parts, the time needed may be extended. Even though we need to spend more time trying to help you we do not charge any extra for our time. We offer a fixed price and stick to it.

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• Economy Service - If you want your data back but at the lowest possible price and you are not in a hurry, this is the cheapest data recovery option we offer. You will find our prices are probably the cheapest in Australia!
  Ideal when time is not critical but data is of sentimental value. This service takes the longest amount of time but is the cheapest option. This service normally takes 3 or 4 times longer than our Priority service but produces exactly the same result.
  
• Priority service- Our most popular service. We recover your data as quickly as possible during our standard business hours. We keep you up to date with progress reports more often and recover your data as quickly as possible.