Request a U.S. Data Recovery Quote
A useful estimate starts with the device, failure symptoms, steps already tried, urgency, and priority files—not assumptions about price or outcome.
Initial review
Provide the Facts Behind the Estimate
Summarize the device, failure context, recovery steps already attempted, and the data that genuinely matters to the outcome.
Describe the storage device, observed symptoms, previous attempts, and files that take priority. This gives the request a useful scope without promising a price or result before the case is reviewed.
Datastrophe bases the estimate process on verifiable facts: media type, device behavior, risk, urgency, priority data, and technical constraints. A precise request reduces unnecessary handling and supports a clearer decision.
- Define what the estimate needs to cover
- Distinguish readable files from files that work correctly
- Use confirmed technical facts for the next decision
What Informs the Estimate
The case review considers the media type, symptoms, risk, urgency, priority data, and known limits. These facts help define the work that a quote may need to cover.
Limits That Affect Scope
Device condition, missing metadata, or encryption may restrict the possible result and must be reflected clearly in the proposed scope.
Risk
Details That Can Change the Estimate
State whether the device is unrecognized, files disappeared, a server failed, or USB or SSD storage became physically damaged or inaccessible.
Report unrecognized media, missing files, a server failure, a damaged USB flash drive, or an inaccessible SSD. These symptoms help distinguish a straightforward request from fragile hardware, a business-critical incident, or a case requiring deeper analysis.
Clarify the expected outcome, risk, urgency, essential files, recovery scope, and reliable contact details. This context helps determine whether the estimate should address targeted extraction, full recovery, additional review, or specialist handling.
- State the result the quote should address
- Identify files that must be opened and verified
- Provide contact details for scope questions
Decision point
Expected outcome, urgency, risk, essential files, and scope determine whether targeted extraction, broader recovery, further review, or specialist handling should be considered.
Scope Before Price
A meaningful price depends on an understood scope and on limits created by the device condition, metadata, or encryption.
Method
Common Problems With Estimate Requests
A request is more useful when it explains the incident, avoids another test, and gives concrete context for any urgent need.
Avoid vague descriptions, missing case history, one last recovery attempt, or an urgency label without context. These choices can add writes, obscure the original condition, overwrite useful traces, or make the scope harder to define.
After data loss, pause further attempts and collect the relevant facts before handling the original storage again or requesting a price.
- Do not write new data to the source device
- Avoid automated repair on the original storage
- Preserve the device's current state
What Needs to Be Known First
Stop recovery attempts and record the device history, symptoms, and priority files before the source storage is handled again.
Uncertainty Must Be Visible
If device condition, metadata loss, or encryption leaves the recoverable scope uncertain, the quote process must make that uncertainty clear.
Evidence
How Datastrophe Builds the Scope
Device type, failure behavior, previous attempts, priorities, timing, and technical findings all contribute to a defined scope.
The scope is shaped by the media type, symptoms, previous attempts, priority files, timing needs, and technical findings. These factors organize the case review, estimate, recovery work, verification, and handoff.
Each stage should distinguish confirmed facts from uncertainty, feasible work from unsafe actions, and verified files from an unqualified recovery total. That record keeps the quote tied to evidence.
- Match the proposed work to the recovery goal
- Verify usability instead of counting readable files alone
- Tie the estimate to available technical evidence
Decision point
A clear record should show what is known, what remains uncertain, which work is feasible, and which actions would introduce risk.
Quote From Evidence
The proposed scope should reflect the device evidence and any constraints caused by damage, metadata loss, or encryption.
Control
Sensitive Data and Transparent Scope Limits
Sensitive information requires a defined search scope, controlled delivery, and communication limited to the needs of the case.
The requested work may involve personal, business, financial, medical, or other sensitive data. Confidential handling means a limited search scope, controlled handoff, and communication restricted to what is necessary.
The estimate also needs to reflect technical limits. Recovery cannot be promised for overwritten blocks, unavailable encryption keys, or storage damaged beyond the point of yielding usable data.
- Keep searches within the agreed scope
- Deliver results on healthy storage media
- Make exclusions and limits unambiguous
How Limits Shape the Quote
Overwritten blocks, unavailable keys, lost metadata, and severe device damage can narrow the recoverable scope and therefore the work that can be proposed.
What the Quote Cannot Promise
A quote cannot guarantee results that device condition, missing metadata, or inaccessible encryption prevents the evidence from supporting.
Limit
Prepare the Request Without Further Testing
Record the device type and capacity, connection, symptoms, incident date, prior attempts, urgency, and essential files before asking for an estimate.
Collect accurate case details: device type and capacity, connection, symptoms, incident date, previous attempts, urgency, and priority files. Note any exact error message and whether the device is still detected. This information makes the estimate request more focused and reliable.
If unstable storage is still connected, shut it down cleanly when that can be done safely and avoid another test. Preserving the current state may protect more data than one additional attempt.
- Summarize the incident and desired result
- List the files that must be usable
- Pause testing until the next step is clear
Decision point
For unstable connected storage, a safe shutdown and a pause in testing can preserve evidence and reduce avoidable risk. Record its last known behavior instead of trying to reproduce the fault.
Keep the Source Unchanged
Avoid repairing, formatting, or otherwise modifying the original device so the technical review can begin from the best available state.
Estimate
From a free estimate to an informed decision
Submitting the request does not start chargeable recovery; it prepares the diagnosis, evidence and decision.
The estimate, free laboratory diagnosis and private round-trip courier service are included at no charge. A private courier transports the sealed parcel only and does not process its data; Datastrophe performs the diagnosis, recovery and file checks directly in its laboratory.
Before payment, the U.S. customer receives the price and checked file list. The list categorizes every item as recoverable_verified, partial, detected_unverified or unrecoverable and treats only recoverable_verified content as recoverable. Final recovery, result preparation and return begin after the U.S. customer accepts the list and price and pays.
If no usable data are found, recovery fails or the U.S. customer declines, no standard fee applies to intervention, transport, customs or return media. Only a rare, costly part can be ordered with separate, explicit, priced approval and remains non-refundable. The request can cover tablets and iPads as well as the listed storage systems.
- Free request and diagnosis
- Checked file list before payment
- Final work only after acceptance
Your free, no-obligation quote
About you
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FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What should I prepare before requesting an estimate?
Submitting the form provides the details needed for a free estimate and laboratory diagnosis; it does not authorize chargeable recovery.
Does receiving a quote mean every file can be recovered?
No. Results depend on the device's actual condition, readable areas, writes since the incident, surviving metadata, and encryption access. A quote cannot promise more than the evidence supports.
Why are priority files needed for an estimate?
Priority files clarify the recovery goal and influence the scope and verification work. They are especially useful when storage is fragile or contains a large volume of data.
Can I plan to reuse the original device afterward?
No. Recovery focuses on extracting usable data and returning it on healthy storage. A device involved in data loss should be treated as unreliable for production use.
How do technical limits affect the quote?
The checked file list and price are presented before payment. Final recovery begins after acceptance and payment, with no standard charge if there is no usable or accepted result.