All, Repairs Attempted

Plasma Cutter – Attempted

Customer brought in a plasma cutter that had popped when first powered on then did not power on after that.

I fixed the obviously-damaged arc drive lug, but the device still didn’t power on. It was not worth troubleshooting the rest of the device at the time as it is difficult to disassemble. No charge to the customer, but I probably should have checked the primary power section of the cutter first.

I didn’t take a picture of the final solder

The customer still has it. I may try troubleshooting again sometime …

All, Repairs Attempted

Data Recovery – Attempted

A customer brought in a hard drive hoping to recover the data. The data wasn’t worth paying a laboratory so she brought it to me for an attempt.

I was not able to recover the data, but I was able to diagnose the problem so for no charge she got the peace of mind of knowing the data was gone forever. The platter was badly scratched. I called the lab and they told me they couldn’t recover the data even for $100,000! Impossible?

All, Electronics, Repairs Fixed

Megatouch – Fixed

A customer brought in a Megatouch (bar solitaire touch screen arcade game, see photo) in which he had replaced the permanent-memory battery and it would not power on.

I verified the battery charge level, configured the CMOS settings properly and returned it to him with brief “step-by-step” showing how to factory reset in the future.

Thanks for bringing it in!

All, Services and Products

Data Recovery

If I cannot recover your data, you don’t pay anything.

If I can recover your data, $50 charge for it and I give you a download link if the data is not sensitive, or a thumb drive if your data is sensitive. I make some quick attempts and may be able to recommend something.

The next option would be a laboratory. I can diagnose and try to give you some idea of your chances if you send your media to a laboratory.

If your data is worth $500+, I recommend Data Recovery Labs. They have a “no data, no charge” guarantee.

Last resort, I can open the drive and make an attempt. Opening a hard drive does not usually cause damage that would prevent a laboratory from recovering data if you decide to send it, but it can increase the recovery cost and the laboratory will know if the drive has been opened.