EX · SDR-2026-0791CONFIRMED ✓
Clicking Seagate 2TB holding ten years of family photos
A matched donor head stack went in, the drive was imaged around the damaged area, and every album was rebuilt from that image.
Data recovery lab · Southampton · Eastleigh · Hampshire
Most lost data does come back. Panic is not required.
A dead drive, a card wiped clean, a server that won't start — most of it can be retrieved. Diagnosis costs nothing, our quoted price is fixed and in writing, and on most jobs nothing is due unless your files return.
Most jobs: no data back, no charge
25+ years of bench work
Recoveries from £250 + VAT
GDPR compliant & ICO registered
Prefer to talk first?
0800 6890668
No-cost diagnostic · intake ticket
SDR-2026-····
Where does your data live?
Go for the nearest option — it decides what our engineers examine first.
No commitment · no fee to diagnoseAnswer inside 1 working hour
Cases closed on the bench this month.
Into the casebook →EX · SDR-2026-0785CONFIRMED ✓
NAS at an Eastleigh agency — botched RAID rebuild
Nothing touched until both members were imaged; the array was rebuilt in software and the shared volume came back intact.
EX · SDR-2026-0779CONFIRMED ✓
SD card from a wedding, blank next morning
Cloned first, before any tool ran; the file system was rebuilt on the clone and each frame carved back at its full resolution.
EX · SDR-2026-0772CONFIRMED ✓
Break-in footage overwritten on a shop's CCTV
The DVR disk was forensically imaged, its proprietary video store carved by time stamp, and the break-in window sent to the insurer.
The index. Start from the device,
or from the fault.
Something else? Ask →
Media and devices we handle
Internal disk drivesClicks, seizure or dead silence — platter-level work in the lab→ Portable & external drivesDropped cases, failed bridge boards, shucked disks→ NVMe & SSDFailed controllers bypassed and the chips read directly→ Mac & MacBookAPFS, T2 and Apple Silicon jobs other labs turn away→ Servers & RAID arraysRAID 5 and other failed rebuilds, reassembled from images→ NAS unitsSynology, QNAP and WD, imaged before a rebuild kills them→ Memory & SD cardsCamera cards that error, go blank or demand a format→ USB & flash drivesBroken connectors, and monolith chips read straight off→How it broke
Clicks or beepsSwitch it off — the noise means damage is still spreading→ Doesn't show upNo spin-up, no lights, nothing on the computer→ Erased & missing filesOn a hard drive they survive; on an SSD, minutes count→ Wiped or formattedFormatting wipes the index, rarely the data itself→ Ransomware incidentOriginals often outlive deletion — we recover, never negotiate→ Encrypted & BitLockerLocked or corrupted volumes, recovered key in hand→ Damaged or droppedOne knock can shift the heads while the case looks fine→ Fire or waterNo drying, no powering up — it's sealed and treated in the lab→Investigations & evidence
Sometimes it isn't just data —
it's evidence.
Not every case finishes when the files reappear. Some go on to an insurance claim, a tribunal or a court hearing. Digital evidence is recovered and preserved to forensic standards: read-only imaging, documented throughout, and a report that holds up.
Forensic examination work
Defensible imaging and examination of computers, hard drives and storage media — carried out for Hampshire solicitors, insurers, employers and private individuals.
- Bit-for-bit images with the chain of custody logged
- Investigation of deleted data and user activity
- Expert reports in plain English & witness-box support
- Workplace conduct and data-theft enquiries
DVR & CCTV video recovery
Video erased, written over or locked inside a recorder that no longer runs — pulled off the disk by time stamp and exported in the formats police and insurers accept.
- Recovery of erased and overwritten video
- Failed or damaged DVR/NVR hard disks
- Incident exports for police & insurance claims
- Hikvision, Swann, Dahua and other proprietary kit
How your case unfolds.
How a case runs →Start a case
Phone us, or start with the triage above. We log the case and explain exactly how to send the device.
Post it or drop it in
Tracked, insured post to our intake lab in Guildford, Surrey — return carriage is free — or bring it by arrangement.
Diagnosis, free
An engineer finds the fault and confirms what can come back. No charge, no commitment.
A fixed written price
One figure, agreed before any chargeable work begins. You get a list of the files first.
Files back, checked
What we recover goes home on fresh media, verified with you before the case closes.
What Hampshire says.
Every review →After suffering hard drive failure, the brilliant Southampton Data Recovery team saved me from the hassle of chasing my clients for all their details again. Worth every penny.
After an accidental folder deletion, Tony and the rest of the Southampton Data Recovery team did an excellent job of recovering deleted data that was considered to be unrecoverable by other companies.
Thank you very much for recovering 100% of our precious file data from an SD Card. It's been a pleasure to deal with yourselves and thank you for recovering all those precious family photos.
Whatever has gone wrong, keep it switched off.
Restart a damaged drive and you lose more data. Start a case instead — diagnosis costs nothing either way.