Ayrshire's large town (Kilmarnock) has both developed and diversified through blending, bottling, printing and engineering. It now stores all these things digitally on drives, as most towns do. So when one of these drives fails you are fortunate to be able to travel along the M77 and make Kilmarnock the start point for one of the smoothest runs to diagnosis on this page.
The M77 was practically designed for tasks of this kind. The trip takes approximately thirty to thirty-five minutes on the M77 from Kilmarnock to the M8 at Charing Cross. There are hardly any roundabouts. An alternative option is taking the train, which will take you from Kilmarnock station to Glasgow Central. Finally the parcel service will deliver your package via a reliable trackable means (insured) with padding. Your package should arrive by tomorrow morning in the same queue as those who walked in.
Killie's casework reads like the town: engineering and print trade machines with decades of job files, farm office laptops in Ayrshire hinterlands, whisky heritage archives and family externals holding every photo since the scanner project of 2008. One method for all of it: image gently, repair on the copy, verify, return.
No matter what device arrives, the prices do not change based upon your postcode. There is always a free diagnostic first. The fixed price of the recovery will be agreed to in writing prior to any work. The price is £250 + VAT for cards and sticks. Single drives cost £300 + VAT. RAID systems, NAS devices, and server hardware cost from £500 + VAT. In addition, in most cases you only pay if we have recovered your lost data. All data recovery jobs are completed in-house by our own employees (engineers), and your data never leaves the UK.
No, we don't run vans or couriers. By choice. A failing drive is safest making one journey, not doing a round of deliveries. The Royal Mail and parcel firms deliver to every single Ayrshire farm road. A powered down and well cushioned drive in an insured tracked box from your nearest post office will also work fine, however rural your postcode.
Treated normally: all the work done internally with our own engineers, the media is stored securely, no external parties are involved, and your files will never leave the UK. If your trade or clients require an NDA then tell us when you send the drive over, and this will be signed as part of the service, rather than as a favour.
Before you post or drop off your device please contact us by phone or using the form to obtain a quote from us. Then power down the drive, pack it well and choose how you wish to get it here: either through the counter at Tay House, 300 Bath Street (Monday–Friday 9am–5:30pm, no appointment required), or insured, tracked post from Kilmarnock. Either way, the diagnosis is free and you get a written quote before anything is decided.
In every instance, all data recovery services, both diagnosis and imaging/data recovery, are performed at our Glasgow laboratory regardless of which city/region the client resides in.
Do not use your drive again. Each additional time you use your drive increases the risk that the remaining recoverable data may be overwritten. A faulty drive's head(s) are also at greater risk of coming into contact with its platter(s). If the system remains active, turn it off safely and then leave it turned off.
Do not run any data recovery software on the original hard disk. Most consumer data recovery programs create their own file indexes on the hard disk being scanned. While this typically does not harm a functioning hard disk containing deleted files, once the hard disk contains bad sector(s) or is mechanically failed, it will limit what was possible through data recovery efforts.
Do not open your drive. Even a small amount of dust entering a drive can damage the surface of the drive after only a few revolutions. If it has already been opened, tell us: it changes our approach, not our willingness to help.
Remove the drive where you can. Please send just the hard drive or SSD. We are not able to accept full computers (laptops/desktops). All computer shops can remove the internal drive from a system within minutes. External drives are the exception and need to be sent complete. Please include the external case/enclosure when sending the drive. This is because many external enclosures contain the bridge board which contains the encryption key. If the drive is sent without the case, then the drive will appear blank/unformatted.
Our diagnostic is free and is a real diagnostic. Our process involves putting your drive on the bench, not through a script, and identifying the type of fault. At this time, we determine if the media on your drive is stable enough to be imaged, and what information may actually be recovered before we discuss cost.
You get a fixed price in writing before work begins. Not a price range or estimate that changes once the job has started. Once you see the fixed price, you decide based upon the price you see. In most cases, no payment is due if we cannot recover your data.
We image first then repair from that copy. Your original drive is read only once using the least invasive method possible with the equipment. Every single repair operation is performed on the image of your original drive. Using this method ensures that your original drive is never damaged further than necessary.
Every step of recovery is done in-house. Your drive will never leave our facility while being worked on. Your data will always remain within the United Kingdom. Once your recovery is complete, you will receive a list of files found on your drive so that you may review them prior to receiving your completed recovery. 30 days after you acknowledge receipt of your completed recovery, all copies of your data stored on our servers will be deleted securely.