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Are you looking for hard drive data recovery? We can help!

Nobody knows more about data recovery from a failed hard drive than us.
Your best chance of getting your data back is with us!
Successfully recovered data from over 300,000 devices.
Marketing graphic showing a customer looking at a tablet with concern, headline Years of Photos Gone, that sinking feeling
Marketing graphic showing a customer looking at a tablet with concern, headline Years of Photos Gone, that sinking feeling
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What Our Clients Say

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Daniel Tran had a failed Western Digital WD20SDRW-11VUUS0 2TB USB external hard drive that was dropped while connected to a laptop, it was making a clicking sound. He wanted all his photos recovered.

Customer review video thumbnail of a customer speaking to camera, close up

Richard Lim had a failed Seagate ST2000LM007 2TB 2.5″ SATA hard drive that was making a clicking sound, it had failed heads and a firmware problem. He was looking to get his photos and videos recovered.

Customer review video thumbnail of a customer speaking to camera in a home office

Christopher Weir had a damaged MACBOOK PRO (13-INCH, 2019 [A2159] ) with a dead logic board. It would not power up or charge, and could not be repaired.  He came to us to get his desktop, documents and downloads folder recovered.

Customer review card featuring Phil Dobe, Payam Data Recovery logo

Phil Dobe had a damaged Western Digital WD7500KMVW-11ZSMS1 750GB USB 2.5″ hard drive, It was not powering up or spinning. He wanted all his work files and photos saved.

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Dan Ridley
8 April 2025
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Excellent service recovering data files from my damaged laptop hard drive. The communication through every step of the process was appreciated and the recovery process was very prompt. I have been very happy with their services and would use again if required. Thanks again
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Polly Burridge
17 March 2025
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Was worried I’d lost all my data after my external hard drive corrupted suddenly. The process with Payam was so quick and easy but also thorough. They managed to recover all my data. Would highly recommend them to anyone.
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Graham Beer
13 March 2025
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Tackled data recovery from a damaged backup hard drive. Extremely professional from first contact to job completion. Progress reports, on what proved to be a difficult challenge, gave comfort that best efforts were being made. Ultimate success was worthy of their fee and fully met this customer's expectation.
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John Haydon
11 March 2025
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I am pleased to thank very much the team at Payam Data Recovery for the excellent manner in which they handled the recovery of much of my "lost" data from a corrupted external hard drive. Their email communications were much appreciated as they helped me understand my first data recovery experience. I now have 2 copies of the retrieved data. I have started the process of placing the retrieved data back together with the data which was not lost. Thank you for your professionalism.
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nandina vines
5 March 2025
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Fast, professional, Amazing! I am so pleased with Payam’s ability to rescue my data from a damaged external hard drive. They were in touch continuously, letting me know where they were at each step of the way. Their customer service made it easy to understand the process and I am just thrilled with the result.
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Project XX
11 February 2025
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A data recovery was performed from a hard drive that was driven over by a car. Amazing work!
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Tyler Rossiter
28 January 2025
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Very good service. Helpful video detailing the steps to gain the data back once on hard drive. Didn’t miss anything. All notes, photos, videos, hidden photos, messages and contacts were all recovered.
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Craig Peden
27 January 2025
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Life savers ! My son’s Macbook just stopped working one day. Apple (who were excellent to be fair) said she was dead and would be an $1800 repair (new logic board). My sons also did not have his documents backed up (yeah yeah I know - but sometimes you forget). In comes Payam to the rescue. Superb pre and post sale service. They performed amazing internal surgery on his Mac and retrieved the mission critical data for us. As the drives in these Mac’s are hardwired to the motherboard they could’ve be removed so the surgeons at Payam had to perform open heart surgery to get my son’s data back. All 23 GBs were returned on a new Toshiba hard drive and posted back to us in less then 5 days. If you have important data and no back up - these guys are your answer. Wasn’t cheap but we didn’t have a choice this time. Awesome work - highly recommend them
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Clancy Kelly
8 January 2025
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Had a damaged hard drive with about 2tb of raw images, managed to say more than 99% of it, speedy recovery with lovely and prompt service the whole way
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Soe Min
8 January 2025
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Payam explained and clarified all the pros and cons of the hard drive recovery process. Quite specific in estimating the cost and the duration of the recovery process. Was completed within three weeks and I am very satisfied with the outcome.
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Stephen McManis
1 January 2025
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We were in some real strife. Our laptop battery exploded and melted half the computer; no service centres would even open it to try to retrieve the hard drive - eventually someone recommended Payam to us, and after all the distress of thinking we'd lost all our data (family pictures in particular), Wes took one look at it and within a week we had everything back. Incredible. Thank you. Highly professional service, well worth the cost for us.
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Venkatesh Bhupathi
13 December 2024
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Excellent service. Payam was successful in recovering whole data from my damaged hard drive.
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Helen Woittiez
13 December 2024
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Fantastic company. Found the one critical datafile on my Macbook Air defunct SSD that wasn't backed up. So relieved. Great communication throughout and they even refunded my external hard drive purchase as it wasn't needed. Definitely recommend these people!
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Con Katsoulas
11 December 2024
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My hard drive failed and I took it to a PC store to be repaired. After 2 weeks they were not able to repair it. I was then recommended to go to PAYAM and Payam was able to retrieve all my data very quickly and efficiently. Thank you Payam for saving my data. Great job.
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Sophie Gregor
10 December 2024
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After accidentally deleting the wrong photos folder off my laptop, my external hard drive and then emptying the trash to free up space, I was in hysterics. I thought I had a backup folder on my hard drive, but turns out this backup folder didn’t have everything on it. I deleted years worth of photos, 18th birthday, 21st birthday, multiple Christmas’s, so much more. I tried everything myself and then went into the Apple Store and they were pretty convinced there wasn’t much hope and they’d be gone forever. I was given a card for Payam Data Recovery as a last hope. I had a call from Scott and he was 100% realistic that the deleted files/photos may not be able to be recovered but they might be too. I was beyond excited when the recovery job had finished and my over 100GB of photos had been retrieved. Payam were very prompt with communication and to help with any queries along the way. Even after everything, I had an issue with the hard drive, Scott took it back in straight away and fixed it all up. The payment plans are also really great. Thank you so much Payam for saving all of my precious photos and memories!
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Ursula Hopper
4 December 2024
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Tried several places to retrieve footage from my video camera's hard drive with no success. Referred to Payam by Sony and the job was completed with a great level of communication , service and outcome. Thank you to the technician who met us in the Sydney CBD office. You were very nice and confident that you could resolve our problem, which Payam did.
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Eman TheWarrior
29 November 2024
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I would recommend Payam to anyone looking to get their data recovered. I helped by the guys at Payam, recovered my 4TB with pretty much most of what I needed. I am so thankfull to all of you guys. I can't thank you enough. The hard drive was tried by other experts, but were not able to help. Finally the guys at Payam did their magic and recovered the data. Thank you all Mr. Payam, Scott and all the experts at payam. Blessings!
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JEFF
28 November 2024
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I had a hard drive fail, I checked around and got referred to this company, due to their reputation and diligence in these matters. The communication was great. They executed on time. It was actually a great experience as I thought I’d lost some very personal information photos, etc.
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Carla Horton
16 October 2024
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The process of retrieving the files from my corrupt hard drive was really smooth. Tim communicated everything with me really clearly, and kept me updated with how the process was unfolding. It is expensive, but worth it in my opinion, especially if the files are of importance.
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Lewis Brewer
16 September 2024
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I can't thank Payam Data Recovery enough! They recovered my laptop's hard drive just in time, saving all my university work when I was on a tight deadline. The turnaround was incredibly fast, and the team were great throughout the entire process. I highly recommend them for anyone in need of urgent data recovery services. They truly saved the day!
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KW
11 September 2024
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Apple couldn’t get the MacBook to turn on and hadn’t backed up for ages and Apple advised to fix you’ll lose all your data. Apple recommended Payam , glad they did . Wasn’t cheap but definitely worth every cent as Payam was able to extract every file and move it to an external hard drive. Thank you guys , your magicians .
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Gary Shu
9 September 2024
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Payam is great helpful to recovery almost everything from my faulty hard drive, very appericiated that. They are very professional.
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Phoebe Coroneo
6 September 2024
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Really great service! Super responsive and when it was time to pick up my new hard drive, the technician was happy to sit with me and make sure everything was running smoothly. Retrieved all my photos and videos back with no issue! Would recommend :)
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kristina wilton
4 September 2024
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I thought 20 years of my life in photos and videos were potentially gone forever but Payam recovered the 94,456 photos / videos on my HD elements hard drive after what turned out to be a firmware issue. Two other businesses had looked at it prior but did not have the technology/ capabilities to diagnose or help so although I was hopeful I just didn’t know what to expect the third time around when sending my hard drive in the post to Payam. I really cannot thank Payam Data Recovery enough! No words would or will do. Beyond grateful. Ps: I went with the option to get my data backed up on two hard drives by Payam. I highly recommended choosing this option too.
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Jessica Glachan
28 August 2024
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Fantastic service from these guys. Called a few times as was uncertain on a few things and so lovely and helpful every time. I had taken my external hard drive to two local companies that were unsuccessful in recover data, should have send to Payam first and saved time and money. They were able to recover all the data from the hard drive, gave me access to view it before paying and having sent back. Couldn’t be happier with their service and will recommend them to everyone!!
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S Jaye
26 August 2024
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Thanks to Payam Data Recovery (Brisbane) I finally have all of my family photos and videos restored from my portable hard drive that had stopped working. Your service is invaluable and very much appreciated. S Heslop
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Bruce Partington
22 August 2024
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Excellent customer service .. great communication from start to finish . They extracted all the data I had hoped to retrieve from my crashed / broken hard drive . Overall great experience and highly recommend this business to anybody in need of their services 👍
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David Taylor
16 August 2024
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Very professional and efficient service. The risks and process was explained clearly which gave me confidence that I was dealing with the right people to recover my data. I had 25 years of photo’s and documents on 14 year old hard drive which was able to be recovered which is very much appreciated. I would highly recommend Payam if you need your data recovered
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Max Wald
31 July 2024
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Highly recommend this firm. I thought I had lost the 760 Gb of data, on my external hard drive, dating back 20 years, but Payam successfully recovered all my files in the Format that was originally on the Drive.
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larissa kay
11 July 2024
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A big thank you to Payam Data Recovery for retrieving precious photos off my damaged hard drive. Friendly and professional service, I would highly recommend them.
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Mark Dijak
11 July 2024
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Very thorough and professional service with updates and great communication. Payam was able to fix my hard drive and thankfully save my beloved photos, thank you. My other hard drive was unfortunately not able to be fixed but I was only charged the inital analysis fee for that one.
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Phoebe Chen
7 July 2024
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Very pleased to say that my experience with Payam Data Recovery was extremely positive. My external hard drive had become corrupt and I thought I’d lost about 7 months worth of important files. PDC was very transparent through all communication and was able to efficiently retrieve all files within 1-2 days. Would definitely recommend to others.
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Hazel Buckley
29 June 2024
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My external hard drive failed and Payam Data retreived all my data and returned my data in a timely manner. So greatful - many years of personal records would have been lost without their professional help.
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Mandy Riordan
26 June 2024
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After our computer dying unexpectedly, we took it into the store to see if they could repair it. The removed the hard drive but not the SSD which we much later learned we needed to retrieve our files. Payam managed to retrieve most. Due to the computer corporation’s incorrect response in this matter, what should have been a straight forward process ended up being incredibly frustrating. We are very grateful to the Payam team for their expertise and efficiency.
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Bridgette Lancaster
25 June 2024
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I thought I lost all my kids photos from the past 8 year. Including from when they were born. But I got them back and you did it under a week. I was very scared and distraught because I have taken an external hard drive to a local place in the past, and they were not able to recover anything. But you’s did. Thank you so much.
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Brenda Ranford
14 June 2024
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They managed to get photos from my hard drive I thought I would never see again.
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B Thomas
11 June 2024
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AWESOME, I got 99% of my data back from a physically damaged hard drive. Very professional business with great communication every step of the way.
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Patrick O’Neill
7 June 2024
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My external hard drive just died after a five day power outage. I thought we had lost everything. Payam managed to recover most of it. Very Happy.
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We are experts at Hard drive data recovery

Lost important files from a Seagate, WD, Toshiba or any other brand of hard disk drive?

You’re in the right place!

We specialise in professional HDD data recovery services to retrieve lost data from damaged or malfunctioning hard drives. Whether you require hard drive repair or data restoration from a failing disk, our data recovery engineers use professional tools to achieve the highest success rates. Our services cover all types of hard disk drives, including those needing hard disc repair due to physical damage, logical errors, or corruption. After a disk is repaired, it is not stable or reliable to use; for that reason, all data will be copied to a brand new disk to return the files to you.

Hard drive data recovery by brand

Choose your drive’s brand to read about the problems we see most often:

Watch this quick video explaining our simple process

Are you experiencing any of these hard disk drive problems? We can help you!

Not being detected or recognised by your computer
Clicking/ticking sounds (Damaged heads)
Showing as a RAW volume or asking to be formatted
Beeping/buzzing sounds (Stiction or Seized motor)
No power, not spinning (Damaged PCB)
Working very slow, getting slower (Bad Sectors)
Detected as the wrong size (Firmware problems)
Deleted files
Reformatted/lost data
Able to see some folders but not others. Able to copy only certain files/folders but not others.
Not mounting or showing up
Dropped or bumped (Failed heads)

All brands and types of hard drives including USB, USB-C, SATA, IDE, SAS, SCSI & Firewire interface drives and
All Brands including: Seagate, Western Digital, WD, Toshiba, Maxtor, LaCie, HGST, Hitachi, Samsung, IBM + all others.

File Systems we specialise in

Windows: NTFS, FAT, FAT32, exFAT
Apple Mac: HFS, APFS (all versions)
BSD/Solaris: ZFS volumes
VMware: VMFS, VMFS6
Novell: NWFS, NSS, NSS64
IBM/Microsoft: HPFS
Others: Linux Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, XFS, JFS, ReiserFS, UFS, UFS2, Adaptec UFS, big-endian UFS, Btrfs, F2FS

How much does HDD data recovery cost ?

Most hard drive recoveries cost from $375 to $1,750 on our Economy service. That covers file system problems, firmware faults, damaged circuit boards, bad sectors, deleted files, basic backups and head replacement on standard drives. For these jobs the price is the same whatever the size of the drive, so a 1TB drive and a 30TB drive cost the same. Priority and Emergency are faster and cost more.

Damaged heads on very large drives are the exception. The heads are replaced with parts from an identical donor drive, and donor drives for very large capacities are rare and much more costly. These jobs are quoted individually, at a higher price, after your free assessment.

A drive that has already been opened by someone else is also quoted at a higher price. The chance of success is lower and the risk to us is higher, because the main part of our fee is only payable once your data has been recovered.

You will always receive the exact price in writing before you approve anything. If an attempt fee applies to your job, your quote states it clearly.

The cost will depend on the type of problem your hard drive has, how quickly you need the data back.

Only after we test it in our lab can we determine what the problem is for certain. Once we know, we will give you a written quote before we start work. We will offer you the cheapest solution to help get all of your files back in a safe, professional way with a good result.

Click on Start your data recovery today! Complete the form then deliver your hard drive to us, we’ll test it and give you the lowest price we can that will allow us to get your data back in the safest way possible, with the highest chance of success. If your device is still under warranty, please get written approval from the manufacturer or retailer before you send it to us, because we may need to open the device or remove a chip as part of the recovery.

Logical/Software
$375 to $880
  • Basic backup service
  • File system corruption
  • Corrupted partition
  • Deleted or re-formatted files
    Note: Deleted or reformatted data recovery on SSDs is a specialist procedure priced separately. See our SSD data recovery page for details.
  • Lost WD My Book bridge board
  • Corrupt BitLocker partition
  • ATA security locked drive
Hardware Issues
$880 to $1750
  • Damaged printed circuit board (PCB)
  • Firmware corruption
  • System area damage
  • Bad sectors/read errors
  • Broken USB port/SATA port
  • Liquid & fire damaged PCB
Special Case Lab
From $1750
  • Damaged heads (clicking/ticking)
  • Damaged motor (buzzing)
  • Stiction (heads stuck on platters with some damage to platters)
  • Fire & liquid damage
  • Special case lab for research projects of any kind.

Important note: very large hard drives (over 6TB)

If your hard drive is larger than 6TB and has damaged heads, the repair needs parts from an identical donor drive. Donor drives for very large capacities are rare and much more costly, and the cost depends on the model. Drives of 8TB and above often use sealed helium technology and shingled (SMR) recording, with more platters and heads, which makes them more complex to work on.

As a result, the standard pricing above does not apply to head replacement on these drives. These jobs are quoted individually after your free assessment, and an attempt fee may apply to cover the donor parts. The amount depends on your drive and the donor drives it needs, and your quote states it clearly. The attempt fee is part of the total price, not an extra charge. The larger and less common the drive, the higher the donor part cost is likely to be. Other problems on a large drive, such as file system corruption, firmware faults, damaged circuit boards, bad sectors or deleted files, are priced the same as on any other drive.

Every high-capacity drive is assessed individually. The assessment is completely free and we will provide a full written quote before any work begins. You are not committed until you approve the quote.

We will test it for free, tell you what the problem is and the exact price to seek your approval before we start.

Australia’s most trusted

Hard drive data recovery specialists

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We will try harder than anybody else to get your data back!

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Specialising recovering data from all brands and types of hard drives including Seagate, Western Digital and Toshiba.

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All hard drive work is done in our own labs, including head replacements in a laminar flow cabinet.

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We use technology and equipment that your local computer repair shop or IT technician won’t have.

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Established in 1998, we are Australia’s most experienced and highly skilled data recovery company. Hand over your hard drive to us, we know what to do and how to do it, to get your files back fast.

You’re in safe hands

Over 300,000 devices recovered

Google Reviews five star badge
Rating: 5
Everything is taken

Awesome service and great people. Thanks Paolo.

Rating: 5
Paula Tripp

Excellent service done by Wes. All data was recovered and saved to a new hard drive and completed in good time and returned to me. Only having to pay if able to recover data. Thank you.

Rating: 5
Mike Quigley

In this age of diminishing service and the usual response… Computer says no.. isn’t it refreshing to find someone who is really helpful. I just wanted to say how absolutely blown away I was by Craigs help. His commitment to finding a solution to my backup problems was brilliant. I cannot thank him and Payam enough. Brilliant all thanks to Craig. Craig and Payam is a service I can definitely recommend. 10/10 Many Thanks.

Rating: 5
John Stericker

I have used Payam a number of times and they have always been friendly, accommodating to my needs, and best of all, successful!

Even when we accidentally deleted some family photos off an external hard drive (they weren’t even in the recycle bin) Payam recovered all the photos.

Rating: 5
Angela Giagodi

Great service! Payam data not only recovered all critical data possible but they also kept us updated with progress along the way. Thanks - have already recommended you to a friend.

Rating: 5
johngauci2000

Very professional, helpful and effective. I would highly recommend their data retrieval service. They recovered all my data and provided very useful advice. A number of sources recommended Payam as the best in the business and now I know why.

Rating: 5
Adina Sellin

Amazeballs! I dropped my portable drive off my bed and I called Seagate tech support desperate for a way to fix it. They told me to call Payam Data Recovery, the only company in New Zealand they authorized and recommended. I’m glad I called. They were super helpful and it worked out a lot cheaper thank I expected.

Rating: 5
AraKia

I dropped my hard drive and it stopped working, it had all my photos and important back ups on there, I sent it to a data recovery company who spent 3 days on it and said they could not find anything on there and that my data was gone!!! not wanting to accept this I found Payam Data recovery and sent it to them, they were able to diagnose why my drive was showing no data and bypass the encryption in a way that allowed them to get the data off they managed to save everything which was a massive relief to me and my partner! the staff where professional and courteous at all times and sensitive to the stress full situation I was in, I will forever be in debt to them for the work they did!

Rating: 5
Allen S.

The staff was very professional and knowledgeable. I found their reviews on google and they were very positive. They were able to recover and save my hard drive with the files on it. Thank you! Thank you!

Rating: 5
Mitch Graham

The staff was friendly and very professional. The most amazing part is they delivered as promised.

Case Studies: See how we do it!

Case study graphic: data recovery from WD drive head crash, hand holding open hard drive platter

Hard Drive Data Recovery Success: WD Drive Head Crash, Saving David's Marriage & 600,000+ Files

Watch how Payam Data Recovery’s data recovery engineers deliver professional hard drive data recovery results across Australia. This case study demonstrates our proven approach to recovering valuable data from a completely failed WD hard drive with destroyed heads, sent from Perth to our Sydney lab, showcasing the advanced techniques that saved David’s marriage and irreplaceable family memories.

Case study graphic: data recovery from Seagate 2.5 inch HDD with damaged PCB, technician soldering board

Seagate 2.5" HDD with a damaged PCB: See how we recover the data

Watch our data recovery engineer perform what seems like magic, bringing a completely silent, “dead” Seagate 2.5″ SATA hard drive back to life through expert PCB repair and chip transplantation. This isn’t your typical data recovery case!

Case study graphic: data recovery from Seagate 3.5 inch HDD with damaged PCB, technician working on board

Watch us recover data from a dead Seagate 3.5" HDD with a damaged PCB

In this fascinating case study, watch as Payam Data Recovery’s data recovery engineer brings a completely lifeless Seagate 3.5″ SATA drive back from the dead. When the drive wouldn’t even spin up, the diagnosis was clear: circuit board failure. But the solution? A precision chip swap that saved years of precious photos and videos.

Case study graphic: data recovery from Seagate 3.5 inch HDD with damaged heads and firmware problem

Watch us recover data from a failed Seagate 3.5" hard drive with damaged heads + firmware problem

SEAGATE BARRACUDA DRIVE FAILED? Multiple problems, one solution. In this complex case study, we show you exactly how Payam Data Recovery successfully recovered 100% of data from a failed Seagate Barracuda 3.5″ drive suffering from BOTH firmware corruption AND damaged read/write heads.

Case study graphic: data recovery from undetected Seagate HDD, disassembled drive shown

Seagate Drive Spinning But Not Detected? Here's How We Fixed It!

In this case study, we show you exactly how Payam Data Recovery successfully recovered 100% of data from a failed Seagate drive suffering from firmware corruption. The drive was spinning normally but completely invisible to the computer, a classic Seagate BSY error.

Case study graphic: data recovery from reformatted WD HDD, PC-3000 device with cables

Recovering files from a reformatted WD SMR hard drive

Have you accidentally reformatted your Western Digital hard drive? Don’t panic! Watch how our expert data recovery specialists recover files from a reformatted WD SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) hard drive.

Frequently asked questions

The most important thing to do is to power off the hard drive, stop using it and do not let anybody tamper with it, or to try and use any software that will scan or modify the disk. This will greatly improve the chances of your data being recovered successfully.

Yes, in most cases we can.

Your best chance of getting your important files back is with Payam Data Recovery. We know what to do, how to do to it and will always do it using the latest technology in a safe and professional way. We will try much harder, spend more time and put in more effort than anybody else to ensure the best possible result.

The most common problems that we see are hard drives with bad sectors/read errors, a damaged PCB, file system/partition corruption and firmware problems. In most of these cases, we can recover all the data in good condition.

If your hard drive is making a clicking/ticking/beeping sound, it’s very likely that your hard drive has internal damage to the heads or motor. This is a very common problem, and one in which we specialise.

Our chance of success is lower if the heads are damaged inside the disk (this is usually caused by shock to the hard drive) and there is any damage to the platter. As long as the platter is in good condition, we can usually recover your data even when the heads are damaged or there is a problem with the motor. We can even recover data if there is what we call level 1 or level 2 damage on the disk platter/s. If there is severe damage to the platters (we call this level 3), then the chances of success are very low, but we will try everything possible to at least recover your most important files.

In most cases of hard drives that do not have damage to the platters or have been erased and overwritten, the data can usually be recovered!

Data that is generally not recoverable from hard drives is usually due to a badly damaged platter or overwritten data (after it has been deleted or the device reformatted).

Once we start work on your disk we will keep you updated on what we are doing and what we find. We don’t want to get your hopes up, so if for any reason your data cannot be recovered, we will let you know the reason and provide you with as much information as we can.

Don’t risk giving your hard drive with important files to an inexperienced or unprofessional person who may destroy any chance of ever getting your data back. We have the best technology, training, and expertise in the world, with a proven track record of successfully retrieving data from all types of hard drive problems no matter how small or big.

We offer a free assessment and quote within 1-2 business days to inform you of the problem, cost and time required to recover your data. Our goal is to help you by offering you the cheapest and fastest method to get your important files back. We always do this in an honest, clear way that makes it easy for you to make an informed decision. We would love to get all of your photos, documents, and other files back for you today.

The time needed to recover your data will depend on what the problem is and how the device responds to any temporary repairs (e.g head replacement, firmware modifications or PCB repairs).

If your hard drive does not need a head replacement or other high risk work, the average time is 5-10 days or less for our Economy service (non-urgent cases). But if the heads are damaged, there is any damage on the disk platter/s, or after the drive is repaired it is working very slowly (during the disk imaging stage), it will take a lot more time. If you have a deadline you are working with, or need your data back by a set date, we recommend selecting the Priority or Emergency Service instead.

We will keep you informed of the time required and remaining. You can always upgrade from Economy to Priority or Emergency as needed. It is important to know that some data recovery jobs we work on can be done very quickly, while others can sometimes take weeks or months due to severe damage or rare spare parts needing to be ordered in.

How fast is the Priority and Emergency Service?
In some straightforward cases, it may mean you get your data back in 1-2 days. In other cases, it may mean you get your data back in 1 week instead of much longer. If you pay for the Priority or Emergency service, your data recovery request will be given #1 Priority in our lab,and our best data-recovery engineers will work 24-hours a day, 7-days a week to get your data back to you as fast as possible.

Most hard drive recoveries cost from $375 to $1,750 on our Economy service (non-urgent service), whatever the size of the drive. Priority and Emergency are faster and cost more. Damaged heads on very large drives are the exception: donor drives for very large capacities are rare and much more costly, so these jobs are quoted individually, at a higher price, after your free assessment. A drive that has already been opened by someone else is also quoted at a higher price, because the chance of success is lower and the risk to us is higher. The cost will depend on the type of problem your hard drive has, how quickly you need the data back. We always offer a free assessment and quote.

Only after we test it can we determine what the problem is for certain. Once we know, we will give you a written quote before we start work. We will try to offer you the cheapest solution to help get all of your files back in a safe, professional way with a good result. About 90% of our jobs are no fix, no fee. The hardest 10% carry an attempt fee. On hard drives, that applies to two categories of work: complex hardware issues such as a head replacement, and the recovery of files from a reformatted, re-imaged or factory reset hard drive, or deleted files. The attempt fee is part of the total price, not an extra: it is payable upfront, the rest is due only on successful recovery, and it is stated clearly in your written quote before you approve anything.

We will be honest, helpful and answer any questions you may have. We do the simple things well too, call us and we’ll speak with you. We believe in good old fashioned customer service, the Australian way.

We are your best chance of getting your data back successfully in good condition. We know what to do, how to do it and will always do it in a safe and professional way.

We are also the lab other businesses send their difficult jobs to. More than 2,000 computer shops and 500 mobile phone repair businesses across Australia send us work they cannot do themselves, around 5,000 jobs a year between them.

Data recovery labs overseas use us too. International customers are always welcome. In the past twelve months we have taken work from labs in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Nigeria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Dubai, China and Japan, and over the past ten years jobs have reached us from more than 50 countries.

We also hold our own spare parts inventory in our labs: over 30,000 donor parts, including around 20,000 donor hard drives, as at September 2026. When your drive needs a matching donor for a head replacement or a circuit board swap, the part usually comes off our own shelves the same day rather than being ordered in from overseas. That is often the difference between a job taking hours and a job taking weeks.

Established in 1998, as Australia’s longest established data recovery business, we have more experience and expertise in this field than anybody else in Australia.

We are much more likely to recover your data successfully than anybody else. We know exactly what to do,and how to do it in the most professional way with the world’s latest technology and tools.

We have specialised hardware to help recover data from drives that standard tools cannot read. Many of our customers are other data recovery companies and IT service companies..

We can supply you with an external hard drive or SSD, or you can provide your own to us.

Phone 1300 444 800, Email help@payam.com.au or click on Contact us to complete a form, we’ll call you back.

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    Phone: 1300 444 800 (within Australia)
    International: +61 2 80766079
    Email: help@payam.com.au

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