A good share of our work is for universities and research teams, where academic data is so frequently beyond replacing. Working from Oxford, our university and research data recovery reaches across Oxfordshire and the UK: should a research array fail, a departmental server drop, or a student's drive die just weeks before submission, we recover it on our own bench, with our own engineers, and keep it in confidence. Your data stays within Britain.
Departmental servers, student drives and research RAID and NAS storage — every one recovered by our in-house team, kept confidential, GDPR-compliant and never sent outside the UK.
Research data is frequently irreplaceable in a way commercial data is not — you cannot re-run four years of fieldwork. The single most valuable thing you can do is switch the machine off before trying anything else.
Individual machines and departmental storage alike.
Worth stating plainly, because it changes what a sensible response looks like.
Most data loss is inconvenient. Research data is frequently not reproducible at any price — fieldwork that cannot be repeated, longitudinal data with a fixed collection window, interviews with participants who have moved on, or simply four years of analysis. The material has no market value and enormous personal and academic value, which is a poor combination when someone is deciding whether to risk a DIY attempt.
So the advice is unusually firm here: if a drive holding research is making any unusual noise, or has stopped being detected, do not run recovery software and do not keep restarting it. Both are how recoverable research becomes a lost year.
Two practical points that come up on almost every academic job.
Deadlines. Tell us at the outset if a submission date is fixed. Priority handling lets us image the thesis and its data directories first and deliver those while the rest completes, so writing can resume within a day rather than at the end of the job.
Encryption. University-issued machines are frequently BitLocker or FileVault encrypted, and students often do not know the recovery key exists. It usually does — escrowed to Azure AD, Intune or the domain, and retrievable by IT. Ask them before assuming the worst; without it, no firm can decrypt the volume. Single drives from £300 +VAT after a free 48-hour diagnostic.
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.
Switch it off and leave it off, especially if it is making any unusual noise. Don’t run recovery software and don’t keep restarting it — both are how recoverable work is lost. Where the drive lifts out, the state of the laptop is largely irrelevant.
Yes, and say so at the outset. Priority handling lets us image the thesis and data directories first and deliver those while the rest of the image completes, so you can resume writing rather than waiting for the whole job.
Yes, if the recovery key is available — and it usually is, escrowed to Azure AD, Intune or the domain and retrievable by your IT department. Ask them before assuming the worst; without the key no firm can decrypt the volume.
Yes — external drives and media are from £250 to £300 plus VAT depending on type. Send external units complete with their enclosure rather than removing the disk.
Yes. Confidentiality applies regardless of whether an NDA is in place, data stays in the UK, and working copies are removed after an agreed period. Where a department requires a formal agreement, that is straightforward.
From £300 plus VAT for a laptop or desktop drive, from £250 for cards and USB media, and from £500 for departmental servers and NAS. Free 48-hour diagnostic and a fixed written quote before any work, with most jobs handled no fix, no fee.
Free diagnostic, written quote, and all kept in-house, confidential, and inside Britain.