Home / Blog

Notes from the bench

The things we end up explaining on the phone to York several times a week, written down properly once — by engineers, without the jargon, the affiliate links or the 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 — what your eyes and ears settle in a minute, the checks that can't hurt, and the point where trying harder starts costing data.

Read the guide →
// 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 that risk nothing, and how a sector-by-sector image rescues a shoot — coastal spray and all.

Read the guide →
// business · 8 min read

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

The first-hour moves that protect what survived, the three places data outlives an attack, how to check for a published decryptor — and the ransom question answered once.

Read the guide →
// guides · 7 min read

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

The four fault tiers every honest quote is built on, 2026 market rates, the three questions that expose pricing games — and what no fix, no fee has to mean to mean anything.

Read the guide →
// business · 7 min read

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

'IT data recovery' covers two different trades — the continuity plan and the salvage bench. Which one a York firm needs mid-crisis, and the four habits that cancel most crises.

Read the guide →
// guides · 8 min read

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

The correct order for Apple Silicon, T2 and older Intel Macs — and the honest truth about what a modern reset leaves behind for any recovery lab: nothing at all.

Read the guide →

Rather hand it straight to an engineer?

The diagnostic is free and done inside 2 working days of arrival; the quote is fixed; logical faults run no fix, no fee. Start online or ring the freephone.