Free 48-hour diagnostic; a single fixed price will be agreed in writing prior to opening any equipment, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Engineering (light) and food manufacture lead, along with large production facilities based in the town itself and surrounding areas, and logistics built around its position on the A14.
Roughly 55 minutes and 45 miles separate us from Stowmarket, so you can bring it here yourself; alternatively you could use the postal service.
Covering Needham Market, Stowupland, Haughley and the wider Suffolk area.
Approximately 45 miles east of us, located on the A14 road, around 55 minutes. Post can often be an easier option to get the items here, and there is no cost associated with return shipping.
The basis of operations in Stowmarket is centred in engineering (light) and food processing, with logistics being supported through its location on the A14. The types of materials that reach us are related to the production floor, such as line control systems, formulation and recipe data, maintenance history and the CCTV cameras that are virtually mandated for food establishments. Data used for formulations in particular are considered proprietary information by the companies that possess this data, but this does not impact how data recovery is performed, only how it is handled.
Light engineering and food processing are the dominant areas of activity here, with large-scale production operations in and around the town and logistics built on its strategic location on the A14.
Drawn directly from what has been done, not from some sort of capabilities list.
Food production systems. Recipe/line control. Formulation records. Maintenance and compliance data. Site CCTV. Confidentiality is a real concern with these jobs, so they are the ones where clients most often ask about our non-disclosure terms before anything else.
Before you do anything else. If this is formulation or recipe related data, please let us know before you send it. This will mean that we can modify our standard handling conditions, as opposed to altering how the data will be processed.
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 Stowmarket 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 Stowmarket. 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 Stowmarket.
None of them will gain us any income. They are here simply as we get calls about all four of them most weeks.
The drive still mounts and reads. You should be copying your data off immediately, most important files first, and stopping use of this disk. There is no additional value that a lab adds to a drive that you can still open.
The system is still running on a mirror. Usually the data remains “live” on a degraded RAID 1 or 5. Taking a backup of it before you do anything else is a much less expensive option than recovering your data.
A recent deletion from a healthy drive. Read-only software (installed to a different drive) often handles this at a significantly lower cost than our standard service, if your drive itself is sound.
There is an older copy you have forgotten. A backup taken two years ago on an external hard drive; a laptop you replaced, with all the old stuff stored on it; a backup sent to your accountant... Many enquiries resolve themselves quickly, within five minutes, at no charge to you.
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 over the telephone or using our online form, then bring your drive to Compass House located on Vision Park in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire (CB24 9AD), Monday to Friday from 9am to 5:30pm without prior booking. The distance to us is approximately forty-five miles along the A14, which takes about fifty-five minutes by car. Alternatively you may send it by insured post, and we will provide for the cost of return postage regardless of whether you bring it in or post it.
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 service is free, in most cases you only pay if we recover your data, and also our Cambridge location is approximately 45 miles away rather than at the end of a courier chain. You have two options for starting the service: you can either walk your drive into our office or send it to us insured. Both options begin with getting a quote.