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HDR / The work we take on / Emergency and priority work

Emergency jobs · priority handling

Emergency recovery for Hull. When a disk stops, work stops; yours goes on the imager first.

In Hull there is more than one currency to pay for a stoppage. Papers have to be passed from an Old Town ship's agent to clear a vessel for its 20:30 departure for Rotterdam. At a haulage office on Hedon Road a list (manifest) has to be passed to drivers who are waiting. Priority here means your job is number one; anything that arrives with "urgent" marked will be opened when received, reviewed the same day, and placed on the imaging system in advance of the rest of jobs as long as the lab is open.

Only pay if we recover your data, on most jobs Free to look at, then one fixed price Parcels come in from Beverley, Grimsby and Skegness

An engineer will take the details
0800 6890668

Putting a name to the symptom.

Nothing similar? Go to the triage →
What you seeWhat the fault isWhat to try
The server that everything runs on is out-of-orderDisk-imaging happens first, then the array is rebuilt using the images (always priority)Start with "business down"
There was a rebuild started that stopped halfway, but no further action has occurred sinceGood decision: with each retry you burn up what little is leftJust keep it switched off and ring us
The deadline is set for the dataPayroll runs, tribunals, sailings: the bench works back from this dateTell us the date right away
The family photos were the only copy and the drive has failedAll family photos are given the same priority as a business' server.Either way, you receive a straight answer.
File names are being changed while you look at them.Contain it, preserve the evidence, then restoreDisconnect the network cable, but don't touch the power
Send it to us: get a quote first, either over the telephone or via our online quote form. Then carefully package it to prevent damage in transit, insure it for its full value and post the package using a trackable service to the Leeds intake laboratory; alternatively you may drop it off there (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, no appointment needed). For laptops, PCs, Macs and recorders, we require only the drive unit itself (storage soldered to the board is not taken on; if you're not sure which kind you have, ring us first); for RAID arrays and servers, we just need the individual disks, labelled by their respective bays; for a NAS, send the drives if you can remove them, but if not, please include the entire NAS device. A single external drive goes whole, with its cable and power adapter. We pay for return postage. If you would like an engineer to inspect the packaging prior to taping the box closed, please give us a call first. Further information is available on our sending page.

What the emergency time is spent on.

What sort of faultWhen the hardware is sound and it's just a logic problem (a software problem), it is generally a two-day project. Swapping out parts and reconstructing an array from images will always take longer, regardless of where the work is taking place. Effort doesn't make a slow read faster.
Size and conditionA 4 TB disk in good health will tie up an imager for hours. One that is failing and going through the process of reading the same bad sector repeatedly may hold it up for days. The time frame depends on the capacity of the disk and the condition of the disk.
Sourcing the right donorWhen replacing a defective board or head stack, the replacement must be an exact match of the original: model number, product family and firmware revision level. A priority repair project receives the first opportunity to select parts in inventory; an unusual hard drive may require as long as the search takes to find it. In addition, a fee paid to expedite the search does not shorten the time required to locate the replacement part.
What was tried firstAll things that you did at home are included when you send the drive in to us. This includes: another attempt at powering the system; another attempt at running a program to point at the disk; pushing through the warnings to complete a rebuild. Those drives that nobody messed with will leave our facility sooner.

From the box arriving to the files going back.

01

A case number first, then a free diagnosis Free

Every piece of gear that shows up receives a case number on the very same day it arrives. An engineer examines it and determines what is really wrong with it and there is no charge for this. We give you straight language about which files we will be able to copy from the disk and which ones we won't be able to. Then we provide you with a single price quote, in writing, based upon these findings. We don't begin working on anything until you agree to the quoted price.

The diagnosis is freeOne price, put in writingNothing to pay yet
02

Say so on the phone

One phone call does it: say "business down", or tell us when you need the job by. This one call designates the job as urgent, raises its case number, and reserves engineering bench time prior to your sending the drive.

Marked urgent on the callBench time set aside
03

Straight onto the imager

We open the box and determine what is wrong with the device on the same day. Once we know what needs to be repaired, we run imaging on it from beginning to end. Any drive we have available goes on after yours. Call as many times as you want to check on your status. The engineer who has your job will advise you as to where you stand.

Unboxed the day it landsImaged without a break
04

Back to you once it is checked

Once the files you specified at the outset successfully open, we will deliver your data (encrypted file transfer, posting of new storage media or collection of the restored data in person from Leeds).

Checked before it goesThe fastest route back
05

You sign it off, then it comes back

You will not be charged while you think about this. First, you receive a list of everything that was recovered from the drive. Once you have seen the list and given us the go-ahead, the bill comes next. Files are returned to you on media purchased specifically for this job and we cover the return postage as well. Your job is kept open by us until you can view them on your personal computer.

You approve the listing firstCopied onto new mediaReturn postage at our cost

What turns up most often

  • Reading speed determines when the job finishes: a very large drive in good health may clear the imager in only a few hours, but a drive grinding over the same defective sectors at a mere handful of MB per sec may hold it up for days. Everything else is only scheduling.
  • Money will give you a higher priority but it cannot alter physical reality: the defective drive will go to the top of the queue and will never be removed until it is completed. A monetary payment made to expedite a repair will not cause a spare part that nobody has in stock to magically appear, nor will it enable a read to occur at a greater rate than physically possible.
  • Stating a specific deadline alters the order in which the drive is read: when you provide us with a deadline, we will begin verifying and transferring the sectors associated with the folders you specify first. Therefore, these files will be returned to you and/or transferred to you before any other files.
  • Untouched drives are always the quickest: the ones that arrive turned off, with no software downloaded and run on them, and nobody attempting to rebuild them, are often finished days before the ones that have been monkeyed with.

There are five factors determining time frame: which part failed, how many TBs need to be read, the state of the media surface, if the correct donor unit is available, and what previous attempts were made before sending us the unit. How urgent it is makes none of those factors move any quicker. What our published opening hours show is our hours of operation, not some badge stating "we're open 24/7". Priority jobs from Hull and the East Riding run straight through the working day (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm), are diagnosed on the day they arrive and are given a scheduled completion date as soon as there is a valid one.

One case from the casebook.

HU · HUL-2026-0803LOGGED ✓

Failed on the Monday, and a York haulier booking again by Thursday

A rebuild had already been initiated when the call was received. That was the difficult part. None of the items on the array were accessed. Each disk was imaged independently, and then the array was rebuilt using nothing but these images in software. The database validated. The booking system was accepting new work again by Thursday at lunch. The minute the phone rang, it became the next item to be worked on ahead of everything else.

Business back up in 4 daysPriority job

Before you box it up.

Do these first

  • Say "business down", or tell us when you need it
  • Switch off the bad machine, and keep it switched off
  • Have whoever approves the costs on hand
  • Get a quote before sending each disk, bay number marked on it, even the ones that are dead

What not to do

  • Letting another rebuild run while you decide
  • Trusting a company that claims to fix your head crash by morning
  • Waiting until tomorrow when today's call would book bench time
  • Sending the disks to two separate laboratories

Asked most weeks, answered here.

How quickly does a priority job move?

It depends on what has broken. With the mechanical parts in order and a purely logical failure, we often complete a priority job within a day or two. An array usually takes longer as well as a drive with a failing head. It is the imager which dictates the pace, and a worn-out sector reads at the rate it always reads at, regardless of the price you pay. We know how long this will take when we see the drive, not before.

Does anyone work through the night?

No. Any company that implies head swaps occur independently of their operating hours should raise concerns about their integrity. By "priority" we mean your drive is sitting at the front of our bench and being worked on continuously (no breaks) while we are open, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm. Our opening hours tell you more than just a logo does.

Can you give me a date before it arrives?

No. Anyone who gives a date without physically looking at the drive is simply making a guess. A physical fault depends on whether the surfaces are damaged and whether the correct donor unit exists; neither can be determined over a phone. What you will receive is the head of the queue, a diagnosis before the day is out, and a firm completion date once we can determine a valid one.

Does priority cost more?

Yes. Your drive will go to the front of our queue and that costs money. This cost is listed on the single written quote we will send you prior to agreeing to service. We offer a complimentary diagnosis for all customers.

What people read after this.

Multi-disk systems → A stopped server → NAS volumes → Everything we take in →

A drive left switched off loses nothing more.

Leave it off. There are only a few start attempts left in your failing drive and each attempt uses up a little more of what remains. Our complimentary diagnosis will determine what files are readable.

0800 6890668

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