Professional Data Recovery in the Philippines that really recovers your data

Jun 20, 2013

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A few months ago, my hard drive crashed. It’s a WD Elements 1TB portable hard disk. I didn’t do anything, I just copied some files, then suddenly it just died of old age. It cannot copy any files at all. I have very important—you know, priceless sentimental value—data inside that drive and I don’t have a backup. Because I’m a little bit of a “techy” myself, I attempted to recover the data in my HDD using various data recovery software.

I just googled online and found a lot of data recovery applications, both free and paid. I tried Revuca, Pandora, ADRC Data Recovery Tool, TestDisk, UndeletePlus, and a whole lot more. I also tried all of the recommended data recovery software by Lifehacker, but it didn’t work.

I was hopeless because I wasn’t able to successfully recover all that precious data. So what I did next? I decided to use a data recovery center here in the Philippines that is cheap and that works. I found expensive ones in the US and Singapore, but those options are damn too expensive. It will take you to around $3000 USD (P150,000.00 pesos!) just to recover a data from a $100 USD hard drive. Good thing there were a few more options on data recovery centers in the Philippines. I tried this company called XYON (web archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20130728063406/http://www.xyon.com.ph/), but after a month of leaving my hard drive with them, they didn’t successfully recover my data. They just used the same tools that I used, and did the same recovery methods that I already did. They don’t have a lab nor a clean room here in the Philippines that opens the hard drive, to scan it using some sort of a special device, then recover the data from disc images, unlike what I’ve read in other professional data recovery centers in the US and Singapore.

XYON asked me if I agree to ship my hard disk to the US for a mere fee of around $1500 USD. They said that they will attempt to recover the data through their partner, Seagate. But I’m a bit skeptical and at the same time, astounded with the price because it’s a bit expensive.

Good thing I found one (an individual rather than a company) on Sulit.com.ph who offers professional data recovery for only $600 USD. I gave him my hard disk and my data was recovered successfully. If you’re also looking for a data recovery professional in the Philippines, I highly recommend Chris. You can e-mail him at [email protected] or call/text him at 0917-821-8802. You’ll never be disappointed.

05/04/2017 UPDATE: New contact number of Chris is 0920-611-3020. You can reach him via SMS.

Comments

49 responses to “Professional Data Recovery in the Philippines that really recovers your data”

renzo

July 10, 2014

how can you say “free data recovery” when it charged you $600?

Reply
1. Bryan Veloso
  
  July 17, 2014
  
  Thanks for pointing that out and for reading my post. The post has been edited. 😀
vin

July 23, 2014

Hi bryan just wanna ask if chris is part of that company that fix your HD? if not what the name of the company that repair your HD

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1. Bryan Veloso
  
  August 22, 2014
  
  It’s chris. Chris fixed it. May machine sila near ADMU then the raw data was sent to singapore, and sent back to me. Around $600 USD. Cheaper than Xyon referred.. 😀
Mark

July 28, 2014

I also went to xyon philippines but they failed to recover my data. Also they referred me to their partner Seagate in the U.S but a too expensive.

Reply
1. Bryan Veloso
  
  August 22, 2014
  
  Yeah. Around $1500-$3000 USD yung estimate nila eh. hahahha! way too much for me.
Aisne Bucsit

July 31, 2014

My Seagate back up plus portable hard drive when connected to the computer, keeps on blinking white light and the computer does not recognize it. I have tried troubleshooting, changing the cable, coonecting to a different computer but still does it. I’m asking for quotation on how much it would cost me to have my data recovered. Thank you!

Reply
1. Bryan Veloso
  
  August 22, 2014
  
  Just SMS the number in my post. They recover the data kahit nabasa ng ulan or nasunog ang HD. Yung sakin around $600 USD nagastos ko, it’s cheap na compared sa Seagate data recovery service sa US.
2. Toto Aranas
  
  September 13, 2016
  
  Same problem I experience with 1TB Seagate. Why does it cost too much?
Jerome

January 5, 2015

How about faulty head, do they have a clean laboratory to open and repair it?

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Ed

January 29, 2015

Did you send it to him or something? And how long did it take for you to get your hard drive back?

Reply
kebet

February 25, 2015

Bro, legit ba to haha, nasira harddrive ko kahapon lang, 3 TB pa naman, selective ba yung pag recover ng files?

Reply
1. Bryan Veloso
  
  March 3, 2015
  
  yep magaling sila mag recover. Try to contact them muna for a quote. Depende kasi sa hard drive capacity, hindi depende sa data lng na need u.
jess

June 4, 2015

mas mura pla ang singilan sa ISS EYAN DATA RECOVERY CENTER.dito lng sa Pinas gagawin at my sarili silang clean room..

Reply
1. Bryan Veloso
  
  June 8, 2015
  
  Never heard of the data recovery center. Thanks for sharing Jess! 🙂
jerard quintos

February 10, 2016

do they also recover data’s from laptop?

Reply
1. Bryan Veloso
  
  February 23, 2016
  
  Yep, as long as the hard disk is intact.
Ryan Caballero

April 7, 2016

the usb port of my 1 TB Toshiba hard drive was detached. Can it be fixed? My files can still be recovered?

Reply
Ryan Caballero

April 7, 2016

Saan yung service center ng ISS EYAN DATA RECOVERY CENTER at yung Chris?thanks.

Reply
marj

May 12, 2016

Hi Bryan. Do you know a way I can reach cris? I tried to call the number but its not working anymore. Can you tell me his office location?

Reply
1. Bryan Veloso
  
  May 19, 2016
  
  Have you tried reaching him via Yahoo mail? I haven’t contacted him for a long time.
2. Rose
  
  January 24, 2017
  
  To all of you asking question about data recovery service, you can text or call Christopher Iban new number 09206113020.
rikkie

June 13, 2016

bakit yung hd ko 1tb tpos nging 32 gb,,ginawa ko kcing recovery kla ko pwede hindi pla,panu mabalik sa 1td ulit yun tnx sasagot maraming salamat

Reply
1. rikkie
  
  June 13, 2016
  
  seagate slimbackup yung akin need lng kung panu mabalik sa dati
bert lawrence gabane

July 18, 2016

may nagbebenta ba ng head (spare parts) dito sa pinas? yung para sa seagate slim backup plus, slim protable drive 500 gb. yun kasi sira sa hd ko, yung head nya ayaw bumasa ng files. salamat sa makakatulong.

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joms

August 18, 2016

sir.. magkano repair ng WD 2TB external hdd? sing i plugged it sa smart tv, hndi n mabasa yung content ng drive. though my laptop can still detect the drive but i can no longer open it in my computer.. not initialized yung status nya sa disk manager

Reply
j. m. serena

October 6, 2016

i have hard disk that it seems is damaged, and i would like to recover the data the disk is here in manila

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Christopher Iban

January 23, 2017

To all of you asking question about data recovery service, you can text or call my new number 09206113020.

or

You can send your inquiries at [email protected]

Reply
Rose

January 24, 2017

I had 3PCS 3.5 hdd int.. 2 seagate and 1 hitachi ..files wants to recover it so badly

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Christopher Iban

January 25, 2017

To all,

we cannot give/send quotation without checking your hdd, sd card, micro sd, ssd, other storage device first.

give us ample time to interface your storage device with our machine in order to determine what exactly went wrong with it.

after checking we willgive/send quotation and tell you how long it will take to recover your files.

initial check-up is free of charge and no recovery no pay policy applies.

God bless,
Christopher Iban
[email protected]
0920 611 3020

Reply
Christopher Iban

January 25, 2017

To all,

if you are far away from my location you can send your storage device for checking thru local couriers like lbc, jrs express, etc.

God bless,
Christopher Iban
[email protected]
0920 611 3020

Reply
1. Clarence Silva
  
  July 5, 2019
  
  Hello Sir. This is very helpful of you. Actually I just emailed you a while ago. I would just like to ask if ever anong address po ang ilalagay namin pag mag lbc kami sir?
Christopher Iban

January 25, 2017

To Bryan Veloso,

thank you for sharing your experience with us, and for writing a blog about our service.

more power to you sir.

God bless,
Christopher Iban
[email protected]
0920 611 3020

Reply
1. Bryan Veloso
  
  February 1, 2017
  
  you’re welcome. thanks for updating us with your new contact number.
Jr Yu

February 19, 2017

Hi I am from Mindanao, how can i send my hard disks WD and Seagate, hindi na po kasi siya gumagana at gusto ko po sana ma back up lahat ng Files ko, Salamat.

Reply
1. Christopher Iban
  
  February 21, 2017
  
  hi,
  
  you can send your storage media thru local couriers like jrs express, lbc, etc.
  
  text/call 0920-6113020 for shipping details.
  
  God bless,
  Christopher Iban
  [email protected]
  0920 611 3020
Joshua C.

May 4, 2017

If you need to save your data from a “broken” hd, then Chris is your guy. I’m not kidding.

First off, I would just like to say thank you to Bryan for this blog post. Without this post, I would not have met Chris who I owe big time for helping me by recovering my videos and photos from our special family Europe trip.

I used to easily trust external hds, no matter the make or brand. I’ve never had a problem like what I encountered just a few weeks ago. After years of casually storing family photos, school documents, and just about any other file type there is on my hds, It would have never occurred to me that just one drop or one improper ejection of the hd could mean losing all my files.

Until now, I’m not entirely sure how it happened since my hd is shared among member of our family, but one day I was supposed to grab a family photo from my hd when my laptop (mac) just wouldn’t seem to read it. I thought maybe this was just probably nothing and proceeded eject and reinsert the hd. When this still did not work, I started to worry. I tried plugging it in another laptop, this time a windows unit, but still, it did not read. After that I was really worried, I did google searches on why this was happening and what are the possible causes and solutions – and most of what I read said that the hd was either corrupted or dead. When I finally realized this, all I could think about were losing the family photos, the videos. As much as possible, I wanted to save them.

From googling possible self-solutions, which by the way did not work out for me, I started to look for data recovery services here in the Philippines. That’s when I stumbled upon this blog post. At first, I was a bit skeptical – I usually do not trust random blog posts, so what I did was, I opened it into a new tab and proceeded to look at other options. I clicked on those that had their own websites, their own facebook pages; I even searched for data recovery services on google maps to see if there are listings near my place. After reading and considering each’s services and reading reviews wherever possible, I was beginning to really lose it and lose hope on saving the photos and videos stored on my hd. By whatever reason, I decided to take a second look at this blog post and scroll down to the comments section to see if I could find out more about it. I read exchanges from random people and Bryan with Bryan insisting that this man’s service was the real deal. As I was now close to giving up, I decided to why not give this a try – and thank God I did.

Cutting to the chase, I now have my family’s photos and videos back. This is really something that I did not think I would get back but thanks to Chris, I did.

The day after deciding on giving the information on this blog post a try, I called the number (the one I used was 09206113020) and the one who answered was Chris. I immediately asked him if he still does data recovery and he said yes, so I asked him if I could bring my hd over the afternoon of that same day, and he said yes. And so I did.

I met with him, gave him my hd and the background of the problem, at least from what I understood of it, and Chris was nice enough to explain and helped me understand what the possible causes are and what the possible solutions are for my case. I liked that a lot, I mean it was easier for me to trust a person taking his time to really explain what the situation was rather than just reading off google results. He advised me that they would check if the problem was amendable using what they had here in the Philippines and if not they would be sending my hd to Singapore, which from how I understand it is pretty standard operating procedure when it comes to these matters.

Not long, not even 3 days have passed I think, when Chris called me and asked me if it would be ok to send the hd to SG seeing as their machines here in the Philippines were not enough. Of course, this meant spending on freight and eventually on the process of recovering the files – but as this post says, the service they offer for the price they ask for is very competitive – and for the sake of saving family photos and videos, it was worth it.

The whole interaction and transaction took just over a week (this included labor weekend) so they were really efficient. They also made sure that I had knowledge of every step they were going to take before taking the step, always asking for my permission, this helped a lot in staying on top of the situation. This included decision points that meant incurring additional costs.

All in all, I really appreciate Chris for what he was able to do. Thanks to him I have the photos and the videos back. He even gave me advice on the best ways of storing photos and videos. So if you need to save some data from your broken hd, then go ahead and contact Chris.

Thanks again Chris!

Reply
1. Bryan Veloso
  
  May 4, 2017
  
  Hi Joshua!
  
  Awesome! Thank you for sharing your story with us. I’m glad your files were recovered by Chris. 🙂
Audrey

July 17, 2017

I had a very old IDE HDD for data recovery that had instrument data, had a very hard time finding someone who can/is willing to recover the said data.

Chris (0920 611 3020) helped me to successfully recover all my data files, including some very old ones that are not known to me. Very professional!

I highly recommend him for all data recovery problems.

Reply
1. Bryan Veloso
  
  July 17, 2017
  
  Awesome, thanks for sharing Audrey! 🙂
Christopher Iban

December 23, 2017

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you.

To those of you requesting for my globe number here it is.

Christopher Iban
[email protected]
0920 611 3020
0917 398 2127

Reply
Alfred

January 9, 2018

Just wanted to give feedback re: Christopher Iban.

(TL;DR – Highly recommended!)

Back in 2010, my hard drive crashed. Went to XYON, and after two weeks, they couldn’t fix it, and wanted to charge me US$2,000 to send to the USA, with no guarantee (but I wouldn’t pay the $2k either if it wasn’t recovered).

I stored my hard drive for about 7 years in my photography dry box, wanting to save up (I wanted to recover priceless (to me) pictures). Saw this post of Bryan Veloso, and contacted Chris Iban.

They couldn’t do it locally either, but he sent it to, *I think*, Singapore, where it still cost me A LOT of money (but less than the $2,000 price that XYON wanted to charge me SEVEN YEARS AGO).

Well, after saving up for 6+ years, and with more disposable income, I bit the bullet. Took Chris Iban a couple of months (but I already waited 7 years, so what’s a little more). Finally texted me that I had to bring a hard drive for them to transfer the files.

Well, I got my priceless pictures back. They were less than 100 gb, but after seeing the pictures, what I spent seemed trivial. They are, of course, redundantly backed up now.

Thank you, Chris Iban! Thank you, Bryan Veloso, for allowing us to discover him.

Reply
1. Bryan Veloso
  
  January 9, 2018
  
  thanks for sharing! chris saved a lot of precious memories including mine. 🙂
Anton Mercado

January 30, 2018

Hi Bryan and Cris,

I have a 32 gb USB flash drive that is not responding. I tried accessing it on several PCs and laptops but it doesn’t work. my IT friend tried several data recovery softwares but still it wouldn,t work and he told me it must be a hardware (physical problem. is there a chance to recover the files (around 16gb i guess) in it? How much will it cost recovering?

Thank you.

Reply
Aileen Adalid

June 15, 2018

I was initially skeptical about contacting Christopher Iban after reading this blog post, but I decided to take a ‘leap of faith’ and try him out since I was desperate (haha! My hard drive suddenly stopped functioning after all).

Now, I’m glad I went for it because he surely gave me back all my files which I badly needed! It took a while though since they had to ship my hard drive overseas and back, but everything ended great!

I highly recommend Christopher!
– Aileen of iAmAileen.com

Reply
1. Bryan Veloso
  
  August 12, 2018
  
  Oh the famous travel blogger. 😀 Welcome to my blog. 🙂
Andrea Ledres

July 10, 2019

Thank you Bryan Veloso, aileen, audrey, alfred and joshua for sharing your experiences.

I lost 2TB of videos and photographs of my children and am very devastated. I probably read this blog post more than 50x just to give me a little bit of hope that I too will be able go get my files back.

I will meet Chris this saturday and hopefully be able to give my own positive testimonial here. Kindly pray for Chris and his team that they may continue to help more people.

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Dennis

January 30, 2021

Hello guys,

I think I might need Chris’ help and would like to check if he’s still working in data recovery.

A contact number and email will do.

Great post btw, Bryan! I’m glad you have this and it was an awesome read!

Reply
1. Elle
  
  July 13, 2021
  
  Hi Dennis! I was wondering if you were able to contact Christopher? I am also desperate to fix my Western Digital hard drive and am very devastated thinking about the loss of my files. I hope my message reaches you, Bryan, or Chris himself!
  
  Warm regards, Elle