§ Service
Local, honest data recovery in Clearwater and across Pinellas County. Logical recovery on-site or after a free pickup, physical recovery through a clean-room partner. Free evaluation either way. No price quoted up front for clean-room cases — the lab needs to see the drive before any honest number can be given.
FREE EVALUATION · $120/HR FOR LOGICAL RECOVERY · CLEAN-ROOM QUOTED AFTER LAB EVAL
Section A · Clearwater & Pinellas County
I'm based right here in Clearwater. When a drive dies, the national recovery labs want you to mail it to a facility in another state and wait — a clinical web form, an anxious week, and a quote you can't really question. That's not how I work. I come to your home or office anywhere in Pinellas County — from the Cleveland Street District and Clearwater Beach to Countryside and Island Estates — look at the drive on my own bench, and tell you honestly whether it's a logical recovery I can do here in a day or two or a physical case that genuinely needs a clean-room partner.
That honesty matters most on the cases that scare people: a drive that's clicking, a laptop that took a fall, a phone full of photos that won't turn on. I'll tell you straight whether it's worth the clean-room cost or whether the data's likely gone — before you spend a dollar chasing it. The free evaluation is the whole point: you find out what you're actually dealing with before you commit to anything.
Same coverage as everything else I do: Clearwater, Dunedin, Palm Harbor, Largo, Seminole, St. Petersburg, Safety Harbor, Tarpon Springs, Pinellas Park, and Oldsmar — all of Pinellas County, by house call or free pickup. More on computer service in Clearwater →
Section B · Why this matters
Logical loss — accidentally deleted files, formatted drives, corrupted partitions, dead RAIDs, ransomware-encrypted files. The drive is mechanically fine; the data exists but isn't accessible by normal means. High success rate; work happens on-site at your appointment or after I pick up the drive; pricing at the standard $120/hr rate after a free evaluation.
Physical damage — drive that clicks, won't spin, was dropped, was water-damaged, has board damage. The drive is mechanically broken; data recovery requires a clean-room environment to safely access the platters. Different game entirely. Costs run $300–2,500+ depending on damage severity, and a free evaluation has to happen before any honest quote can be given. Anyone quoting a clean-room recovery sight-unseen is either guessing or rounding up.
The single biggest mistake customers make: running a cheap recovery tool against a physically-damaged drive. Every minute the drive runs degrades the platters further. If it's making noises that didn't exist last week, stop using it.
Section C · What I actually do
Step 01 · Free evaluation
I come to you, or arrange a pickup of the drive (Pinellas County). I assess whether it's a logical or physical problem within ~24 hours. Logical: I can proceed. Physical: I hand off to the clean-room partner for their evaluation, also free. You only commit to a recovery after seeing a real number.
Step 02 · Image before recovery
For logical recovery: first thing I do is image the drive to a fresh disk and work entirely from the image. The original drive goes back in a static bag and stays there. Every additional read on a failing drive risks killing it; recovery happens from the copy.
Step 03 · Recover what's recoverable
For logical recovery: file-carving against the image produces a list of what's recoverable. You see the list before paying for the recovery fee. If your most-important files aren't on the list, you don't pay. (Tools used: ddrescue, PhotoRec, R-Studio, depending on filesystem.)
Step 04 · Honest stop-loss
If a logical recovery isn't producing results within the first few hours, I stop and tell you. No 'let me try one more thing' for another day's labor. Some recoveries simply aren't possible — heavily-corrupted filesystems, overwritten data, encrypted-then-failed drives. You deserve to hear that, not a fishing-trip invoice.
Section D · Process & turnaround
Logical recovery turnaround: 24–72 hours typical, depending on drive size and damage. You get the recoverable-files list before deciding to pay the recovery fee.
Clean-room recovery turnaround: 1–3 weeks from pickup to recovery. Includes shipping time, lab evaluation, lab quote, your approval, recovery work, drive of recovered files shipped back. The lab does the work; I handle the customer-facing logistics.
No-payment-on-failure: if the recovery fails to retrieve your specified important files, you don't pay for the recovery (you do pay for any clean-room evaluation if their lab incurred costs, but most clean-room evaluations are free unless they involve disassembly).
Section E · Pricing
Section F · Common questions
FAQ 01
Yes. The drive sits with me (logical cases) or in transit to/from the clean-room partner (physical cases). Recovered files live on encrypted storage during the process; I delete my working copy after you've confirmed your files arrived intact. The clean-room partner has their own privacy policy — happy to share their NDA terms if you ask.
FAQ 02
You don't pay for the recovery work (logical case). For clean-room cases, you pay only if the lab incurred costs during evaluation — typically zero for most evaluations, but in rare cases of advanced disassembly the lab will tell you in advance before doing it.
FAQ 03
Because anyone who does is either guessing or rounding up to cover the worst case. A drive that just stopped spinning is a different cost from a drive with bent platters from a drop, which is a different cost from a drive with board damage from a power surge. The lab's eval finds out which one, then quotes accurately.
FAQ 04
For logical loss on a mechanically-healthy drive: yes, sometimes. PhotoRec is free and works for simple file-deletion cases. But: if the drive is making any unusual noises, do NOT run it. Every minute degrades it. Pull power, pack it in a static bag, call me — I'll come pick it up. The damage from one more boot can be irreversible.
FAQ 05
Different recovery game entirely. SSDs fail more abruptly (less warning), have less platter-style 'just spin slower' behavior, and clean-room recovery on a damaged SSD is harder and more expensive than for HDDs. Logical recovery on a healthy-but-corrupted SSD is similar to HDD logical recovery.
FAQ 06
Yes — Clearwater is home base. I cover all of Pinellas County by house call or free pickup: Dunedin, Palm Harbor, Largo, Seminole, St. Petersburg, Safety Harbor, Tarpon Springs, Pinellas Park, and Oldsmar included. Logical recoveries I handle here in Clearwater; physical cases go to the clean-room partner and come back to you. No need to ship your drive to an out-of-state lab just to get it looked at.
Section G · Get in touch
Quote, question, or to book the work — fill out the form, or call/text 727-239-6797 directly.
Data recovery · Computer Medic Repair & Service LLC · Clearwater FL · Updated June 2026