How the recovery process operates; what each device costs; and (the area that most firms leave out) the four situations where nobody can recover your data. It’s far better to know now from a free diagnostic than have to pay to find out!
Once we complete the complimentary diagnostic, the figure is put in writing. All prices listed on this page are exclusive of VAT.
The same process for each machine, regardless of brand or model. Charges occur only after an agreement has been reached on a price for a repair.
To get a quote, contact us first. Your device can then be sent via insured postal service and/or hand-delivered to John Eccles House located at the Oxford Science Park. Please use bare drives whenever possible; we request all external enclosures as well.
All faults are identified based upon either mechanical, electronic, firmware or logical failure. This classification dictates which path the problem will take, the cost of that path and the likelihood of success.
There is only one price agreed prior to any work being performed, and it does not change. If the job is something that we believe you can accomplish yourself, we will advise you so.
The device is copied (cloned) first, so all of our attempts at data recovery are done from the copy, and we never write to the original.
We open files to see if we can read them (not just count them), and then deliver the files back to you on new, blank media that ships back to you free.
Rates are posted instead of being quoted one customer at a time.
Plainly stated, knowing these items will save you both time and money.
Modern ransomware. The way the data was encrypted is correct; however, the decryption keys are held by the attackers. Therefore, we can find other methods to restore your data (shadow copies of files that did not get encrypted, original files which have not been encrypted, etc.) but we will not decrypt the data and neither will anyone else.
Soldered Mac storage on a dead board. Once the T2/Apple silicon boards fail you will lose access to your data because the logic board has permanently bonded your encryption key. Encrypted volumes without the key. No one can break BitLocker, FileVault or hardware encryption including us. TRIMmed SSD deletions. When you delete files from a working SSD they get wiped out generally in just minutes. These 4 types of failures are identified prior to any assessment fee during our free diagnostic.
What our customers ask us the most about. If you want information about a particular unit of equipment, you will find it by going to that unit’s individual web page listed in the table above.
The diagnostic service is complimentary and should be returned to you generally within 48 hours. Assuming approval, once we start work on recovering your data from one (single) hard drive, the average amount of time is approximately three to four working days. When an array or job requires parts to be obtained as part of the recovery process, there are longer lead times and, again, we will provide you with a reasonable estimate of the timeframe when you receive the quote versus after the fact.
On most jobs, no. In most cases you only pay if we recover your data. There are some exceptions however. If we need to perform physical level repair or replacement on any drives, then a 50% deposit will be required for the cost of parts and/or lab/bench time. However, the remaining balance will not be due until we successfully recover your data. Forensic, CCTV and destruction services fall outside of these terms and we clearly indicate such before proceeding.
We will provide an initial quotation first; your device can then be sent via (insured) postal services to our address located at John Eccles House in Oxford Science Park or can be delivered directly to our address without prior arrangement. In all cases please send bare disks as opposed to computers, if possible. Please include the external unit including its casing, etc. This may assist the engineers when attempting to diagnose issues with the bridge boards which are also used to access data on these particular models of drive.
Yes. Business work uses NDAs; data remains within the UK; recovered data is sent back to you on new media (with all copies deleted after a previously agreed time).
At our no-cost diagnostics stage, we identify modern ransomware encryptions, soldered Mac storage on a failed logic board, volumes encrypted w/o a key & files that have been TRIMmed from a functioning SSD. So you don’t pay just to find this information out.
Priority service is offered as well as quoted in relation to the recovery service provided. This will remove your item from the queue. However, priority service cannot speed up how quickly a replacement component is sourced nor how fast a failing drive can be safely read, and we will advise if there would be no benefit to using it.
Start by having a free written diagnostic carried out. We will determine which of your items may be recovered along with the cost involved; the final choice is yours. Once you have received a quote for the recovery, either bring your device to Oxford or send it over via a secure and fully-insured method.