DriveSavers Data RecoveryReviews of drivesavers.com

I own a computer repair shop with above average data recovery capabilities. My abilities generally end when a cleanroom or ACE Lab PC3K ($10k+ equipment) are needed. For those cases, I've tested out partnerships with most of the data recovery provider on the West Coast. DriveSavers advertises having a very high end cleanroom and extraordinarily skilled technicians fit for complex cases, and I don't doubt that's true. Thing is, most data recovery cases don't actually require that level of sophistication. Despite that, DriveSavers usually charges multiple thousands of dollars regardless of the case's complexity. Do a little research and you'll find reports of people being quoted exorbitant fees for something that should only have cost a few hundred dollars. In some cases, these are simple repairs that can be fulfilled at a mall kiosk. Don't want to research? Even an LLM / "AI" will bring it up - that's how pervasive their reputation is. My recommendation? This is not a company that you want to go straight to without exploring other avenues. I had largely written them off years ago, especially as some of their shadier practices came to light. Up until today, I considered this a company reserved for extreme cases and now they've managed to shatter that perception. Over the summer, I had a pretty extreme case come through - a hard drive that perished in a house fire, containing sentimental and irreplaceable data. The type of cases that justifies the cost to go with those who have the best resources to make recovery happen. They determined this to be a 'salvage' recovery valued at $3,900 and required an upfront deposit that would only be refunded if they were unable to recovery any data. A single .jpg would have qualified the recovery as a success and allowed them to retain the full amount. After about 3 months with virtually no communication, an invoice shows up in my email. No mention of the case's status or what amount of data was recovered - just an ask for more money. The invoice lists a $999 4TB Solid State Drive and $30 shipping. The same Solid State Drive retails for $799. A 4TB Hard Disk Drive would accommodate the data just the same for only $200. I've been going back in forth with them through email, facing arbitrary friction over this facet of the recovery. From the moment I received the invoice, I told them in no uncertain terms that an SSD is excessive form of return media, that we would not be paying for it, and that an HDD would more than suffice. Their responses claim that's what was originally quoted and agreed upon when that is not actually the case. I should not have had to type up three email responses repeating the same thing - we're not paying for a storage device that costs 5x more than needed to have the data returned. So, what's actually going on here? I think it's greed. Pure greed. Not satisfied with the thousands they've been paid to recover the data, they're now angling to get a $200 markup on a drive. As is the case with their regular recoveries, I have to wonder how many people pay up because they don't know any better. Needless to say, DriveSavers has certainly managed to live up to their reputation. While I typically prefer to keep my business interactions as local as possible - along the West Coast - it's safe to say that, for future complicated cases, I'll be turning my attention inland. The second star is only there because they did manage to recover the data from a complex case. I'll take it away if I face any more friction getting that data back.

Pros - it seems like they are able to recover data sometimes. Cons - they are extremely aggressive, their pricing is a scam (when I said “no thanks” they were immediately willing to cut the price in half!), their communication and consistency with follow up is only about making a sale and not any customer needs.

I sent them a Mac Studio that bricked during a software update. After an initial assessment, they told me there was a very high chance of success and quoted me $3.5K and 5-7 business days. They then held onto my system for 3 months with nothing but the most generic communications-- automated emails that they are "still working on the job". I called a few times, but could never extract any significant info from them about what exactly what they were doing. Eventually they sent back the system with a generic message about data recovery having failed. I called and asked for them to send me the technical notes about what was done. The rep said he would but did not. I called again a week later. This time a different rep did send the report, but it was very terse and generic: "Our engineers conducted a thorough investigation of your device, employing extensive testing and proprietary tools developed specifically for recovering data from damaged devices/partitions. The process included isolating the source of the failure and attempting to regain access to the data. Due to the fullness of the device servere corruption was present in the data partition. Despite exhaustive efforts to address these issues and overcome the failure, the condition of the device prevented the recovery of any data." I called and tried to get some more details but the rep didn't seem to know much more than what he wrote. Overall, despite an optimistic intake process, the phone reps don't seem very knowledgable, and there is no access to actual technical notes from their engineers. This is very frustrating when your case is taking a long time. Perhaps DriveSavers is good for handling standard cases (e.g. iPhone), but their handling of my less common case (Mac Studio) was pretty atrocious. At the end of this three month period, due to the lack of information about what was attempted, I have no confidence in their verdict that my data is actually unrecoverable. It is entirely possible they just decided they didn't have the resources to throw at my case and sent it back claiming it to be impossible. On top of this, they are supposed to send your system back the way it was received. I confirmed with the rep on the phone that my system should be unaltered. But there were three loose screws rattling around inside the Mac Studio when I received it back from them... I don't know where these go, but it is also just very sloppy and not confidence-inspiring. Giving 2 stars because at least they were true to their word they wouldn't charge me anything if no data was recovered.

They advertise a 24/7 customer service line, so I tested it. Called at 12AM, 2AM, and 11PM on different days — no one ever picked up. Don’t advertise 24/7 support if you can’t actually provide it.

Not a company I'd recommend. Try someone else.