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Data recovery · No data, no fee

Thought your photos were gone?
Maybe not.

Photos, contacts and files off broken phones, water-damaged laptops, dead hard drives and corrupted SD cards. We don't charge unless we recover.

  • Free diagnosis
  • No data, no fee.
  • Walk-ins welcome
Data recovery from a hard drive on the Phone Studio bench in Courtice
5.0· 305+ Google reviews

Data recovery & backup · Courtice

Data recovery for phones, laptops and drives, all done on the Courtice bench

Photos, contacts and files recovered from broken phones, water-damaged laptops, dead hard drives and corrupted SD cards: it all happens in-house at our 2 Glenabbey Dr, Unit 5 store in Courtice. We start with a free assessment and tell you exactly what we can pull before any recovery work begins. If we try and cannot recover your data, you do not pay. No data, no fee. That is the promise on every recovery job we take on.

Customers arrive from Oshawa, Bowmanville, Whitby and across Durham Region with devices that shops elsewhere have written off. Your device and its data stay on the Courtice bench the entire time, no mail-out, no depot. If your laptop will not boot at all, we may be able to get the machine running long enough to copy everything off before any repair work begins.

iCloud backup help is one of the most common questions we get that never requires opening the phone at all. We set up automatic iCloud or Google Photos backup so losing everything only happens once, sort out why an iCloud backup keeps failing or says storage is full, move photos and contacts across when you get a new phone, and confirm your backup has actually finished before you hand a phone over for a screen or battery repair. None of this needs a broken phone, plenty of people book it as routine maintenance before a trip or before dropping a device off for repair.

iPhone data recovery in Courtice covers a specific set of panic scenarios on our bench: an iPhone that will not turn on at all, one stuck on the Apple logo or a boot loop, and iPhones that have taken a drop in water. A dead screen or a phone that will not boot does not automatically mean the storage chip is gone, and a boot loop is often something we can work through before we call it. Customers bring these in from Clarington and across Durham Region, not just Courtice itself. The one honest limit: if the iPhone is locked with a passcode or Face ID you do not have, we cannot bypass Apple's encryption to get the photos off it, and we do not bypass activation lock on a device that is not yours to unlock. We will tell you upfront if a device falls into either category rather than promise something we cannot deliver.

Hard drive data recovery is its own compact category on the bench: hard drives that click or will not spin up, external SSDs that have died, drives that show up as corrupted or RAW instead of their normal file system, and SD cards or USB sticks that were formatted by accident. It runs through the same free assessment as phone recovery, and the same promise applies: No data, no fee. We tell you what is realistic before any work starts, and if we cannot recover anything you do not pay.

  • 305+ Google reviews
  • 9+ Years hands-on experience
  • Free Diagnosis on every device

Common repairs

What we fix on a typical day.

  • Cell phone data recovery

    No data, no fee

    Off a phone with a smashed screen, dead motherboard or that won't turn on.

  • Hard drive & external drive recovery

    No data, no fee

    Clicking drives, drives that won't mount, accidental format, corrupted partition.

  • SSD data recovery

    No data, no fee

    Dead SSDs (limited success, SSDs are notoriously hard but we always try first).

  • SD & USB recovery

    Same-day available

    "Card not formatted" errors, files deleted from camera SD, dead USB sticks.

  • Photo & video recovery

    Specifically recovering DCIM folders and camera roll content from any device.

  • Cloud-to-cloud move

    Same-day available

    iCloud → Google Photos, OneDrive → Dropbox, old Gmail → new Gmail.

  • Backup setup

    Same-day available

    Set you up with proper backups (Time Machine, iCloud, Google One) so this is the last time.

Sounds like your phone?

Why people bring it in.

  • Phone won't turn on but I need my photos
  • Hard drive making a clicking sound
  • Drive says 'needs to be formatted'
  • Deleted a folder by mistake
  • Water-damaged phone or laptop
  • Forgot iCloud / Google password
  • Old phone, new phone, files didn't transfer
  • SD card from camera unreadable
  • Ransomware encrypted my files
  • MacBook won't boot but I have unsaved work

When the phone is dead, the data usually isn't.

This is an iPhone logic board on our Courtice bench with the NAND flash chip lifted off. The NAND is where your photos, messages and files actually live. When a phone will not power on, the data is often intact and it is the board around it that failed. We remove and read the storage chip directly to recover what a parts-swap shop would write off.

iPhone NAND flash chip removed from the logic board for chip-off data recovery at the Phone Studio bench in Courtice
The NAND storage chip lifted from a dead iPhone board in Courtice, the chip that holds your photos and files.

Case files

Two recoveries other shops turned down.

Both of these came in over the last two months, and both customers agreed to have the job written up here. They are on the harder end of what we do, which is exactly why they are worth showing.

  • Two shops called this Galaxy S23 dead. The data came off it.

    Phone Studio in Courtice, Ontario recovered the full contents of a Samsung Galaxy S23 that two other repair shops had already written off as a dead board, by reballing (reflowing new solder under the chips) the CPU, NAND and RAM until the phone would power on again.

    Device
    Samsung Galaxy S23
    What happened
    The phone died while he was using it and never powered on again.
    Before he called us
    Two repair shops told him the phone was dead, called it a board fault they could not work on, and turned the job down. Most of the other shops he phoned said the same thing.
    What we found
    A CPU fault on the logic board. We told him straight away that a lasting repair was not realistic, but that a data recovery was.
    What we did
    Reballed the CPU, the NAND storage chip and the RAM on the board, then brought the phone back up on the bench.
    Result
    The phone turned on and he got all of his data off it.

    We were clear with him about the limit before he agreed to it. Reballing bought that board more life, not a permanent fix. The point was a dependable window to get the data out, and that is what it gave him.

  • An iPhone 13 Pro Max stuck in DFU with 500 GB on board.

    Phone Studio in Courtice, Ontario recovered roughly 500 GB of data from a 1 TB iPhone 13 Pro Max that was stuck on the Apple logo and then in DFU mode (Apple's deepest recovery screen, reachable only by a cable to a computer), after two weeks of board-level work on the phone's power lines.

    iPhone 13 Pro Max on the Phone Studio bench in Courtice showing the Apple logo and an “Attempting data recovery” progress bar after board-level power-line repair
    The phone from this job on our Courtice bench, powered up after the power-line work and running its own data recovery pass.
    Device
    iPhone 13 Pro Max, 1 TB, holding about 500 GB of data
    What happened
    He left it charging overnight and found it the next morning stuck on the Apple logo.
    Before he called us
    He is technical, so he looked it up and tried to update the software himself. After two failed attempts the phone was in DFU mode, showing the cable-and-computer recovery screen. He found us online and drove over from Pickering.
    What we found
    A precision diagnosis of the logic board traced the fault to the power lines rather than the storage.
    What we did
    Repaired and replaced chips on the power line and reballed where it was needed, over two weeks on the bench, until the phone would power on long enough to read.
    Result
    The phone booted and roughly 500 GB of data came off it, including everything he was worried about losing.

    Two weeks is not a normal turnaround and we do not pretend it is. Board-level recovery takes as long as it takes, and we would rather run it slowly than cook the one board that still holds your photos.

Read both recoveries in full

Devices we cover

Devices we recover from

  • iPhone
  • Samsung Galaxy
  • Google Pixel
  • MacBook
  • Windows laptops
  • External HDD / SSD
  • SD cards
  • USB sticks
  • NAS drives

How it works

1. Free assessment

  • Bring the device in
  • We open it / image the drive
  • We tell you what we can pull and what it costs

2. You decide

  • Written quote before any recovery
  • If you don't proceed, you don't pay
  • If we recover no data, you don't pay. No data, no fee.

3. Delivery

  • Files delivered on a USB drive or your cloud
  • Original device returned
  • We securely wipe our copy after pickup

The neighbours have opinions.

A handful of recent reviews, straight from the people who walked in with a broken device. 5.0 stars on Google across 305+ reviews.

5 out of 5 stars

Very helpful and patient. Helped me get all our memories from 20 year old equipment. Come here for data recovery. I highly recommend

LauraCourtice · Data recovery
5 out of 5 stars

I came in today with a phone which had been run over with a truck. Zero display and afraid of losing data. VJ calmly looked at the phone, gave me 2 screen options with pros and cons and told me it would be about 40 min. Cost was less than half what I anticipated and the knowledge, courtesy and professionalism displayed by VJ was second to none. I will not go anywhere else!

WayneCourtice · Phone screen repair, data recovery concern
5 out of 5 stars

VJ was great to deal with and replaced my lcd screen and screen on my iPad for a great price and same day!

JbCourtice · iPad LCD screen repair
5 out of 5 stars

3rd time is the charm. My S20FE suffered serious salt water corrosion. The first and second repair shop opened the phone and said they could not retrieve the data and photos. Mat and Vijay cleaned and retrieved 5 years of contacts and photos! I was shocked and very happy. These two are very skilled and knowledgeable and simply the Best. Highly Recommended. I simply cannot thank them enough!

FrancoisCourtice · Samsung S20 FE salt water data recovery
5 out of 5 stars

My 6 year old broke her screen on her tablet. I called these people . They made time for me right away. Finished in 1.5 hrs. Great service, great price! Highly recommended :)

DaleCourtice · Tablet screen repair
5 out of 5 stars

They fix my iPhone 12 Pro Max screen and back both on same day Thank you so much guys . Really good store in courtice

AshwinCourtice · iPhone 12 Pro Max screen and back glass

Visit Phone Studio.

Inside Glenabbey Plaza, just off Townline Rd S. Look for the orange sign, parking is right out front.

Phone Studio storefront in Glenabbey Plaza, Courtice
Mon-Fri 10-7, Sat 10-6, Sun 11-5Parking out frontWalk-ins welcome
Hours
Mon to Fri10:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Saturday10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Sunday11:00 AM to 5:00 PM

courtice@phonestudio.ca · free diagnosis · No data, no fee.

Lost your files? Let's see what we can get back.

Tell us what happened to the drive or device. Free assessment and a clear quote before any work. No data, no fee. Most quotes come back inside 30 minutes during shop hours.

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  • No data, no fee.

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FAQ

Data recovery FAQ

  • It means if we can't recover any of your data, you don't pay for the diagnostic work. The only exception is invasive work that uses consumable parts, like a chip transplant. We'll always tell you before we touch anything.

  • Usually yes. If the phone still turns on, we can usually pull the data via a working temporary screen. If it doesn't turn on at all, we look at the board, sometimes a small repair is enough to boot it long enough to copy everything off.

  • Not without the passcode. Apple's encryption is genuinely strong. That's the trade-off. If you can remember even an old passcode used during setup, we can sometimes work with that.

  • It depends on what's wrong with the device. Free assessments first, we don't quote until we know what we're dealing with.

  • Simple recoveries (deleted files, working drives) often same-day. Failing hard drives or board-level recoveries are typically 3–7 days because we run them slowly to avoid further damage.

  • Yes, served from our Courtice store, about 10 minutes from Oshawa and 12 from Bowmanville. Bring the device in for a free assessment. No data, no fee.

  • Data recovery and backup are handled at our Courtice store at 2 Glenabbey Dr, Unit 5. We're one Courtice bench serving customers from Oshawa, Bowmanville, Whitby and across Durham Region. Your device and its data never leave the shop.