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HDR Hull Data Recovery 0800 6890668 Price it up
HDR / Ask what it costs

A free look · then one fixed price

Name the fault first. Money comes after.

Two questions, that is the whole checker. Out comes a likely cause, a plain warning about what not to do next, and a rough figure for the bench time. The form is further down. Once the device reaches the lab an engineer assesses it for free, and whatever price goes on paper is what you are charged.

An engineer will take the details
0800 6890668

Two questions, one likely cause.

The steps we follow →
Online check, free · no commitment HDR-2026-····

What sort of device is it?

Choose the nearest match.

Two taps, a plain answer, and one thing worth doing before anything else. This is not the free diagnosis — that one wants your drive on a bench, under an engineer. Think of it as the reply you would get by phone, only it is still awake at three in the morning.

Now the details.

Diagnosis free · a single quote in writing · no money until you approve it. Mon–Fri 9am–5:30pm on the desk, with an answer inside one working day.

And then what happens.

01

You hear back within a working day

A person reads what you sent, not a script sorting you into a bucket. Back comes a straight first view: realistic odds, the one thing to leave alone, and the address.

A real engineer, not a botSame day, as a rule
02

Bench time, fault named Free

Each device gets a case number to itself, then goes onto the bench. That is where we name the actual fault and work out what proportion of the platters, or the flash, still reads.

Its own case numberBench work starts on arrival
03

The price, then your decision

The written quote comes back to you. Approve it and work starts. Turn it down and the device travels home at our expense. The assessment cost nothing either way, and no clause anywhere takes that back.

One price, put in writing

Address and paperwork.

Want it on paper? →

Post to this address · tracked and insured · counter open Mon–Fri 9am–5:30pm

Leeds Data Recovery, intake lab
The Pinnacle
Albion Street
Leeds, LS1 5AA

A jiffy bag or a small carton does the job, as long as this form goes in alongside the device. Nobody collects: send it tracked and insured, or drive it across on a weekday — about an hour from Hull, A63 onto the M62, and not a toll on the route.

Only the disk needs to travel: take the drive out of the DVR, Mac, laptop or desktop and send that by itself. Most repair shops will do the removal while you wait.

One exception: an external can travel still inside its case. Anything running several disks — NAS, RAID box, server — arrives here as bare drives, each one labelled with its bay. No phones and no tablets, ever.

1Your details
2The device

The device — tick anything that fits

RAID / server: the disks come out, the controller stays behind, and every disk gets its bay number written on it — 1, 2, 3… NAS: exactly the same — numbered disks only, and you keep the empty box.

3The symptoms

The symptoms — tick all you have seen

4What you need back
Once the assessment is done you get a call, then the same thing in writing by email. 0800 6890668 · hull-datarecovery.co.uk Most jobs: nothing back, nothing to pay
Print a copy for the parcel, fill it in online, or do both. Send it in advance and the case is open before the box arrives.

Everything typed here shows up on the printed sheet too. If you would sooner work on paper, Download the PDF and write on that. Either way is fine, provided one copy travels in the parcel.

Packing it for post.

Assume it is fragileIf the original packaging is still around, use it. Failing that, pad every side, shake the box and listen — you should hear nothing shift. Memory cards and USB sticks go in a padded bag first.
Tracked, signed for and insuredUse a courier that tracks and insures, and keep hold of the receipt. However the job turns out, the postage home is on us.
Number each disk in the arrayEvery disk from a RAID, NAS or server comes out and travels loose, its bay number marked on in pen. Get that sequence wrong and the rebuild will not hold; working it back out blind burns hours of bench time.
Call ahead if the job looks awkwardNot sure how the disks come out, or is the kit heavy and awkward? Ring 0800 6890668 before you shift anything and we can agree the safest approach.

Check this list before it goes

  • Write every password down: Windows logins, FileVault, BitLocker recovery keys — put the lot on the shipping form. A lab has no back door through encryption. Missing the key, we get no further than you do.
  • Say what you cannot lose: name those folders and they go to the top of the list when we start reading.
  • Send externals intact: leave the cables at home. The bridge board inside a WD My Passport is paired to that one disk, so the pair has to arrive together.
  • Hang on to the power brick unless we ask. If a part has broken off or come loose, bag the pieces and send them along with the drive. Do not bin anything.

Worth repeating: no matter what the checker told you, leave the device unplugged. A fair share of the damage that ends up on this bench started with one more attempt.

What people ask before sending it in.

Is the checker the same as a diagnosis?

No. The two are different things. A diagnosis puts the hardware in front of an engineer who goes through it stage by stage until the fault has a name. The checker reflects back the boxes you ticked, with a probable cause attached. Treat one as a pointer and the other as evidence. The quote follows the evidence.

How much will a recovery come to?

What band you fall in comes down to the device, and the checker names it for you. Two disks or more: from £500 + VAT. A recorder such as a DVR: £400 + VAT. One drive on its own: £300 + VAT. Memory cards and pen drives: £250 + VAT. Full detail is on the pricing page. After the free assessment that band becomes a single figure, in writing.

Is no recovery, no fee genuine?

Nothing recovered means nothing to pay, and that covers most jobs. Where it does not, we say so before you commit. The exceptions are usually drives with physical or electrical harm, plus anything another outfit has already had open.

How quickly will you get back?

Inside a working day. Half an hour is common, if the message lands while the desk is staffed. Sent overnight, it gets picked up the next morning. Once a single disk reaches the bench, the diagnosis normally takes 48 hours.

Spend two minutes, get one price.

Checker, form, parcel, post office. From there it is your call, and having the device looked at will have cost nothing at all.

0800 6890668