A free 48-hour diagnostic, one fixed cost agreed in writing prior to us opening up equipment, and, in most cases, you only pay if we recover your data. The A120 corridor contains industrial (distribution and light manufacturing) areas, while retail/outlet areas go beyond what would be expected based on the town's population and land area; there are also estates spreading toward Witham and Great Notley.
Approximately 50 minutes and 47 miles separate Braintree from our location: either bring it by or send it through the post.
Covering Witham, Halstead, Coggeshall and the wider Essex area.
Forty-seven miles south of our location via the M11 and A120. Approximately 50 minutes.
Braintree has an industrial (distribution and light manufacturing) base along the A120 corridor, and a retailing base which is disproportionately large for the town. The jobs we get are from medium-sized businesses, using stock and warehouse systems, EPOS systems and retail databases. In many cases these companies are large enough to use their own servers and network, but there is no one whose job title includes looking after them. This is the single biggest reason why we get work from this location.
Distribution and light manufacturing are in place along the A120, while retail and outlet functions are over-represented relative to the town's population, and estate areas extend toward Witham and Great Notley.
Drawn directly from what has been done, not from some sort of capabilities list.
The mid-sized businesses have no dedicated IT support. They use stock/warehouse databases and EPOS as well as retail record systems. Small servers for files and applications also exist. Failed or failing backups (that were never verified) are typical, not exceptional.
Before you do anything else. Before you assume there was a backup, check if the last backup has been run. In most cases on the jobs we receive here, this had not occurred for some months.
In addition to that, we also receive many examples of standard day-to-day household computer problems, which occur within every community, such as laptops that won’t start again, external drives containing your family photos, and memory cards formatted by mistake on one of your cameras. The cost for these items ranges from £250 to £300 plus VAT, and they are often amongst the fastest services we provide. Business and array work from Braintree and throughout Cambridgeshire begins at £500 plus VAT.
It makes no difference if you hand-deliver the item or send it via courier.
First get a quote either by using our form or by phoning us. We will then ask you to deliver your drive to Compass House, Vision Park, Cambridge CB24 9AD, Monday to Friday 9am to 5:30pm, without needing an appointment. Alternatively you may post the drive insured from Braintree. Only send the drive, as we don't accept complete laptops, PCs or Macs.
Whether the fault is classified as mechanical, electronic, firmware or logical will determine the route for repair, cost and real probability of success.
There is one number agreed prior to opening up the device. The number never changes after that. Instead, if there is software available to accomplish this task, or if nothing can be salvaged, then you will hear this.
Imaged read-only, rebuilt using the image, checked by accessing files rather than counting them, and copied to new media and delivered via free shipping back to Braintree.
We lose the job, but this is our correct response. It's better for you to know this now instead of when there is a bill due.
The drive still mounts and reads. Transfer your files off the device yourself, the most important ones first, then don't use it. We add nothing to a device you can still access.
The material is held elsewhere for compliance. Regulated and legal work is often stored on another server or store that was never asked about: compliance systems, practice management platforms, third-party stores. It's worth one phone call prior to assuming that it has been lost.
A recent deletion from a healthy drive. Reputable read-only programs installed on a different drive will often accomplish this at a fraction of what we would quote.
The backup did run after all. A failed backup notice does not always mean that a backup failed. Examine the physical media prior to writing it off.
Get a quote first. This can be done by phone or with our online form. Send the device to us with a brief account of what happened to it. The diagnostic is cost-free and obliges you to nothing. The figure that follows will then be fixed in writing before anything is opened.
Once you have a quote, nothing else can be done until the device is on the workbench. As such, this is the only step that needs anything from you. Pack it properly, add your details and post/deliver it with no appointment required. All that follows is a free diagnostic and a written quotation price, in that order.
Using postal services? Please use a method that has tracking and insurance; the value of what is on the drive far outweighs the cost of postage. If bringing in personally, please bring this item Monday to Friday, from 9am until 5:30pm without requiring an appointment, but again, please pack items carefully for transport.
Please provide information about the unit including what it is doing and any troubleshooting performed prior to contacting us. An engineer will then contact you to outline their professional assessment of the prospects along with a price range prior to you sending anything.
We’ll be in touch shortly. For anything urgent, call 01223 655015.
First, get a quote by phone, or using the online form, then come to Compass House, Vision Park, Cambridge CB24 9AD, Monday to Friday, 9am–5:30pm. No appointment is required. Compass House is approximately 47 miles from you via the M11 and A120 roads, and will take roughly 50 minutes to reach. Alternatively, send it insured. Return postage costs nothing either way.
We will provide the price band immediately: the listed costs begin at £250 plus VAT for card data and £300 for a single drive. The exact cost is fixed in writing after the initial 48-hour complimentary diagnostic, and this cost will not change.
Switch it off immediately and leave it off. Clicking means the heads cannot find their servo data, and every time you turn it back on again there is an increased risk of damaging the hard disk drive surfaces. The length of time it was running after its first audible click will have a greater effect on recovery success than anything else we can do.
We do, regularly. We use NDAs by default, one named point of contact from diagnostic through to delivery, invoice established firms instead of using credit/debit cards, and provide a detailed report describing what failed (for audit and insurance purposes).
Our pricing starts at £250 plus VAT for cards and USB drives, then from £300 plus VAT for a single drive, or for laptops and Macs equipped with removable storage, with £550 plus VAT being our flat price for a Fusion Drive. Our prices for RAID, NAS and server systems start from £500 plus VAT; each quote is made in writing after we complete your complimentary 48-hour diagnostic.
It's rare, but possible with a logical error on good hardware dropped off early. We cannot compress a physical recovery that far: although priority treatment puts you ahead of everyone else in line, it does nothing to speed up how quickly your bad drive reads.
Our diagnostic will be free; in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Our office in Cambridge is about 47 miles away (rather than at the end of a courier chain). We offer two ways to get it to us: walk it in or send it insured. Both of these methods begin with getting a quote.