The Canal Capital understood centuries ago that cargo is best transported when it is calm and properly packaged, just like the recovery advice for a bad drive. The A803 (the modern tow path) takes you from Kirkintilloch to the location of your complimentary diagnosis at Bath Street.
The route from Kirkintilloch to Charing Cross by car is via the A803 through Bishopbriggs. It takes about half an hour depending on traffic conditions. If you would prefer to take a train, there are regular trains available from Lenzie Station which can be reached within a few minutes of leaving your home. These trains run frequently throughout the day and stop at Queen Street Station. Or send your drive by insured, tracked post in a padded box and it will be on the bench the next morning.
What Kirkintilloch sends is the typical blend of an active working town with memory: industrial estate small business machines, photographs of canals and countryside on SD cards, and family externals which become accidental archives. Each is treated equally: imaged once, fixed on the copy, returned inspected.
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.
Our drop-off or send-in data recovery service isn't complicated by the lack of a train station in Kirkintilloch, since fast trains run frequently from Lenzie (only a few minutes away) to Queen St. The A803 route is also a straight shot, and the post makes geography irrelevant altogether. A powered-off, well-padded hard disk can ride the post, the car or the train for all we care: just pick whichever works best for you that week.
It is the hard drive that is travelling so be sure to remove it before posting. If you don't want to take apart your laptop, a local computer shop will remove the HD for you within minutes. Post the HD by itself (well cushioned) and leave the laptop at home.
Before sending or dropping off your equipment please call for a quote using our telephone number or complete a quotation request on this site. Turn off the unit completely, wrap it carefully and then decide how you want to send it: either via the counter at Tay House, 300 Bath Street, which is open Mon–Fri 9am–5:30pm without an appointment being required, or via insured, trackable post from Kirkintilloch. Either way there will be no charge for diagnosis and we provide all quotes in writing before any decisions are made.
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.