These guys are the wizards of data recovery and restoring dead hard drives. I had a Seagate (which they later showed me was on of the highest failing HD's) that died. It had irreplaceable family home videos from the 80's that I digitized. They diagnosed the issue...told me the cost and recovered everything. I felt the pricing was fair. I had looked on Yelp at other Data Recovery services and these guys were definitely the best reviewed...and for good reason. Need British couple that run the business. Very hospitable. Loved my experience. read more

There's a reason as to why this place has 5 stars. I am so thankful for finding them. My hard dive broke down with a lifetime of photos and videos of my babies! Desert Data Recovery was able to completely restore all my photos!- something I thought I lost forever. I highly recommend them if ever your data is lost, they will try their best to get them back for you. read more

Actual Miracle Workers! My Macbook crashed during an update and when I took it to the apple store, all the Genius bar said they could do was factory reset my laptop. I took my laptop to Desert Data Recovery and within a week, I had over 95% of my files back, and the cost wasn't bad either. Nicky was super nice and answered all of my questions! If I ever have another issue with losing my data, I know they'll be the first people I call! read more

I audio recorded a meeting using an early model Olympus DS-330 digital audio recorder. I inadvertently deleted the file while attempting to transfer the recording to my laptop computer. Big problem; I needed a fix. Persuaded by Desert Data Recovery's stellar Yelp ratings and the opportunity to use a local business, I contacted CEO Tim Homer. Tim estimated that there was at best a 50:50 chance of recovering the file by reason of the age of the equipment and Olympus' use of proprietary software. Nevertheless, he told me that that his evaluation of the unit would be free; I would be charged only if they recovered the file at issue. Let's stop there for a moment. I've worked with national data recovery organizations, and I assure you that they do nothing for free (aside from accepting your initial sales call and offering a sight-unseen wide-ranging estimate of recovery costs). You must ship your storage media or device to their out-of-state location and pay a minimum inspection fee ($50-$100) to see if anything is recoverable. Only after they've drilled down on the project are they willing to provide a firm quote, but there still are no guarantees. My results have been mixed. Tim worked on my Olympus DS-330 digital audio recorder over a couple of days, and concluded that the only possible way to retrieve the file was to remove the chip and attempt to access the data directly (50:50 odds). He estimated the cost at $800. The file was not THAT important, so I called it a day and picked up the recorder from Desert Data Recovery. I knew that Tim spent a lot of time on it, so I offered to pay him the inspection fee charged by most places, which he refused. I returned to my office and called a couple of national data recovery organizations in follow up and found that the cost of a similar project in their shop would cost over $1,500 (as compared to Tim's $800). Further, they offered no better odds of recovery than did Desert Data Recovery. Although Tim was unable to recover the audio file I destroyed; it is clear that neither could anyone else. Further, my entire adventure resulted in no cost to me whatsoever. I am knocked out by the professionalism, competence, intensity and warmth I experienced at this small business. Based on my history with them to date, I would recommend Desert Data Recovery without reservation. read more

I deleted some very important precious pictures of my family that were located on my laptop and I had a major panic attack! I started searching online for information on what to do if this happens to you and I found some great advice. Next, I went to "Yelp" for "data recovery" services and Desert Data Recovery was at the top of their list. I submitted my online request and Nicky reached out to me within 24 hours. Upon arrival at their office, Nicky greeted me with a warm friendly smile and a "how can we help you?" After listening to my horrible story, Nicky assured me that they will try their best recovery my 20,000 pictures and some videos that were lost to me. She also assured me that if they are not successful in retrieving my information, then there is no charge. In the next couple of days, I received updates about the process. The day came when they informed me that they retrieved a lot of data... My visit with Nicky to view the data that was retrieved from my hard drive was a tearful visit, as they had recovery almost all of my pictures and videos! I am so thankful for their honesty and their caring approach to the terrible situation I put myself in. I highly recommend Desert Data Recovery if you are ever in this situation! Nicky, thank you for your kindness and honesty. read more

Tim Homer was able to take mini disks containing music that had been sitting in a shoe box for 16 years, traveling in an RV all over the country and transfer the data to a DVD. He even suggested some free software I could download to separate the tracks and edit the music into a more useable form. He was helpful, prompt, quick to correct a problem and very enjoyable just to talk to. Highly recommended...... read more

I brought in an external hard drive with 10 years of photos on it that was damaged (due to my own incompetence). They were able to recover all of my data. Nicky, the woman in the front office is so nice and helpful. The turn around was just a few days and the price was reasonable. I also appreciated that they said they wouldn't charge me if they couldn't recover anything. I shopped around and not all companies give that promise. Overall, it was a great experience! read more

Fixed my failed hard drive with no problems! Nicky and Tim run the best data recovery business in the valley. No shipping your hard drive off to New York or Montana; all the work happens right in their shop. I couldn't believe how quick the process was! Hopefully, I'll never experience a failed hard drive again but if I do, there is only one place I'll be calling. Desert Data Recovery. Nobody better... read more

I had a bad customer service experience here. I brought my hard drive in for recovery since online "Tim" seemed very knowledgeable. I never got to talk to him in person. When I walked in, the receptionist was on the phone and didn't really acknowledge my existence. I understand if you're busy on the phone, but geeze, at least put them on hold for a second and say hi. After waiting 10 minutes, I decided this wasn't the place for me. I left without even speaking to anyone. Besides this, the "lab" didn't really look like a data recovery lab, more like an extremely small computer repair shop. I know my device needed very knowledgeable experts due to the situation. The place was hard to find and in an office building with dozens of other businesses. The sign for Desert Data recovery did not easily stand out. I guessed it was the right place from the Yelp stickers all over the windows. You have to go inside and there are trees and stuff in the courtyard and businesses stacked 2 or 3 stories high. Traffic in the area was CRAZY for a weekday around 2PM. I decided to go somewhere else. I gave them an extra star for quick response on Yelp, but improvements are definitely needed. read more

See all

BRING YOUR CRASHED HARD DRIVE HERE - NOW! Desert Data is truly as good as it gets -- which is exactly what you need when you are in a pinch. My external drive crashed and after an unsatisfactory "commit to pay potential thousands for unknown recovery" experience at a national chain, I came here. Tim and Nicky performed an immediate free diagnostic and advised me on the most cost efficient ways to recover my data as well as to prevent future losses. Turned out, a colleague had a backup copy of my data on the east coast so I did not actually use Desert Data to recover the drive. But even knowing this, DD has remained proactive and communicative to make sure that I have truly recovered the data I need. Tim and Nicky, you are the best. And if I experience the worst, you are the people I'll be calling. read more

Had a great experience. I threw my laptop across the room and damaged the hard drive, I could not get Windows to even load, much less open any files. I bought a new computer and left my laptop alone for more than two years. DDR was able to recover all of my files from my damaged laptop, for a much cheaper price than anywhere else I was quoted. They were super fast, very friendly, and very efficient. read more

Desert Data Recovery are my heroes! When our NAS drive at our office that contained ALL of our client files, years and years of work, these two were able to get it all back in 24 hours! When I initially called Nicky she was so calm and kind. Dropping off the drive I was nervous and excited. We knew from an out of state company that they could recover the data, this came with a long time frame and an even larger price tag! Desert Data was amazing and we are up and going again! Definitely worth knowing people with such amazing skills! read more

Desert Data Recovery rocks! For the first time in 20+ years of working with computers I wasn't able to recover data from a drive. I found DDR through yelp and reviews are spot on. I knew with the damage to the drive I may end up losing some data, but they recovered the whole drive and I managed no data loss. They also have the policy of no data recovery, no charge. I called two other recovery shops that also had great reviews on yelp, but they wanted upwards of 3x the price. So glad I found Desert Data Recovery. read more

A very honest small business. Very welcoming and kind. They provided a free diagnostic on my external hard drive. I was fortunate enough to find my data on a different computer, but their quotes seemed competitive and reasonable. read more

Desert Data is amazing!!!! I had an external drive crash with 10 years of my portfolio I was skeptical and put off getting it recovered because every place was so pricey and I wasn't comfortable mailing my life away to some stranger. They were super easy to work with, emailed as they went along, I ended having to get a lot of work done but the rates were below the average costs online and I had the security sense that I could talk to them, email them and could stop in. Best customer service in this industry in the valley, I would recommend them to anyone. Thanks again. read more

Absolutely satisfied by the fast response time on calling back. This was critical when my three Terabyte drive with 2o years of photos was wiped out accidentally. They were able to recover 99 % of all the data and in a very short time. Professional, courteous and expedient. Thank you. read more

Great and honest computer repair shop! They don't do cell phones and so could not help me, but answered my questions right away! Great response time and great advice! A little background.. I had an iPhone that was stupidly dropped in a sink while doing the dishes. I panicked and emailed a bunch of companies with yelp's automated tool. The owner of this computer repair shop provided a response within a few hours! Thank you! read more

I can't recommend Desert Data Recovery enough. Very professional, quick, and friendly. Tim had my free diagnostic evaluation completed in less than 24 hours, explained exactly what was wrong, and was very clear about pricing. He was able to recover everything from my hard drive in less than 2 days. Excellent company! read more

Seriously, what a great company to deal with. I had an external hard drive I've been lugging around needing to extract the data since it stopped being read by my computer a few months ago. After a Yelp search, Desert Data Recovery was one of 10 companies I queried about recovering my data. Nicky, the co-owner (along with her husband Tim) contacted me quickly, and offered a free diagnostic. Very nice and knowledgeable. They offer new drives very inexpensively or you can bring in your own for them to use. Their office is very professional and easy to get to. They stayed in touch with me consistently thought the whole process. Everything great. After I left, there was an issue which they needed to fix and I was already many miles away and could not drive back to them. No questions asked, Nicky had my data backed up to a Flash Drive and had it couriered to me. Wow. I call this EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE. You will to. To all my fellow geeks throughout the Phoenix Valley, I give Desert Data Recovery my highest recommendation. read more

I am going to write this review, even though I decided to not use their service. What a joy to interact with someone who's business is based on technical skills AND common sense. Nikki did a great job explaining what happened with my hard drive, how it most likely happened, and the details for them to do a recovery. I decided at this time the $'s weren't worth it, but as she pointed out, it can be recovered in the future if things change. Bottom line, I hope I do not ever need this company's services, but it makes me feel better they are around if I do. read more

Desert Data Recovery is amazing! I recently had my Mac hard drive crash and lost all of my business documents. I went several places to get quotes before coming here. From the moment I walked in the door Nikki was fantastic. She was super nice and knowledgeable. She explained the process and costs so that I understood. Within 24 hours she had a quote for me on recovering my data and I had my data back within 1 week. She was great about updating me along the way. I really appreciate that this is a local business and that they didn't charge me to give me a quote. I am so grateful to them for their prompt and kind service! I highly recommend! read more

I am so glad I took my friend's recommendation to use Desert Data Recovery's services. They were so much cheaper than Best Buy and I was able to recover all my data from an external hard drive that just quit. They provided me with a list of all my data online to make sure it was what I wanted to save. Then, they copied it all to an external hard drive that they had for purchase (at a fair market price) in their shop. Their customer service was excellent, their pricing was excellent, their turn-around time was excellent. And, everything was done in-house, so I had excellent peace of mind. Thank you! This definitely is as good as it gets! read more

Out of frustration of a crashed hard drive I took my drive to the first place I could find to do data recover on it. My first mistake was that I had not back up my data for over a month. Second mistake was taking it to Data Doctors. DD charged me $149 to evaluate my drive to tell me it was bad, and then was going to charge me another $1200 to get the data and would take 2 weeks. I then found Tim at Desert data recovery from a referral. What awesome people they are! No evaluation fee, $750 for the data recovery and $116 for parts and it was all placed on my host drive after a week. I hope to never have to visit them again but if I do I will not go anywhere else! read more

I dropped my 2 TB external hard drive, which I had not backed up. Desert Data Recovery was able to retrieve all my files. They are a small business and the only one locally that I could find that was certified and had a clean room. The computer shop that I had originally taken my drive to gave me an address to ship it to out of town. The price to retrieve the files was very reasonable (I believe ... based on what I've seen online and have been told). I would use them again if I was in the same situation ... but I'm going to be a lot more careful about backing up my data from now on. read more

I had a Seagate 3TB hard drive fail on me. We took it to Desert Data Recovery. They reviewed the drive for free. They determined it to be a firmware issue which meant a $395 recovery fee. That was 1/3 the cost of other recovery places that also charged a fee just to look at the drive. After the initial recovery, 2 heads were found to be dead. Fortunately, I was able to recover my critical data. They placed it on Dropbox and I was able to download my files immediately. They did a great job and I would definitely recommend these guys to everyone! read more

Tim with Desert Data Recovery was a marvelous source to help recover the data and pictures from our home PC. We thought we had lost everything! After purchasing a new MAC, he not only recovered the data from the original hard drive that had gone into failure, but he set up the new MAC with my files procured from the old HD!! All of that during the holiday season and with the assurance that if I had ANY questions or problems, he would help resolve them. He even reconfigured my external hard drive. What a relief! I"m now back in order with my new computer and with the knowledge that if I have any questions, Tim is there to answer them! I highly recommend Desert Data Recovery. read more

A couple days after my fall semester ended, I was sitting on the couch working on my laptop with my flash drive plugged in when I leaned over and accidentally smashed it down. My flash drive hung down broken, and I stared in utter shock. I was devastated and sick to my stomach as almost 3 years of college work, papers, honor society business, work documents, personal files, and more, were suddenly gone. I immediately searched online for a data recovery business in Phoenix, and then I discovered Desert Data Recovery. Their website was professional, and it seemed like they really knew what they were doing (they do!). I emailed DDR and spoke with Tim who granted me some comfort, and told me to drop off my flash drive anytime for a free evaluation. Christmas and New Year's were in the midst so I was not able to visit DDR until afterwards. Following the holidays, I visited DDR and was warmly greeted by Nicky. Nicky immediately made me feel better, and quickly took my contact information, as well as a list of my critical files, and then I was off. A couple days later, Nicky sent me an evaluation that included details regarding the damage to my flash drive, and the cost of the service to recover my data. I agreed, and they got started right away! Over the next week, Nicky kept in contact through email and text, and informed me of the process of recovering my precious data. When my files were recovered, she sent me a list of them to make sure everything was there. I took it upon myself to compile a list of my most important files to take into the office and check each of them before I left with my new flash drive. Nicky was extremely patient, and let me take my time to ensure I was completely happy before leaving. All but one of the files I checked were recovered in their entirety which is really a miracle in itself! My experience from beginning to end with DDR was phenomenal, and I am beyond thankful to Nicky and Tim for their care and professionalism while recovering my data! They truly understand how you feel, and make you feel comfortable knowing you're in good hands. Thank you so much Desert Data Recovery! I will be sure to refer anyone to you who has a data mishap and needs help! read more

I dropped (practically slammed) my 2TB Seagate external drive that was hooked up to my computer while running on a tile floor and I got the "click of death"... I was very devastated because it had years worth of music that I made and I hadn't backed it up... Desert Data Recovery definitely came to the rescue! They were able to retrieve most of my data, which is amazing considering the damage that was done to the platter. I'm definitely lucky to get as much back as I did. And on top of that, they were very fast, had great customer service, and fair prices. I will definitely recommend this company if this issue ever arises again. Thanks!!! read more

I was really happy with the help that Tom and Nicky were able to give me. I lost the data on my external drive and tried Fry's who couldn't recover the data and then tried Data Doctors who only wanted money up front to take a look at it. Fry's charged me also for nothing in return. Tom was great and he turned around the recovery in just a couple of days. I highly recommend them and like that they won't charge you for diagnostics or if they can't get back the data. read more

A great place when you need help with hard drive failure or damage. They were able to recover 99.5% of my lost data after I dropped and broke the drive. Efficient, helpful and transparent as to costs and services. I would absolutely recommend them to anyone who is panicking with a drive catastrophe. read more

My hard drive died - yes, the one with 12 years worth of home videos and photos of my 4 kids. I used 2 different software applications to try to save the data, but it didn't work. When it became impossible to mount my hard drive, I did some research and decided to take my hard drive to Desert Data Recovery. Nicky was awesome to work with throughout the process! It took about a day to diagnose, then Nicky walked me through the options including the pros and cons of each. I went with the safest approach which was the most expensive to increase the probability of full recovery. Nicky provided me with daily email updates which gave me a lot of peace of mind. By the time it was done, Nicky and team were able to extract everything from my old hard drive. I didn't lose a video or photo! Invaluable service and awesome experience all around! I hope I don't get into this situation again, but will definitely go to Desert Data Recovery if I do. Highly recommend! read more

Saved my life! That is what it felt like to go from feeling as if I had lost everything to getting it all back! My external drive all of a sudden could not be read by my computers. My son, who works in network management recommended Desert Data Recovery and I picked up the phone immediately. It was late at night and Tim still answered my call. While not guaranteeing that he could recover my data, he was very nice and put my mind at ease. I dropped my drive off the next morning. Two hours later they called to explain the problem and said they WOULD be able to recover my data! Phew! I felt the price for the service was very reasonable, and Nicky even came down on the price since it did not take them as long as usual for this kind of recovery. Nicky was very helpful and kept me informed on every step of the process. She even emailed me a file so that I could continue working that evening and wait until the next day to pick up my drive. Tim and Nicky both are awesome! While I hope I won't need this type of service again, it's nice to know who I can turn to should I need help in the future. Thank you, Desert Data Recovery! read more

I thought I had lost my data, but Tim was able to recover it with a quick turnaround and within my budget. He also offered a lot of helpful advice on various backup systems. If I ever have a problem again, it's Desert Data Recovery that I'm going to! read more