The Broch does not go in for fuss and neither does this. Post the drive tracked, have the fault named for nothing, take one price in writing, and decide from there.
Fraserburgh jobs are diagnosed free. One fixed figure in writing before any work, and no fix no fee on the bulk of recoveries.
AB43 work arrives mostly off the harbour and the factories behind it. Shellfish and pelagic landings records, grading and processing data, cold-store and haulage systems, and the export paperwork that has to reconcile with all of it. Skipper laptops, plus the externals holding plotter logs and survey files. Engineering job files from the yards and from the net and gear firms. Contractor drives off the wind and marine work along this coast. Then the domestic side of town: one external drive per household, carrying every photograph anyone has taken since roughly 2008 and copied absolutely nowhere.
One route serves all of it. Take the bare drive or SSD out where that can be done sensibly, pack it so nothing moves, and post it tracked and insured — from Fraserburgh that puts it on the bench the following working day. A courier you already deal with does the identical job and stays your booking and your expense. If a trip down is on the cards anyway, devices are accepted at the counter: Edinburgh Data Recovery, 4 Redheughs Rigg, Westpoint, South Gyle, Edinburgh EH12 9DQ, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm. Nobody comes to fetch it. There is no van and no doorstep service, and pretending otherwise would only waste your morning.
Costs are agreed before any work happens. Diagnosis is free, done inside 2 working days of the box arriving, and it ends with one written figure including VAT that does not move afterwards. Logical faults — a corrupt file system, a formatted volume, folders that open empty — are no fix, no fee, so a failed attempt costs you nothing. Physical work is priced differently, because donor parts and clean-air bench time are genuine costs: mechanical, electrical, water and fire damage take 50% of the quote at the outset, with the balance due only on success. Ransomware, recorders and BitLocker occupy the forensic band, payable in advance, and under no circumstances will we arrange payment of a ransom.
Two hard limits worth stating early. Phones and tablets are refused outright, whatever the fault. So is storage soldered onto a motherboard, which covers newer Apple laptops and a few thin Windows machines — removable drives and SSDs only here. If it unscrews or unplugs, we will take it. Rosehearty, New Aberdour, Strichen, Memsie, Sandhaven and the coast round through Macduff and Banff all post in on the same footing. Freephone 0800 689 0668, and the phone is answered by somebody who has had a few thousand drives apart.
Nearly everything on this bench came by tracked, insured post. It is the safest way to shift a failing drive, and a parcel handed in at a North-East post office is usually here the next working day.
Still bolted into a laptop, desktop, MacBook, iMac, server or CCTV / DVR box? Get the hard drive or SSD out first. The bare drive travels on its own. Stripping machines down is not a job this lab takes on. Flash soldered to a motherboard, as on Apple Silicon Macs and a couple of very thin laptops, is our one flat no: if it will not unbolt, it cannot be worked on.
↓ Print the shipping & booking-in form (PDF)
Address it for the attention of Edinburgh Data Recovery. From Aberdeen that is roughly 130 miles and two and a half hours down the A90, or next working day by tracked post if you would rather not make the run. You get a call the moment it is booked onto the bench.
Not sure what belongs in the box? Ring 0800 689 0668 before you tape it shut, or work through the free online diagnostic.
Free diagnosis, the figure written down, no fix no fee on most jobs. Online or on the phone.