We do not have a lab or an office in Newcastle or the Hunter. Our nearest lab is our main data recovery lab in Rhodes, NSW, at Suite 213, Level 2, 5 Rider Boulevard, Rhodes NSW 2138. It is about two hours’ drive south of Newcastle, depending on traffic. Newcastle customers send their device to Rhodes by post or courier, or drive it down when the job is urgent.
Rhodes is also where our specialist work is done: hard drives with damaged heads, SSDs with a failed controller or NAND chip, logic board repairs on phones, tablets and MacBooks, and chip-off work. That means a Newcastle device goes straight to the lab that can handle any fault, with no second trip between offices.
How to send your device from Newcastle
- Submit a job first. Submit a job online and you get a job number and a PDF address label for the box.
- Pack only the device. No chargers, cables, bags or cases. Wrap it in bubble wrap and use a small, firm box so it cannot move.
- Choose how it travels.
- Australia Post Express Post is affordable and reliable, and usually arrives the next business day, sometimes two. You pay the postage.
- A same-day courier is faster when it cannot wait. Options include TNT, StarTrack, DHL, FedEx and Zoom2U, or compare services on Interparcel. Availability depends on where you are and the time of day, so check the options and prices yourself. You book and pay the courier directly.
- Driving to Rhodes is often the fastest option for a real emergency. A family member or friend can bring it in for you if you cannot make the trip.
- Free assessment and written quote. We test the device and email you a written quote with the fault, the price for each service level, the time involved and your chance of success. Nothing chargeable starts until you approve it.
- See your files before you pay. You tell us which files matter most. Before you pay for the recovery, we’ll send you a list of your recovered files so you can check them. If any of the files you listed are missing, tell us and we’ll search again.
- Your data comes back. Recovered data is returned on a new external drive, or on your own drive if you send one, and return delivery within Australia is free on a completed, paid job.
Is it worth the drive to Rhodes?
It depends on how urgent the job is. If you can wait a few days, Express Post is the simplest and cheapest way. If a deadline depends on the data, driving down can save a day or more. At Rhodes, Monday to Friday from 9am to 5:30pm, you can ask for an urgent assessment: $150 for a written quote in 1 to 2 hours, or $500 for a quote in 2 to 3 hours on RAID and NAS units. Approve Emergency service and work starts straight away.
Please do not keep powering on a drive that is clicking, beeping or not detected while you decide. Each time a failing drive runs, it can damage the surfaces where your files are stored. Unplug it and leave it until it reaches us.
Economy, Priority or Emergency
Every quote gives you three choices. Economy is our standard service and the best value, done when we are not working on faster jobs. Priority puts your job ahead of Economy jobs. Emergency is the fastest we can possibly work, including after hours. The success rate is the same for all three, because the same engineers and the same methods are used. Only the speed changes.
As an example from our price list, a hard drive with damaged heads, up to 6TB, is $1,750 on Economy (2 to 3 weeks), $2,950 on Priority (7 to 10 days) and $3,500 on Emergency (2 to 5 days), with a $350 attempt fee that is part of the price. Most hard drive, SSD, USB and memory card recoveries cost $375 to $1,750 on Economy. Most recoveries are no fix, no fee. Some complex cases have an attempt fee, then a completion fee only if the recovery is successful. Phones and tablets are a fixed price. See every fault and price on our data recovery cost page.
After hours and weekends
Outside business hours, only Emergency service is available, and it usually starts from about $2,000. A non-refundable emergency assessment fee of $150, or $500 for RAID and NAS, applies, and our staff may need 1 to 2 hours’ notice to reach the lab, so call before you set off. For a genuine emergency after hours, call 0404 872 926. Read more about emergency data recovery.
A real Newcastle job
A Newcastle photographer’s 1TB WD My Passport started clicking while it held 400GB of client shoots. The photographer stopped using it straight away, which was exactly right. Our engineer found failed read and write heads, replaced them with heads from a matched donor drive in a laminar flow cabinet, and imaged the drive on a PC-3000. All 400GB came back, every file checked, and because the job was urgent the whole recovery took one day. Read the Newcastle photographer case study.
That job was quick because the customer stopped using the drive, the right donor part was already on our shelf, and the healthiest heads were imaged first. We cannot promise the same time for every drive, but your quote will tell you the expected time before you approve anything.
Businesses and IT providers in the Hunter
We recover RAID, NAS and server arrays for businesses of every size. Send every drive from the array, labelled with its slot number, and do not rebuild or initialise the array first. Read about RAID and NAS data recovery. If you are an IT support company or computer repair shop sending a client’s device, our partnership program gives you a discount on our services.
Newcastle data recovery questions
Do you have an office in Newcastle?
No. Newcastle and Hunter customers send their device to our main data recovery lab in Rhodes, NSW, or drive it there. Rhodes is about two hours’ drive from Newcastle, depending on traffic.
How long does Express Post take from Newcastle to Rhodes?
Express Post usually arrives the next business day, and sometimes takes two. If it cannot wait, a same-day courier or driving to Rhodes is faster.
My drive is clicking and I have a deadline. What should I do?
Unplug it and do not try recovery software. If the deadline is close, drive it to Rhodes during business hours, ask for an urgent assessment, and approve Emergency service so work starts straight away. Otherwise send it by Express Post.
Can I bring my device in on a Saturday?
Only for Emergency service. Outside business hours a non-refundable emergency assessment fee of $150, or $500 for RAID and NAS, applies, Emergency usually starts from about $2,000, and our staff may need 1 to 2 hours’ notice. Call 0404 872 926 for genuine emergencies only.
What if I decide not to go ahead?
If you don’t want to go ahead, there’s no charge. You can pick it up from our office, organise your own courier to collect it, or pay $20 for return delivery, which covers shipping and handling to return it to you by Australia Post.
Next step
Submit a job online, ask for a free quote or call 1300 444 800. For genuine emergencies after hours only, call 0404 872 926. Our address, opening hours, directions and parking are on the Rhodes lab page.
International customers are always welcome. The easiest way to reach us from overseas is by email at help@payam.com.au, which works in every time zone.
