Ephraim stole our hard drive. I dropped off a hard drive with the understanding we would have a free evaluation. A couple days later he got back saying it would be $750 dollars for what he said would be free. He lied and refused to return our equipment. read more

They were very clear about the terms. I got a free evaluation of my laptop after which i got a quote for the recovery work. i decided to do that recovery for the quoted price. All worked to what was agreed upon and most importantly i got my lost data back. Excellent work. read more

I used Ephraim's service about a month ago...when my computer died and I was panicked about getting data. He was very nice at the first meeting (and yes, it's creepy to be in his apartment in tight quarters) and told me twice that he would let me know the cost before he did he work. When he called a couple of days later to quote me, (it was a high number in my opinion but I don't remember exactly what it was...over $1000) I told him that I realized the data had been backed up to the cloud and I didn't think it would be worth it so don't do the work. Then he tells me that the work is already done and wants to negotiate. He offered to send me a photo of my family to prove it. A bit threatening IMHO. Ultimately I got the work done for much less than his inflated price. Bottom line, I got the hard drive with my data, but it was not a comfortable transaction. He followed up with me several times by phone but I believe the real purpose was only to get me to leave a positive review. I do not recommend. read more

I got scammed over a service I could've fixed on my own. Sad situation. Never go to a service out of desperation otherwise you will easily get ripped off or scammed. read more

!SEXUAL HARASSER! (Writing for a friend, because she is scared and uncomfortable) This old creep is a sexual harasser! DO NOT USE HIS SERVICES if you respect women (no matter if you are male or female). I needed his professional help, and when I came to the address, I realized that the office is in fact his apartment. Fist time I was there he was extremely, maybe even too much polite to me. I immediately felt something weird about him, but there was nothing obvious to be worried about. However, when I needed to come back next time, I felt extremely uncomfortable around him. First of all, he took my coat and locked (?!) it in another room. Just later I realized that I left my phone in the pocket of my coat! Then he started offering me to take a walk with him somewhere and teach me photography, then to have a coffee with him. He was very, very insisting, asking when we would meet next time. Then, when we were sitting in front of each other, he put his foot between my feet on the floor, pretending it was accidentally - and that was just too much! I got scared and did not know what to do or how to behave. I said I had to leave because I had an appointment, and he said he would leave with me to go someplace! I did not want to be rude, just not to make him angry or aggressive. When I was leaving, he tried to hug me and to kiss me. I rejected it, tried to be polite, and left that f***ing place as soon as I could. Then he tried to call me several times (although I did not need his services anymore) from different phone numbers. It was a horrible experience that made me feel very, very unsafe as a young woman. I urge you to IGNORE his business if you respect women and don't want anyone to get injured. read more

I did NOT have a good experience with this company. This goes back several months, but it haunts me. First, this "office" is in an apartment. The owner was not clear on pricing and the price I was semi-quoted was half of what I had to actually pay him in the end. And no credit cards accepted. I was stuck paying cash of almost $1000 when I would have put it on a credit card. This guy is just sneaky and unclear. I don't trust him very much and suggest another data recovery service in the city.. read more

On October 31st I submitted my Seagate external drive to Sherlock Data Recovery. After several visits to discuss the recovery of my data, with the last meeting being on November 7th, I am completely disappointed with the lack recovery and a loss of $600. Sherlock Data Recovery did not retrieve that data that I requested. I am missing PowerPoint Slides {Sherlock Did Not Recover} and Microsoft documents that were back dated {none of my current documents were retrieved}. Sherlock claimed to have spent 4 hours of working on retrieving my data but did not retrieve current documents that I asked for. Prices for services are overpriced and insufficient for recovery of data. read more

Sherlock computer repair I am very thankful for this remarkable computer data~recovery shop. I had lost patience with my computer work and unplugged it without going through regular procedures to shut my system down. The next day I could not open my computer. I brought my computer to my local computer repair shop. I explained what had happened. The tech said if they are not able fix it to they will have to install a new internal hard drive. The tech's comment very much bothered me. As a young person, was the tech going to do some recovery, but not work hard, and then do the easy thing by installing a new internal hard drive ? I had too many files that I had put a lot of work into to lose it to a person who did NOT value my several hours of hard work. I went on the web to find a service. I did NOT trust data recovery software as 98% of my files are in Excel software and I worried that the software would be focused on Word software recovery; the software would not help me. Going on the web I found Sherlock Home Repair. The owner, Ephraim , had about 30 years experience w computers. On the wall of his business, he had two Seagate specialist diplomas. I was not bothered by his office in his apartment. The local computer repair shop was in a computer repair shop but I did NOT feel they could have fixed my problem. Ephraims' place was like an old movie where the service was in an old store but an experienced professional worked there. I felt comfortable giving him my problem. I brought to him a new external hard drive for him to upload my repaired files. In about 2 to 3 weeks, my wife and I picked up the external hard drive. Ephraim saved all my Excel documents. I was quite satisfied, because one of them I had spent several hours writing and writing does not come easy to me; I did not have to start from the beginning and spend much time re~crafting my sentences and paragraphs. Ephraim had charged me about $975 which I was very glad to pay for his saving me several hours of re~creating my works and research. Peter read more

Beware! Ephraim claims on his website "No Data Recovered, No Charge", but once he gets your hard drive, he'll have you over a barrel. He claimed that my data had been recovered, but he will need payment before he sends the drive back to me. I was skeptical, so I asked to see the data. He said he would charge me half price to show me the data, so I paid. I went to his address (which he said was his office, but it is his apartment) and when I checked the files, they were corrupted and not usable. He would not give me a refund and would not return my drive unless I paid the balance (which would have been paying more money for no reason) so he got half his fee ($450 of $900) and I got the shaft. He would not even give me my hard drive back, for me to let a legitimate data recovery firm take a shot at recovering my files. If I had the time I would sue this bandit in small claims court. Beware! read more

Initially I thought they were great - I was in a time crunch to have my hard drive files recovered which they were but He completely ripped me off price wise. He went on about how I was a nice Jewish girl and then charges me More then twice the price it should have been and he claims it was ten hours to do the job. I'm sorry but that is a lie. I talked to people who said anyone experienced it doesn't take that long or cost that much. When I left a bad review on goggle he told me to change it or he would call my boss! That's threatening and bullying! Do not go to him. He has done this to ithers read more

My back-up HD died. It was a nightmare and I had to get the 10 years of files back. I was quoted up to $2,000 to get the data back. After speaking with Ephraim (owner) on the phone - I felt a lot better. He was calm, informative and not aggressive. He offered to review the HD for a reasonable fee and we eventually agreed on a fee to recover the data. I brought a new HD to him and I had all my data back within a couple of days. With so many scary places - even on this sight, I have to recommend Atomic for professionalism, price and quality of work. Thanks Ephraim! read more

He recovered my files and copied it to another. The only issue was, I said I needed my apps recovered, and he thought I meant app folder... But he quickly corrected the mistake and I was able to get all of my files back in 1 piece. read more

Once again, Ephraim & Sherlock Data Recovery came to my rescue. I had taken a video of my husband's induction into the Hall of Fame for his athleticism at Greenwich High School and due to the age of my video camera, was unable to finalize it in order to replay it in our DVD player. I had tried a couple of local vendors in our area and was informed that they were unable to transfer it. Feeling almost defeated, I suddenly remembered from several years ago, how Sherlock Data Recovery was able to recover 99% of my husband's genealogical records, documents and pictures when his laptop crashed and all information was lost and no one in our area had the equipment or knowledge to assist us. So I again, called Ephraim and told him of my dilemma and he informed me that he was up to the challenge and for me to send my mini disk along with the video camera and charger to him. To make a long story short, after many stumbling blocks along the way and several phone calls from Ephraim to apprise me of the progress he was making, he was able to complete the job. I can't impress on anyone enough, how comforting and informative Ephraim was along the way. I give Sherlock Data Recovery 5 stars for a job well done and Ephraim an A+++ for basically holding my hand again, every step of the way and rising up, meeting and surpassing this difficult challenge. Thank you, Ephraim from the bottom of my hear! Vicky Fuscaldo New Canaan CT read more

Took my laptop to recover some data, 1st try to charge me a arm and leg. 2nd took almost 2 mos to give the laptop back and then when I finial got it back it does not turn on. He said he open it and didn't know how to put it back. When I took it work, so now I don't have a laptop nor data. Worst place ever. And not even a store working out of his house. read more

My HD died with all my photos inside. Ephraim was very calm, comprehensive and professional. I brought him my HD and came the next morning with a new one and the work was done : he recovered my data overnight. I would definitely recommend Ephraim. Thank you so much ! read more

I brought my bricked Android phone to Ephraim hoping to recover some family and work-related photos that I had not backed up. He and his partner were able to recover 1.35GB of photos off my device. Unfortunately, the photos I needed were not included in the recovered files. Ephraim told me beforehand that he could not guarantee that all the files I was looking for would be found in the recovery, so I understood I was taking a risk paying the $500 fee for the recovery. I guess mobile recovery is a shot in the dark. I learned my lesson, and will diligently back up all my files in multiple locations going forward. read more

I had read so many great reviews regarding this place and on Ephriam but my experience was much different from the other positive reviews. I wish I could give him zero stars unfortunately, as the service and owner was so bad that I had to take my business elsewhere to Techtronics in Midtown that did a great job professional job within a couple of days. I had a difficult job, I will admit, as my hard drive was in bad shape. I had already received a quote from another place before bringing it to Ephriam, and not knowing what was a fair and decent price, I brought it to him as I thought he'd be more trustworthy with his price quote. He badgered me about what the previous place had quoted me, which made me feel very uncomfortable because I had already admitted that their quote was a bit out of my price range. He finally said that he'd try to do the recovery between $150-$200 which I appreciated and agreed to because it seemed that he was really trying to help me out. I dropped it off on the Wednesday or Thursday before Easter and he said that he was going away but that he would get in contact with me by Monday with a definite quote and would have a better idea as to what needed to be done. I didn't hear from him so Tuesday night I reached out for a status update. He didn't get back to me until the following night and said he hadn't had a chance to check it out. He didn't get back to me until Thursday morning saying that he checked it out and due to the damage he'd have to charge me $400. So not only did it take him long to get back to me but the price was doubled what he led me to believe when we spoke in person. When I voiced my concern about the $400 and how the previous place didn't even quote me that much he called me a liar and claimed that no place would've agreed to anything cheaper then $400 as it was an $800 job. He continually sent me rude texts trying to explain that he never said he'd tried to stay between $150-$200 even though I have it in writing. That was strike one for unprofessionalism on top of me having to follow-up several times for a quote. I really think he saw this as an opportunity to get over on someone. It wasn't until I took it to Techtronics that I found out that the cover of my hard drive needed to be removed for data recovery and in order to do that you needed a clean room which Ephriam did not have. He didn't even tell me this himself!! So based upon what the professionals at another place informed me, Ephriam was attempting to charge me $400 for data recovery that he wasn't even able to perform as his work is done in a cluttered dusty bedroom. The fact that he didn't even realize that he'd need to remove the cover in order for the data recovery makes me thankful that I went with my gut and decided not to give him my business. It seems as though he has helped out many others, but I would shop around and confirm what the actual problem is with the hard drive as he's not very forthcoming and transparent. By the way the place in Midtown was able to give me a great deal on both the data recovery of my old drive AND a new replacement hard drive. Edit: After writing the above review, Ephraim contacted me and threatened to sue if I didn't remove my post! He went back through his files for my email address and sent a lengthy and threatening email as he thought I was advertising for another company. This further proves the lack of professionalism and appropriate business acumen. I was not paid by Techtronics for the above review, I used their name in case others weary of Ephraim wanted to receive a second opinion. Hopefully my unfortunate experience doesn't happen to anyone else. read more

I strongly recommend this company my hard drive went dead im fixed a few hard drives before but I had no luck with this one I had a lot of very important stuff on it I had no luck I searched online I found this guy I brought it to him late evening he kept on updating me where he's up to 3 days later he called me with everything recovered and the price was very reasonable I called other companies they wanted a fortune and the turn around was even longer I would give him a A+ read more

Ephraim's services greatly exceeded my expectations. I lost all of my data in the process of uninstalling my OS. He asked me to list what files I needed when I first visited him and not only did he retrieve the data I asked for but he retrieved ALL the files I lost. And after I told him about my financial situation, he charged me a very reasonable price for the data when other places I sought out wanted to charge an up front fee just to assess whether or not I could get it back. I definitely recommend this everyone, especially if you're in a desperate situation. He seems like he really cares about his customers and doing a good job. read more

Overpriced! dont be fooled. go to an actual/normal store. very informative but very misleading. I paid 1/5 the price for just a backup at another real repair store closeby. Like what they say... youth is more savvy. read more

Please, please, please, do NOT leave your valuable data and equipment with Ephraim! He runs his business out of his apartment and once you drop your stuff off with him, he will "repair" it and then tell you it was a delicate and impossible process that only he could do and send you a bill for $1200-5000. After he threatened to destroy my data if I didn't pay up, I threatened to call the police. He handed over my hard drive and I left. I had to cancel all my credit cards and change all of my pws because he made a copy of my drive and kept it. I called the Better Biz Bureau and this man has 5 investigations pending. Call them and see for yourself! After I took what Ephraim diagnosed as a "super-damaged Category 5" hard drive to a friend, my friend managed to restore my data with a $60 hard drive reader. The headache of losing data is bad enough without having to be bullied and extorted on top of it. PM if you have any questions, want more info! read more

Based on my experience, the prior reviews are not made up, but its not as bad as that. The description: this is an individual who runs a data recovery service out of his apartment on the upper east side. The GOOD: 1) he is local in manhattan, you can go directly to meet with him and work with him; 2) he is skilled and knowledgeable about hard drives; 3) he genuinely wants to recover your data and gets satisfaction out of a successful recovery. He did correctly diagnose that my drive was in bad shape and he copied it expertly, which down the line I may be very thankful for. The BAD: well, you see it in the previous reviews: a) he did not actually find the file I was looking for; b) his site says no charge if no recovery, but he does indeed require $150 to run a diagnostic, for which you have to leave your drive/laptop; c) he is paranoid about being taken advantage of, which leads to some poor communication and unprofessionalism (you see it in the prior reviews, for me he insisted that he had found the file I was looking for when he hadn't...as if I don't know what my own data looks like). Bottom line: he did not find the file I was looking for and DID charge me, so that's false advertising, so I can't give a good review. However, he did diagnose my failing hard drive and copied it (realize how tricky it is to copy all the data off a failing drive) before an even bigger disaster, so he knows what he is doing. I think as long as you have the time (WEEKS!) to wait for your data and he succeeds, which he will try really hard to do, everyone is happy. But he does not handle the client's expectations well and then handles it very poorly when he does not succeed in meeting those expectations leading to the problems you see in the reviews, which means I can't really recommend him except as a last resort. read more

I cannot say enough about Ephraim! I had some extremely important files on my laptop (that I should have backed up) and I thought they were lost forever. Months and months of work were on my hardrive when one day it decided to fail. I thought this was the end! I had called the hardrive manufacturer to see if they could fix the hardrive and recover my files but they were useless. I then went to a local IT to see if he could help but after many hours of work on the hardrive, he realized it was above his expertise and there was nothing else I could do. THANK GOD I was referred to Ephraim. He was extremely professional from the beginning to the end and he would keep me updated every day with a status update. It was very comforting to know that he cared about the materials on my hardrive just as much as I did! Within a few days, the files were recovered from my the faulty drive were recovered and Ephraim even sat there with me while I uploaded them onto my laptop to make sure that I would not need to spend any more time or stress locating them. I would recommend Sherlock Data Recovery to anyone with data recovery issues and wish Ephraim much success in the future. read more

Ephraim's customer service is amazing! I received full data recovery and at a very reasonable price. I'd say he goes the extra mile in terms of clarification as he requested a pre-authoized agreement (just a few lines - that clearly stated the price range and expectation) there were NO back-end suprises. When he recovered the data he again asked for a few lines that CLEARLY stated what the final cost was and that I agreed. I felt I could have backed out at anytime had I not been able to or want to pay for the service. As a matter of fact when he had the opportunity to receive more $$ he correct my mistake with the LOWER agreed upon price. My experience is that Ephraim has the expertise at his profession - he might be a bit overzelous on his follow-up however, in this day and age where customer service is lacking (especially when it is NOT a huge job - i had a flash with important documents that i desperately needed for legal reasons) I find his enthusiam refreshing. read more

I took my MacBook to Ephram's apt after finding him on google, on a Friday 4/6/2012. He said he would get back with me the following Monday due to it being Good Friday. He contacted me 4/10/2012 (Tuesday). He explained my drive was extremely currupted and that it would take a lot of work; however, he could recover the data. I was ecstatic. He said he would complete the work for $600 and convinced me this was a great price. We both agreed I would pay him in cash once the work was completed. Ephram contacted me 4/13 and explained he only recovered my photos and that he needed a credit card for assurance (to guarantee he would be paid), but that no money would be taken off my card. The following morning I woke up to 5 missed calls from three different numbers (all Ephram's). When I called him back he said "I went ahead and took $300 out of your account because I couldn't reach you". I was pissed but since the money was already out, I just let it go and told him not to take anymore money from my account and that I would pay him the $300 balance in cash when go in to pick up my laptop. A few days later, I once again woke up to several missed calls from Ephram. When i contacted him, he told me he went ahead and took out another $300 out of my account because i didn't answer my phone when he called. I immediately called my bank and changed my card. I made an appointment to pick up my Mac Saturday 4/20 at 1pm. I went to his apt w/my wife and son. Upon my arrival I asked what he recovered and he showed me ten "one minute videos" and 15 gigs of photos which was nothing close to what he told me he had recovered originally. He requested another $325 which was never agreed upon. I refused and we began to argue. He explained it was a lot of work and needed more money. I refused and he accused me of verbally agreeing to pay him $325 more. He brought out a bible and forced me to swore on it. I swore on it and he asked that we split the $325 (like Solomon in the bible). I refused and later on agreed to give him another $100 after he pretty much held us hostage in his apartment for about an hour. I got home and after reviewing my drive, I realized 50% of the data was fabricated. It was photos of a white family (I'm black). So the bottom line is that this man did not recover not even close to half of the data he said he would be able to, more than 50% of what he recovered was not my data, he charged my card $600 without my authorization, held me hostage in his apartment trying to get another $325 and he lied about how much work he had really done. This man is a total crook!!!! Do not use him!!!!!!!! If you value your data, your money and you want your DATA RECOVERED, DO NOT USE SHERLOCK DATA RECOVERY OR ATOMIC BITES (Both ran by the same individual) read more

sherlock, debugged my computer, got out all the spyware,put a new harddrive,expanded my memory and added new software and upgrade my computer and it runs super fast. the prices are good. i will go to sherlock for all my computer upgrades and repairs and virus solutions. thank you alot sherlock, you saved my data. Paul read more