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Free online diagnostic

Four quick steps: device, manufacturer, symptom — then an instant engineer's read-out of the likely fault, what to do right now, and typical turnaround. Leave your details and an engineer confirms it personally ASAP.

Instant read-out Free — online & in the lab Fixed quote before any work No fix, no fee

The diagnostic is always free — online and on the bench. You only ever pay a fixed quote you've approved, and only if the recovery succeeds.

01 · Device 02 · Make 03 · Symptom 04 · Read-out & details
// step 1 of 4

What kind of device is it?

// step 2 of 4

Which manufacturer is it?

// step 3 of 4

What's it doing — or not doing?

// step 4 of 4 — the engineer's read-out
// seen your price? here's how to send it in

Send us your device

Your exact quote is confirmed in writing once the free diagnostic is finished — it costs nothing to find out. No fix, no fee covers logical recoveries (deleted, formatted or corrupt data); drives with electronic, mechanical, physical, water or fire damage need invasive work, so 50% of the quote is payable upfront — always set out in writing before anything is touched.

  • Coming out of a computer, laptop, MacBook, iMac, CCTV / DVR or server? You'll need to remove the hard drive or SSD from the machine yourself and send us just the drive — we don't provide an internal drive-removal service. It's usually only a few screws. We don't recover storage soldered to a motherboard (e.g. Apple Silicon Macs and some thin laptops) — only drives that can be removed and sent to us.
  • Wrap the drive or device in anti-static or bubble wrap and pack it snugly in a sturdy box so it can't move in transit — no need to include cables or power supplies.
  • Post it fully insured — a tracked, signed-for service is best — or drop it in person, Mon–Fri 9am–5:30pm. (We don't offer a collection service.)
  • Print and enclose the booking-in & shipping form with your name and phone number so we can log your device the moment it lands.

Post to: Oxford Data Recovery, John Eccles House, Oxford Science Park, Robert Robinson Avenue, Littlemore, Oxford, OX4 4GP — marked for the attention of Oxford Data Recovery. Downloads: ↓ shipping form (PDF) · ↓ terms & conditions (PDF)

Get this confirmed — free

Leave your details and an engineer will call you back ASAP with next steps and honest odds — no obligation.

Something went wrong sending the form — please call us on 0800 689 0668 instead.

We only use your details to respond to this diagnostic request — see our privacy policy.

Diagnostic request received.

An engineer will review it and contact you back ASAP. Ready to send the device already? Post it to John Eccles House, Oxford Science Park, Robert Robinson Avenue, Littlemore, Oxford, OX4 4GP, marked for the attention of Oxford Data Recovery.

Rather talk it through? Call 0800 689 0668 (Mon–Fri 9:00am–5:30pm) — describing the fault over the phone works just as well.

// what recovery costs

Straightforward, fixed pricing

Most jobs fall into one of three fixed bands — the price follows the device, not the panic. You get one fixed figure in writing after the free diagnostic. Logical recoveries are no fix, no fee; drives with electronic, mechanical, physical, water or fire damage need invasive work, so 50% of the quote is payable upfront (see below).

£250 + VAT

USB sticks and memory cards — SD, microSD and CF.

£300 + VAT

A single hard drive or SSD — internal or external, laptop, desktop or Mac.

From £500 + VAT

RAID, NAS and servers — imaged and rebuilt per drive, priced to the job.

CCTV / DVR recorder drives are a fixed £400 + VAT, and a standard forensic investigation is £800 + VAT, payable 100% upfront (larger cases scoped and quoted in writing). No fix, no fee applies to logical recoveries — deleted, formatted or corrupt data, or a healthy drive the system just can't see. It does not apply to drives with electronic, mechanical, physical, water or fire damage: those need invasive work — a new PCB or controller, head/motor repair, NAND chip-off or firmware/service-area access — so 50% of the quoted price is payable upfront for the donor parts and lab time. Exceptional cases (badly burnt boards, snapped media and large multi-disk rebuilds) sit higher and are always quoted in writing first, after the free diagnostic.

// what the bench diagnostic checks

What "free diagnostic" actually covers

When your device arrives, it gets a real engineering assessment — not a five-minute software scan. Within 2 working days you'll know:

01 · Power & electronics

Electrics first: board, bridge and power rails tested, and the drive's unique ROM confirmed safe.

02 · Mechanical health

The mechanics — heads, spindle motor, platter surfaces — judged before the drive is put under any strain.

03 · Firmware state

The firmware layer inspected on the PC-3000 bench: service area and translator, where faults hide from software.

04 · Media integrity

A measured read test on hardware imagers establishes how much of the platters or NAND will actually give data up.

05 · File-system state

The file system mapped: what survived, what's damaged, and which of your real files and folders can come back.

06 · Your fixed quote

A single figure for the recovery, priced off the actual fault — say yes or no, owing nothing whichever you choose.

// diagnostic questions

Common questions

Free at both ends — the instant read-out here, and the full engineer's diagnostic once the device reaches the lab. All you ever do is accept or decline one fixed quote, and an unsuccessful recovery leaves you owing nothing.
Select 'Other / not sure' and move on — nothing rests on it. These answers simply brief the engineer before your device lands; the proper diagnosis is done on the bench within 2 working days of arrival.
Consider it a seasoned first opinion drawn from thousands of bench jobs — each symptom points to its usual culprit, the immediate do-and-don't, and a realistic timescale. The bench diagnostic then nails down the precise fault and your fixed price.
No. First comes a callback, ASAP, to run through it together. Prefer to press on without the call? Send the device directly to our receiving lab.
// getting your device to us

Post or courier your device — it's simple

Most customers post or courier their media to us.

Sending a drive from a computer, laptop, MacBook, iMac, CCTV / DVR or server? Please remove the internal hard drive or SSD and send us just the drive — we don't provide an internal drive-removal service. We don't recover storage soldered to a motherboard (e.g. Apple Silicon Macs and some thin laptops) — only drives that can be removed and sent to us.

  • Wrap the device in bubble wrap or a padded envelope — no need to include cables or power supplies.
  • Print and enclose the booking-in & shipping form (PDF) with your name, phone number and a brief description of what happened.
  • Send by Royal Mail Special Delivery or any tracked courier for full insurance in transit.
  • Prefer to hand it over in person? You can drop it in at reception at the address shown, Mon–Fri 9:00am–5:30pm.
// send your device to your nearest location

Oxford Data Recovery

John Eccles House, Oxford Science Park
Robert Robinson Avenue, Littlemore
Oxford, OX4 4GP

↓ Print the booking-in & shipping form (PDF)

Mark the package for the attention of Oxford Data Recovery and we'll call you as soon as we diagnose your media.

Not sure what to send? Call 0800 689 0668 first or use the free online diagnostic.

Prefer to just send it?

Package the device, include your name and number, and post it tracked.