MK · MKD-2026-4804CONFIRMED ✓
A clicking 2TB Seagate holding ten years of family photos
New heads came off a matched donor drive. We imaged the whole platter set around the bad area and rebuilt the albums from that image.
Drives in by post · Milton Keynes · Bucks · Beds · Northants
Drives fail. Cards fail. The data on them usually doesn't.
An SD card reading blank, an external drive that no longer spins, a RAID down a disk, a DVR you need footage off. Most of it comes back. The diagnosis costs nothing, the quote is one written figure, and on most jobs you pay only if the files return.
No data back, no fee — most jobs
25+ years of bench work
Prices from £250 + VAT
ICO ZC173784 · GDPR compliant
Quicker to ring?
0800 6890668
Free check · your intake ticket
MKDR-2026-····
What kind of device is it?
Choose the nearest one. It tells the bench where to start looking.
Free to diagnose · no commitmentUsually answered within the hour
Recent jobs, straight off the bench.
More from the casebook →MK · MKD-2026-4785CONFIRMED ✓
An agency NAS in Leighton Buzzard, rebuilt the wrong way
Both disks got cloned first, before anyone touched the array. The RAID went back together in software and the office share came out intact.
MK · MKD-2026-4779CONFIRMED ✓
A wedding SD card that woke up empty
We imaged the card first — no recovery software near the original. The directory was rebuilt on that image and every photo carved out at full size.
MK · MKD-2026-4768CONFIRMED ✓
A shop DVR that looped over the break-in
The recorder's disk was imaged forensically, its proprietary video format unpicked by time code, and the insurer received the one hour that counted.
The whole index. Pick a device,
or pick a symptom.
Can't see it here? Ask →
Kit and media we work with
Internal drivesTicking, grinding or silent — head swaps and platter-level reads→ Portable & external drivesDropped WD and Seagate portables, dead USB bridges→ SSDs & NVMeController dead? The NAND still gets read, chip by chip→ Apple Macs & MacBooksAPFS volumes, T2 and Apple Silicon — the awkward Macs→ Servers & RAID arraysRAID 5 and RAID 1 rebuilt in software from full images→ NAS drivesSynology, QNAP and WD units imaged before anything is rebuilt→ Camera cards & SDSD and microSD that read blank, error, or demand a format→ USB & memory sticksBroken connectors, monolith sticks read through test pads→Common failures
Clicks and beepsSwitch it off now — every click is fresh damage→ Not detected at allNothing spins, nothing lights, nothing mounts→ Deleted & missing filesA hard drive keeps deleted files; an SSD wipes them→ Deleted or reformattedFormatting empties the index — the data itself stays→ Ransomware lockoutThe originals often survive. We get files back, we don't pay ransoms→ BitLocker & lockedDamaged volumes opened, given your recovery key→ Dropped or bumpedThe shell looks fine; inside, the heads are off track→ Wet or scorchedDon't dry it, don't power it — it reaches the bench still sealed→Investigations & evidence
Some of this work ends up
in a courtroom.
Most cases finish the moment the data is handed over. Some do not: they turn into an insurance claim, a tribunal, or evidence in court. Those run under forensic discipline from the first minute — write-blocked imaging, every movement of the exhibit logged, and a report written to be argued with.
Forensic reports for court
Computers, drives and other media are imaged and examined so the method holds up under challenge. We work for solicitors, employers, insurers and private clients across Buckinghamshire.
- Sector-by-sector copies with an unbroken custody log
- Deleted data traced, user activity pieced back together
- Expert reports in plain English & evidence given in person
- Employee data theft and misconduct cases
Recover CCTV & DVR footage
Deleted clips, footage looped over, recordings trapped in a dead DVR: we read them off the disk by time code and export what police and insurers accept.
- Deleted and looped-over footage recovered
- DVR and NVR drives that have failed
- Evidence bundles put together for a claim or a case
- Hikvision, Swann, Dahua and other closed formats
One case, front to back.
Follow a case through →Open a case
Phone us, or run the checker at the top of this page. The job goes on the books and we tell you how best to send the device.
Send it over
Tracked, insured post to our Oxford intake lab, or drop it in yourself. Either way the journey home is paid for.
The free look
An engineer establishes what failed and what can realistically come off. No charge, no commitment.
One price, in writing
Before any chargeable work you get a single figure, plus the findings behind it.
Files back
Everything returns on fresh media, checked over with you before we close the case.
Customers in their own words.
Read the reviews →An immense thank you for your amazing work! Prior to finding yourselves, I had a couple of other companies take a look at my hard drive only to find that it could not be recovered – all my data was lost. But Milton Keynes Data Recovery recovered 100% of my data!
That's fantastic. I can't believe all my lost and deleted images from the Sandisk Memory card have been retrieved.
I wanted to thank you for your great professional work in recovering all the data from my failed Macbook Pro hard drive.
Leave it switched off until it reaches us.
Every restart takes another bite out of a failing drive. Start a case instead — looking at it costs you nothing.