The bench · from call to files
Seven stages, and two of the decisions are yours.
Whatever type of equipment is being repaired, the exact same seven stages happen in the exact same sequence. Stage one is a telephone call. Stage seven is your review of what was returned and your confirmation that everything is correct. What follows is the entire run, plus the two times when you make the decision by yourself.
You will be talking to an engineer
0800 6890668
The sequence, in order.
Start with a phone call
Call us, or fill out the quote request form. Tell us what the equipment was doing when it stopped working and which folders are important to you. We send you an honest appraisal of the chances along with clear packing guidelines, before anything goes in the post.
Getting it to Bristol
Our intake lab is in central Bristol, reached from Plymouth by the A38 east and then the M5 north. Post the unit in a well-insured, tracked package with the printed form inside, or simply bring it in, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, without needing an appointment. Laptops, desktops and recorders give up their bare drives first (machines with soldered storage are not taken on; if you're not sure which kind you have, ring us first). An external drive comes whole, with its cable and power supply. Drives taken out of a NAS or RAID are sent loose, marked with their bays. If a NAS does not allow the disks to be removed, send it whole.
A number on arrival, then the free diagnosis Free
When we receive your parcel we give it its own reference number. One of our engineers then places it on the bench, works out which component has failed, assesses how likely the files are to come off, and estimates roughly how many hours the job needs.
Over to you
You will receive one figure in writing for the cost, and that figure holds. Once you agree to it, the work begins. If you refuse, we post the device back to you along with a report of what we found. In both cases there is no charge for the assessment.
The bench work
No repairs are done before a complete sector-by-sector copy is held on our own storage. Donor head swaps, firmware work, unlocking and reassembling an array are all performed against that copy. The item you posted leaves here exactly as it was received.
You go through the list
Before any invoice is raised, you are shown a complete list of everything recovered. You can then compare it against the folders you named on the telephone call.
It goes back by post
What is recovered goes onto media supplied by us, and we cover the postage for returning it. All working copies made while recovering your files are destroyed after thirty days. The job is not closed until you confirm that your recovered files 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 | Firms unable to trade, or jobs with a fixed court or audit date, take precedence over everything else | 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. After each stage a message goes out to you. In between, contact our office and ask (you will speak directly with an engineer, not a support ticket joining a queue).
And if nothing can be read?
In most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Should another lab stand a better chance, we tell you whom to contact. And where your data really has gone, you hear it once and in plain words, rather than being kept hanging on for weeks.
Whose hands does the drive pass through?
Only our own engineers work on your device, at the bench in our Bristol lab. We do not subcontract any stage, and no device is sent overseas. The case number given to your parcel on arrival stays with the device until it is posted back to you.
How long are your copies kept?
Thirty days from the day your files are returned to you. That allows time to spot any gaps and ask for another look. After that the images are destroyed and nothing of yours remains with us.
One phone call begins it.
Phone us or send the form to open a case. The assessment is free and does not commit you to anything.