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Notes from the bench

All of those things we end up having to explain on the phone to York several times a week, written down properly once by engineers. No jargon. No affiliate links. No manufactured panic.

// troubleshooting · 7 min read

An external drive that's stopped showing up: look first, click later

The unhurried way through a vanished drive: the things your eyes and ears will tell you in a minute, the checks that can’t harm anything, and the point where continuing to struggle is going to cost you data.

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// troubleshooting · 6 min read

A corrupted SD card isn't empty — it's mislabelled. Here's the way back

What the formatting prompt actually reports, the five minute checks with no risk, and how a sector by sector image can save a shoot (coastal spray and all).

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// business · 8 min read

Ransomware data recovery: the three ways files come back — none of them a ransom

The moves to make in the first hour to preserve what is left, the three places data remains after an attack, how to find out if a decryption tool has been made public, and the ransom question answered once.

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// guides · 7 min read

What a file recovery service should cost in the UK — and the games some play

Four levels of faults that each honest price quote is based upon, 2026 market rates, the three questions that will identify when prices are being manipulated, and what "you only pay if we recover your data" has to mean for it to mean anything.

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// business · 7 min read

IT data recovery in York: what the plan covers, and what the bench catches

'IT data recovery' can be seen as consisting of two independent types of work: a business's continuity plan, and the process of recovering data from failed hardware (the salvage bench). Which type of work a York based company needs during an ongoing crisis, and the four key habits that will prevent most crises.

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// guides · 8 min read

Factory resetting a Mac in the right order — save everything first, wipe once

The correct sequence for Macs with Apple Silicon, T2 chips and older Intel processors, and the honest truth about what a modern reset leaves behind for any recovery laboratory: absolutely nothing.

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All diagnoses are provided at no cost and completed within 2 working days of receipt of the faulty equipment; quotes are given at a fixed price; on logical faults you only pay if we recover your data. Customers may start online or alternatively call our freephone number.