TrustIndex
0
Ranking
#2
in Other
NPS Score
0
Recommended: Unlikely
Jun '25 - May '26
Intratec Data Recovery has a TrustIndex of 0 out of 10 on Hellopeter, based on 3 reviews in the last 12 months. Hellopeter has tracked Intratec Data Recovery across 20 total reviews. How is the TrustIndex calculated? →
Used this business recently? Share your experience to help others decide.
Used this business recently? Share your experience to help others decide.
Share Your Experience1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
****mers and *******, paid them over R6000 for my hard drive recovery in installments of 1k per month from May - September and never heard back from them , all their numbers are now disconnected and emails are useless, they have not even returned my hard drive or my R6000
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
****mers and *******, paid them over R6000 for my hard drive recovery in installments of 1k per month from May - September and never heard back from them , all their numbers are now disconnected and emails are useless, they have not even returned my hard drive or my R6000
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
I handed over my hard drive to Intratec approximately one month ago for services. A few weeks later, I was informed that the company was closing. Since then, my hard drive has not been returned, and all attempts to communicate have been unsuccessful. There has been no clear handover process, no refund, and no accountability regarding my property. This is highly concerning, as a hard drive may contain sensitive and important data. I am requesting: • Immediate return of my hard drive • Clear communication from a responsible representative If this cannot be resolved, I will be forced to escalate the matter through formal and legal channels. I strongly advise others to exercise caution when dealing with this company until this issue is resolved.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
I handed over my hard drive to Intratec approximately one month ago for services. A few weeks later, I was informed that the company was closing. Since then, my hard drive has not been returned, and all attempts to communicate have been unsuccessful. There has been no clear handover process, no refund, and no accountability regarding my property. This is highly concerning, as a hard drive may contain sensitive and important data. I am requesting: • Immediate return of my hard drive • Clear communication from a responsible representative If this cannot be resolved, I will be forced to escalate the matter through formal and legal channels. I strongly advise others to exercise caution when dealing with this company until this issue is resolved.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
I made contact with the company in July 2024, was promised to get weekly updates on my disk, eventually got calls and messages from JHB & CT branch demanding payment, original agreement was no recovery no payment, had to fight to get my drive back which only happened April 2025, almost a year with no recovery, was told they had tried various spares but no success, I met another guy which said he could look at it but sadly when he opened the disk he found that the internal part was handled badly and put back very unprofessionally with no care. I am very mad as the data on disk are photos from my kids from babies and could now be destroyed by incompetence😡😡
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
I made contact with the company in July 2024, was promised to get weekly updates on my disk, eventually got calls and messages from JHB & CT branch demanding payment, original agreement was no recovery no payment, had to fight to get my drive back which only happened April 2025, almost a year with no recovery, was told they had tried various spares but no success, I met another guy which said he could look at it but sadly when he opened the disk he found that the internal part was handled badly and put back very unprofessionally with no care. I am very mad as the data on disk are photos from my kids from babies and could now be destroyed by incompetence😡😡
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
My external HDD gave out with many important files on there that are irreplaceable. When i reached out, they were very quick to respond and start the process to assist in recovering my files. I brought my drive in on a Wednesday, they assessed it and were able to recover all of my files by Friday. The team at the Midrand office is extremely helpful and fast with assisting you.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
My external HDD gave out with many important files on there that are irreplaceable. When i reached out, they were very quick to respond and start the process to assist in recovering my files. I brought my drive in on a Wednesday, they assessed it and were able to recover all of my files by Friday. The team at the Midrand office is extremely helpful and fast with assisting you.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
I took 2 drives to be recovered, the receptionist called me to give me the amount for 2 drives and i confirmed. I then made 1 payment for both the drives. They could only get 1 recovered and the other they said i must wait. I asked if we could get a refund, the receptionist then asked for my banking details which I sent through. Then the receptionist CALLS ME and says that they cannot do a refund, they can either quote me on an international part for the drive AFTER PAYING OVER R2000 or I can place the drive in hibernation and wait until they have the missing part for it. Again , i told them that we only needed one of the drives recovered and luckily the one that was recovered successfully is the one we needed therefore we are wanting a refund. She then says they cant do a refund so i tell her okay then we have to place in hibernation because what else are we going to do? We will not be paying anything extra for that drive. We then end the telephonic conversation...... Now we have been trying to get a refund since March 2023 for a drive that was not recovered. I email them today asking for a refund as i have not had any communication with them since then nor have they called me or given me any updates with regards to our drive. And they say i have not formally told them which option i have chosen even though I confirmed telephonically with the receptionist , THE SAME WAY SHE telephonically asked for confirmation to work on the drives and gave me the FULL amount to pay. Not stating that we must make 2 seperate payments. 8 MONTHS LATER , WE DO NOT HAVE OUR DRIVES NOR DO WE HAVE A REFUND ; NOT EVEN AN UPDATE WITH REGARDS TO WHATS HAPPENING WITH OUR DRIVES. They simply do not care!! HOW CAN WE TELEPHONICALLY ACCEPT QUOTES AND HAVE PAYMENT MADE BUT WHEN I CONFIRMED TELEPHONICALLY TO HIBERNATE THE DRIVE, NOW THERE IS AN ISSUE. The job is simple: Recover the drives, the drives have not been recovered, 8months later no answer/update. We expect to have our refund or at least have the drive recovered at their cost. Why is this so difficult?
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
I took 2 drives to be recovered, the receptionist called me to give me the amount for 2 drives and i confirmed. I then made 1 payment for both the drives. They could only get 1 recovered and the other they said i must wait. I asked if we could get a refund, the receptionist then asked for my banking details which I sent through. Then the receptionist CALLS ME and says that they cannot do a refund, they can either quote me on an international part for the drive AFTER PAYING OVER R2000 or I can place the drive in hibernation and wait until they have the missing part for it. Again , i told them that we only needed one of the drives recovered and luckily the one that was recovered successfully is the one we needed therefore we are wanting a refund. She then says they cant do a refund so i tell her okay then we have to place in hibernation because what else are we going to do? We will not be paying anything extra for that drive. We then end the telephonic conversation...... Now we have been trying to get a refund since March 2023 for a drive that was not recovered. I email them today asking for a refund as i have not had any communication with them since then nor have they called me or given me any updates with regards to our drive. And they say i have not formally told them which option i have chosen even though I confirmed telephonically with the receptionist , THE SAME WAY SHE telephonically asked for confirmation to work on the drives and gave me the FULL amount to pay. Not stating that we must make 2 seperate payments. 8 MONTHS LATER , WE DO NOT HAVE OUR DRIVES NOR DO WE HAVE A REFUND ; NOT EVEN AN UPDATE WITH REGARDS TO WHATS HAPPENING WITH OUR DRIVES. They simply do not care!! HOW CAN WE TELEPHONICALLY ACCEPT QUOTES AND HAVE PAYMENT MADE BUT WHEN I CONFIRMED TELEPHONICALLY TO HIBERNATE THE DRIVE, NOW THERE IS AN ISSUE. The job is simple: Recover the drives, the drives have not been recovered, 8months later no answer/update. We expect to have our refund or at least have the drive recovered at their cost. Why is this so difficult?
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
On the 04/05/2023 I made a huge mistake by formatting my NVME drive and I did not check my back ups. As a result I lost my entire financial system and my email since 2013. On the advice of my IT company I contacted Intratec for Data recovery services. My device was collected and I was quoted on the 10/05/2023 R5577.50 I was also told if they fail the recovery and there is nothing recovered I wont have to pay. I also specifically gave them the exact files I was looking for with dates and exact file names, it was a backup of my financial system and my latest datafile for my email. I made payment as per their request on the 17/05/2023. All went well and I was informed on 22/05/2023 that they recovered around 902gb of data. I did send out a destination drive to them. I requested a remote viewing but was denied since all the machines had jobs on them according to the contact person. On the 30/05/2023 I was informed I can arrange collection of both drives. I informed them on the 01/06/2023 that the information on the drive was current installations and none of the info is the info that was lost during the format. They insisted on reopening the job and send a courier to collect the drives again. This is were it started going downhill. The drives was collected as arranged, and on the 8/06/2023 the reception contacted me and asked “Was this ever collected?”. I was a bit surprised at the question to which I informed her yes it was collected. She seemed surprised and responded “The technician has informed me that he is redoing all scans“. On the 13/06/2023 if was informed that the destination drive was ”faulty”. I insisted on doing a remote viewing before I incur more expenses on a recovery I already had my doubts about. The remote viewing was arranged for the 21/06/2023 that was almost seven days after I requested the remote viewing on the 13/06/2023. I downloaded anydesk as per their instructions and waited from 9:30 to 11:00 for our arranged 10:00 appointmet. They missed it with no excuses or apologies. I had to rearrange meetings with clients to do the viewing. On the 23/06/2023 after a lot of effort from my side I was able to do the remote viewing. This is after their tech did send me a physical location and was not even aware that it is a remote viewing. Once again they failed to recover anything that was useable to me, this time they could not even recovered current installations information of the drive. They then insisted that they reopen the case again on the 30/06/2023. Against my better judgement I reluctantly agreed. This is where it all went even further downhill, from the 04/07/2023 I had to request constant feedback or I wont hear a thing from Intratec from the 04/07/2023 to 31/07/2023 it was always the same the tech is still scanning for the files, they have by now given up on my financial system and was only scanning for .pst files. A remote viewing was arranged for the 01/07/2023 which then was canceled. At this stage I insisted on a full refund as they are now just wasting my time and they failed to recover anything they did not want to do a full refund and I was refunded 70% after negotiations. Also the manager I spoke to BRandon Koopman admited on WhatsApp that the recovery was a failure. I accepted this reluctantly as this was going back and forth from the start of June to the beginning of Sept when the refund was finaly paid after many voice notes and complaining. Being ignored for weeks and then get a short answer of it will be paid. I will never ever recommend them to any one person, nor will my IT company again recommend them or use them as he almost lost my business as well. I still feel I needed to be refunded in full but I know it is a pipe dream. I ahve all the email trails and all the WhatsApp messages to proof everything. I am higly disappointed in the service I recieved and their reluctancy to pay me back even after they said no recovery no payment and at their own admission failed the recovery.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
On the 04/05/2023 I made a huge mistake by formatting my NVME drive and I did not check my back ups. As a result I lost my entire financial system and my email since 2013. On the advice of my IT company I contacted Intratec for Data recovery services. My device was collected and I was quoted on the 10/05/2023 R5577.50 I was also told if they fail the recovery and there is nothing recovered I wont have to pay. I also specifically gave them the exact files I was looking for with dates and exact file names, it was a backup of my financial system and my latest datafile for my email. I made payment as per their request on the 17/05/2023. All went well and I was informed on 22/05/2023 that they recovered around 902gb of data. I did send out a destination drive to them. I requested a remote viewing but was denied since all the machines had jobs on them according to the contact person. On the 30/05/2023 I was informed I can arrange collection of both drives. I informed them on the 01/06/2023 that the information on the drive was current installations and none of the info is the info that was lost during the format. They insisted on reopening the job and send a courier to collect the drives again. This is were it started going downhill. The drives was collected as arranged, and on the 8/06/2023 the reception contacted me and asked “Was this ever collected?”. I was a bit surprised at the question to which I informed her yes it was collected. She seemed surprised and responded “The technician has informed me that he is redoing all scans“. On the 13/06/2023 if was informed that the destination drive was ”faulty”. I insisted on doing a remote viewing before I incur more expenses on a recovery I already had my doubts about. The remote viewing was arranged for the 21/06/2023 that was almost seven days after I requested the remote viewing on the 13/06/2023. I downloaded anydesk as per their instructions and waited from 9:30 to 11:00 for our arranged 10:00 appointmet. They missed it with no excuses or apologies. I had to rearrange meetings with clients to do the viewing. On the 23/06/2023 after a lot of effort from my side I was able to do the remote viewing. This is after their tech did send me a physical location and was not even aware that it is a remote viewing. Once again they failed to recover anything that was useable to me, this time they could not even recovered current installations information of the drive. They then insisted that they reopen the case again on the 30/06/2023. Against my better judgement I reluctantly agreed. This is where it all went even further downhill, from the 04/07/2023 I had to request constant feedback or I wont hear a thing from Intratec from the 04/07/2023 to 31/07/2023 it was always the same the tech is still scanning for the files, they have by now given up on my financial system and was only scanning for .pst files. A remote viewing was arranged for the 01/07/2023 which then was canceled. At this stage I insisted on a full refund as they are now just wasting my time and they failed to recover anything they did not want to do a full refund and I was refunded 70% after negotiations. Also the manager I spoke to BRandon Koopman admited on WhatsApp that the recovery was a failure. I accepted this reluctantly as this was going back and forth from the start of June to the beginning of Sept when the refund was finaly paid after many voice notes and complaining. Being ignored for weeks and then get a short answer of it will be paid. I will never ever recommend them to any one person, nor will my IT company again recommend them or use them as he almost lost my business as well. I still feel I needed to be refunded in full but I know it is a pipe dream. I ahve all the email trails and all the WhatsApp messages to proof everything. I am higly disappointed in the service I recieved and their reluctancy to pay me back even after they said no recovery no payment and at their own admission failed the recovery.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
TLDR: Sadly this crowd do not know what they are doing, besides taking your money, lying to you and wasting your time. Disgrace to the profession to be honest, to the ones who do know how to fix hardware and retrieve data. Job: 1TB SSD Data recovery, Order number: JHBLD1448 I received a quote on the 16/05/2023 with a R2817.50 Non-Refundable fee, based on: "Due to the diagnosis being an Electro Mechanical Failure, we will have to charge a re-assembly fee of R850.00 ex vat should you require your source drive back. Do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further assistance." Responding on 16/05/2023: "I am just confused with the "Mechanical" aspect, as there is nothing mechanical on the Solid State drive. Please include the reassembly.' --No Response to email After paying their quote (Even with the reason that didn't make sense) on the 16/05/2023, It was a grueling painful wait, and it was clear they had no idea what they were doing. I have no doubt the device was just placed on the shelf for the 10 weeks they had it. On the 25/05/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that the device is stabilizing for replication." On the 01/06/2023: "The technician has informed me he is currently doing fault findings on the device" On the 08/06/2023 & 13/06/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is busy with off chip on the device" On the 22/06/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is currently busy with the fault finding." I emailed them on the 23/06/2023: "Has the technician been able to read ANY data off the device? At what point will you determine that the data cannot be recovered? The technician attempted to reball the BGA and place it on the PCB?" On 26/06/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he has found 2 shorts on the PCB on the SSD, he is replacing those components. If he is not successful with the drive he will move onto the controller chip and work on it" On 04/07/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is busy with chip off recovery/ slow bit rate imaging On 06/07/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is trying to access nand data area" On 11/07/2023 & 13/07/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is still trying to access the Nand data area" On 14/07/2023 Sent: "Has the technician identified the part number for the NAND flash? I am assuming that after the chip is removed, it is then reballed and placed into a socket or it is soldered onto another board so the data can be read off. Was the SSD board X-rayed to determine whether all the ***** of BGA were making good contact? Physically is the NAND Flash damaged? Is the Flash responding at all? What is the data rate that the recovery reads the data off? There is 1TB of data, so I am concerned in terms of timelines regarding "slow bit rate imaging". I believe that the SSD controller was working, as I could still detect it in Windows & Linux, however the SSD size was incorrect. At what point will the technician determine that the data cannot be recovered? After 6 weeks? 8 weeks?" --No Response to email On the 18/07/2023 Received: "Our technicians have informed me that your data is fragmented, they are attempting to get better read results as data is only 50% of read rates due to the weak Nand chips." (In other words, they can access the data) On the 20/07/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me, we have done extensive research with our partners abroad and discovered that most of the SSD’S has *******/damaged firmware failure in the Nand data chips causing the device to malfunction. Some devices suffer from weak Nand memory and there is a 50% chance of recovering the data due to this. Unfortunately due to manufacturer constraints there is currently NO SOLUTION available for some brands of SSD’S. We would suggest you leave it with us in our secure storage room until a solution becomes available or collect your device. We are sorry for any delay or inconvenience caused during this process, we have truly exhausted all avenues up until now." --SUMMARY-- The emails were utter nonsense, they didn't perform any work on the device. When I received the device, after having to pay for a courier, it was clear that the device had not gone through the work that they had reported. Most certainly the memory chips were not removed, as there would be clear residue on the device having gone through a heat cycle in an oven. This is just a ****. They will either take your device, or your money, and you will be left with nothing.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
TLDR: Sadly this crowd do not know what they are doing, besides taking your money, lying to you and wasting your time. Disgrace to the profession to be honest, to the ones who do know how to fix hardware and retrieve data. Job: 1TB SSD Data recovery, Order number: JHBLD1448 I received a quote on the 16/05/2023 with a R2817.50 Non-Refundable fee, based on: "Due to the diagnosis being an Electro Mechanical Failure, we will have to charge a re-assembly fee of R850.00 ex vat should you require your source drive back. Do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further assistance." Responding on 16/05/2023: "I am just confused with the "Mechanical" aspect, as there is nothing mechanical on the Solid State drive. Please include the reassembly.' --No Response to email After paying their quote (Even with the reason that didn't make sense) on the 16/05/2023, It was a grueling painful wait, and it was clear they had no idea what they were doing. I have no doubt the device was just placed on the shelf for the 10 weeks they had it. On the 25/05/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that the device is stabilizing for replication." On the 01/06/2023: "The technician has informed me he is currently doing fault findings on the device" On the 08/06/2023 & 13/06/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is busy with off chip on the device" On the 22/06/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is currently busy with the fault finding." I emailed them on the 23/06/2023: "Has the technician been able to read ANY data off the device? At what point will you determine that the data cannot be recovered? The technician attempted to reball the BGA and place it on the PCB?" On 26/06/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he has found 2 shorts on the PCB on the SSD, he is replacing those components. If he is not successful with the drive he will move onto the controller chip and work on it" On 04/07/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is busy with chip off recovery/ slow bit rate imaging On 06/07/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is trying to access nand data area" On 11/07/2023 & 13/07/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is still trying to access the Nand data area" On 14/07/2023 Sent: "Has the technician identified the part number for the NAND flash? I am assuming that after the chip is removed, it is then reballed and placed into a socket or it is soldered onto another board so the data can be read off. Was the SSD board X-rayed to determine whether all the ***** of BGA were making good contact? Physically is the NAND Flash damaged? Is the Flash responding at all? What is the data rate that the recovery reads the data off? There is 1TB of data, so I am concerned in terms of timelines regarding "slow bit rate imaging". I believe that the SSD controller was working, as I could still detect it in Windows & Linux, however the SSD size was incorrect. At what point will the technician determine that the data cannot be recovered? After 6 weeks? 8 weeks?" --No Response to email On the 18/07/2023 Received: "Our technicians have informed me that your data is fragmented, they are attempting to get better read results as data is only 50% of read rates due to the weak Nand chips." (In other words, they can access the data) On the 20/07/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me, we have done extensive research with our partners abroad and discovered that most of the SSD’S has *******/damaged firmware failure in the Nand data chips causing the device to malfunction. Some devices suffer from weak Nand memory and there is a 50% chance of recovering the data due to this. Unfortunately due to manufacturer constraints there is currently NO SOLUTION available for some brands of SSD’S. We would suggest you leave it with us in our secure storage room until a solution becomes available or collect your device. We are sorry for any delay or inconvenience caused during this process, we have truly exhausted all avenues up until now." --SUMMARY-- The emails were utter nonsense, they didn't perform any work on the device. When I received the device, after having to pay for a courier, it was clear that the device had not gone through the work that they had reported. Most certainly the memory chips were not removed, as there would be clear residue on the device having gone through a heat cycle in an oven. This is just a ****. They will either take your device, or your money, and you will be left with nothing.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
TLDR: Sadly this crowd do not know what they are doing, besides taking your money, lying to you and wasting your time. Disgrace to the profession to be honest, to the ones who do know how to fix hardware and retrieve data. Job: 1TB SSD Data recovery, Order number: JHBLD1448 I received a quote on the 16/05/2023 with a R2817.50 Non-Refundable fee, based on: "Due to the diagnosis being an Electro Mechanical Failure, we will have to charge a re-assembly fee of R850.00 ex vat should you require your source drive back. Do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further assistance." Responding on 16/05/2023: "I am just confused with the "Mechanical" aspect, as there is nothing mechanical on the Solid State drive. Please include the reassembly.' --No Response to email After paying their quote (Even with the reason that didn't make sense) on the 16/05/2023, It was a grueling painful wait, and it was clear they had no idea what they were doing. I have no doubt the device was just placed on the shelf for the 10 weeks they had it. On the 25/05/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that the device is stabilizing for replication." On the 01/06/2023: "The technician has informed me he is currently doing fault findings on the device" On the 08/06/2023 & 13/06/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is busy with off chip on the device" On the 22/06/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is currently busy with the fault finding." I emailed them on the 23/06/2023: "Has the technician been able to read ANY data off the device? At what point will you determine that the data cannot be recovered? The technician attempted to reball the BGA and place it on the PCB?" On 26/06/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he has found 2 shorts on the PCB on the SSD, he is replacing those components. If he is not successful with the drive he will move onto the controller chip and work on it" On 04/07/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is busy with chip off recovery/ slow bit rate imaging On 06/07/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is trying to access nand data area" On 11/07/2023 & 13/07/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is still trying to access the Nand data area" On 14/07/2023 Sent: "Has the technician identified the part number for the NAND flash? I am assuming that after the chip is removed, it is then reballed and placed into a socket or it is soldered onto another board so the data can be read off. Was the SSD board X-rayed to determine whether all the ***** of BGA were making good contact? Physically is the NAND Flash damaged? Is the Flash responding at all? What is the data rate that the recovery reads the data off? There is 1TB of data, so I am concerned in terms of timelines regarding "slow bit rate imaging". I believe that the SSD controller was working, as I could still detect it in Windows & Linux, however the SSD size was incorrect. At what point will the technician determine that the data cannot be recovered? After 6 weeks? 8 weeks?" --No Response to email On the 18/07/2023 Received: "Our technicians have informed me that your data is fragmented, they are attempting to get better read results as data is only 50% of read rates due to the weak Nand chips." (In other words, they can access the data) On the 20/07/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me, we have done extensive research with our partners abroad and discovered that most of the SSD’S has *******/damaged firmware failure in the Nand data chips causing the device to malfunction. Some devices suffer from weak Nand memory and there is a 50% chance of recovering the data due to this. Unfortunately due to manufacturer constraints there is currently NO SOLUTION available for some brands of SSD’S. We would suggest you leave it with us in our secure storage room until a solution becomes available or collect your device. We are sorry for any delay or inconvenience caused during this process, we have truly exhausted all avenues up until now." --SUMMARY-- The emails were utter nonsense, they didn't perform any work on the device. When I received the device, after having to pay for a courier, it was clear that the device had not gone through the work that they had reported. Most certainly the memory chips were not removed, as there would be clear residue on the device having gone through a heat cycle in an oven. This is just a ****. They will either take your device, or your money, and you will be left with nothing.
1 reviews | Active since Jan 2020
TLDR: Sadly this crowd do not know what they are doing, besides taking your money, lying to you and wasting your time. Disgrace to the profession to be honest, to the ones who do know how to fix hardware and retrieve data. Job: 1TB SSD Data recovery, Order number: JHBLD1448 I received a quote on the 16/05/2023 with a R2817.50 Non-Refundable fee, based on: "Due to the diagnosis being an Electro Mechanical Failure, we will have to charge a re-assembly fee of R850.00 ex vat should you require your source drive back. Do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further assistance." Responding on 16/05/2023: "I am just confused with the "Mechanical" aspect, as there is nothing mechanical on the Solid State drive. Please include the reassembly.' --No Response to email After paying their quote (Even with the reason that didn't make sense) on the 16/05/2023, It was a grueling painful wait, and it was clear they had no idea what they were doing. I have no doubt the device was just placed on the shelf for the 10 weeks they had it. On the 25/05/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that the device is stabilizing for replication." On the 01/06/2023: "The technician has informed me he is currently doing fault findings on the device" On the 08/06/2023 & 13/06/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is busy with off chip on the device" On the 22/06/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is currently busy with the fault finding." I emailed them on the 23/06/2023: "Has the technician been able to read ANY data off the device? At what point will you determine that the data cannot be recovered? The technician attempted to reball the BGA and place it on the PCB?" On 26/06/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he has found 2 shorts on the PCB on the SSD, he is replacing those components. If he is not successful with the drive he will move onto the controller chip and work on it" On 04/07/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is busy with chip off recovery/ slow bit rate imaging On 06/07/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is trying to access nand data area" On 11/07/2023 & 13/07/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me that he is still trying to access the Nand data area" On 14/07/2023 Sent: "Has the technician identified the part number for the NAND flash? I am assuming that after the chip is removed, it is then reballed and placed into a socket or it is soldered onto another board so the data can be read off. Was the SSD board X-rayed to determine whether all the ***** of BGA were making good contact? Physically is the NAND Flash damaged? Is the Flash responding at all? What is the data rate that the recovery reads the data off? There is 1TB of data, so I am concerned in terms of timelines regarding "slow bit rate imaging". I believe that the SSD controller was working, as I could still detect it in Windows & Linux, however the SSD size was incorrect. At what point will the technician determine that the data cannot be recovered? After 6 weeks? 8 weeks?" --No Response to email On the 18/07/2023 Received: "Our technicians have informed me that your data is fragmented, they are attempting to get better read results as data is only 50% of read rates due to the weak Nand chips." (In other words, they can access the data) On the 20/07/2023 Received: "The technician has informed me, we have done extensive research with our partners abroad and discovered that most of the SSD’S has *******/damaged firmware failure in the Nand data chips causing the device to malfunction. Some devices suffer from weak Nand memory and there is a 50% chance of recovering the data due to this. Unfortunately due to manufacturer constraints there is currently NO SOLUTION available for some brands of SSD’S. We would suggest you leave it with us in our secure storage room until a solution becomes available or collect your device. We are sorry for any delay or inconvenience caused during this process, we have truly exhausted all avenues up until now." --SUMMARY-- The emails were utter nonsense, they didn't perform any work on the device. When I received the device, after having to pay for a courier, it was clear that the device had not gone through the work that they had reported. Most certainly the memory chips were not removed, as there would be clear residue on the device having gone through a heat cycle in an oven. This is just a ****. They will either take your device, or your money, and you will be left with nothing.
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