Data Recovery, Elk Grove
DATA RECOVERY
IN ELK GROVE.
Bring in the drive, the card, the laptop or the phone. We work out whether the problem sits in the file system, the electronics or the mechanics, and we tell you what can be attempted before you commit to anything.
“iGeek was able to retrieve the data out of this very old hard drive and do it in-house.”
8145 Elk Grove Blvd, Suite 12, Elk Grove, CA 95758 | Mon-Fri 10-5, Sat 10-3
Elk Grove, CA
8145 Elk Grove Blvd
Mon-Fri 10-5, Sat 10-3
Shop hours
Work done in-house
By our own technicians at our Elk Grove shop
(916) 627-1818
Call or request a callback
What Went Wrong
Storage fails in a few recognizable ways.
A symptom rarely names the cause on its own, but it does tell us where to start looking. If nothing below matches what your device is doing, describe it on the phone and we will point you at the sensible next step.
Data recovery is part of our computer repair service in Elk Grove.
External drive doesn't appear
You plug it in and the computer acts as though nothing happened. The bridge board in the enclosure, the cable, or the partition table is often at fault rather than the disk itself.
Files deleted by mistake
A recycle bin emptied in a hurry, a format aimed at the wrong disk, a folder that is simply gone. The contents usually sit where they were until something writes over them, so stop using the drive.
Clicking or grinding
Noise from a mechanical drive means the heads or the motor are involved, which is a physical fault. We identify it and tell you plainly what that means for the data.
Liquid got into it
A spill or a drop in water attacks the board, but storage often survives the device it lived in. We check whether the chips or the platters are intact before anything is written off.
It won't boot
Blue screens, kernel panics, a machine that hangs at the logo. A boot failure is usually the operating system or the file system, and the files underneath are frequently untouched.
SSD just stopped
Flash storage tends to go without the warning noises a hard drive gives you. We see M.2 NVMe, SATA SSDs, and the storage soldered onto the board in Apple machines.
Phone won't power up
After a drop, a soaking or a charging fault, the storage inside is often still readable even when the phone is not usable. Photos, messages and contacts are what people come in for.
USB stick asks to be formatted
That prompt means the system cannot read the file system, not that the contents are gone. Say no, unplug it, and let someone look before anything gets written.
Camera or phone card unreadable
Photos and video that stopped showing up on an SD or microSD card. A card that is electrically intact is usually worth a look.
RAID set degraded
Several disks mean several failure paths, and the array layout matters as much as the members do. We look at RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 sets, from one dropped disk to a stack that will not assemble.
Drive is on its way out
Long boots, files that error on open, SMART reporting reallocated sectors. A drive that still answers is the best case you can walk in with, because it can be imaged while it lasts.
Computer is dead, files are inside
No power, no display, nothing on screen, but the storage is a separate component. We can pull it, read it, and put the contents somewhere you can use them.
Storage We Handle
The media that lands on our bench.
Spinning disks, flash, cards, arrays, and the storage sealed inside a phone or a laptop. Each type fails in its own way, so the approach changes, but the opening move does not: make a copy before anything else touches it.
Hard drives
Laptop and desktop mechanisms in 2.5" and 3.5", including older SATA and IDE stock.
SSDs and NVMe
M.2 NVMe, SATA flash, eMMC, and storage soldered to the logic board.
RAID arrays
Striped, mirrored and parity sets: RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10, one member or the whole array.
USB flash drives
Sticks that will not mount, report the wrong capacity, or ask to be formatted.
SD and microSD cards
Camera cards, phone storage, dashcam loops, action camera footage.
Phones
iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel and other Android handsets: wet, dropped or dead.
Tablets
iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Android tablets, Microsoft Surface.
External enclosures
Desktop and portable units from WD, Seagate, LaCie, G-Technology and OWC.
What Happens Next
From the counter to a copy of your files.
Nothing happens to your storage without you knowing about it first. You approve the work after the diagnostic, not before it.
Bring it in, or call first
Drop the drive, the computer or the phone at our Elk Grove shop. If you would rather describe the problem before you drive over, call (916) 627-1818.
Diagnostic at the bench
The device is examined here, by the technician who would do the work, so the answers come from somebody with it in front of them. Ask about turnaround when you check in; it depends on the repair and parts availability.
You get the findings and a price
We tell you what the storage is doing, what we think can be read back, and what that costs. Every repair is quoted after inspection, before any work starts. Saying no is a normal answer.
Recovery and transfer
Once you approve it, we work from an image wherever the media allows one, and put whatever comes back onto a new drive, an external, or your replacement machine.
Your Options
Three ways to get this done.
A local bench, a retail counter and a mail-in lab are three different arrangements. The difference shows up in where your drive physically travels and who you can actually talk to about it.
- Where the work happens
- At our bench in Elk Grove
- Timing
- Ask about turnaround when you check in; it depends on the repair and parts availability.
- Talking to the person doing the work
- Yes, at the counter
- How you get a price
- Every repair is quoted after inspection, before any work starts.
- Clear about what it cannot do in-house
- Told to you before work starts
In Their Words
What people told us afterwards.
“I wanted to get data off of a very old hard drive. I took it to Best Buy first but they needed to ship it out. I decided to take my hard drive back and see if iGeek was able to do it without shipping it. iGeek was able to retrieve the data out of this very old hard drive and do it in-house.”
Hard drive owner
Old hard drive | data retrieval | Nov 2024 | Verified Google review
“Hammad and Ryan were both great to work with. I found them after my iMac dying and losing essentially everything because the SSD drive failed. They’re smart, knowledgeable, and answered all my questions over multiple calls. I took my dead computer elsewhere first but should’ve gone to iGeek from the get-go. They gave me all my options and were not pushy in any way.”
iMac owner
iMac | SSD failure | Aug 2024 | Verified Google review
“My wife’s old laptop died and you saved her memories and data on her new HP. This is third experience with iGeek and all were GREAT!”
Repeat customer
Laptop | data transfer | Sep 2025 | Verified Google review
“I thought I had killed my iPad for real but iGeek successfully revived it and managed to restore most of my data (including the thousands of pictures of my dog which are irreplaceable). I can’t recommend them enough!!”
iPad owner
iPad | water damage | Jan 2026 | Verified Google review
“Apple told me my iPhone was beyond repair due to a faulty logic board and that my data was gone for good. I took it to iGeek and left it with Ryan. Turned out it was just a bad battery, replaced quickly and affordably.”
iPhone owner
iPhone | logic board diagnosis | May 2025 | Verified Google review
Review 1 of 5Read our reviews on Google
Two Categories
What stays here, and what does not.
Recovery work splits along one line: whether the storage still functions well enough to be read at all. Jobs on the working side are done at our own bench in Elk Grove. Jobs that need a sealed drive opened in a controlled clean environment are not bench work, and we say so at the diagnostic rather than after you have paid for something.
Logical faults
The media powers up and responds; what is broken is the path to the data. These we handle at the Elk Grove shop, working from an image of the drive wherever it will give us one.
- Files deleted, recycle bin emptied
- Partition tables and file systems that no longer parse
- Windows, macOS or Linux that will not boot
- Updates that failed part way through
- Failing drives imaged while they still respond
- SSDs that enumerate but will not mount
- Phones and tablets whose storage is still readable
- Accidental formats and reinitialized volumes
Physical faults
The mechanism itself is damaged: heads, spindle motor, platters, or a board burned out by a surge. Opening a sealed drive anywhere but a controlled clean environment contaminates the platters, so this is not something we do here.
- Clicking, ticking or grinding mechanisms
- Head damage after a drop or a knock
- Platters that have been exposed to liquid
- Boards burned out by a power surge
- Drives that never spin up
- Seized spindle motors
We identify these at the in-shop diagnostic and go through your options with you before anything is attempted. Every repair is quoted after inspection, before any work starts.
About Cost
Why this one isn't on a price list.
Two jobs can be described in the same sentence and involve completely different work. Reading a deleted folder back off a healthy disk and coaxing anything at all out of a controller that has lost its mapping table are not the same undertaking, and no chart can tell them apart in advance.
So the number comes after the look, not before it. Diagnostic fee quoted at check-in and applied to your repair if you proceed. Once we know what the storage is really doing, you get the cost and our honest read on the odds, and you decide from there.
Frequently Asked
Asked at the counter, answered here.
My drive just failed. What should I do right now?
What should I avoid doing before I bring it in?
Plenty of storage arrives here in worse shape than it was in when it failed, because of what was done in between. Any one of these can close the door for good:
- Powering a clicking or grinding drive over and over, since every attempt can drag a damaged head across the platter.
- Running repair or recovery utilities on failing media, which loads it hardest at its most fragile moment.
- Accepting the prompt to initialize, format or erase, whatever the operating system suggests.
- Reinstalling Windows or macOS onto the same disk, which writes straight over what you are trying to save.
- Rebuilding a RAID set before anyone has looked at it, because a rebuild onto a degraded array can overwrite the good copy.
- Charging or switching on a liquid-damaged phone or laptop, since current and moisture together speed up corrosion.
Shut it down, leave it alone, and bring it to us.
What does data recovery cost?
How long will it take?
The drive is clicking. Can you still get the data?
Can you pull data off a phone or tablet?
What about SD cards and USB sticks?
Can I mail my drive in?
Who sees my files while you have them?
What if nothing comes back?
Where is the shop, and who do you serve?
Next Step
Bring us the drive.
Come by the Elk Grove shop, call us, or leave your details and we will get back to you.
8145 Elk Grove Blvd, Suite 12, Elk Grove, CA 95758 | Mon-Fri 10-5, Sat 10-3
Quoted before we start
Every repair is quoted after inspection, before any work starts. Diagnostic fee quoted at check-in and applied to your repair if you proceed.
Parts explained first
We'll explain your part options before you decide.
Local, in-house repairs
Repairs are done at our Elk Grove shop by our own technicians. Ask about turnaround when you check in; it depends on the repair and parts availability.
After the repair
Ask about our repair warranty; terms are printed on your repair ticket.