Meet Marcus Cupello, a leading expert in data recovery and device repair

Photo courtesy Marcus Cupello

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Screen repair and battery replacements are one thing, but data recovery on broken phones, tablets, and laptops takes a high level of expertise. Hailing from Ontario, Marcus Cupello has recovered data on devices from around the world.

Our lives and our devices are interwoven. Our memories, contacts, and other important files are held within the hard drives of our phones, tablets, and laptops–making it especially devastating when one of these devices brick out.

Many of us forget to back up our data and don’t know what to do when a critical piece of tech breathes its last breath and won’t turn on. Some think the photos, memories, and project files are gone forever. Some take their device to a repair shop who may not actually know how to recover the data properly. Others mail their device to Marcus Cupello–who restores their path to data.

Cupello, a device repair expert and the Co-Founder of Marnics Mobile, is most well known for his tech-repair content. Sharing the behind-the-scenes operation of his mail-in service on Tik Tok, Instagram, and YouTube, Cupello teaches viewers what’s going on inside their devices, while sharing the stories behind his repair and data recovery projects. 

From diagnosing the problem with a thermal imaging camera, to performing surgery on a logic board using a hot air station, Cupello blends the latest tools with years of personal experience. This makes for interesting viewing on social media–and means that Cupello’s clients are trusting their devices and data with one of the best in the business.

“What we do is rare in this industry,” Cupello says. “There’s shops popping up everywhere, but they’ll do screen repair and battery replacements mostly. Some of them will start venturing into this board work, but it goes very deep and you need to know what you’re doing and have experience or you’re going to break things.”

Because Cupello’s work is so technical, his content is a great source for those trying to learn more about what’s going on inside their devices. 

“I try to find a balance with the videos,” he explains. “I want them to be entertaining and accessible, but also be able to teach people some things.”

The result is a community that includes industry insiders and experts trying to dig deeper into their craft–in addition to everyday consumers and end users simply curious about the repair process.

Cupello’s rise on social media means that there’s now global interest in his services.

“I thought I could start content creation to try and reach more of a global audience,” Cupello recalls. “It started with TikTok–I was able to get a couple of viral videos and then I started seeing the inquiries coming through.”

Now, there are days where Marnics Mobile’s mail-in program receives up to 80 inquiries.

Before he got to this point, Cupello spent years honing his skills and building Marnics Mobile into the brand it is today.

“I was the guy in high school that everyone came to with their broken Xboxes and iPods,” he says. “I was always fixing stuff growing up. Then at some point, I started advertising it and that had a snowball effect.”

Starting out in Northwestern Ontario, Marnics Mobile has expanded its team of trained technicians and its reach. The mail-in program is available to people anywhere in the world–and Marnics Mobile’s 6 locations make the independent repair provider a robust player in the Ontario market. 

Along with building his business along with his brother and Co-Founder, Nick, Cupello has put in the time to become the technician he is today.

“When we first opened,” Cupello says, “I knew right away that at some point I needed to get into micro soldering. Once we had staff and I was able to step away from the day-to-day operations, I just dove straight in. I spent years developing the skill set. When I started doing that type of work for our store, some of our competitors took notice. I was able to get them to outsource to us, and then our other locations were getting that work.”

Now that Cupello has a community around his work–and devices being mailed to him everyday–he’s been teaching others how to undergo the repairs that he specializes in. Right now, he has four micro scouting technicians working for Marnics Mobile, and is working on launching a new classroom for training people on data recovery and device repair.

“For every ten inquiries I get,” he says, “two or three are usually just someone trying to learn.”

As mentioned earlier, data is precious to people. Getting to repair their broken devices or at least secure a path to data makes hours spent at the hot air station worth it for Cupello.

“One of the best parts is getting to call the customer to give them the good news,” he says. “This data, photos, and videos, these are people’s lives and memories. Saving that information is fulfilling work.”

Maybe you have a broken device that you’re trying to recover the data from. If you’re in that spot, check out Marnics Mobile’s mail-in program. 
If you just want to learn more about what’s going on inside our phones, tablets, and laptops, follow Marcus Cupello on Tik Tok, Instagram, and YouTube