$2,500CAD
Hard drive: mechanical failure
Clicking, not spinning, dropped, not detected. Head or platter work in the cleanroom.
Free diagnosis · donor drive, return drive and shipping included
What data recovery costs in Canada, the honest version.
96%
Success rate17
Years in one lab10,000+
Drives recovered24/7
Answered
100% Canadian owned & operated
One lab: 341 Talbot St, London, Ontario
Free UPS Express to our lab, all 13 provinces & territories
PIPEDA compliant · NDA on request
Straight answer
The prices, and a free diagnosis
free cleanroom diagnosis to your recovery. Nothing beyond that is charged until you approve a written quote.
$1,500CAD
Flash, SD, microSD, USB
Broken connectors, dead controllers, water damage. Chip-off recovery when needed.
Free diagnosis · donor drive, return drive and shipping included
Quoted after assessment
RAID, NAS, server
$450 CAD per drive to assess, credited in full to your recovery. Written quote before any work begins.
Assessment credited in full
+$500CAD
Emergency, 24/7
Added to the recovery fee when you cannot wait. Front of the queue, and the case stays in production around the clock until it is finished.
Added to the recovery fee only
$1,500CAD
SSD / NVMe
M.2, SATA and PCIe. Controller failure, firmware corruption, NAND wear. Chip-off when the controller is gone.
Free diagnosis · donor drive, return drive and shipping included
Prices and policies shown are Version 3.0, effective 9 September 2026. Cases authorized before that date are governed by the pricing and terms in effect at the time. Version history →
Digital forensics
Forensic cases (chain of custody, expert reports, litigation support) are quoted after assessment on their own terms, with an NDA arranged before you ship. Forensics →
Why the price does not move
Across our last 30 hard drive cases, every one needed the same work: a full head transplant using a matched donor drive. That is not a coincidence. By the time a drive reaches a lab, its owner has usually already tried the freezer, the enclosure swap, the recovery software and whatever else the internet suggested. What arrives here is a mechanical failure, and a mechanical failure is a CA$2,500 job. Flash and SSD work the same way: by the time a card or a chip reaches us the controller is gone and it is a chip-off job, which is the CA$1,500 price. So we publish that number instead of making you send the drive to find it out.
Phones and end-of-life models
Phones and memory cards are recovered here too, and a short list of legacy drive models is quoted case-by-case. The engineer tells you which category you are in on the first call, before you ship anything.
Call 1-888-749-3786
An engineer will tell you which price applies to your drive, in 15 minutes.
Step by step
How the free diagnosis works
Five steps. You pay nothing until an engineer has opened your drive and told you exactly what it costs.
01
You call.
An engineer tells you in 15 minutes whether your case is likely recoverable and what it will cost. Almost always, the answer is CA$2,500.
02
We email a free UPS Express label.
Insured, next-day, anywhere in Canada.
03
Your drive goes into the cleanroom.
An engineer diagnoses the exact failure, not a software scan.
04
That engineer calls you.
With the results, the recovery price, and whether you qualify for No Data, No Charge.
05
You approve or you walk away.
There is nothing to pay for the diagnosis, whether you go ahead or not.
Where the money goes
What you're actually paying for
Nothing in this industry is plug-and-play. Four things stand between a failed drive and your files.
The cleanroom.
ISO Class 100 air. A single dust particle on an open platter ends a recovery.
The machines.
PC-3000 imaging systems and firmware tools; individual units cost more than CA$30,000.
Donor parts.
Mechanical recoveries usually need a matched donor drive for a head swap, same model, same firmware family, sometimes the same factory batch.
The engineer.
Head transplants, firmware repair, NAND reconstruction. Nothing is automated. This is 17 years of hands-on work applied to your drive.
The question behind the question
Is it worth it?
If the files can be recreated by reinstalling, redownloading or redoing the work, then probably not. If they can't, and a lifetime of family photos, a thesis, five years of creative work or a company's books cannot, then the question isn't the price. It's whether you'd rather pay a lab once or lose it permanently. 96% of the people who call us get their data back.
Comparing quotes
You will find lower numbers. Here is what to check.
We are not the cheapest lab in Ontario and we are not trying to be. But a lower headline price and a lower final invoice are two different things, so here is how to read one.
Is it a price, or a tier that starts low?
Most published pricing is banded: a low number for a healthy drive with deleted files, a middle number for bad sectors, and a top band written as “from” or with a plus sign for a drive that needs mechanical work. A clicking drive is always the top band. Ask what the top band actually comes to.
Is the donor drive included?
A head transplant needs a matched donor: same model, same firmware family, sometimes the same factory batch. It is the largest hard cost in a mechanical recovery. Ask whether it is inside the quote or billed on top.
Does the guarantee cover your case?
Read the exclusions, not the headline. A No Data, No Charge guarantee that does not apply when donor parts are needed does not apply to a clicking drive, which is the most common failure there is.
What gets added afterwards?
Previously-opened drives, water or fire assessment, decryption, rush service. In this industry each of those is commonly its own upfront, non-refundable fee on top of the recovery price.
Who actually opens the drive?
Ask whether the lab has its own cleanroom or sends your drive to someone else’s. Ours is at 341 Talbot Street in London, Ontario, and every drive we accept is opened in that room. Your drive never leaves Canada.
What happens on a failed attempt?
You get one good attempt at a failed drive. A cheaper attempt that does not work usually makes the next one harder, and it voids most guarantees, including ours. That is the real cost of shopping on price alone.
Our number is the whole number
$2,500 CAD for a mechanical hard drive, $1,500 CAD for flash, SD, USB, SSD and NVMe. That figure includes the matched donor drive, the new drive your data comes back on, and UPS Express shipping. No Data, No Charge applies to qualifying cases, and clicking and dropped drives are covered. There is no fee to have an engineer open your drive and tell you where you stand.
Call 1-888-749-3786
Bring the other quote with you. An engineer will tell you honestly whether it covers your case.
No surprises
What can change the price, and what never does
What can change the price
- Prior recovery attempts (opened drives, another lab, DIY software), more work, often no guarantee
- Fire, water, severe physical damage
- Encrypted drives (we recover the encrypted image; you hold the key)
- RAID complexity, number of drives, level, prior rebuild attempts
- Emergency 24/7 service, a published +$500 CAD on top of the recovery fee
What never changes
Free UPS Express shipping to our lab, insured
Written quote before any recovery work
No Data, No Charge on qualifying cases, full refund of the recovery fee
Recovered files returned encrypted on a new drive or by secure transfer
All copies deleted from our systems after you confirm receipt
No Data, No Charge
If we can't recover it, the recovery fee is refunded
Which cases qualify
Clicking drives, dropped drives, drives that won't spin, drives that aren't detected, covered. Most of what comes through our lab is. A few categories are quoted case-by-case instead, because the work is harder to guarantee: fire damage, previously-opened drives, encrypted drives, forensic cases, phones, and a short list of end-of-life models. We'll tell you which category you're in on the first call, before you ship anything, before you pay anything. Full list →
24/7 · answered by an engineer
Which price applies to your drive?
Call 1-888-749-3786. An engineer will tell you which price applies to your drive in 15 minutes. 24/7.
Before you call
What will it cost?
$2,500 CAD mechanical · $1,500 CAD flash and SSD
Will I actually get it back?
96% of the time, yes
How long will it take?
48 hours to 3 weeks
What do I do right now?
Power it off. Then call.
Everything you need to decide, on one screen
You are probably holding a drive with something on it you cannot replace. Here is every answer, so the only thing left to do is pick up the phone.
Fixed, not an estimate. Includes the donor drive, your data back on a new drive, and UPS Express shipping. RAID, NAS and server: $450 CAD per drive to assess, credited in full. Full price list →
And on qualifying cases, if we cannot recover your data the recovery fee is refunded in full. Clicking, dropped, won't spin, not detected: all covered.
You get a specific timeline with your assessment results, before you approve anything. Cannot wait? Emergency service is +$500 CAD and keeps your case in production around the clock. Emergency service →
Every extra minute a failing drive spends powered on can turn a recoverable case into an unrecoverable one. Unplug it and pick up the phone.
What not to do, starting now
- Do not power it on again. Every spin-up of a failing drive does more damage.
- Do not put it in the freezer. That myth has cost people their data.
- Do not open it. One dust particle on an open platter ends the recovery.
- Do not run recovery software on a failing drive. It writes to the disk you are trying to save.
- Do not follow a YouTube fix, and do not let a computer shop try first. A failed attempt makes our job harder and usually voids the guarantee.
What to do instead
Unplug the device and leave it alone.
Call 1-888-749-3786. An engineer answers, 24/7.
In 15 minutes you will know whether your case is likely recoverable, what it costs, and whether it qualifies for No Data, No Charge.
We email a free UPS Express label. Insured, next-day, from any province or territory, and it costs you nothing.
Nothing is charged until you approve the price.
No Data, No Charge: which cases qualify
Clicking drives, dropped drives, drives that won't spin, drives that aren't detected: all covered. Most of what comes through our lab is. A few categories are quoted case-by-case instead, because the work is harder to guarantee: fire damage, previously-opened drives, encrypted drives, forensic cases, phones, and a short list of end-of-life models. We'll tell you which category you're in on the first call, before you ship anything, before you pay anything. Full list →
One call · answered 24/7 by an engineer, never a bot
100% Canadian owned · one lab in London, Ontario · your data never leaves Canada
Book your device in. It takes one phone call.
1-888-749-3786Tell the engineer what happened. You will know in 15 minutes what it costs, whether it is recoverable, and what to do with the drive tonight.
100% Canadian owned · one lab in London, Ontario · your data never leaves Canada