A quick four-step process: enter your device, manufacturer and symptom, then an instant engineer's read-out of the likely fault(s), what to do immediately and typical turnaround time. After you complete this section leave your contact information and the engineer will personally confirm it with you as soon as possible.
The diagnostic is always free, whether done online or on the bench. The only cost to you will be for the work agreed upon after receiving a fixed price quotation, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data.
A confirmation in writing will be made for your exact quote after the free diagnostic has been completed. There are no fees to determine whether we can recover your lost files. In the case of a logical recovery (i.e. deleted, reformatted, or damaged/corrupted data), in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Drives that have suffered from electronic, mechanical, physical, water or fire damage require an invasive process and as such 50% of the quote is due and payable prior to any intervention; all quotes are clearly written prior to commencing any work.
Post to: Bristol Data Recovery, Castlemead, Lower Castle Street, Bristol, BS1 3AG — marked for the attention of Bristol Data Recovery. Downloads: ↓ shipping form (PDF) · ↓ terms & conditions (PDF)
Provide us with your contact information and one of our engineers will contact you at their earliest opportunity with further instructions and honest odds (there is no obligation).
An engineer will review it and contact you back ASAP. Ready to send the device already? Post it to Castlemead, Lower Castle Street, Bristol, BS1 3AG, marked for the attention of Bristol Data Recovery.
Do you prefer to discuss via telephone instead? Please contact 0800 689 0668 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm). A description of the issue by telephone has the same effect as submitting a description online.
Most of our clients' jobs can be classified as belonging to one of 3 fixed band classifications: the pricing will follow the device, not a client's panic. In all instances, once the free diagnostic has been completed, you receive a single fixed figure in writing. For logical recovery projects, in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. However, since invasive operations are required to access damaged data due to electronic, mechanical, physical, water or fire damage, 50% of the quoted amount is payable prior to the start of the project (see below).
USB sticks/memory cards: SD; microSD; CF.
One hard drive/SSD: internal; external; laptop; desktop; Mac.
RAID, NAS and servers: the cost of each item depends on the amount of drives that are included in the task. The price for an image or rebuild will be determined by how many disks are used.
The cost of a CCTV / DVR recorder drive is a fixed £400 + VAT, and the cost of a standard forensic investigation is £800 + VAT, which will be due 100% at the outset (larger investigations will have been scoped and written quotes provided). On logical recoveries, in most cases you only pay if we recover your data, i.e. either deleted data, formatted data, corrupt data or a healthy drive that the system simply cannot see. However this is not true of damaged drives: namely electronic, mechanical, physical, water or fire damaged drives require invasive processes, e.g. replacement of PCB or controller board, head/motor repairs, NAND chip-off or firmware/service-area access. In such cases, there is an upfront payment of 50% of the total quote for the donor components and lab time. Larger/exceptional cases (i.e. badly burnt PCBs, snapped media and large multi-disk rebuilds) sit higher and are always quoted in writing first, on a case by case basis, after the initial free diagnostic has taken place.
Once we receive your device, it will undergo a full evaluation by our experienced engineers, not just a 5-minute run through with some software. You will know what we find within 2 working days:
This involves checking board, bridge and power circuits for signs of electrical failure (and whether the unique ROM has been damaged).
We evaluate heads, motors and platters as part of our initial check, before we even ask the disk to perform at its best.
Using a PC-3000 service area and translator tool we will inspect firmware during the process on our bench: these hidden problems go unnoticed by software.
A controlled assessment of how much of a disk's surface or the NAND can truly be read by an imaging system.
The extent of corruption within the file system and which of your actual files/folders can be recovered from the media.
One recovery price based on a true failure point: accept or reject it with no obligation either way.
First get a quote over the telephone or use our free on-line diagnostic. The majority of customers then have their media sent to us via post, this is tracked and insured.
Do you want to send a drive from your computer, laptop, MacBook, iMac, CCTV / DVR or server? Please do not send the complete unit of computer or device with a hard disk drive (HDD) or solid state drive (SSD) inside. Please remove it and only send the drive itself. For a server, please remove all disks and label them by their bay. We will also not perform removal of internal drives from devices in order to access data. Also, we will not extract data from devices where storage is soldered onto the motherboard (such as T2 and Apple Silicon Macs and some thin laptops). Additionally, we do not recover data from phones and tablets, only drives that can be removed and sent to us. If you're not sure which kind you have, ring us first.
↓ Print the booking-in & shipping form (PDF)
Clearly mark the parcel with the name Bristol Data Recovery, and when your media has been diagnosed we will call you immediately.
If unsure about what to post, please call us first on 0800 689 0668 (the free phone number), or complete a free online diagnostic.
Get a quote from us first. Then pack up the item(s), include your name and contact information, and send them via a trackable postal method or bring them into our Bristol laboratory Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, with no appointment needed.