Pittsburgh, PA · Data Recovery & Media Preservation
Recovering what
matters.
I'm Josh. I specialize in data recovery and media preservation out of Pittsburgh: logical failures, degraded drives, VHS digitization. I can't do cleanroom surgery on your platters, but I can probably get your data back. I'll tell you exactly what I'm doing, and I won't charge you if I can't.
What I do
Data Recovery
Hard Drive & Storage Recovery
Deleted files, corrupted drives, clicking hard drives, external drives that stopped responding. Logical recovery and light physical cases. Flat quote, no hourly surprises.
Failure types: clicking noise, not detected, deleted files, water damage, corrupted partition
Devices: external HDDs, laptop drives, desktop drives, SSDs, USB flash drives
Starting at: $150
Media Preservation
VHS & Tape Digitization
Those tapes won't last forever. Magnetic media degrades whether you use it or not. I'll convert your VHS, Hi-8, and 8mm tapes to MP4 files you can actually watch and share.
Formats: VHS, VHS-C, Hi-8, 8mm
Output: MP4 files, delivered via USB or download
Starting at: $25/tape
How it works
01
Describe the problem
Fill out the intake form: what happened, what device, how urgent. Takes two minutes. I'll respond within 24 hours with questions or a preliminary assessment.
02
Ship or drop off
Pittsburgh locals can drop off in person. If you're shipping, you don't need to remove the drive — shipping the whole laptop is fine. See the <a href="/shipping" class="text-amber hover:underline">shipping guide</a> for how to package your device safely.
03
Evaluation & quote
I diagnose the failure and send you a firm, flat quote before any work begins. If I can't recover your data, you pay nothing. No diagnostic fees.
04
Recovery & return
If you approve the quote, I get to work. Recovered data is delivered on a USB drive or via secure download link, along with your original device.
In scope
What I can do
- ✓ Logical failures: deleted files, formatted drives, corrupted file systems
- ✓ Mechanically degraded drives: bad sectors, weak motor, struggling to spin
- ✓ PCB and USB controller failures on external drives
- ✓ Water-damaged drives (some cases, depending on platter condition)
- ✓ VHS, VHS-C, Hi-8, and 8mm tape digitization
- ✓ RAID array recovery (0, 1, 5; discussed case by case)
Out of scope
Where I refer out
- — Cleanroom head swaps and platter transplants. That work requires a Class 100 environment I don't operate.
- — Firmware-level failures on specific drive families (some Seagate and WD models)
- — Fire-damaged drives with warped or contaminated platters
- — Encrypted drives where the key is unknown
If your situation falls into this category, I'll tell you and point you toward a reputable cleanroom lab. DriveSavers and Gillware handle that work well. A clear referral is more useful to you than a recovery attempt that was never going to succeed.
Pricing
Flat quotes. No hourly rates. No surprises.
Data recovery starts at $150 for logical cases and goes up to $500 for complex physical failures. VHS digitization is $25–$45 per tape. Every quote is firm and given before any work begins.
No data, no charge.
If I can't recover your data, you don't pay for the attempt. No diagnostic fees, no "well we tried" invoices. I get paid when I deliver results.
About
Built around a specific kind of problem.
I got into data recovery the same way I get into most things: curiosity. It started with VHS tapes, figuring out how they worked, why they degraded, what it actually took to pull a signal off aging magnetic oxide. That rabbit hole led pretty naturally into hard drives, and from there into just how fragile the things we store our memories on really are.
I focus on logical and degraded-drive recovery because that's where I can genuinely help. Cases that need a cleanroom get referred to the right lab, not attempted anyway.
More about the lab →From the bench.
All posts →VHS & Tape
8mm Film vs. 8mm Tape: Which One Is in Your Box?
"8mm" means two completely different things — film reels from the projector era and video cassettes from the camcorder era. How to tell which you have, and who converts each.
Data Recovery
What It Costs to Recover a Clicking Hard Drive
Clicking drives are physical failures, and their pricing spans the widest range in data recovery. Here's what determines the number, with honest ranges.
VHS & Tape
Camcorder Tape Conversion Cost: VHS-C, Hi8, 8mm, and MiniDV
The little tapes from your old camcorder need different equipment than VHS — and pricing reflects it. What each format costs to convert and why.
Ready to get started?
Describe what happened.
I'll tell you what I can do, and what I can't. No charge to find out.