When the cost of waiting is higher than the cost of priority.
Emergency service moves your case to the front of the bench and assigns a dedicated engineer. Work starts inside the hour, including nights and weekends. The rate is clear. The process is the same careful work.
In-house work in Huntsville. No third parties. No silent blocks.
What this service is
- Rate
- $200 per hour
- Minimum
- 5 hours ($1,000)
- Payment
- Upfront, non-refundable
- Hours
- After-hours included
- Engineer
- Dedicated for the block
- Updates
- Hourly while work is running
Starts in the hour
Once payment is authorized and the device is on our bench, a senior engineer begins. The clock is engineer-at-bench time.
What this means
Emergency is a schedule, not a marketing label.
In standard service, your case joins a queue. Cases are worked in the order they come in, with allowances for technical dependencies like donor parts or imaging time.
Emergency service removes the queue. A lead engineer stops what they are on, your device moves to the front, and work begins on the bench within the hour. After-hours qualifies at the same rate.
You are paying for a named block of an engineer’s time, uninterrupted, starting now.
How billing works
Upfront. Hourly. No surprises.
Starting block
$1,000
5 hours at $200 per hour
- Paid upfront, non-refundable
- Dedicated senior engineer for the block
- After-hours, weekends, and holidays included
- Hourly status updates during work
Hourly rate
$200 / hr
The same rate applies to the initial block and any additional time you approve.
Additional time
Billed by the hour. Requires written approval before work continues.
We stop at the 5-hour mark and brief you. Nothing extends without your sign-off.
Payment by card, ACH, or wire. Receipt and timeline issued at case close.
Fit check
Use it when the math says so.
Emergency is the right call when the cost of being down beats the emergency rate. Rush is different: it moves you ahead of the standard queue during business hours, but it does not guarantee the recovery itself finishes faster.
Use emergency
- Production server or NAS is offline and the business is stopped
- Payroll, tax, or legal filing depends on the files
- A camera or drone card has irreplaceable footage from a live event
- A client or court deadline cannot move
- Standard turnaround would cost more than the hourly rate
Use rush service
- You want the case moved ahead of the standard queue
- Business-hours priority is enough for the situation
- You need us to start sooner, but not call someone in after hours
- You understand rush changes queue position, not the laws of recovery
Use standard service
- A few business days does not create real loss
- Files are important, but there is no immediate deadline
- Budget matters more than queue priority
- Donor parts, clean-room work, or imaging time may drive the timeline either way
What to expect
Straight talk before work starts.
No guarantee of recovery
Emergency hours buy engineer time and priority, not an outcome. Some failures take days even with the best tools. You pay for a focused effort, not a result.
Complexity drives duration
Logical cases can finish inside the 5-hour block. Physical failures, chip-off work, and multi-disk arrays almost always run longer. We brief you at the 5-hour mark.
You hear from us every hour
Updates come at the top of every hour, plus when something material changes. Pick the channel at intake: call, text, or email. No silent blocks.
Why the rate
What you are paying for.
Dedicated engineer
A senior technician is pulled from queue work and assigned to you for the block. No multitasking across other cases.
Queue jump
Standard cases ahead of yours are paused. That creates schedule cost for other clients, which is why emergency is priced separately.
After-hours access
Evenings, weekends, and holidays all qualify at the same rate. Technicians come in, the bench opens, tools are staged.
How a case runs
Emergency starts by phone, not a form.
Step 01
Contact
Call or text immediately. Describe the device, the failure, and the deadline. We confirm whether emergency is the right fit and quote the block. If it is not urgent, use standard or rush intake instead.
Step 02
Authorize and hand off
Upfront payment authorizes the 5-hour block. Drop off in Huntsville, or courier arrangements can be made for local sites.
Step 03
Engineer starts
The clock begins when the device is on the bench and an engineer is working. Write protection and imaging happen first, same as every case.
Step 04
Updates and decision point
Hourly status during work. At hour five you get a status, findings, and a recommendation: continue at the same rate, or convert to standard queue.
Emergency cases never leave our Huntsville facility.
No partner lab, no shipping an urgent case across the country, no third parties billing their own hourly rate on top of ours. The engineer you talk to is the engineer doing the work.
Frequently Asked Questions
If it is truly urgent, call or text now.
$200 per hour. 5-hour minimum. Upfront and non-refundable. Additional time only with your written approval. Updates at the top of every hour.
Huntsville, AL. Emergency intake is by phone or text. Standard and rush cases can use the normal service request.