Data Recovery Case File · Trust, Practice & Honest Limits · Retrieval Rather Than Recovery
A Computer You Stopped Using Is Not a Computer That Failed
His enquiry lists two devices as one problem and they are not the same problem at all. He would like photographs from "a hard drive which failed and was replaced on my current computer, and a computer which I replaced several years ago which was fully functioning at the time." The second one has nothing wrong with it. It is a working machine in a cupboard, and getting the photographs off it may cost nothing whatsoever.
| Media | Two devices — a failed internal drive replaced in a current machine, and a complete working computer retired several years previously in functional condition |
| Reported situation | Hard drive failed and replaced in the owner's current machine · failed drive retained · previous computer replaced several years ago while fully working · previous computer retained · photographic content required from both |
| Fault class | One device-level failure and one functional machine in extended storage — separate propositions requiring separate handling and separate quotation |
| Equipment used | Devices assessed and quoted independently · retired machine treated as functional pending a single controlled start-up · dormancy considered on first power · failed drive assessed conventionally with error-rate measurement · content delivered from both to a single destination |
The decode: two situations, and why one may be free
What the first device is: a genuine recovery. A drive that failed, was replaced, and is now being asked for its contents — assessed conventionally, with the fault established before any figure.
What the second device is: a working computer. It had no fault when it was retired, nothing has happened to it since except sitting still, and the photographs on it are simply on a machine nobody has switched on for a few years.
Why people bring both to the same place: because being unable to reach something feels identical to it being broken. An old computer in a cupboard, with no monitor plugged in and no obvious way to get files off it, is functionally inaccessible — and inaccessible is easily mistaken for failed.
Why it matters that it is not: because the answer may be to plug it in. A machine that starts up is a machine whose photographs can be copied onto a memory stick that afternoon, at no cost, by anybody. Nobody should pay for that, and it is worth trying before commissioning anything.
The one caution, and it is genuine: a machine dormant for years has a drive whose lubricant has thickened and whose heads have been at rest. The first start-up matters more than any subsequent one, so it should be a single deliberate attempt with the intention of copying immediately — not an exploratory switch-on, followed by a look around, followed by another one next week.
What that means in practice: decide what to copy and where to copy it to before pressing the button. Have the destination ready. If it starts, copy the photographs first and everything else afterwards.
What to do if it does not start: then it has become a recovery case, and the drive comes out and reads independently of whatever is wrong with the machine. Nothing is lost by trying beyond one start-up, which would have been spent anyway.
Why the two should be quoted separately: one may be a substantial job and the other may be nothing at all. A combined figure hides that, and he should be able to proceed with one and decline the other.
On the bench
The devices were assessed and quoted independently, a failed drive and a functional retired machine being unrelated propositions. The retired machine was treated as functional pending a single controlled start-up — a computer working when retired having no fault, with inaccessibility mistaken for failure — and dormancy considered on first power, since a drive at rest for years has thickened lubricant and the first start-up carries disproportionate weight. The failed drive was assessed conventionally with error-rate measurement.
The outcome
The two devices assessed and quoted independently, the retired machine treated as working pending one controlled start-up. Free assessment, one fixed written figure including VAT per device; where a drive has to be opened, 50% of parts and labour is payable upfront with the balance only on success — otherwise no recovery, no fee. The decode: your second machine is not broken. It worked when you put it away, and nothing has happened to it since — so try starting it, with a destination ready, and copy the photographs immediately if it does.
An old computer you simply stopped using
Try starting it before commissioning anything — a machine that was working when you put it away has no fault, and inaccessibility isn't the same as failure. If it starts, the photographs copy onto a memory stick that afternoon at no cost. One caution though: a drive dormant for years has thickened lubricant and heads long at rest, so the first start-up carries more weight than any that follow. Make it a single deliberate attempt rather than an exploratory look — decide what to copy and have the destination ready before you press anything, then copy immediately. If it doesn't start, nothing is lost and it becomes an ordinary recovery.
Try the old machine first — then call Oxford Data Recovery on 01865 593000; devices assessed and quoted independently, dormancy considered on first power, and a straight answer where one of them costs nothing.
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Our case files are drawn from genuine enquiries received by our laboratory over the past ten years, anonymised to protect client confidentiality. Each one describes the diagnostic and recovery procedure our engineers apply to that fault, using the equipment listed.