PCB Documentation Recovery: Rebuilding the Design Package Nobody Handed Over

You own the product. You do not own the data. That is the situation this service exists for: the contract manufacturer holds the files and will not release them, the design house closed, the engineer who did the work left without a handover, or the package you were given contained Gerbers and nothing else. We rebuild the complete documentation set from a physical board so the design is yours again.

[Get a quote in 24 hours] [Send board photos]

If you are looking for how to recover a corrupted Altium or OrCAD project file after a crash, that is a software problem and your CAD vendor is the right place to start. This page is about the case where the design data does not exist anywhere any more, and the only remaining record of the design is the board itself.

How design data goes missing

The contract manufacturer holds it. They built your product and treat the CAD database as theirs. You can buy boards from them and nobody else, at whatever price they set.
The design house folded, was acquired, or simply stopped answering.
The engineer left. The project lived on one laptop, or on a server that was decommissioned in a migration nobody documented.
The handover was incomplete. You received Gerbers, which are enough to build the same board forever and not enough to change one resistor.
An acquisition. You bought a product line and the records that came with it are partial, in a CAD format nobody still runs, or several revisions behind what is actually in production.
The files are the wrong revision. What is on the server does not match what is on the shelf, and nobody knows which change went in when.

All of these end in the same place. The board on your desk is the authoritative version of your own design, and reading it is the only way to get the documentation back.

What a complete documentation package contains

Use this as a checklist against whatever you currently hold. Most people discover they have items one and five and nothing else.

Document	Why you need it
Schematic, PDF plus native	To understand, review and change the design. Without it every modification is guesswork
Netlist, IPC-D-356A	To electrically test bare boards and to build test fixtures
Gerber, RS-274X	To fabricate. Enough to repeat the board, not enough to alter it
Drill data, Excellon	Plated and non plated, with tool table
Stackup and fabrication notes	Layer arrangement, material, copper weight, finish, impedance targets. Without it a new fab cannot quote correctly
Bill of materials	To buy parts, with alternates and lifecycle status so you can keep buying them
Assembly drawings and centroid	So a new assembler can build it without reverse engineering the placement themselves
Test requirements	What constitutes a good board. Frequently the item nobody wrote down
Revision record	Which board on the shelf corresponds to which set of files

Individual items can be ordered on their own: [schematic recovery], [netlist extraction], [Gerber generation], [BOM reconstruction].

What you already hold changes the price

Send whatever you have with the enquiry, even if it looks useless or out of date. Partial data shortens the job and reduces the quote.

Gerbers, even old ones: copper geometry comes for free and the work reduces to component identification, netlist extraction and schematic capture.
An old BOM, even incomplete: identification becomes verification, which is much faster.
A service manual, a block diagram, a datasheet folder, an old marketing spec: all of it constrains the interpretation and reduces the number of open questions.
Two boards of different revisions: comparing them tells us what changed and often why.

How the recovery runs

Free feasibility check within 24 hours from photos. We tell you what is recoverable, what it will cost and how long it takes, before you ship anything.
NDA signed before the board leaves your site. Send yours or use ours.
Intake, imaging, X-ray, layer extraction, netlist, schematic capture, BOM, manufacturing data. The full sequence is described on [PCB reverse engineering].
Verification against the physical board, net by net, with a written report on coverage and open questions.
Handover of every file, in the CAD tool and version you specify, with the PDF set alongside so the documentation is readable without a licence.

Keeping it from happening again

Recovering the package is the expensive part. Not losing it again is nearly free, and worth writing into your next contract.

Put ownership of the design database in the contract, explicitly, not just ownership of the product. Name the files.
Take delivery in native format and in a neutral format. ODB++ or IPC-2581 alongside the native project means a future tool change does not orphan the design.
Take a PDF set as well. It survives every tool migration and it is what an engineer reads during a failure investigation at 2am.
Store the data where the company controls it, not on the designer’s machine and not only at the CM.
Tie every revision to a board marking so you can identify what you are holding years later.
Include the BOM with alternates and the test requirements. Both get forgotten and both are expensive to reconstruct.

Ownership and confidentiality

We work only on boards you own or are authorised to reproduce, and we ask for a short declaration of ownership or authorisation before starting. Files are held on isolated storage, only the assigned engineers have access, and project data is deleted after handover unless you ask us to hold it open for a follow up run. We do not reuse your design for anyone else. Full terms on our [legitimate use policy].

Cost and turnaround

Layer count and component density drive both. A complete reverse engineering package starts at 150 USD for a 2 layer board, 280 USD for 4 layer, 550 USD for 6 to 8 layer and 1,100 USD for 10 layers and above, with turnaround from 3 to 15 working days. Ordering a partial package on its own costs less than the full package, and the exact number depends on your board. Send photos and you get a firm price within 24 hours. Full breakdown on [price and lead time].

Frequently asked questions

Our contract manufacturer says the design files belong to them. Can we do this?

Whether they own the CAD database is a contractual question between you and them, and it varies with what you signed. What is generally not in question is your right to document a product you own and sell. If the position is unclear, take advice before you commit to a production run elsewhere. This is general information, not legal advice.

We only have Gerbers. Is that enough to change the design?

No, and this is the most common reason people call. Gerbers let you rebuild the same board indefinitely. They do not tell you what the circuit does, so you cannot substitute an obsolete part or fix a fault with confidence. Recovering the schematic is what restores that ability.

Can you recover documentation for a board that is still in production?

Yes, and it is easier because you have plentiful samples and can supply a bare board as well as a populated one. It is also the best time to do it, rather than after the supplier relationship has broken down.

How long does the whole package take?

From 3 to 5 working days for a 2 layer board up to 12 to 15 working days for 10 layers and above, with damage, potting and removed markings adding time. You get a firm date with the quote.

Do you return the board?

Yes for X-ray based work, within 3 working days of delivery. Delayering consumes the sample and we confirm that in writing before starting.

Send us the board

Photos of both sides, the overall dimensions, and one line about what you need. Feasibility, lead time and price come back within 24 hours, and the check costs nothing. We sign an NDA before you ship, and we work only on boards you own or are authorised to reproduce. See our [legitimate use policy].