Fast action can save you from losing your data after an accident (flood, spill or fire). Our engineers will remove all of the corrosion and soot; pull replacement parts from our stock of 10,000 items; and recover your data right here in-house.
If a wet drive has been powered up at all, it could have been damaged in an instant from a short circuit. Additionally, if you’ve used a hair dryer or rice to “dry” your drive, there are likely corrosion and mineral deposits now forming on the platters of your drive, which will continue to make recovery increasingly difficult by the hour. Please leave the drive in its current condition (sealed), and get it here to us immediately.
Liquid damage can harm a hard drive differently than heat damage. From corrosion and shorting out a drive to causing warping due to extreme temperatures and soot buildup, these are some examples of what typically occurs as a result of either.
Since 2002, we have successfully retrieved data from water, flood and fire damaged drives from all of the major manufacturers. As long as it is a drive using spinning platters we should be able to assist you.
Internal and external • 3.5” desktop and 2.5” laptop • SATA, SAS, IDE/PATA and SCSI • from 40GB legacy drives to the latest 24TB helium models.
When recovering a drive damaged due to a flood, spill or fire, our first step is to clean it (not read it). After that, we will clean and repair anything that has been damaged and finally restore your files back to their original state, slowly and in order.
Bring in or send your unit to us. Our engineers will inspect the heads, motor, board, etc., of your unit to determine what water or fire may have done. A written quote is provided; typically, this is completed within 48 hours.
The unit is then opened in-house. All residue (soot, corrosion, mineral deposits) is cleaned off of all parts including the head(s), board, motor, and platter surface.
Parts that were damaged due to water or fire damage are replaced with equivalent parts from our inventory.
If the board was damaged to an extent where replacement is necessary, we take the original firmware from the damaged board and transplant it to a matching donor board (so that when you turn on the unit, it powers up properly).
Once the unit powers on, we copy all data from the damaged unit, sector-by-sector, into a safe environment and work around any bad sectors.
We copy all of the information that we can off of the image, create a list of the files you had on the original drive and deliver those files back to you on fresh media.
When we finish backing up your files to an external hard drive, we will post them to you. Alternatively, we can provide you a free (up to 75GB) download of your files once they have been backed up.
Since we stock many of the parts used in our water and fire damage recovery process (i.e. matching heads, boards, etc.), if the physical components are cleanable, most drives can go directly into repair after cleaning. They do not need to wait weeks for a donor unit to arrive.
Tell us about your drive and we will get back to you, usually within 30 minutes during the day.
We will be in touch shortly. For anything urgent, call 0191 406 1051.
There are no hidden charges or fees for our services and there will be no pressure; only a complimentary diagnostics evaluation and a written quotation prior to starting any work.
Here are some examples of water and/or fire damaged recovery jobs done in-house recently. All names have been removed for privacy protection and the results were verified as correct.
Heavily corroded board and contact surfaces. Cleaned the internal components, replaced it with a donor board matched in specifications, and captured an image on the first attempt.
There was liquid on the board and it had shorted. We cleaned off the residue, replaced the board, transferred the firmware, and restored the entire volume of the drive.
Soot and smoke contamination due to fire and firefighting water. We decontaminated the platters (cleaned them), swapped out the heads and were able to restore most of the user’s data.
A free diagnostic can begin once you’ve shipped your device to us. Tell us a bit about how this issue occurred; an engineer will evaluate your device and provide a confirmed written estimate of costs prior to any work being performed.
Before you post or drop off your device, please get a quote from us by phone or with the form. Once we receive your device, our recovery process can start. Safely pack your device, include your name and contact information within the packaging and ship it to us. After performing your free diagnostic, we’ll send you a written confirmation of the exact price of our services prior to starting any work.
If you decide to post it, we would advise using a trackable and insured postal service. Or if you prefer to drop it off, we are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, and you don’t need an appointment. Just pack the unit as described in step one before dropping it off.
Would you like a little more background information prior to sending it? Fill in the form to provide more details about your problem; an engineer will evaluate it and reply with a customised quote.
We’ll be in touch shortly. For anything urgent, call 0191 406 1051.
We get these questions most regarding water, flood and fire damaged drives.
Do not turn on the wet drive; don’t use heat or rice to “dry” it. The reason you should never turn on a wet drive is that it may be immediately damaged by a short circuit. In addition, using either a hair dryer or rice to “dry” your drive will allow corrosion and mineral deposits to form on the platters of your drive. Please simply leave the drive in its current state, and send it to us right away.
Yes, in most instances, especially when you contact us as soon as possible after your problem has occurred. We remove the corrosion and contaminants from the inside and platters of your hard drive, and replace any damaged components. Once that is done, we create an exact replica of your original contents. The faster you call us, the better the recovery results will be.
Often, yes. We typically need to clean the soot and smoke from the internal areas of the drive and from the platter surfaces, as well as replace any heat damaged components prior to recovering whatever data remains on the magnetic media. Due to the fact that fire damage to a hard drive typically also includes water damage caused by fire-fighting efforts, we can provide assistance with both types of problems at once.
That’s a common myth. It doesn’t work. Water in a hard drive never dries out completely because rice can’t get into the internal components, and just sitting will allow corrosion to begin. Don’t let it sit; come to us right away.
Very much. The longer you wait after getting a hard drive wet, the worse the corrosion and mineral deposits will be. Therefore, treating a wetted drive with urgency (i.e. quickly) gives you the best chance of recovering all of its data. Bring it to us ASAP if your hard drive got wet.
A standard charge to recover data from a water or fire-damaged hard disk costs £300 plus VAT. As part of our service, you receive a complimentary (written) diagnostic before recovery, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. However, if your drive has been heavily contaminated with debris or contaminants or severely affected by heat, we may require a higher “critical-recovery” quotation, which we will always confirm in writing prior to commencing any work.
Once you’ve approved our quote, most water and fire recoveries typically take about 3 to 4 working days. However, some of the worst contaminated cases may require additional time. We typically complete an initial diagnostic within 48 hours.
All major manufacturers, such as Seagate, Western Digital, Toshiba, Samsung, HGST, Hitachi, Maxtor, Fujitsu, IBM, Quantum, SanDisk, LaCie, G-Technology, Buffalo, Verbatim, ADATA, Transcend, Silicon Power, Iomega, UnionSine, ModusTech and Intenso, in all formats: 3.5-inch desktop and 2.5-inch laptop and external.
You may hand-deliver it to our Newcastle location during the hours of Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, or post it to us fully insured. Please ensure that the drive is properly wrapped or boxed and sealed. Include all your contact information (Name, Street Address, Telephone Number and Email Address) within the packaging so we are able to fully schedule your drive. We will perform the free diagnostic test once received, then provide you with a written quote prior to commencing any work.
A complimentary written diagnosis, a 10,000 part inventory available to each and every one of our repairs, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. The sooner we can look at it, the better. Start your recovery today.