What does data recovery cost?

Background: Generally, data recovery is very labour intensive. Because of that, it has the reputation of being very expensive (to the point of being prohibitive). The reason is simple: Setting up and running a data recovery operation is expensive - it needs very specialised tools and highly skilled engineers. To cover these expenses, data recovery companies must maximise their reach by opening many "points-of-presence", even internationally. These are in fact no more than "collection and shipping" offices. In order to attract business, they have to appear "low-risk" with a "no-data-no-charge" policy. Of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch, so the operating and shipping expenses that result have to be borne by the few clients who feel that they have no alternative but to accept the quoted price. The net result is that it often does "cost thousands". Literally.

Xyber's cost structure is somewhat different from the industry standard. Consequently, our prices are overall significantly lower. Our charges are calculated on a straight labour + expenses basis.

Expenses include costs of parts, shipping or other miscellaneous costs related to your job. Labour includes the "technician time" required for your job and possibly an "urgency" component (which is another form of labour as we have to shuffle all other current jobs in order to accommodate an urgent or immediate job). Please note that we only charge for the time an engineer needs to actually spend on a procedure even if the procedure itself takes a very long time. (Cloning, searches and transfers are typical examples. There have been cases where these have taken days, even weeks but we charged for less than an hour.)

With so many factors involved, it is impossible for us to quote a price until we have had a chance to examine the device itself. As a very rough indication, the mean cost of data recovery jobs over the past 12 months has been just under the $500 mark, staring at $128 and only exceptionally reaching the $1000 mark, for very specific reasons. (Of course, only after the quotation has been accepted.) Our standard procedure is:

Free Evaluation: Upon reception of a device, an engineer will examine and test it and advise you of its current status, failure mechanism and probable level of recoverability and costs. There is no charge for this service. With our wealth of experience, we can normally tell fairly quickly what is the actual underlying problem and give you a basic indication of costs, required parts, time and chances of recovery. This will generally be enough for you to be able to make decisions as to your next steps.

Device Assessment: Once we have started a job, the first part is a full device assessment. The aim is to work out the best recovery strategy and therefore, how much it will cost. Sometimes you may have to choose between cost and risk. It will often involve taking the device apart (in a clean room if required), getting it if possible to the "ready to accept instructions" status and if possible cloning the raw data onto a good disk drive. This is the only way to be able to authoritatively state exactly what is recoverable and therefore final costs. Unfortunately for us, this often involves a significant amount of work so if you decide to decline our quotation at that point, we have to charge a nominal $64. For that, you get a full status report. In addition, if further down the track, you decide to continue with the job, your $64 payment will be credited towards the full cost.

Data Recovery: We attempt very hard to stay within our quoted costs. If something unexpected turns up, we will advise and seek your approval for any changes. Costs vary depending on the complexity of the procedure and are calculated on the basis of either $96 or $128 per hour. (Please check for yourself, you will find our rates particularly low on comparison :-)  Overall, we strive to offer the best value for money in Australia in offering "Data Recovery for the rest of us". This approach has served us over the years and the large amount of "thank you" letters that we receive seem to confirm that.

Turnaround time: The current turnaround time is about 5 working days. This of course assumes that there are no delays due to required spare parts, etc. In most situations, this is acceptable (and compared to many alternatives, even fast ;-)  If your requirement is more urgent, we offer two additional levels of attention:

Urgent: This guarantees that your job will be started within 24 hours (or within 8 working hours). In practice, it means "next available engineer". There is a fixed cost of $64 to cover the time required to reallocate all other current jobs.

Immediate: This is basically a "drop everything else and start immediately" service. It is only available upon clearing with the service manager as it can significantly impact on work flow. There is also a cost increase to a fixed hourly rate of $144. (Although you may find that this is still cheaper than others' standard rates ;-)  You are the only judge of what is required in your case. If you feel that you may need this level of service, please let us know as quickly as possible so that we can "clear the decks" so to speak.

On-Site: There are situations where work has to be carried at your site rather than our labs. Yes, we do have engineers who can come to your site and the costs are relatively modest ($64 on-site call fee, all other charges being the same) but be aware that the level of procedures that can be undertaken on site are never as wide as what is available in our labs. Still, this may be appropriate in some circumstances or as a form of consultancy.