What DATA QUEST INTERNATIONAL LTD does

DataQuest International Ltd is a Portsmouth-based independent data recovery service provider founded in 1998, operating entirely in-house from a single UK laboratory. The firm specializes in recovering data from failed or damaged storage devices, including internal hard drives, SSDs, external drives, USB sticks, camera cards, iPhones, MacBooks, iMacs, Mac Pros, and RAID/NAS systems. Recovery capabilities span physical, electronic, and firmware-level failures, with support for all major brands (Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi/HGST, Toshiba, LaCie, Samsung, Apple, Fujitsu, Maxtor). The technical foundation includes a Stage 2 cleanroom for hardware-level repairs, a donor parts library for fast mechanical work, firmware/controller tooling for encrypted Western Digital and Samsung external drives, and a custom-built recovery station derived from 2016 MacBook internals for proprietary Apple blade SSDs.

The business operates a direct-to-consumer model with UK-wide reach via secure courier collection. Pricing is fixed and transparent: £349 for standard recovery, with optional add-ons for rush service (£99), cleanroom and advanced SSD repair (£149), and large-drive surcharges (£49). A No Recovery, No Fee guarantee and free initial assessment structure the customer transaction. The customer base is distributed across individual consumers and small-to-medium businesses, supplemented by a referral channel from IT support companies and computer repair shops. Marketing is organic, relying on Google reviews (377+ spanning 2013-2026), SEO-optimized service pages, and word-of-mouth, with no disclosed paid acquisition. The firm is bootstrapped and founder-owned, with two named specialist engineers (Dan Dilloway and John Wilson) handling recovery work, and reports cumulative metrics of 12,326 customers served and 3,697 TB recovered.

Revenue is undisclosed and the company operates with 1-10 employees, indicating a small-scale, mature operation rather than a venture-backed growth business. Strategic activity is limited to incremental product expansion (Apple-specific and failure-mode-specific services) and organic channel development. No funding rounds, acquisitions, partnerships, geographic expansion, or leadership changes are documented.

Name

DATA QUEST INTERNATIONAL LTD

Legal name

Dataquest International Ltd

Website

https://dq-int.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Portsmouth-based independent UK data recovery service founded in 1998, specializing in physical, electronic, and firmware-level recovery from hard drives, SSDs, Apple devices, and RAID systems via an in-house cleanroom lab and UK-wide secure courier.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Data Recovery Services

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Endpoint, SaaS & M365/Google Workspace Backup Services (BPAEALAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) & Secure Data Erasure (BPAEAOAK)

Keywords

• Data recovery services
• Hard drive recovery
• SSD data recovery
• RAID recovery services
• Cleanroom data recovery

Headquarters

HQ city

Portsmouth

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Data Recovery Services: One-time fee service for data recovery from failed storage devices. Pricing based on type of failure and service level required. No charge if data cannot be recovered. Additional fees for rush service, cleanroom repairs, and spare parts.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

DataQuest International provides in-house data recovery services for failed hard drives, SSDs, Apple devices (iMac, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, iPhone), RAID arrays, external storage, USB sticks, and camera memory cards. Services cover physical, electronic, firmware, and logical failures including dropped drives, water/fire damage, and accidental deletion, with all work carried out in their Portsmouth cleanroom laboratory under a No Recovery, No Fee guarantee.

Product overview

DataQuest International Ltd is a Portsmouth-based independent data recovery service provider operating since 1998. The company offers a unified portfolio of specialized recovery services organized by device type (hard drives, external drives, SSDs, Apple devices, RAID systems), failure cause (dropped drives, water/fire damage, firmware faults), and manufacturer brand (Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba). Core services include Standard Data Recovery (starting at £349 with No Recovery No Fee guarantee), Emergency/Rush Recovery, and Cleanroom Advanced Repair. Add-on services include Mac Setup for post-recovery system restoration. The company operates exclusively in-house with a cleanroom facility, serving both individual and business customers across the UK via secure courier, with pricing based on recovery type and drive capacity.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Standard Data Recovery Primary data recovery service for SSDs, hard drives, PCs, Macs, and external drives covering common data-loss causes such as accidental deletion, formatting, and electronic faults. Includes free initial assessment, with 1-2 week turnaround and No Recovery, No Fee guarantee.
• Rush / Emergency Data Recovery Priority data recovery service for time-sensitive business data with expedited turnaround, including a 24-hour emergency option. Priced as an upgrade added to the standard recovery fee.
• Cleanroom & Advanced SSD Diagnosis & Repair Advanced cleanroom repair service for severely damaged drives requiring head replacement, motor repair, and parts alignment/configuration. Charged only if required beyond the standard recovery service.
• Hard Drive Data Recovery Data recovery service for internal hard drives from all major brands including Apple, Hitachi, Seagate, HGST, Western Digital, Toshiba, Fujitsu, and Maxtor. Handles failed updates, dropped drives, electronic damage, firmware corruption, and logical failures.
• External Hard Drive Recovery Professional recovery for portable external HDDs and SSDs from manufacturers including Western Digital, Seagate, LaCie, Samsung, and Toshiba. Covers mechanical failures, firmware issues, power surge PCB damage with ROM transfer, and physical damage.
• SSD Data Recovery Data recovery services for solid-state drives including those with electronic damage, controller failures, and firmware issues across major SSD brands.
• RAID Data Recovery Professional RAID and server data recovery for RAID 0, 5, and 10 configurations, minimizing downtime and data loss for businesses. Requires custom quote based on configuration.
• iMac Data Recovery Specialized data recovery for iMac computers, including Fusion Drive systems, supporting all macOS versions and recovering files from failed updates, clicking drives, and water/fire damage.
• MacBook Pro Data Recovery Data recovery for MacBook Pro laptops including Retina models with Samsung/Toshiba SSDs and older models with Hitachi/Toshiba/Seagate 2.5-inch drives.
• MacBook Pro (Late 2016) Data Recovery Specialized recovery for MacBook Pro A1708 (2016-2017) models with proprietary blade SSDs and custom Apple controller chips, including FileVault encryption. Performed using a custom-built recovery station constructed from 2016 MacBook Escape internals.
• Mac Pro Data Recovery Data recovery for Mac Pro systems including cylinder models with limited built-in storage and older G5 tower units with SATA HDDs, SSDs, and RAIDs.
• iPhone Data Recovery Data recovery for iPhones with security obstacles, including devices stuck at Apple logo, water damage, smashed screens, and those with forgotten passcodes. Standard fee plus additional charge for liquid damage diagnosis and repair.
• Dropped Hard Drive Recovery Recovery service for hard drives damaged by drops or falls, including replacement of read/write heads and recovery from clicking drives before further damage occurs.
• Fire Damage Data Recovery Recovery service for hard drives and storage devices damaged by fire, including heat damage and smoke damage scenarios.
• Flood & Water Damage Data Recovery Recovery service for hard drives and devices damaged by water, including flood damage, spilt liquids, and liquid submersion.
• USB Stick & Camera Cards Recovery Data recovery service for USB sticks and camera memory cards at a flat rate, only charged if successful.
• Mac Setup Service Service to replace failed disks and restore recovered data onto new drives, getting Mac systems back up and running after a data recovery job.

Quantifiable outcome

• 12,326+ customers served, 3,697 TB of data recovered, 8,332 businesses helped

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Salvation Data: Global data recovery and forensics vendor with hardware tools, software, and lab services. Larger and more diversified than DataQuest, with overlapping service lines in HDD/SSD/mobile recovery.
• Ontrack (Kroll): Long-established global data recovery and digital forensics provider, part of Kroll, serving large enterprises with broader IT and legal-services portfolio. Larger scale and broader scope than DataQuest but competes for the same RAID/enterprise recovery jobs.

Direct peers

• Gillware Data Recovery: Wisconsin-based data recovery service with in-house cleanroom and proprietary tools, serving consumers and businesses on HDDs, SSDs, RAIDs, and mobile devices. Directly comparable full-service lab model with similar product breadth.
• DriveSavers: US-based specialist data recovery lab offering in-house cleanroom recovery across HDDs, SSDs, RAID, and mobile devices for consumers and enterprises. Closest like-for-like competitor in service model, target customer mix, and cleanroom-based differentiation.
• Stellar Data Recovery: Global data recovery services and software vendor covering HDD, SSD, RAID, and mobile recovery with lab facilities across multiple regions. Closely comparable on end-to-end consumer + enterprise recovery offering.
• CBL Data Recovery: Global data recovery lab with cleanroom facilities serving consumers, SMBs, and enterprise on HDDs, SSDs, RAIDs, and virtualized environments. Direct peer on in-house lab service model and customer mix.
• SecureDataRecovery: US specialist with multiple Class-10 cleanrooms, certified secure handling, and a No Recovery, No Fee structure mirroring DataQuest's guarantee. Directly comparable on service scope, security posture, and pricing model.

Regional players

• Datlabs Data Recovery: UK-based data recovery lab serving the domestic market with cleanroom facilities. Direct UK competitor with similar service scope and customer mix to DataQuest.
• Data Recovery Specialists: UK-based data recovery company operating its own cleanroom and serving consumers and businesses nationwide. The most direct UK competitor, with overlapping device support and a similar No Recovery, No Fee commercial proposition.
• NorthWest Data Recovery: UK-based data recovery service handling HDD, SSD, RAID, and mobile recoveries for consumers and SMBs. Comparable UK peer in scope and target customer, competing for the same mail-in/courier business.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dataquest-international-ltd

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about DATA QUEST INTERNATIONAL LTD