We don't have branches, and that is the honest way round: a recovery occurs at a bench with the necessary equipment to support the process. What's important is which bench your drive reaches rather than how far it travelled. A tracked box from anywhere in the UK will get your item delivered overnight to our location. Your diagnostic will be the same one that all walk-ins receive.
What can be said about distance? It's clearly the least significant factor in a recovery. Overnight shipping allows every UK postcode to reach the same engineers and the same equipment within 24 hours.
Norwich, Ipswich, Milton Keynes, and the towns across Kent typically send packages to us by post as opposed to hand-delivering them, and again the work being performed is identical regardless of whether it arrives by post or someone brings it to our facility. We provide a complimentary 48-hour diagnostic and a fixed price in writing, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. In addition, we also pay for the return trip on each and every job.
The only practical difference is when the clock begins. When we open your package and begin the diagnostic process, that will be considered day one, not the day you rang. Therefore, a Friday posting is essentially considered a Monday start.
If you can reach Vision Park within roughly half an hour by car, it’s better to use your own vehicle for transportation, as that saves the transit days. For any travel beyond this time frame, post is the best available method to use; it isn’t a compromise.
A drive moves more easily than the device around it and posting it is cheaper. We cannot accept computers, laptops, servers or Macs, but any local computer store can easily remove the drive from a unit in just a few minutes for you if you would prefer them to do so.
Use anti-static packaging material around the drive, then add some solid cushioning all around the drive and finally put everything in a sturdy box leaving enough space. A drive that has already failed should be treated gently during transit.
Include your name, phone number and a brief description of what happened. Labels fall off items during shipping, and without identifying information inside the box, delays will occur for everyone involved.
Royal Mail Special Delivery or a delivery service with tracking capabilities. While a drive itself may have low value, whatever data is stored on the drive does not. Therefore, the point of using Special Delivery or tracking capabilities is to track where it has travelled and when, rather than to insure its value.
Do not post a wet drive dried out. Send a wet drive by post, still damp and sealed in a bag. Don’t dry a wet drive first using heat. An unpowered wet drive is much easier to recover than one dried on a radiator and tested.
Do not post loose array members unlabelled. Before sending any RAID or NAS disks, please make sure each individual drive is labelled with the exact bay it came from. The way you have the bays ordered is part of the array configuration; therefore, when you do this it will save work at our end and time at yours.
Do send the enclosure. With all external drives, include the housing unit (enclosure) along with the cables and the power supply. Please be aware that if a user sends us just the bare disk(s) from a WD My Passport or My Book, we cannot read it without the bridge board which contains the encryption key.
First get a quote over the telephone or from this website's online quotation form. Once you have been given a quote, please post it to us at Cambridge Data Recovery, Compass House, Vision Park, Chivers Way, Cambridge CB24 9AD. Please include in the package your name, contact number and a short note about how the device failed.
Yes, on every job. The recovered data is returned either by secure link or on new encrypted media, along with the return of the original media at our expense.
You should use a tracked and signed-for postal method to send your media to us. Since we are unable to get insurance prior to receiving the package, tracking rather than declared value is what matters.
No. We will only accept the actual drive (and nothing else). A local computer repair shop will be able to remove the drive from your computer within minutes. If the device has been damaged due to exposure to liquid, then please carefully disconnect the battery first (if easily accessible).
We will provide a written decision and a set fee for each case, and do so within 48 hours after opening your package. It is not a holding email.
No. We do not provide a collection service for any job, whether commercial or domestic. However, we are happy to receive packages via Royal Mail (or other postal services) that are insured and trackable. If you would like to deliver your device personally then simply visit our offices at Compass House, Vision Park, Monday to Friday between 9am and 5:30pm; there is no need to make an appointment.