Data Recovery Services in Edinburgh
Repeatedly powering a failed SSD can let it permanently erase blocks already marked deleted. We collect devices from Edinburgh by courier for recovery in our London cleanroom. Standard turnaround is 5–10 working days from arrival, standard diagnostics are free, and prices start from £100.
An SSD that won't mount shouldn't be power-cycled repeatedly while you decide what to do, because it can quietly erase blocks already marked deleted — worth knowing in a city like Edinburgh, where SSD-based work laptops are common in the finance and legal sector.
- Booking a collection
- Power the SSD down and leave it off from the moment you book the collection. Every extra power-on is another chance for the controller to erase blocks in the background before the drive ever reaches the lab.
- Getting to the lab
- As with Glasgow, the distance from London means transit takes a little longer than for closer collection cities; the 5–10 working day standard turnaround begins once the device is checked in at the lab.
An SSD needs different handling than a hard drive
If your drive is an SSD — increasingly the default in Edinburgh’s finance and legal sector, where work laptops are usually solid-state — the worst thing you can do while deciding what to try next is keep power-cycling it. Unlike a mechanical drive, an SSD can run background garbage collection every time it’s powered, which permanently erases blocks it has already marked as deleted. If it’s not mounting properly, power it off and leave it off until it’s collected — it will be opened and imaged in London, not locally.
A failed memory card needs to be left alone
If you were shooting photos or video during festival season and a memory card stops reading, the instinct is to reformat it or run your camera’s built-in “repair” option. Don’t — both write to the card and can overwrite exactly the files you’re trying to get back. Stop using the card, don’t format it, and don’t shoot anything else to it before it’s collected; the files are still there until something writes over them.
What happens when your device arrives
Every device we take in goes through the same intake, whoever sent it and wherever it came from:
- 01 the device is photographed on arrival
- 02 a job ticket is raised and the device registered against it
- 03 the customer is notified that it has been received
An encrypted drive can only be recovered if you supply the key or password: full-disk encryption is not something the lab can bypass.
Recovery priority
How fast do you need your data back?
The engineering process and level of care stay the same. A faster service moves your case forward in the lab queue.
Turnaround starts when the device reaches our laboratory.
- 01
Standard
5–10 working days
Targets recovery and return within 5–10 working days of the device reaching our lab, subject to diagnosis, parts and media condition.
Recovery price Included - 02
Express
3–5 working days
Prioritises the case and targets 3–5 working days from arrival, subject to diagnosis, parts, media condition and data volume.
Priority surcharge +40% - 03
Emergency
24 hours
Gives the case highest queue priority and targets 24 hours from arrival when the fault, parts, media condition and data volume allow it.
Priority surcharge +70%
Get a quote
Tell us what happened
After diagnosis, we confirm a written price or agreed range before any recovery work begins.
Or call 020 8543 7088
Get a free diagnosis quote
Tell us what happened. We will come back with clear next steps and pricing before any recovery work begins.