How Much Does Data Recovery Cost – Different Pricings for Different Data Loss Situations

Have you lost your HDD or SSD data? You can recover your lost data with several methods, but how much does data recovery cost? The costs of data recovery vary depending on the data recovery method you choose.

Learn how expensive data recovery is, what factors influence the price, and how to recover data at home for free. If you need professional help, learn about different data recovery services prices.

Factors That Affect the Cost of Data Recovery

You can lose data in several different ways and for several reasons. Data loss can occur due to physical or logical damage. Logical damage can include corruption, bad sectors, virus attacks, etc. Since several data loss situations exist, hard drive data recovery costs can vary significantly.

Therefore, data recovery costs can range from free up to $3,000. If you do it yourself at home, you'll probably manage to recover your lost data for free. However, professional cleanrooms can be very expensive. The prices can also vary due to numerous other factors.

Can I Recover Data at No Cost?

Data recovery isn't always complicated and only for tech-savvy people. There are numerous scenarios where you can recover your lost hard disk data at home, free of charge. These scenarios include accidental deletion, recovering from a backup, corrupted hard disk, etc. You can recover from the Recycle Bin, use different backup managers, or use open-source and free versions of data recovery software.

Way 1. Recover Deleted Files From the Recycle Bin

If you've accidentally deleted your data and need it back, you can look for it in the Recycle Bin. Recovering from the Recycle Bin is the easiest way to restore deleted files. People often don't think to check their Recycle Bin to see if their files are there. Follow these steps to recover deleted files from the Recycle Bin:

1. Open the Recycle Bin (the icon is usually on your desktop).
2. Search for your deleted files.
3. Select the items you want to recover.
4. Right-click them and click Restore. That will restore your deleted files to their original locations.

   

Way 2. Safely Retrieve Lost Data From a Backup

Another free way to recover your lost data is from a backup. If you've backed up your hard drive, you can restore your lost files in a few clicks. That is why backups are handy and essential. Both Windows and Mac have built-in data backup tools that can automatically back up your data, providing you with the opportunity to perform data recovery at no additional cost.

Recover Data From Windows File History Backup

Windows users often use File History as a default backup. File History backs up even minor changes to your HDD data. This built-in backup utility allows Windows users to recover individual files from their backups instead of restoring the whole hard drive. Moreover, recovering data from File History is also very simple and, more importantly, completely free.

Follow these steps to recover data from the File History backup for free:

1. Open Settings on your Windows PC.
2. Scroll down to Update & Security and select Backup in the left sidebar.
3. Click More Options in the “Back up using File History” section.

   

4. Click Restore files from a current backup.
5. Select the files you want to recover from your File History backup.
6. Click the green Restore button. Alternatively, you can right-click the selected items and click “Restore to” to choose a new, safe location for your recovered data.

   

Recover Your Data From Time Machine on Mac

If you're a Mac user, you can recover your lost data for free using Time Machine. Time Machine is another built-in utility that backs up and restores data on Mac devices. Time Machine automatically backs up data on an internal hard drive. If you're using an external hard drive, connect it to your Mac and adjust Time Machine settings to back it up.

If you have a Time Machine backup, follow these steps to recover your lost data:

1. Click the Apple logo and select System Preferences.

   

2. Open Time Machine on your Mac.

   

3. Tick the Show Time Machine in menu bar checkbox.

   

4. Click the Time Machine icon and choose Enter Time Machine. You'll see the list of previous Time Machine backups.

   

5. Select the files or folders you want to recover from a Time Machine backup and click Restore.

   

Way 3. Try Free Open-Source Data Recovery Tools

If you don't have a backup and your lost files aren't in the Recycle Bin, you can use other free methods to recover your lost data. You can use one of many open-source data recovery tools. They're entirely free to use. Some of the best open-source data recovery tools are TestDisk, Kickass Undelete, FreeRecover, PhotoRec, and many more.

If you want to recover your lost data using an open-source data recovery tool, follow these steps (we're using TestDisk as an example):

1. Launch TestDisk on your computer and press Enter when it opens.
2. Select Create in the menu and press Enter. That will start the scan of your hard drives.

   

3. Select a hard disk to scan for lost files and press Enter.

   

4. Choose the partition table type. Select Intel and press Enter again.

   

5. Select Analyze and press Enter to let TestDisk analyze your hard disk.

   

6. Once the analysis completes, select Quick Search to scan your hard disk.

   

7. Once the Quick Search finishes, you'll see the list of your lost files. Navigate to those you want to restore and press the C key to copy them.
8. Select the destination of TestDisk recovered files and press the Y key to start the copying process. Once it finishes, you'll see the “Copy Done!” message.

Way 4. Try Freemium Data Recovery Software

Besides open-source data recovery tools, you can use other data recovery software that offers a free edition. For example, Wondershare Recoverit provides an incredible free version. The Wondershare Recoverit Pro version has no limitations, but the free trial version limits your recovery to 100 MB. Besides that, its free version has all the same features as Wondershare Recoverit Pro.

These features include enhanced photo and video recovery, double scan modes, retrieving without corruption, previewing the recovered files, etc. Wondershare Recoverit for Free is a perfect solution for accidental deletion, disk formatting, hard disk corruption, computer crashes, virus attack, etc.

To recover lost files using Wondershare Recoverit for Free, follow these steps:

1. If you're recovering data from an external hard disk, connect it to your PC and ensure it recognizes it.
2. Open Wondershare Recoverit for Free. Select your hard disk in the Hard Drives and Locations section and click Start.

   

1. That will automatically start scanning your hard disk. You can monitor the scanning process at the bottom of the screen.

   

1. Preview the files found in the hard disk scanning process. If everything is in order, select those you want to restore and click Recover.

   

Professional Data Recovery Prices

Since we've covered all the situations where data recovery is free, let's jump to paid data recovery services. As mentioned, data recovery costs can go up pretty high, depending on the state of your hard disk and the type of data recovery. You can use data recovery software for logical and slight damage or data recovery center cleanrooms for severe physical damage.

Case 1. Powerful Data Recovery Software

Even though you can use free data recovery software, paid versions have no recovery limitations and offer better recovery results. If you buy a subscription, numerous data recovery software can help you recover unlimited lost data.

The average price for a professional data recovery software subscription is somewhere between $50 and $500. The prices vary significantly based on the subscription plan and software you choose. With so many online professional data recovery software, picking the most affordable one can be challenging.

Therefore, we've done the legwork for you. Wondershare Recoverit is the most affordable professional data recovery software that support 500+ data loss situations, including virus attacks, disk corruption, emptied recycle bins or trash, formatting, lost partitions, bad sectors, RAW, and RAID.

It offers the best ratio between the price and results. The prices of Wondershare Recoverit yearly subscription plans are the following:

Case 2. Data Recovery Service Cleanrooms

Data recovery service cleanrooms are controlled spaces with reduced particulate enclosures. They're perfect for repairing hard drives and electronic devices and digital forensics. Professional data recovery services have cleanrooms to restore damaged hard drives and recover data from them.

Data recovery cleanrooms often have the newest, most advanced equipment and technologies and controlled temperature and humidity to ensure the safest environment to repair your hard disk and recover lost data. They can solve numerous problems, from logical to physical damage.

Logical Failure

Logical failure happens due to software issues. Usually, you can recover files lost to logical failure of your hard disk. However, if it's a severe logical failure, such as full formatting or ransomware, you must contact a professional data recovery service. The prices for fixing logical failure and recovering data range from $300 to $1,000.

Electronics Failure

Contact a professional immediately if your hard disk's circuit board is damaged. Your data could be lost forever if you continue using your damaged hard disk. Recovering data from a hard disk with electronics failure can cost around $300.

Firmware Failure

You can contact a professional data recovery service if your hard drive's operating system becomes corrupted or crashes. In their specialized cleanrooms, they can help you recover your hard drive from firmware failure. You can expect to pay $250 to $650 for firmware failure recovery.

Motor Failure

Your hard disk uses a spindle motor to spin the disks to read and write your data. If it fails, immediately stop using your hard disk and contact a professional. Since the repair of a hard disk's motor may require replacement parts, the price can go up. The average cost for fixing motor failure is between $1,000 and $3,000.

Bad Sectors

If you can't fix bad sectors on your hard disk, you can contact a reliable data recovery service to fix them for you. They use professional software and tools to repair your hard disk's bad sectors and recover inaccessible data. You can expect to pay around $500 for repairing bad sectors.

Bad Heads

HDD heads read and write data on hard disks. You'll hear a clicking or grinding sound if your hard disk is damaged. Usually, you'll need to get a replacement head to fix the issue. However, that makes your data unreadable. Recovering data from a hard disk head crash with the help of a professional data recovery service would cost you $900 to $2,000.

Conclusion

If your hard disk suffers damage, you don't have to worry. Your data isn't lost forever. You can recover it in several different ways. However, the prices can vary significantly, going from free to $3,000.

You can recover lost data for free from the Recycle Bin, a backup, open-source data recovery software, and freemium data recovery software.

If free data recovery doesn't apply to your case, you can pay a subscription for professional data recovery software or contact a professional data recovery service. Wondershare Recoverit is the most affordable professional data recovery software on the market.