Four short steps — device, maker, symptom — and you get an engineer's instant read-out: the likely fault, what to do this minute, and how long the fix usually takes. Leave your details and it's confirmed personally, ASAP.
Diagnosis never costs a penny — not online, not on the bench. Money only enters it when you approve a fixed quote, and on most jobs only if the recovery works.
The exact figure goes into writing once the free diagnostic is done — finding out costs you nothing. No fix, no fee covers logical recoveries (deleted, formatted or corrupt data); drives with electronic, mechanical, physical, water or fire damage need invasive work, so 50% of the quote is payable upfront — and every bit of that is set down in writing before anything is touched.
Post to: Leeds Data Recovery, 17th Floor, The Pinnacle, Albion Street, Leeds, LS1 5AA — marked for the attention of Leeds Data Recovery. Downloads: ↓ shipping form (PDF) · ↓ terms & conditions (PDF)
Leave your details and an engineer rings back ASAP with the next step and honest odds — no obligation on your side.
An engineer reads it personally and gets back to you ASAP. Ready to post the device now? Send it to 17th Floor, The Pinnacle, Albion Street, Leeds, LS1 5AA, marked for the attention of Leeds Data Recovery.
Sooner talk to a person? Ring 0800 689 0668 (Mon–Fri 9:00am–5:30pm) — describing the fault down the phone does the job just as well.
Three fixed bands catch nearly every job that reaches the bench — the device sets the price, not how desperate the situation is. One written figure follows the free diagnostic. Logical recoveries are no fix, no fee; drives with electronic, mechanical, physical, water or fire damage need invasive work, so 50% of the quote is payable upfront (see below).
USB sticks and memory cards — SD, microSD and CF.
A single hard drive or SSD — internal or external, laptop, desktop or Mac.
RAID, NAS and servers — imaged and rebuilt per drive, priced to the job.
CCTV / DVR recorder drives are a fixed £400 + VAT, and a standard forensic investigation is £800 + VAT, payable 100% upfront (larger cases scoped and quoted in writing). No fix, no fee applies to logical recoveries — deleted, formatted or corrupt data, or a healthy drive the system just can't see. It does not apply to drives with electronic, mechanical, physical, water or fire damage: those need invasive work — a new PCB or controller, head/motor repair, NAND chip-off or firmware/service-area access — so 50% of the quoted price is payable upfront for the donor parts and lab time. The awkward end of the trade — boards burnt past recognition, media snapped clean through, rebuilds spanning a stack of disks — carries a higher figure, and that figure is put in writing after the free diagnostic before anyone touches anything.
When your device turns up it gets a proper engineering going-over, not a five-minute scan with free software. Inside 2 working days you'll have answers on:
Electrics come first — the board, bridge and power rails checked over, and the drive's one-of-a-kind ROM secured before owt else.
Heads, spindle motor and platter surfaces assessed before the drive is asked to do a single hard read.
Service area and translator inspected over the PC-3000 — the layer where faults sit invisible to ordinary software.
A measured read on hardware imagers shows how much of the platters or NAND will genuinely hand data over.
The file system charted: what's whole, what's bruised, and which of your actual folders are coming home.
One figure for the recovery, priced off the true fault — take it or leave it, owing nothing either way.
Nearly every job on our bench arrived by tracked, insured post — it's the quickest, safest route in. There's no collection service, so the parcel is yours to send or hand in.
Is the drive still inside a computer, laptop, MacBook, iMac, CCTV / DVR or server? Take the hard drive or SSD out first and post the bare drive on its own — removing drives from machines isn't a service we offer. Storage that's soldered to a motherboard (Apple Silicon Macs, certain slim laptops) is the one thing we can't work on: if it doesn't come out, it can't come in.
↓ Print the booking-in & shipping form (PDF)
Address the parcel for the attention of Leeds Data Recovery — about 40 minutes from York via the A64 and A1(M), or next working day by tracked post. You'll hear from us the moment it's booked onto the bench.
Not certain what to pack? Ring 0800 689 0668 first, or run the free online diagnostic.
Wrap it well, drop a note in the box with your name and number, and send it tracked.