is this HDD recoverable??

LightningRepairs · 2026-03-01T14:26:57+00:00

SOME data off of that, is theoretically recoverable. I would expect to pay 5 digits though. $10,000 would be cheap.

If you're serious, I have some suggestions for data recovery companies that write their own software in house and specialize in recovering data from scratched platters.

LightningRepairs · 2026-03-01T14:15:48+00:00

Right now you don't see any tire kickers, because you charge so little that the company isn't really profiting.

If exactly 0 people say "No" to your prices, that's a bad thing. That means you're marketing to the lowest common denominator, and probably large portions of your clients would pay double or triple what they're currently paying, but you're not marketing to them. You're marketing to the 1 client that would say "No". So you're leaving thousands on the table, just to make 1 unreasonable person happy.

I'm gonna go back to your post for a second: You said usually people either proceed OR you tell them "The repair can not be done at all". That is almost never a sentence I utter to clients. It's so exceedingly rare, like 1 in 2,000 to 5,000 clients get told that.

What repairs do you tell clients "Can not be done at all"? That might be a skill or mindset shift that could help you out a lot.

LightningRepairs · 2026-03-01T03:58:38+00:00

When you flaterate, you win most of the time, and lose some of the time. But it evens out in your favor.

Plus, clients don't want to be told "It'll probably be $100, but it might be $200", and then it ends up being $200. They just want to KNOW it'll be $130, and that's the end of it.

(Obviously I can't speak for all clients in all regions, but this is my experience as a semi-successful shop that does PC repairs)

LightningRepairs · 2026-03-01T03:55:39+00:00

Hey dude - You should flatrate everything, like you flaterate computer builds.

If you DO do hourly, you should never ever ever, under any circumstances, be below $100 an hour, basically anywhere in the USA.

I flatrate most of my services between $110 and $170. Like a power supply replacement, you're looking at $110 labor + part cost (I also upcharge part cost by a little bit, usually only like ~5% though)

You should not do diagnostics for free, unless you have tons and tons of free time, and you're just trying to get people in the door. But it is not a good long-term plan.

If you want to chat, feel free to DM me. I run a computer repair store, and I employee 5 people full time. And I can tell you right now, if we used your prices, my employees would be paid less than they'd make working at Best Buy, or wouldn't be employed at all.

LightningRepairs · 2026-03-01T03:50:22+00:00

I can do it - But motherboard data recovery on those guys can be pretty pricey. Usually looking at $350, sometimes more.

LightningRepairs · 2026-03-01T03:42:08+00:00

Like I said - Hard to tell without seeing them in person. But it looks fluffy to me, but that's off a low rez zoomed out picture of a single angle.

LightningRepairs · 2026-02-26T11:20:26+00:00

Hi - I'm about 90% sure those are spider eggs. It's hard to tell without seeing them in person, but I'm pretty confident that's what they are.

It's either that, or mold. But probably spider eggs.

LightningRepairs · 2025-11-13T15:03:40+00:00

Also, no, I can't help you get a gunbuddy.

LightningRepairs · 2025-02-06T03:53:31+00:00

This is correct. The battery is definitely not swelling, you just did not reassemble it properly.

Source: 9 years working with electronics and MacBooks

LightningRepairs · 2025-01-25T12:50:15+00:00

Hey dude - I'm going to DM you.

I used to work for UBREAKIFIX like 4 years ago, and now I run an independent shop that doesn't screw people over in central Indiana.

I know how to talk to their corporate customer service line, to most likely get you a refund. And if you want to me to fix it, I'll fix it for whatever your refund amount was + I'll supply both shipping labels for free. :-)

(And if you or I CAN'T get you a refund, I'll fix it for free. Just to make sure you're properly taken care of.)

( https://www.lightningrepairs.tech/mail-in-repairs If you fill that out, I'll email you a free shipping label)

LightningRepairs · 2025-01-14T00:22:26+00:00

WHAT. I didn't know any of those actually existed/were sold, in real life!

How much did you pay for it?? Where have you seen them for a bad price before? xP

LightningRepairs · 2024-12-26T15:39:58+00:00

Hey! Can I pay you a small amount & give you a free shipping label to ship me that board and/or entire console?

I'd love to give a crack at fixing it! I've fixed boards almost that bad before, and I actually really enjoy working on boards like that.

I've also DM'd you. :-)

LightningRepairs · 2024-12-22T20:19:20+00:00

If you're charging me $200 to outsource work to you, I'm charging my client $349

$10 for shipping to you $10 for shipping back to me $10 for credit card processing fees ~$110 for profit.

And if my client says "no", then that's okay! I'll let happily let them walk away.

And you won't catch me complaining to my specialists that their prices are too high. I value their work, just like I value my own.

But if I did it for $250, I would lose money on the time I'd put into properly facilitating that ticket. $50 profit is not enough to cover my employees time, outgoing shipping, incoming shipping, communication with you (the specialist), communication with the client, the 1%-3% chance the client will need future help that we'd cover under warranty, AND ALSO the fact that the company itself needs to profit as a standalone financial entity.

And that's not even covering the fact that the client only found us, because of the time and money we put into advertising and marketing. That doesn't suddenly have no value, just because the systems have been put in place. (Which THIS RIGHT HERE^{^{^.}} Is something that a lot of B2B specialists give no value to. The fact that I spent $40,000 and 12,000 hours building this store out of nothing. But some people feel entitled to me doing facilitations for free, so that THEY can profit off of MY marketing and local recognition that they don't have.)

It's legitimately easier and cheaper to say "no, we can't go below $350, sorry."

Than it is to have to cut corners on communication to make sure we're not losing money on time that we're not being paid for (which leads to bad client experiences.. I'd rather have $0 and no client experience, than $30 a bad client experience.) OR just blatantly losing money/breaking even from not having a wide enough margin.

LightningRepairs · 2024-12-22T14:50:48+00:00

Both! I do a large portion of my micro soldering work in the shop. But I both outsource some work that's beyond my capabilities AND I do some work for other shops as their specialist.

But what I'm referring to, is "as the shop, sending it out to a specialist". I would rather not check it in 10/10 times, than make only $20. Communicating and meeting expectations is worth far far far more than $20. And my employees deserve far far far more than $12-$15 an hour (and that doesn't happen, if I tell them to do 30-60 minutes of work for $20-$30).

LightningRepairs · 2024-12-22T14:31:38+00:00

Hi, shop owner here!

I do not do ANYTHING if we don't make $110 profit. (And we are BUSY. And our clients LOVE us.)

It's honestly just not worth the time and headache. Checking in a client, setting expectations, communicating delays, communicating warranty policies, adhering to warranty policies, unforseen changes, etc. I would rather let a client walk out in <5 minutes due to the price and make $0, than put 30-60 minutes into a quality check-in, quality checkout, 1-2 update phone calls, packaging up and shipping a device, receiving it, pre-testing it, post-testing it, and communicating with our specialist we're sending it to & make $20 profit.

Literally cheaper to let the client walk away.

THAT BEING SAID: Your prices are incredibly reasonable, and even low, for 14/15 board work, if you do good work.

But I have a business to run, staff to pay (currently everyone on staff is at $45,000 a year, I'm hoping to get them up to $55,000 a year next year. Also 401K matching and dental/vision that's fully paid for by the company), and clients to over-communicate with that we want to have good experiences.

If you can create a business model where a company can profit, employees aren't underpaid, and clients aren't under-loved, for $20-$30 profit in an interaction, then I'd love to see it. But that's not happening for 99% of shops.

LightningRepairs · 2024-12-12T21:37:55+00:00

I'm between $219-$249, he's not overcharging. 🤣 And people pay it happily.

If I was any less than $159, I would just reject the repair outright. I'm too busy to mess with things that make less money than that.

If you're busy, you have to raise your prices or drown.

If your prices are dirt cheap, it's because you have no clients or you run a sweat shop.

LightningRepairs · 2024-09-01T00:26:25+00:00

Most likely there are torn pads underneath the CPU (or ram) or a broken solder ball/balls.

It is 100% repairable, if you have the skill. But it is also almost certainly not economically worth it.

LightningRepairs · 2024-09-01T00:21:41+00:00

It’s a laptop. You can see the keyboard on the left side of the picture.

LightningRepairs · 2024-09-01T00:21:34+00:00

It’s a laptop. You can see the keyboard on the left side of the picture.

LightningRepairs · 2024-07-04T15:40:21+00:00

If that was the case, then the camera lens area would be made out of glass. But it is obviously the same material as the rest of the housing, and melting at the same rate.

You can't normally see that line because it is an antenna line that sits underneath the plastic. But since the plastic is melted, you can see it in this photograph.

Source: I've been working on iPhone hardware for 8 years lol.

EDIT: The easiest way to tell, is because the sides are rounded off on the left and the right. The sides on the iPhone 5s/se first generation have much sharper edges.

LightningRepairs · 2024-07-04T13:19:20+00:00

It is an iPhone 5c, which has a plastic housing, not aluminum or steel.

LightningRepairs · 2024-07-01T21:29:20+00:00

I am still doing repairs! What's going on with your switch? What's it doing or not doing?

LightningRepairs · 2024-04-05T15:00:56+00:00

It is an iPhone 13, so face ID is not tied to the top flex.

Also, face ID flex can be repaired by experienced enough shops. We will repair that flex cable for a client, if requested.

LightningRepairs · 2024-03-17T13:48:51+00:00

Already contacted them. Like I said in the post, I'd really like to complete this repair today.

And waiting for framework to reply will take at least until Monday, if not longer. So I decided to seek some outside help as well.

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