A failed motherboard doesn’t take the data with it — we lifted the healthy drive out and imaged it on our own kit.
A Oxford customer’s laptop had gone completely dead — no lights, not even the fan spinning — and they came to us expecting the worst for their files. It’s one of the most frequent worries we’re brought, and one of the most satisfying to answer, because when a laptop won’t start at all the storage is usually the one part that’s entirely fine. What’s failed is on the motherboard; the drive alongside it is unharmed. The files were never lost — only shut inside a machine that would no longer boot.
The proof is quick to get. We took the drive out and connected it to our own gear behind a hardware write-blocker — a piece of kit that permits reading only, so there is physically no way for anything to be written to the disk during the check. It mounted first time with a clean, healthy file system, which settled the question: the fault was entirely the laptop’s electronics, and the data had never been at risk.
From there it was simple, though we still followed the full process rather than cutting corners. Everything ran off a complete image taken on the PC3000, so no operation ever touched the disk that came in. The upshot was two-fold: the customer’s data was safe whatever ultimately became of the laptop, and we held a verified, self-contained copy to return. A drive that was soldered down or encrypted would have needed a different route, but this was an ordinary removable disk and it copied over cleanly.
We opened a spread of the files on the image — documents, photos, mail — to be sure they were all sound, then put the recovered data onto fresh media for the customer to drop straight into their next machine.
Three working days later they had the lot back — no parts ordered, no board repaired, simply the data recovered from a machine that had failed around it. It bears repeating because so many people assume otherwise: a laptop that won’t switch on is usually a motherboard problem, and the contents of its drive are very often completely recoverable.
PC3000 — drive removed, read through a write-blocker and imaged on our bench. Everything is done from the copy, and the original is never written to.
Get the device to us for a free diagnostic and a quick note on what went wrong — an engineer looks it over and puts your exact quote in writing before anything is started.
The route to your data starts with the device reaching us. Box it up securely, tuck your contact details inside, and send it across — after the free diagnostic, we put your exact price in writing before a single step is taken.
Sending it by post? Go with a tracked, insured service. Prefer to bring it round? Our door is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm — just pack the device as described above beforehand.
Prefer to get a sense of things first? Complete the form with a bit more about the fault and an engineer will look it over and send back a tailored quote.
We’ll get back to you soon. Anything pressing, call 01865 593000.
Usually, and often easily — a laptop failing rarely means its drive has. Where the drive lifts out it is removed and imaged read-only on separate hardware, so a dead motherboard, screen or power circuit stops being relevant.
A laptop drive is from £300 plus VAT, fixed in a written quote after a free 48-hour diagnostic. Most jobs are no fix, no fee.
Send the drive on its own wherever possible — it is cheaper to post, and there is less to go wrong. Any local computer shop will remove it in minutes if you would rather not. The exception is a machine with soldered storage, which we will identify for you first.
Kick off with an instant online quote, or ring us and talk it through first. Either way you’ll know a clear, fixed price before any work starts.