MH · MHD-2026-6804ON RECORD ✓
A 2TB Seagate that clicked, holding a decade of photographs
A matched donor supplied the head stack. We imaged the platters around the damaged band, then rebuilt the photo library from that copy.
Data recovery bench · Maidenhead · Windsor · Berkshire · Bucks
The hardware fails first. The files usually outlive it.
Whatever has stopped working — a hard disk that will not mount, a dropped external drive, a Mac that refuses to boot, an array a member short — the files are usually still readable. The diagnosis is free, the quote is a single written figure, and on most work no recovery means no fee.
No fee unless the data comes back
Over 25 years at the bench
Jobs from £250 + VAT
ICO ZC173784 · GDPR compliant
Quicker to ring?
0800 6890668
Free assessment · your case number
MHDR-2026-····
Which device has failed?
Pick whichever is closest; it decides where the bench begins.
Diagnosis free · nothing committedNormally answered inside the hour
Four cases, as they actually ran.
Further cases on record →MH · MHD-2026-6785ON RECORD ✓
A Windsor NAS rebuilt before anyone copied it
Both disks came off the unit and were imaged before the array was touched again. The RAID was reassembled in software, and the office share opened complete.
MH · MHD-2026-6779ON RECORD ✓
A wedding shoot, and an empty SD card
The card was imaged before any software went near it. Working on that image, the directory was reconstructed and every frame carved back out at full resolution.
MH · MHD-2026-6768ON RECORD ✓
A DVR that had looped over the break-in
A forensic image was taken of the recorder's disk, the closed video format read back by time code, and the insurer given the single hour that mattered.
Everything we cover. By device,
or by what went wrong.
Not listed here? Ask us →
Hardware and media we recover
Internal disksTicking, grinding or silent: head replacement and platter-level reads→ Portable & desktop drivesDead bridge boards; dropped WD and Seagate portables→ SSDs & NVMeWith the controller gone, the NAND is read chip by chip→ Apple Mac & MacBookThe awkward Macs: APFS volumes, T2 and Apple Silicon→ Servers & RAID setsFull images first, then RAID 5 or RAID 1 rebuilt in software→ NAS devicesBuffalo, Synology, QNAP and WD units imaged before any rebuild→ SD & camera cardsSD and microSD reading blank, erroring, or asking to be formatted→ Memory sticks & USBSnapped connectors; monolith sticks read at the test pads→Typical faults
Clicking or beepingPower it down now: each click is doing new damage→ Nothing is detectedNo spin, no light, nothing appears on the desktop→ Deleted & lost filesDeletion leaves the data on a hard disk; an SSD clears it→ Erased or reformattedA format clears the index; what was written stays put→ Locked by ransomwareOriginals often survive. We recover files and never pay a ransom→ BitLocker & encryptedWith your recovery key, damaged volumes are opened→ A drop or a knockThe casing looks fine; inside, the heads sit off track→ Water or fireLeave it as it is, unpowered and undried, and send it sealed→Evidence & investigations
Now and then, the files
go before a judge.
For most clients the case ends when the files are handed back. A few go further — an insurance claim, a tribunal, a criminal matter — and those are handled to forensic standards from the moment the item arrives: imaging behind a write blocker, a custody record accounting for every movement, and a report written to be challenged.
Court-ready forensic reports
Machines, disks and other media are imaged and then examined by a method built to survive cross-examination. We are instructed by solicitors, employers, insurers and private clients across Berkshire.
- Sector-by-sector images and a continuous chain of custody
- Deleted material traced and user activity reconstructed
- Reports written in plain English & testimony given in person
- Staff misconduct and theft of company data
CCTV & DVR footage recovered
Clips deleted, footage written over by the loop, recordings stranded in a dead recorder: we read the disk by time code and export it in a form police and insurers accept.
- Erased footage and overwritten loops retrieved
- Failed disks out of DVRs and NVRs
- Exhibit bundles assembled for a claim or a hearing
- Closed formats from Hikvision, Swann, Dahua and others
From arrival to files back.
See how a case runs →Start the case
Ring the office, or run the checker higher up the page. The job is logged, and we explain how the device should be packed for its journey.
Get it to us
Tracked and insured post to the Guildford intake lab, or hand it in there yourself. The return leg is paid at our end either way.
The free assessment
An engineer works out what has failed and what can realistically be read back. No charge, nothing committed.
A written figure
Nothing chargeable begins until you have that one price and the findings that produced it.
Data returned
Recovered files come back on new media, and the case stays open until you have checked them.
What customers said afterwards.
See the reviews →Servers got water damage from a frozen pipe that flooded our offices. Our hard drives were first sent to 3 large data recovery companies without success. They were then MaidenHead Data Recovery and all data was recovered.
Kevin Is the best and the fastest data recovery engineer I know. No reason to ever go to a apple store or even other computer repair places.
I highly recommend data recovery services.
Switched off, it keeps every chance it has.
A failing drive loses a little more each time it is switched on. Open a case instead; the assessment costs you nothing.