Data Recovery for Princeton, NJ
Every recovery starts with a $75 diagnostic. Bring your drive or the whole computer from Princeton to our Somerville shop; from Nassau Hall it is about 37 minutes up Route 206. We diagnose it, text you the flat price, and hold off on any recovery work until you give the okay.
75 North Bridge St, Somerville NJ 08876 · Private parking · Walk-ins welcome, no appointment needed
Contact Us First. It Takes Two Minutes.
No appointment is needed, but a quick message before you leave Princeton saves you a wasted trip. Tell us what happened to the drive and we'll tell you what to bring and what not to do in the meantime.
- Whether to bring the whole computer or just the drive
- How to keep a clicking or failing drive from getting worse
- Whether rush service makes sense for your deadline
Bring the Drive In.
No appointment. Check in at the kiosk.Walk in during shop hours and check in on our kiosk. The screen explains how data recovery works in large, easy-to-read text, confirms your turnaround time, and asks you to tick a box and sign on screen. Tell us which files matter most (a dissertation chapter, lab data from a research project, a faculty member's lecture archive, a family's scanned letters) so we look for those first.
We work on internal hard drives and SSDs, external USB drives, flash drives, SD and camera cards, desktops and laptops, and NAS or RAID boxes. We do not recover data from phones.
- Monday to Friday
- 10am to 5pm
- Saturday
- 9am to 2pm
- Sunday
- Closed
$75 to Find Out What's Recoverable.
Standard diagnostic: 2 to 3 days.The diagnostic tells us why the files disappeared (a failing drive, a deleted folder, a corrupted partition, a dead computer around a healthy drive) and how much of your data can realistically come back. You get an honest answer, not a sales pitch.
Your drive stays on our bench in Somerville the whole time. We don't box it up for a lab in another state, so you're never waiting on a shipping label to find out what happened to your files.
- Diagnostic FeeDrive evaluation and recovery assessment
- $75
- Rush ServiceWe offer rush. Ask about it at drop-off
- Available
Credited if you go ahead. When the recovery is approved, the $75 comes off your recovery price. It's not an extra charge.
We Text You the Plan.
Nothing gets copied until you say yes.At check-in we text your ticket number so you know your drive is logged. When the diagnostic is done, we text what we found in plain language: which folders are readable, roughly how much data that is, and the flat price to copy it to a new drive. Reply yes and we start. Reply no and nothing else is charged.
Your ticket # is #46905.
We'll text you once the recovery diagnostic is complete. 👍
Get Your Files Back.
Diagnostic fee already deducted.We text you when the recovery is finished. Come by during shop hours, pay the balance, and take your files home. In the example here, the recovery was quoted at $299. The $75 diagnostic you paid at drop-off comes off that, so the balance due at pickup is $224 plus NJ sales tax.
- Data Recovery (quoted)
- $299.00
- Diagnostic Paid at Drop-Off
- -$75.00
- Subtotal
- $224.00
- NJ Sales Tax (6.625%)
- $14.84
Avoid the Fake Data Recovery Listings
Around Princeton, many data recovery listings on the map are mail-in drop-off points. They take the drive, box it up and ship it to a lab out of state. Research, theses and family archives are too important to trust to a package that could get lost in transit.
Your drive goes in a box
- The local listing only collects the drive, then ships it to a lab you've never seen, often in another state.
- A failing drive gets bounced around in a delivery truck, and a package can be delayed, damaged, or lost.
- Your family photos or client files pass through strangers' hands and a shipping depot.
- You wait on transit both ways before anyone even looks at it, and the person at the counter can't answer your questions.
Your drive stays in Somerville
- All recovery work is done on-site, on our own bench at 75 N Bridge St. Your drive never leaves the building.
- You hand it to the person who actually does the work, and you can call the shop directly at 908-428-9558.
- Standard diagnostic in 2 to 3 days with no shipping time, and rush service is available.
- If your drive needs something beyond what we do in-house, we tell you plainly and can give you the contact for a recovery partner. The choice stays yours.
Quick test: before you hand over a drive anywhere, ask "Will my drive be recovered here, in this building?" If the answer involves shipping, you're looking at a drop-off point, not a lab.
Data Recovery for Princeton's Campus, Homes and Home Offices
Princeton University moved here from Newark in 1756, and Nassau Hall even served as the United States Capitol for four months in 1783. The former borough and township merged in 2013 into one municipality of roughly 31,000 people. In a town built around research and scholarship, a failed drive can hold years of work.
Graduate students and researchers
Princeton University, the Princeton Theological Seminary and the Institute for Advanced Study all call Princeton home. If the laptop holding your writing will not boot, bring the laptop to our shop. We diagnose it ourselves and text you a flat price.
Data from labs and research groups
The Princeton area is home to research centers such as the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. If your work files are on an external drive or NAS that fails, we look at it on our own bench in Somerville. Should it need more than we handle in-house, we will pass along a recovery partner's contact.
Historic homes, modern files
From the Mountain Avenue Historic District to Jugtown, if your family keeps decades of photos and papers on one computer and it dies, bring the whole machine and we will tell you what can be recovered before any work starts.
Princeton neighborhoods and nearby sections
Heads up: Dave's Computers doesn't have a location in Princeton. Every recovery happens at our shop at 75 N Bridge St, Somerville, and your drive never leaves the building.
Directions from Princeton to Our Somerville Shop
The trip from Nassau Hall is almost entirely one road: US 206 north through Montgomery and onto the Route 206 bypass in Hillsborough, then Bridge Street into Somerville.
From Nassau Hall at Princeton University
- From Nassau Street, turn left onto Witherspoon Street. Start on Nassau Street (Route 27) in front of campus and head north on Witherspoon Street for about 0.8 miles.
- Continue onto Mount Lucas Road, then turn left onto Cherry Hill Road. Both are very short: Witherspoon Street becomes Mount Lucas Road, and Cherry Hill Road takes you just a few hundred feet to US 206.
- Turn right onto State Road (US 206 North). State Road is US 206. Follow it about 3.1 miles north.
- Stay on US 206 North for about 5.3 miles more. The road drops the State Road name but it is still US 206, heading north through Montgomery Township.
- Continue straight onto the US 206 Bypass, named the Peter J. Biondi Memorial Bypass. A short ramp puts you on the bypass. Follow it about 6.3 miles.
- Turn right on South Bridge Street. Take South Bridge Street north about a mile into downtown Somerville. After you cross Main Street it becomes North Bridge Street.
- Swing left into 75 N Bridge St. The blue Dave's Computers arrow sign sits right at our driveway. Parking is in our own lot, and the check-in kiosk is just inside.
A Real Office, With Our Own Parking
We work out of a commercial office building on North Bridge Street, not a spare room in someone's house. It's the large gray-shingled building with the stone front and the tall brick chimneys.
- Find the blue arrow sign. Our Dave's Computers sign sits at the curb right at the driveway entrance.
- Pull into the private lot. Follow the driveway along the left side of the building to the parking lot. Parking is free.
- Look for our windows. Our entrance is in the single-story wing facing the lot, with Dave's Computers signs in the windows.
A Few More Things
Need It Sooner?
Standard turnaround is 2 to 3 days. We also offer rush service; we'll go over timing and cost with you at drop-off.
Rush AvailableCan't Carry It In?
Heavy tower or a NAS box full of drives? Call us from the parking lot at 908-428-9558 and we'll come out to your car to carry it in.
Call Us FirstWant the Full Picture?
See everything we recover on our data recovery in New Jersey page, or read how data recovery pricing works before you come in.
Princeton Data Recovery FAQ
How much is the data recovery diagnostic?
$75. It covers checking the drive, finding out why the files are missing, and telling you what can be recovered. If you approve the recovery, the $75 is credited toward the price.
When is the $75 refunded?
When you hand us the drive directly (a bare drive, external drive, USB flash drive or SD card) and we can't recover your data, the diagnostic is refunded. If the drive has to be removed from a laptop or desktop, that removal is labor, so the diagnostic isn't refunded even if recovery isn't possible.
How long does it take?
The standard diagnostic takes 2 to 3 days. We also offer rush service, and we'll go over it with you in person at drop-off.
How far is your shop from Princeton?
From Nassau Hall at Princeton University it's about 16.9 miles and 37 minutes, mostly on US 206 North and the US 206 Bypass. The shop is at 75 N Bridge St, Somerville, with a private parking lot. Look for the blue Dave's Computers arrow sign at the driveway.
My dissertation is on a laptop that will not turn on. Can you help from Princeton?
Bring the laptop to our Somerville shop and check in on the kiosk. The $75 diagnostic takes 2 to 3 days and is credited toward the recovery if you approve. If your deadline is close, ask about rush service at drop-off.
Do you ship my drive to another lab?
No. All recovery work is done on-site at our Somerville shop, and your drive never goes in the mail. If a drive needs work beyond what we do in-house, we'll tell you and can give you the contact for a recovery partner, so you decide what happens next.
Can you recover files from my phone?
No. We recover data from hard drives, SSDs, external drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, computers, and NAS or RAID systems, but not from phones.
Do I need an appointment?
No. Walk in Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm or Saturday 9am to 2pm and check in at the kiosk. Questions first? Call 908-428-9558.
Bring the Drive In Today.
$75 diagnostic. Honest answers. The same technician since 2011.
908-428-9558Mon-Fri 10am-5pm · Sat 9am-2pm · 75 N Bridge St, Somerville NJ · About 37 minutes from Princeton