The bench · getting hold of us
Talk to the drive bench. By form, by email or by phone; then the post, or one of ten drop-off points.
We work by post from anywhere in the UK. Two things are worth putting in writing: what the drive does when you plug it in, including any sound it makes, and the sort of material stored on it. An engineer writes back within a working day, and frequently much faster than that, with the posting address, the nearest drop-off point, packing notes and a booking sheet to print. The address is not published; it comes by email in reply to the form, and the booking sheet inside the parcel is what matches it to your enquiry when it is opened. Would you sooner speak than type? The telephone rings at the bench itself.
Put it to an engineer — the first look costs nothing
0800 6890668
Set down what has happened.
How to post it to us.
Every document, out in the open.
Every job runs on one published set of paperwork — Terms of service (PDF). The contract itself is held by Easy Data Recovery Ltd, company number NI625698, ICO registration ZC173784, trading on this site as External HDD Data Recovery. VAT is charged at the standard rate on every figure quoted.
The questions that come up first.
Why is there no laboratory address on the site?
So that every parcel that arrives is already matched to a case. The address comes by email the moment the form is sent, together with packing instructions for your kind of drive. Write your name on the outside of the parcel and put the booking sheet inside; a drop-off point needs the same.
Can I drop it off, or will you collect?
Drop it off, yes: at the nearest of ten drop-off points across the UK, during its opening hours, in a sealed parcel with your name on it and the booking sheet inside; say where you are on the form and the point comes by email. Collect, no. The bench itself has no counter; the parcel travels on from the point by tracked post and the drives come home the same way, that leg at our expense.
Will an email do instead of the form?
The form works better: it lands carrying enough about the drive that a case can be opened straight away. Where typing is not your preference, 0800 6890668 rings a staffed desk on any weekday, 9am to 5:30pm.
What else should travel with it?
The lead, the adaptor if it has one, the booking sheet printed and filled in, and anything that has parted company with it. If the drive is encrypted, the password or recovery key can go on the sheet or follow by email once the case is open.
Do you take phones?
No. Mobile phones of any make are not handled here, and a phone specialist is the right place for them.
Nothing chargeable starts before you say yes.
Looking costs nothing. Before a chargeable minute is spent, one figure comes to you in writing. And the drive gets handled on the assumption it usually deserves: that no other copy of any of it exists.