We do a lot of free diagnostics on external hard drives that have gone belly up. Here’s the typical scenario:
Customer: My computer won’t recognize my external hard drive any more. I need help.
New York Computer Help: Sure, bring it to our office at 53 East 34th Street in NYC. We’ll perform a free diagnostic.
Customer: How much is it?
New York Computer Help: It’s all based on the severity of the issue / damage. It is typically $125 and up for data recovery. Come in at your convenience for a complimentary diagnostic so we can provide the rate and recovery time.
Then, the customer comes into our shop and we start to perform the diagnostic. Here are some things we tell the customer before we start the diagnostic process.
New York Computer Help: We will be opening the plastic enclosure piece of your external hard drive. This will allow us to determine if the issue lies with only the enclosure piece or the actual internal hard drive. It is usually the hard drive as we will only be able to assess both by opening the enclosure.
The piece of info is mentioned because some enclosures do not have screws, requiring us to break open the case to get to the hard drive. Hey, it’s only plastic and if the issue lies with the enclosure, then the data recovery solution is to replace it. If the issue is with the hard drive itself, which it usually is, then the plastic enclosure is just in the way and useless anyway. This disclaimer is brought up to customers so they know their external hard drives will most likely not be in one piece if the design of the external drive doesn’t allow for a clean opening of it.
Okay, let’s move on. Here are some other qualifying questions our customers ask us before handing over the external drive to us for recovery:
Customer: How long will the external hard drive recovery diagnostic take?
New York Computer Help: You’ll hear back from us in the next few hours. We’ll assess and scan the drive and come back to you with an exact flat fee price and time the recovery is estimated to take.
Customer: If I don’t want to proceed, what’s it going to cost?
New York Computer Help: It is a free diagnostic. There is no obligation. We’ll provide the cost. If you don’t want to proceed, there is no charge.
Customer: If I decide to proceed, but you cannot recover the files, do I still have to pay?
New York Computer Help: Absolutely not. No data, no charge. We are results-oriented. It’s like going to the pet shop. If you don’t take a puppy home, should you still pay for one?
Okay, that clears up most of the logistics. Some other questions include:
Customer: Where do you recover my files to?
New York Computer Help: You can buy a new external hard drive or flash drive from us at cost or provide your own, your preference. You can even bring in your computer and we’ll transfer the files to it.
Customer: Last question, what if you only recover some files and not all. Do I still pay the whole asking price?
New York Computer Help: We are reasonable and will prorate the cost accordingly. If we were able to recover only half of your files, you will be obligated to pay 50%. That being said, if 90% of your files, including your priority files, are recovered and we were unable to recover some temporary internet files, then that would be deemed a successful recovery. Again, we are results-driven and you will pay for such.
So, there you have it. A typical scenario of the external hard drive free diagnostic process along with typical questions we receive regarding the external hard drive recovery service. If you’d like to try out are award-winning external hard drive recovery service, we welcome you to walk in anytime to our shop at 53 East 34th Street in NYC.
