Specialist work · priority jobs
Emergency work in Maidenhead means a place in the order of work, not a banner. If the server a business relies on goes down, all of the disks are removed from that server and labelled by bay number. They are put at the front of the bench as soon as we receive them. All of the disks are examined on the first day they arrive at our facility, and continuous images are taken of each disk for every hour our lab is open. You will never get a story about a building that never closes because no one can credibly claim to run their bench with unattended head work at 3am.
Describe the fault to an engineer
0800 6890668
| The symptom | The likely cause | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| The server that supports everything else is down | Each member is imaged, then the set is rebuilt (priority without asking) | Use the phrase 'business down' |
| A rebuild stopped mid-stream and has just been abandoned | Correct: another try will destroy even more of your data | Just leave it off and call in |
| Those files have a deadline | Tender, hearing or filing deadline: all the work is scheduled backwards from this date | Give us the date on the phone call |
| The last copy in existence of something that cannot be recreated | A family's only repository is as pressing as any business's server | In either case, the response will be frank |
| Files are being encrypted right now | Stop the spread, save the trails, then restore | Disconnect your network connection; keep power on |
Nothing is chargeable until you say yes. Every item gets a case number of its own immediately upon receipt, an engineer determines what has failed, and you get a clear picture of which files have a real possibility of being recovered. The single quote that follows is fixed, written down and does not cost anything.
If you mention 'business down' when you call, or give us a specific date by which you need your files back, we immediately raise your request to priority status. On the same call we will give you a quote for the work, open a case number and reserve bench space. You then post it, tracked and insured, to our Guildford intake lab, or drop it off there in person (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, no appointment needed).
Upon opening your package we will start diagnosing your device that very same day and continue to image your device continuously from that moment onward, ahead of all other devices on our bench. You are free to contact any of our engineers at any time prior to completion to find out what progress has been made with your device.
After we have completed recovering the files that are required to meet your critical list, we will arrange a handover of the recovered files: either through secure encrypted file transfers, sending new media via return post service, or you collecting them in person from our Guildford intake lab.
You don't get charged anything until you've confirmed and authorised that everything is fine after seeing the entire list of what was recovered. Any recovered items are returned via brand-new storage media and the postage costs for these are covered by us. We do not consider a project complete here until we receive confirmation that you have been able to successfully access and review every item you received back.
A true timescale is comprised of five different items: these five elements determine just how long a recovery will take, namely what component(s) have failed, how much capacity there is to read, the physical condition of the media being recovered, whether a matching donor (a working drive with parts that can replace the failing ones) is readily available, and what attempts were made at recovering data prior to arriving at the laboratory. This is why we publish our opening hours rather than an "always open" logo: we work on all priority cases non-stop Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm; we complete diagnostic procedures on the day the drives arrive; and a real time frame follows as soon as one can honestly be given.
In this instance, what complicated things was that someone had already attempted to rebuild the RAID under the booking system. Each individual drive within the RAID was imaged before anything else was touched, the array was then virtually rebuilt and a verified database was returned to service by Thursday at lunch. It stayed in the priority queue throughout.
Priority work often takes only one or two working days if the mechanicals are good and the fault is a logical one. However, failing mechanics and multi-disk arrays take longer to complete due to the speed of the imager, which dictates how quickly a recovery can occur, and urgency cannot change what a slow read costs. Once the diagnosis is done, you will know the real timeframe.
No. Any lab that allows you to send your disk with the understanding that a head swap occurs while staff members sleep is worth a second look. If you need service urgently, we will give your case priority over all others and will work on your disk continuously for every hour the lab is open, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm. We believe speed that can be verified is much better than bragging rights.
Not before your disk is physically inspected and diagnosed; any lab that does would be making an educated guess. Since a physical fault depends on having a donor available along with the condition of the platters, these factors cannot be known from a phone call. While we cannot commit to a date without knowing them, you can rest assured that your case will be placed ahead of everyone else at the bench, diagnosed on the same day as delivery, and given a definite answer as soon as one exists.
Yes, because your case goes directly to the top of the list, ahead of all other cases waiting at the bench. The cost of priority is included within the single written quote provided prior to accepting service, so you can weigh it up before agreeing to anything, and the diagnosis itself costs nothing either way.
Every additional power-up asks for even more of a drive that is already starting to fail. First open a case with us, and let the free diagnosis tell you how much remains.