The order it goes in
How your case runs. Seven stages, and two of them wait until you say go.
Every card that reaches us, by post or through a drop-off point, goes through the same seven stages, in the same order, and you are asked to decide at two of them: whether to send it, and whether to accept the figure. Nothing chargeable happens before the second, and nothing is ever formatted, repaired, initialised or written to on the original card at any stage. What follows is each stage as it actually runs, what the card is doing while it waits, and how long each usually takes. A card a reader sees is £149 + VAT after the free look, fixed in writing; 3–5 days at the bench for a card that reads, 5–10 days at the bench for monolith and SSD-class work.
Rather talk it through? An engineer answers the bench line
0800 6890668
The order it goes in, end to end.
Every band, in prose →The form
You tell us the card, the device it came from, what it says and what was tried. Two minutes on the quote page, or the fuller booking sheet if you would rather do it once. It is read by an engineer, not a script.
Posting details, by email
Back come the posting address, the nearest of ten drop-off points to where you are, packing notes for your kind of card, and a booking sheet to print. The laboratory address is not published anywhere; it comes by email in reply to the form. Put the booking sheet inside the envelope and write your name on the outside; that is how the envelope is matched to your enquiry when it arrives, and your case number is issued that day. Post it tracked, or hand it in at a drop-off point.
Arrival
Logged, both sides photographed, the card numbered and its markings recorded, and the whole matched to your enquiry the day the envelope lands, when it is given its case number and you are emailed to say it has arrived. A wet card is cleaned before it is powered. Nothing is put in a laptop slot.
The free look Free
Read-only assessment on a hardware imager through the reader the card needs: what it presents, its real capacity measured, its identity read, its file system looked at where it has one and the controller's state where it has not. What happened to the card is named, what has been written since is found, and how much can honestly be read back is settled. Allow about 48 hours.
One figure, in writing
What we found, what we expect to recover, and one price, together. Accept it and work begins. Decline and the card comes home at our expense with nothing owed.
The work on the bench
The card imaged in full, weak areas last, in short passes if it is failing; the tables rebuilt on the image or the files carved by signature with their dates restored from the files themselves; video cut short rebuilt from a reference clip; and where the controller has stopped, the coating removed, the pads mapped, the flash read through a needle adapter and the dump descrambled and reassembled in software. Never on the original.
The files, home
Every photograph opened, the file list checked and sent to you before any bill exists, and the data sent home on fresh media with the original card, tracked, postage paid. Your case stays open until you have opened the files on a machine of your own.
How long each of them takes.
| Stage | Usually | What stretches it |
|---|---|---|
| The form to the posting details | The same working day | A form sent late on a Friday |
| Posting | Next working day, tracked | An envelope sent second class |
| Dropping off | Logged at the point on the spot; to the bench within a working day as a rule | An envelope handed in late on a Friday |
| The free look | About 48 hours from arrival | A wet card to clean, or a monolith to map |
| Your decision | As long as you need | Nothing; the card waits, unpowered |
| Bench work, a card that reads | 3–5 days at the bench | A failing card imaged in passes, or video to rebuild |
| Bench work, a monolith or a PCIe card | 5–10 days at the bench | A pinout not in the database, or a cracked package |
| Files home | Next working day after approval | Very large cards copying to the new media |
What belongs in the envelope
- The card, in a small bag or case, taped to a piece of stiff card, in a padded envelope; every piece of a snapped card; a wet card in its bag, unpowered.
- The booking sheet, printed and filled in, or sent on ahead from the quote page.
- A reference clip from the same camera at the same settings on another card, if you have one and video matters.
- The password or recovery key for an encrypted drive, on the sheet or by email once the case is open.
What stays at home: the camera, the phone, the dashcam, the drone and the console; the adapter and the reader unless the card has never worked without them; and mobile phones, which are not handled here at all.
The questions that come up first.
Do I have to accept the figure?
No. Decline it and the card comes home at our expense with nothing owed. The free look is free whichever way you decide.
What comes back?
The recovered files on fresh media, with the original card. The card is not written to, and we say on the sheet whether it should be used again; a card that locked itself, or a counterfeit, should not.
Can I ask for priority?
Yes. Priority handling puts the card at the front of the bench and is quoted separately, only when you ask.
How do I know the files are right?
Every photograph is opened before it is listed, and your case stays open until you have opened the files on a machine of your own.
What happens to the original card?
It goes back to you with the recovered data, by tracked post, or is securely destroyed at your request. It does not go back to a drop-off point.
All of it begins with one form.
Two minutes on the quote page, the posting details by return, and the first look is free.