When you hire a company to restore the data present on your storage device, they will charge you a fixed amount initially to analyse the problem with your device. After such an analysis, they will tell you whether recovery of data is possible and in case it is, you will also be given a rough estimate about the cost of data recovery. This cost will vary depending upon the results of the analysis.

Data loss can happen due to two different reasons. The data on the storage device might be lost due to physical damage or logical corruption. In case the data loss is due to logical (caused by virus attack or other forms of corruption of data) errors, resolving the problem is a comparatively simple process and is automated to a great extent as it is performed by the use of data recovery software. Thus, the cost of such a recovery is lower than that of physical damage. But, one must remember that in rare cases, data recovery is not possible. This is true especially if the data stored on the devices has been overwritten during the virus attack etc.

If the damage is physical in nature then, the process gets complicated. Here, the chances of recovery of data are slimmer as the part of the device that stores the data may have been damaged. In other cases, the peripherals of the device may have been damaged. Replacing them and then correcting the logical errors that are possibly present in the device, would bring the device back to its original state. The peripherals may include the read/write assembly in a hard drive or the different PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards).

There are many reasons for this. Some of them have been elaborated below.

Setting up a Data Recovery Company is a huge investment as, many specialised equipments are required especially to handle the physical damage of the device. These equipments may vary depending on the kind of data storage medium the company specialises in. While repairing the data storage media the companies usually make use of class 100 Clean Rooms. These are required to provide a dust-free environment. Other than the initial investment, some amount of money is also involved in the maintenance of these equipments.

As the process of data recovery is complicated, it needs to be handled by skilled professionals, who are experienced at the job, to get the desired results. The skill and experience come into play especially as one wrong move may lead to permanent loss of data. Hiring such professionals would turn out to be a costly affair for the companies. If a company has got high success rates, it may increase the price of its service in part with its reputation.

Another reason that is cited by many data recovery companies is that the data handled by the companies is very crucial to their clients and hence, they are also willing to pay such high amounts. This is supported by the statistics as well. It has been reported that over 90 percent of the companies that suffered a major data loss disaster became bankrupt within a year. For example, consider a company that stores the records of small term contracts that it handles, on a computer. If it does not have access to this database for even a few days then, it is likely to lose many of its clients. Thus, in many cases, the client may require the data back in a short time. A successful company may have a lot of clients and hence, handling each of them at a given time is not possible. Thus, by paying an extra amount of money, the client can ensure that he gets back his data quickly.

It can be seen that the data recovery process is likely to be expensive. Hence, data backup is advisable whenever you handle crucial data. Also, in case of data loss, it is preferable to go for an expensive company with a good reputation rather than selecting the companies that promises to do the job at absurdly low prices.