The bench · from call to files
Seven stages, and two of the decisions are yours.
Whatever the device, the same seven stages happen in the same order. Stage one is a phone call. Stage seven is you looking through what came back and confirming it is right. What follows is that run, plus the two moments at which nobody but you decides.
You will be talking to an engineer
0800 6890668
The sequence, in order.
Start with a phone call
Call the office, or submit the quote form. Describe what the device was doing when it gave up, and say which folders count. Back comes an honest view of the chances, plus precise packing instructions, before anything goes in the post.
Getting it to Bristol
The intake lab sits in central Bristol, reached from Plymouth by the A38 east and then the M5 north. Send it insured and tracked, printed form in the box, or hand it in. A laptop, desktop or recorder gives up its bare drive first; the disks out of a NAS or RAID go loose, marked by bay.
A number on arrival, then the free diagnosis Free
We open the parcel and give it a reference of its own. An engineer then puts it on the bench and works out which component has failed, how likely the files are to come off, and roughly how many hours the job needs.
Over to you
A single figure goes to you in writing, and that figure holds. Agree to it and the work begins. Refuse and the device is posted back with the findings alongside. The assessment itself cost you nothing in either case.
The bench work
No repair begins until a complete sector-by-sector copy is held on our own storage. Donor head swaps, firmware work, unlocking, reassembling an array — every one of those is performed against that copy. The item you posted stays exactly as it arrived.
You go through the list
You see the complete list of what was recovered before any invoice is raised, and can measure it against the folders you named on the phone.
It goes back by post
Whatever is recovered leaves on media we supply, and the carriage is at our expense. Working copies here are destroyed after thirty days. Nothing closes until you say the contents are right.
Bench time, fault by fault.
| Fault | The approach | Bench days |
|---|---|---|
| Logical: deletions, formats, corrupt volumes | File system rebuilt from the image | 2–3 working days |
| Mechanical: ticking, knocking, silent | Matched donor parts, then a slow image | 3–5 working days |
| Multi-disk: RAID, NAS, servers | Every disk imaged, array reassembled in software | 3–4 working days |
| Encrypted volumes and evidence jobs | Scope agreed first, timing along with it | Set out in the quote |
| Truly urgent | A firm unable to trade, or a fixed court or audit date, goes to the head of the queue | Say so on the call |
What travels in the parcel.
Questions asked before posting it.
Am I told what is happening as it goes?
Yes. Each stage below finishes with a message going out to you. In between, phone the office and ask — an engineer picks up, not a ticket joining a queue nobody reads.
And if nothing can be read?
For most jobs, no recovery means no bill. If a different lab stands a better chance, we tell you which to call. And where the data really has gone, you hear it once and in plain words, instead of being kept hanging on week after week.
Whose hands does the drive pass through?
Only our own engineers, working at the bench inside the Bristol lab. No stage is subcontracted, and no device is sent overseas. Whatever case number the parcel is given on opening stays with the device until it is posted back.
How long are your copies kept?
Thirty days, counted from the date your files are returned, so there is time to spot a gap and ask for another look. The images are then destroyed and nothing of yours remains with us.
One phone call begins it.
Phone, or send the form, and a case is opened. The assessment is free and binds you to nothing.