When a case-file server fails or a vital drive gives out mid-matter, you need the data back quickly — and dealt with in a way that keeps privilege intact and stands up in court. Working from Oxford, our legal data recovery serves solicitors and chambers throughout Oxfordshire and beyond — worked in-house, under NDA, using logged custody records and forensically sound methods. Your clients' data stays within Britain.
Fee-earners' laptops, drives and case-file servers — recovered by our own team, under NDA, with logged custody records and court-ready handling whenever evidence is at stake.
Booting the machine, opening files or connecting the drive changes timestamps and can trigger writes — and that is the commonest way material is undermined before anyone has examined it properly. Preserve it as it is.
Case files, the systems holding them, and material that may have to withstand challenge.
The arrangements a practice needs before it can send anything at all.
NDAs are signed as standard and confidentiality is assumed rather than negotiated. Work runs through one named contact, all data remains in the UK, and recovered material is returned on fresh media with working copies destroyed after an agreed period.
Where material is privileged, tell us at the outset and it is handled without examination beyond what recovery requires — we do not read what we are recovering, and on privileged matters we do not sample files to verify them without your instruction on how you would prefer that done.
Two different jobs, and it is worth deciding which you need before the media is touched.
Ordinary recovery returns your files. Forensic work proves that nothing changed — the source is read behind a hardware write blocker, hashed with SHA-256 to demonstrate the copy is bit-identical, and every step logged so an independent party could repeat it and reach the same result, following ACPO principles for digital evidence.
That distinction matters most for departing-employee matters and disclosure, where the process may be tested. Forensic work is from £800 +VAT, quoted after scoping, with a 50% deposit — and it is not offered on a no-fix-no-fee basis, because establishing that nothing improper occurred is a result with real value.
Send your device in for a free diagnostic and tell us a bit about what happened — an engineer reviews it and confirms your exact quote in writing before any work begins.
Recovering your data starts with getting the device to us. Pack it securely, slip your contact details inside, and send it in — once the free diagnostic is done, we confirm your exact price in writing before any work starts.
Sending it by post? We'd suggest a tracked, insured service. Prefer to drop it in? You're welcome Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm — just pack the device as above first.
After a little more detail first? Complete the form with more about your issue and an engineer will review it and send a custom quote.
We'll reply shortly. Anything urgent, call 01865 593000.
Quick answers to what we're asked most.
Yes. NDAs are signed as standard, work runs through one named contact, and data remains in the UK. Where material is privileged, tell us at the outset — we don’t read what we recover, and we will take your instruction on how you want files verified.
Recovery returns your files. Forensic work additionally proves nothing changed — write-blocked imaging, SHA-256 hashing to show the copy is bit-identical, and a documented chain of custody following ACPO principles, so findings can be tested.
No, and this is the commonest way evidence is compromised. Booting a machine or opening files changes timestamps and can trigger writes. If it might become evidence, preserve it exactly as it is.
Often. USB device records, link files, jump lists, shellbags and file system timestamps together show what was attached and accessed and when. What can be established varies by system and by how much has happened since.
Yes, and returned in a mountable state rather than as loose extracted files. Databases hold internal consistency structures, so a byte-complete file can still fail to attach — those are checked and any affected matters reported.
From £500 plus VAT for servers and arrays, £300 plus VAT for a single drive, and from £800 plus VAT for forensic work quoted after scoping. Free 48-hour diagnostic and a fixed written quote before any work, with most jobs handled no fix, no fee.
Get in touch for a free diagnostic and written quote — NDA in place, work kept in-house, custody logged wherever it's called for.