Data recovery: what is possible, and what makes it less so
The short answer
If the device powers on at all, the odds are good. If it does not, recovery means getting it to boot for long enough to read the storage, because modern phone storage is encrypted with a key tied to the device. Repeated power-on attempts on failing hardware lower the odds every time.
Why phone recovery is not like a hard drive
On an old computer, a dead machine with a healthy drive is a solved problem: take the drive out, put it in something else, read it. Phone storage does not work that way.
The storage is soldered to the board and encrypted, and the key is held in secure hardware tied to that specific device. Desoldering the memory and reading it elsewhere produces encrypted noise, not photographs. This is a deliberate security design and it is the same design that makes a stolen phone worthless.
So recovering data from a phone means making that phone work again long enough to read it, even if only once and only on a bench. That is why data recovery and board repair are frequently the same job.
What raises and lowers the odds
That last one is worth being blunt about. Encryption does not have a back door for repair shops, and a device nobody can sign into is a device whose contents nobody is getting. If that is the situation, we will tell you at the counter rather than taking money to try.
- Raises: the device still powers on, even briefly, even to a logo
- Raises: the screen is broken but the phone itself works, which is the easiest case of all
- Raises: you know the passcode and the account password
- Lowers: it has been powered on repeatedly since it failed
- Lowers: liquid damage that has had weeks to progress
- Lowers: physical damage to the storage chip itself, which is rare but final
- Ends it: nobody knows the passcode or the account it is signed into
What to do before you bring it in
- Stop turning it onEvery attempt on failing hardware is a chance for it to get worse. If it has failed twice, leave it.
- Do not charge it if it has been wetCurrent through a corroded board is the thing that finishes phones off.
- Do not factory reset anythingPeople do this hoping to fix a boot loop. It destroys exactly what you came to recover.
- Find out what you actually needPhotos, messages, contacts and app data are different jobs with different odds. Knowing which matters helps.
- Check what is already backed upA surprising number of people have most of it in iCloud or Google Photos and do not realise. That is a free five-minute check and we will do it with you.
- Say it is the priorityBefore we start. Recovering data and recovering the device are sometimes different routes, and the wrong order can cost you both.
The screen-broken case, which is most of them
The most common data recovery here is not a recovery at all. The phone works perfectly and nobody can see it. Once a working display is connected, everything is there.
Sometimes it is simpler still: a phone with a dead screen can often be driven from a computer, or shown on a monitor, without any repair at all.
It is worth saying because people arrive expecting a laboratory and a large bill for something that is a screen or an adapter.
What it costs, and what happens if it fails
Assessed first, quoted after, and no fee if nothing is recovered. That is the same no fix, no fee that applies to everything else here.
What we will not do is give a fixed price down the phone, because the odds and the work depend entirely on why the device stopped, and we would be guessing.
We look at what we need to confirm the recovery worked and nothing else. The device and its copy go back to you, and nothing is kept.
So this does not happen again
Turn on the automatic backup your phone already has, then check once that it is actually running. That is the whole task and it takes two minutes.
On an iPhone: Settings, your name, iCloud, and check iCloud Backup is on and the last backup date is recent. On Android: Settings, Google, Backup, and check the same.
The most upsetting conversation in this shop is not about a price. It is telling somebody their photos are on a board that will not power on and there is no backup.
Common questions.
Often, but not by removing the storage. Phone storage is encrypted with a key tied to the device, so recovery means getting that phone to boot long enough to read it. If it powers on at all, even briefly, the odds are good.
Not usefully. Desoldering encrypted storage and reading it elsewhere produces noise rather than files. That is a deliberate security design and it is the same one that makes a stolen phone worthless.
Then the data is not recoverable by anyone, including us. Encryption has no back door for repair shops, and we will tell you that at the counter rather than take money to try.
No, and this is the most common case we see. The phone usually works perfectly and nobody can see it. Fit a working display, or drive it from a computer, and everything is there.
Nothing. No fix, no fee applies here as it does everywhere else. It is assessed first and quoted after, because the work depends entirely on why the device stopped.
Where this leads.
Next in boards and data.
Something actually broken? Bring it in.
Free diagnostic, a firm price before any work, and a 360-day warranty on every completed repair.
Book a repair 24/7 · No fix, no fee · 360-day warranty · Free diagnostic