FAQ
Straight answers
One question per page, answered with the facts first and the sources on the page. Each answer links to the guide for the situation it describes, so you can act on it rather than just read about it.
What is possible
The questions people ask before deciding whether recovery is worth trying at all.
Can you recover overwritten files?
Usually no. Once new data has been written over the space a file occupied, the original bytes are gone and nothing can bring them back. A partly overwritten file is different: a sc…
Can corrupted files be recovered?
Often, yes. Corruption means the data still exists but part of it is damaged, which is different from deletion, where the data is no longer there. How much comes back depends on wh…
Can files be recovered after a factory reset?
On a modern phone, effectively no. Apple and Google describe a reset as erasing the phone's data completely, and the encryption built into these devices is what makes that erasure …
Damaged devices
Water, power-on myths, and phones that will not wake up.
Can a water-damaged drive be recovered?
Labs regularly recover data from soaked drives: UK lab Data Clinic says its process recovers data even from severe flood damage, while being candid that not every wet drive can be …
Can data be recovered from a phone that won't turn on?
Usually the data is not what is lost. A phone that will not turn on often has a flat battery, a frozen system or a charging fault, and its storage is still there. A forced restart …
Using a recovery service
What professional recovery costs and how long it takes, before you commit to posting a drive away.
How much does data recovery cost in the UK?
Most UK labs do not publish fixed prices. The pages of three major providers, checked on 13 September 2026, quote per device: each offers a free assessment of some kind, then a fil…
How long does data recovery take?
Most UK labs start with a diagnosis, which Fields Data Recovery advertises as a free 24-hour diagnostic and Data Clinic offers free without a published time. After that the clock d…