Specialist work · priority jobs
Emergency work in Maidenhead means a place in the order of work, not a slogan. When the server a company depends on comes off the rack, it is booked to the front of the bench, examined the day it reaches us, and imaged continuously for every hour the lab is open. What you will not be offered is a story about a building that never closes, because no credible bench runs head work unattended at 3am.
Describe the fault to an engineer
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| The symptom | The likely cause | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| The server everything else depends on is down | Each member imaged, then the set rebuilt — priority without asking | Use the words 'business down' |
| A rebuild broke off part-way and has been left alone | Correct: another attempt takes more of the data with it | Leave it off and phone in |
| Those files are tied to a deadline | Tender, hearing, filing deadline — the work is planned backwards from it | Name the date on the call |
| The last copy of something that cannot be replaced | A family's only archive is as urgent as any company's server | Either way, the answer will be candid |
| Files are being encrypted right now | Stop the spread, protect the traces, then recover | Take out the network cable; leave the power on |
Nothing becomes chargeable until you have said yes to it. Each item takes a case number of its own the moment it arrives, an engineer establishes what has actually failed, and you are given a candid view of which files stand a realistic chance of returning. The single quote that follows is fixed, written down, and costs nothing.
Two words on the phone — business down — or the date you are held to, and the case is flagged priority at once. A case number is opened and bench space held before it reaches us.
Diagnosis is done on the day the parcel is opened, and imaging then runs continuously in front of everything else on the bench. Ring at any point and an engineer will tell you where it has reached.
Once the recovered files match the critical list you gave us, the handover is arranged: encrypted transfer, fresh media by return post, or collection from the lab.
Nothing is billed until you have seen the recovered file list in full and told us to go ahead. What comes back arrives on new media, with the return journey at our cost, and the case stays open at this end until you have opened every file yourself.
What a timescale is actually made of: five variables decide how long a recovery runs — what has failed, how much capacity there is to read, the physical state of the media, whether a matching donor can be found, and what was already tried before the drive reached the lab. That is why this page publishes opening hours rather than an always-open badge: priority cases are worked continuously Mon–Fri 9am–5:30pm, diagnosis is completed on the day of arrival, and a real timeline follows the moment one can honestly be given.
What made this one awkward was the rebuild someone had already attempted on the RAID under the booking system. Every member drive was imaged before anything else was touched, the array was then reassembled virtually, and a verified database went back into service by Thursday lunchtime. Priority queue throughout.
Where the drive is healthy and the fault is logical, priority work is often finished inside one or two working days. Failing mechanics and multi-disk arrays take longer, because the imager sets the pace and urgency cannot change what a slow read costs. You get the real timescale once diagnosis is done.
No, and a lab that tells you head swaps continue unattended overnight is worth a second look. What an urgent case gets here is the front of the queue and continuous work for every hour the lab is open, Monday to Friday, 9am–5:30pm. Speed that can be verified is worth more than a badge.
Not before the drive has been examined, and any lab that does is guessing. A physical fault turns on donor availability and the state of the platters, neither knowable from a phone call. What is committed to is first place at the bench, diagnosis on the day of arrival, and a definite answer as soon as one exists.
Yes, because your case displaces every other job waiting at the bench. The figure appears in the single written quote, where you can weigh it before agreeing to anything, and the diagnosis costs nothing either way.
Each further power-up asks more of a drive that has already begun to fail. Open the case first and let the free diagnosis tell you what is left.