datatrack-labs.co.uk Opiniões 184

I managed to lose some precious videos and photos and searched online for ages to find someone who could help without costing an arm and a leg. I contacted datatrack labs before reading reviews so when Michael called me I explained how this was my only chance to get the memories back as I only had a certain amount of money. I explained my reservations after reading the reviews, but Michael was very honest and explained everything clearly to me. I decided to take the chance and I am so glad I did. Throughout the process, Michael replied to emails and was willing to talk to me about it whenever I was concerned. Within two weeks he let me know that he had retrieved all my data. I could not have been happier and the price he gave was the price I paid. I usually go by reviews but in this instance I am so happy I went with my gut after having an open conversation. Please don’t just go by what you read, talk to Michael first and get all the information before deciding.

​I had a deeply distressing experience with Datatrack Labs.
​The Bait: I was given a professional quote of £99 + VAT. Based on this, I sent them my hardware.
​The Switch: Once they had my property, the price suddenly jumped to £283.20.
​The "Ransom": When I challenged the price, they refused to return my equipment unless I paid the higher fee.
​Result: This has been reported to Action Fraud (RF26050231986C) and Citizens Advice (CCA-7187302).
​My bank is currently investigating this as an APP Scam. Avoid this company if you value your data and your money. They use high-pressure tactics and misleading pricing

I sent a hard drive to Datatrack labs in that I was unable to access. Their initial attempt to fix the problem failed and they suggested another approach that might work but wasn't guaranteed success, which I understand. This also failed and they asked for more money. Their customer service is appalling, I have contacted them numerous times to ask for the unit to be returned to me, which they have not. Now they won't answer my emails, or the phone or their online chat service. I now have serious doubts about their technical abilities and strongly recommend that you do not use this company for data recovery work. Avoid like the plague.

I sent a hard drive to Datatrack labs in October 2025 that I was unable to access. Their initial attempt to fix the problem failed and they suggested another approach that might work but wasn't guaranteed success, which I understand. This also failed although they forgot to contact me to inform of that. Their customer service is appalling, I have contacted them numerous times to ask for the unit to be returned to me, after spending over £700 with them and not only has it not been returned but they won't answer my emails, or the phone or their online chat service. I now have serious doubts about their technical abilities and strongly recommend that you do not use this company for data recovery work.

Avoid them at all costs!

Avoid. It's been 2 years since I sent my HDD to them. They haven't even returned my property to me yet. A few months ago I posted the whole story here and somebody contacted me to tell me that if I deleted that review it would solve my problem. In my innocence after being in the hospital for a very long time following a car accident I believed him. I deleted that review and waited in the hope that he would send me the HDD or the data on it in the end. Of course that didn't happen and at this point he doesn't even answer my email. I was sure it can’t true but I still gave them another chance. I think positive reviews are only received from people who payed thousands pounds. I wish you, Mr. Michael, to buy medicine with that money.

My 2TB Western Digital ex HD (STAY AWAY FROM THIS MAKE!), decided to completely and utterly pack up on on me a few months or so ago, without any warning whatsoever. Long story short, I was told by a PC repairman that I would have to send it off to a data recovery lab, because he couldn't fix those particular drives, and I'd probably be looking at shelling out £500 or £600 :(

So, I typed into Google 'data recovery', and Datatrack Labs, I believe, was the first result? As I'm completely new to any of this (and I'm only too aware of how many sketchy places are out here on t'internet), I tentatively put in my details and then opened up a chat window. As luck would have it, the owner (Michael) himself answered me. and he gave me a quick rundown of the company, how they are much more reasonably priced and accurate compared to some others out there etc.

In short, I sent off my knackered ex HD, and thus began my journey which was fraught with drama and hijinks! BUT, as of this evening (and having to shell out for a M.2 NVMe adapter, because Michael reformatted the new SSD drive that I sent him with SATA, I think?)...I FINALLY have my precious data, all (as far as I can tell so far), completely restored and working! \o/

So my rating is based on the fact that it did end up unfortunately costing me a LOT more than I was originally quoted (£286 originally, but then it was another £610, because my ex HD was completely ruined, judging by the in-depth summary report). It was only speaking to someone I know who works in IT, that told me (when I was mentioning all this to him in a WhatsApp chat), that unfortunately, data recovery can indeed be very costly AND time-consuming (my next point coming up)...

This has taken a lot longer than I thought than it would to be finally sitting here with everything back. But I do appreciate that Michael's company is on the smaller scale, and he was fairly good with coming back to me by email (although I did have to do some chasing sometimes).

But, as I said above, I have got everything back and finally all set up with a new adapter (which I now realise he mentioned in a previous email about getting, but it didn't make sense to my layman brain at the time?).

So, in summation, I think that a 4-star rating is a fair and very reasonable rating to give out. It also indicates that a few nitpicks aside, Michael and his team did a great job AND, they do seem to be legit, which is of paramount importance when one is entrusting a lot of faith and money into getting a good service.

I would go with these guys again if god forbid, I ever find myself in a similar bind.

And a very expensive lesson learned, in going with SSD drives from now on, and not ex HD's, ESPECIALLY Western Digital *spits*

Thank you, Mike and co :)

I strongly advise anyone considering Datatrack Labs to read this before sending them your device.

Before I sent my hard drive, I specifically asked a representative (Michael Owen - who seems to be also the owner and only staff member of the company) whether there would be any charge if I declined their recovery quote. I was told clearly that the hard drive would be returned at no cost. Based on that assurance, I sent it in for evaluation.

After turning down their quote, they suddenly demanded a £20 return fee or said I would need to arrange my own collection — the complete opposite of what I’d been told on the phone. When challenged, they tried to justify it by saying I had “agreed to the terms and conditions” via an online tick box, even though I had asked specific questions about their return process — proof that I hadn’t read those terms and was relying on their verbal assurances.

To make matters worse, after weeks of back and forth, they eventually returned only part of my hard drive, not the complete unit. The remainder has not been sent back.

This experience directly contradicts what’s written on their own website, where they claim:

“Datatrack Labs were the first company in the UK to offer a FREE 4 Hour Evaluation Service, with FREE Collections and FREE returns. This transparent approach to business is the reason why Datatrack Labs are probably the most trusted data recovery provider in the UK and Ireland.”

There has been nothing “free” or “transparent” about my experience. Their handling of the situation has been inconsistent, dismissive, and unprofessional.

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (Sections 49 & 50), verbal information given by a trader that a consumer relies on forms part of the contract and must be honoured. Datatrack Labs have failed to do that.

After significant effort, I received only part of my property back — which is simply unacceptable.

In short: avoid this company. My experience has been one of misleading promises, poor communication, and a failure to act in good faith.

I cocked-up my external hard drive and lost 8 months or so of work files, which were not essential but certainly would have been helpful to retrieve. I took a chance with datatrack, after having looked around online for a company that was reasonably priced and also well-reviewed. The service is very good, good human communication and clear explanations/options. I opted for a partial recovery (after assessment) because the full service was more expensive than the work was worth to me. I received a fresh external drive with a good amount of recovered files, for which I am very grateful and very pleased. I would have no hesitation recommending Datatrack labs to anyone who has lost data, and have no doubt that they would have been able to recover almost all my data, had I have wanted to go further. Thank you!

While I was looking for a company to send my defective hard drive I noticed DTL had just as many bad reviews as good. Avoid that lot I thought...but then I noticed every bad review had a personal reply from the company owner mitigating all complaints. I was impressed by this and against my gut feelings I contacted DTL for a quote. The DTL chief replied promptly and I opted for the Gold service which is not the cheapest option but it is a 'No Data, No fee' service. A win-win really because if DTL can't recover anything I'm no worse off than when I started. It took them a while but they recovered some of the data on my disc. I overviewed what they retrieved and paid up as some recovered data was better than none at all. DTL suggested they may be able to recover more data by upgrading to their most expensive Platinum option, but this was not a 'money grab' as other reviewers put it. In fact Michael ultimately advised against it as it would probably be waste of the extra expense. This is a small company that punches way above it's weight. Some responses to emails are slow but I put this down to lack of staff more than anything else. For the money I paid I got a large chunk of my data recovered and all sent back to me on a new external hard drive. Very satisfied with the final outcome. DTL certainly worked for me. I reckon 90% of people will get successful data retrieval but only 10% of them will bother to leave a review. Where-as of the 10% of people who don't get their data back 90% of them leave a bad review..!

These guys recovered my data from an external hard drive that had suffered significant internal damage thanks to my 6 year old. I was really worried that I wouldn't get any of the data back and I needed it for my livliehood. It did take time to recover but Michael was really quick to respond when I asked for updates. We had a few setbacks but he offered me a really good deal and they carried out extensive work.
Thank you ever so much to Michael and team. I am very very happy with the results.
Paul

The biggest scam ever!
I sent my SD card over a year ago. They failed to recover anything; every though they sell a dream about being able to recover everything and being experts in the industry. I asked to receive my SD card back as that is part of the package (if nothing is recovered, your media is sent back free of charge). Fast forward a year I later still haven’t my SD card back and the communication is non existent. I’ve sent countless emails and messages to Micheal and nothing has been received back.

Whilst the title might seem hilarious, it’s the reality.
This is the initial conversation had (attached below)-
Remember.. your data will be in the best hands possible’ - what a lie that was!
‘Reply to this message and I’ll be happy to help’ - as soon as you quoted you could not fix the device you wasn’t happy to help at all!!
It’s also a NO OBLIGATION quote, I didn’t state you charged me anything. My argument is the fact I still have not received my actual SD card back and you fail on replying to your customers. You also state on your website a customer service line which has never responded to any of my messages just like yourself.
Again I state, I’m still awaiting on my memory card… a year later - no return confirmation; NOTHING! So that is a scam?

It wasn’t even a micro SD card as you say, it was a normal SD card so you’ve probably mixed me up with another customer. Also, I can’t quote the price of how much the SD card was, and regardless if it was £6 or not just shows your mentality. Memories are priceless which is why I wanted data to be recovered - but your response just shows you obviously don’t really care about recovering someone’s data.

Good Morning Priyanka, this is Michael from DTL Data Recovery.

Thank you for submitting an online quote request. We have sent emails and texts containing information regarding our services. If you still have any further questions or require some advice then please feel free to reply to this message and I’ll be happy to help. Also until 28/04/2023 we are offering a free portable hard drive with each free assessment carried out. Even if you decline our no obligation quote you will still receive a free portable hard drive. Conditions do apply and strictly one hard drive per customer only.

Thanks.

Remember…we offer…

Free collections, free evaluations and free no obligation quotation, supported by a no data no fee service and 16 years successful trading history. Your data will be in the best possible hands.

Looked online for a couple of data recovery companies , looked at Datatrack-labs , and another Data Recovery Services ( also known as Fields ).
So decided to go with Data Recovery Services , initial payment up front was £834 they had the hard drive for over 3 weeks and when they sent me it back I was informed that they could not retrieve any data from it.
I then I contacted Datatrack - Labs e-mailed back and forth with the company sent the hard drive down to them after a couple of weeks we were pleasantly surprised to find that Michael and his company managed to retrieve all the data that was on it although at a higher cost .
Which was a godsend to my eldest daughter as now she is in possession of all the baby pictures of her second born child that we thought were lost forever according to the other company Data Recovery Services.
After contacting Data Recovery Services and proving to them that Datatrack -Labs managed to do what they couldn’t and waiting a couple of weeks they refunded me back my £834 , so if you have tried DRS and got the same response as me it could well be worth your while contacting Datatrack - Labs you might be surprised as I was by the results.
We then sent in my other daughter’s hard drive and bar a couple of hiccups retrieving her data .
Datatrack - Labs managed to retrieve some of her data of which the daughter was moderately impressed with , so in conclusion I would recommend Datatrack - Labs in the future if anyone asked me about a Data recovery company .

Received all my data back, took slightly longer than I thought however really pleased with the result.

I have claimed that sum myself. You had no help. Right from the beginning you knew I was foreigner and (you pointed almost everywhere about my poor English) you tried to get money out of me as much as you can. Couple of your e-mails proof that when I was saying it is too expensive you were asking me what was my budget and you were saying shame not given to you the opportunity.
Because I did not do business with you, you were not helping at all to find out where is my drive because of my review. I did not make review strait away I waited a month to receive my drive back, again your rude attitude made me to do it. I have no interest about your business.
Again most of e-mails and replies to my reviews are horrible. You even not deserve a star. I wish I did read the other reviews about you before sending my drive to you. Seems I am not the only one.

Wasn’t after the mediation it was before I submitted to answer your last reply. Still no apology. Never mind. Let’s se what the judge says.

Successfully recovered my files from an old laptop which would start up but not load. Decided to go with this company as they gave me a worse case scenario quote unlike others I spoke to. Final price was far less than the potential costs explained to me. From sending the drive to return of my files was about a week. I thought it was a good service

Recently,our external harddrive failed and we were afraid that we had lost all our photos, I contacted Michael at this company and sent him the drive.Once he had received my drive,he contacted me within 4 hours to reassure us that he would be able to retrieve all our photos and store them on a new hard drive.The cost was excellent and Michael was very understanding of our situation.We now have the new drive, containing all of our photos, which means so much to us.I cannot recommend Michael and his company highly enough,if anyone ever loses their data, this is the company to Go to.

Datatrack Labs rescued over 15 years of photos from my damaged western digital portable hard drive. It was a great result after I started to think all data had been lost forever.

The hard drive first started to have issues around 2 months before it failed completely. Sometimes it would freeze and I would need to eject it and then put it back on. Finally the disk failed completely, it would not be detected at all by the PC.

I took it to a computer shop, they diagnosed that the disk needed to be sent to a data recovery specialist. I tried a place local to me in Derby, they told me they could do it over the telephone but then they said their hardware does not support this type of hard drive. I thought it was just a standard hard drive. I contacted a place I found online in Bridgend, they sounded really good, free evaluation, etc. They indicated price would be around £190. When I finally got the quote, £1500 plus vat I nearly had a heart attack, there is no way I couldn't afford that. I had the disk returned. I then found another company in Cardiff, Datatrack Labs, I spoke with a gentleman who seemed very genuine and very knowledgeable, the conversation was more technical that a sales call. He explained potential costs, from £99 - £300 based on the information I provided. I was happy with this but then I read the reviews on Trust Pilot and got scared. I then found another company in Bristol. I was just about to send it off and I had a follow up call from DTL. I explained my fears about the reviews, the gentleman explained in more detail about the reviews and also pointed out that the company in Bristol isn't actually in Bristol, they have a website for every city and they are just drop off locations, I wouldn't know where my disk would be sent. He also explained that they do not pursue reviews and they have over 120 reviews rated 4/5 stars and the vast majority of negative reviews where just malicious. He encouraged me to actually read the reviews and read between the lines and look at their responses. This convinced me to give them a go and to go with my gut feeling.
I sent the disk off and the diagnosis revealed head failure. I was quoted around £250 on their silver service or I could opt for the more expensive gold service which is a strict no data no fee service. They managed to recover 99.9% of the data and I only paid after seeing a list of files. They even included a free hard drive.
It was a service I was wary about but I'm glad I went with them, all files recovered and for a cost which was less than half of a much bigger company quoted. Delighted with the outcome. I hope this review helps others in a similar situation.

To this day I am still waiting for my disk to be returned
I sent it to them in Novemeber and its now February.

Disgrace!

Started off super efficient with a call just minutes after submitting the quote form and my drive was picked up by a courier within 48 hours.
I followed up with an email to see how the testing had gone. The problem was greater than anticipated but I was quoted £283 for silver service recovery which I paid instantly.
A few weeks later I enquired on progress as there was a file on the drive that I could have done with having. At this point I was told to recover the data I would need the gold service at an additional £500 on top of what I had already paid. I chose not to proceed and requested my drives to be returned. I received one of the 2 and had to chase up the second.
I requested a refund, minus expenses and was told that the silver services is not refundable.
It is hit or miss if you get a response to emails.
Have a read at the rest of the Trustpilot reviews on this company.
Not a positive experience and I certainly wouldn't recommend

An unreadable 3TB external disk, due to two damaged heads and disk sector corruption, was reported by the engineer. A first attempt at recovery produced a poor result (about 4%) but the second attempt after further work by Datatrack produced a fully 100% usable disk. The end result is another very happy customer.