ComputerLand of Berkeley — Local services in Berkeley

ResurrectionLand: A Tale of Backup Failures, Mac Mishaps, and Data Salvation

So, you know the drill: Backup, backup, backup. Right? But did I do it? Of course not. I mean, who really expects things to go wrong… until they do. And boy, did things go wrong.

My beloved early-2015 4K iMac, the one I lovingly named "The Holy Grail of Gadgets," starts acting up about a year ago. What did I do? Absolutely nothing. Ignored it like a bad ex. And Apple, in their infinite wisdom, decides to update their Macs—great, but they only offer a 2TB drive now. And here I am, stuck with my 2015 iMac's 3TB Fusion Drive. Big mistake. Huge. Fusion Drives are basically the “mystery meat” of the Mac world. They look good on paper, but eventually, you’ll be paying the price.

And then the waiting game began. "Any day now, the new M2/M3/M4 iMacs will come with a 3TB option," I thought. Spoiler: they didn’t. So, I finally break down and order the new M4 Pro Mac Mini. It arrives. I plug it in. Time to migrate my old iMac’s data. Migration Assistant says, "Oh, don’t worry, just 154 hours to go!" A full week and a half of my life! I let it do its thing and go to bed, thinking I’ll wake up to a shiny new Mac full of old memories.

But no. The next morning, migration stalls. I reboot both computers like some sort of tech priest performing a ritual, and bam—my iMac is dead. Not "almost dead." Not "in a coma." DEAD.

And then… the reality hits. My TimeMachine backup was a myth. A legend never to be realized. And the Time Capsule it was on? Gone. Gone like the last slice of pizza at a party.

So, off to the Apple store I go, hoping for a miracle. They keep my iMac for two days, only to return it to me with… an OS, but no data. What? No files, no pictures, no memories of the last five years—nothing. Just an empty shell. So, I take it back, they keep it for three more days, and then—bam, the dreaded call.

"Yeah, so… we couldn’t save it. It’s dead. You’re welcome to kick rocks."

But, bless the Apple employee who had some compassion and referred me to Computerland in Berkeley, saying, “They might be able to help. If they can’t, you’ll need to sell your soul to some ultra-expensive data recovery service."

I call Computerland, they sound like actual humans on the other end of the line (which, let’s be honest, is rare for tech support). They give me a rundown on what I might expect, and one gem of a story they shared: One guy came in with a quote for $4K to recover his drive. Computerland got the job done for just $350. That was my moment of hope. So, like a kid getting his first taste of candy, I sign up and send my iMac off.

Now, let me tell you, not all dead drives are created equal. But in my case? The tech gods must've been on my side, because they worked their magic. My data was bigger and slightly more complex, so my recovery bill came out to around $800. But hey, it’s a far cry from $4K, and I was honestly thrilled to pay it. At that point, I would've paid anything. I got my data back!

I’m so ridiculously happy right now I’m grinning like a madman. I’m pretty sure I look like a creepy weirdo as I type this, but I don’t even care. My files are safe, my memories are intact, and I didn’t have to sell my kidney to make it happen.

So, if your drive’s as dead as disco, give Computerland a shot. They’re like the miracle workers of the tech world, only with fewer robes and more...

Is this how nice people should be treated?

My hard drive broke during finals last year(December 2023), and I urgently needed to recover my data. I found this store, the closest one to me, and initially, they quoted me $200. I paid a $50 deposit, and they promised it would be done within two weeks. However, two weeks later, they said they needed more time. By then, my finals were over, so I let them take their time with the recovery.

One year passed, and every time I visited, they told me it would take another two weeks and promised to call me, but I never received a call from them.

After graduating, I moved to South Bay for work and wanted to end this endless waiting, regardless of whether the recovery was successful. A month ago, I went to the store, and they told me I could pick up my hard drive before Christmas. Last week, I called to ask if my friend could pick it up so I wouldn’t worry about not getting it because of the holiday. They said they would check with the manager and promised to call back in one to two days, but I never received a call.

Today, the day after Christmas, I called in the morning, and they said I could pick it up, so I went to the store in the afternoon. I waited 15 minutes, and then they told me I had to pay $850. I couldn’t believe it. I asked again, and they confirmed the price was $850, while my receipt originally stated $150. They claimed the cost had risen because it took them a year to recover the data. I told them no one had mentioned any price changes during my numerous visits, and we had no written agreement, just the original receipt. They tried to print a new receipt for me to sign, but luckily, I kept the original receipt. They even said their original receipt was lost—very tricky.

While dealing with this, my friend, who had been waiting outside, came in. He was aware of most of the situation and was furious. He used to teach business ethics at university, and he was appalled by their behavior. He insisted on speaking to their manager, but they not allowed us to talk to him. A fixed price should remain fixed, and it's unacceptable to increase the price when the customer arrives to pick up their items, significantly when the service was delayed for a year and still not completed.

In the end, I paid what I owed and left feeling disappointed. I’ve lived here for five years, and most of my family and friends will continue to live in this area. It’s sad to be treated this way, especially when they assume that, as an international student, I’ll be...

ComputerLand fixed my broken computer in 3days.

Thursday my, 2012 MacBook pro, wouldn't load pass the grey screen. I googled how to troubleshoot and nothing worked. After chatting with apple support, they recommended that I take my computer in to a store because it was mostly likely an hardware issue. All of the Apple stores were booked until Sunday or the following week. I saw ComputerLand in Berkeley had an appointment the next day so I booked a time at 12:20pm. The next day, I was anxious to know what was wrong and couldn't wait my scheduled time so I called ComputerLand to see if i could come in earlier, they said that it was fine and I was there within the hour. The Apple technician, Gus, took a guess that it was the hard disk drive that needed replacing. At this point, I had guessed that as well, I had been thinking about replacing my hard disk drive with an SSD for awhile, so I figured this would be the time to do that. He quoted me $370 for the SSD and labor. I paid the optional expedited fee of $50, along with the diagnostics fee of $40 so that I could know that day what the diagnosis was. Gus told me that he would be in contact with me later that day with a full diagnostics report. A few hours later Gus calls and says that its NOT the hard disk drive but actually the cable that connects the hard disk to the rest of the computer. He quoted me $180 for the cable. I told Gus that I was hoping it was the drive so I can replace it. He understood and wanted to help so he offered to replace the cable and the drive for $380 -tax! I agreed and he said that it would be done by Monday. Saturday comes around and I get a call from Gus saying that my computer is ready! I go in and see that my computer has a new lease on life all in 3 days! Great Service and quiet location! Thank...