Hand them in · ten points across the UK · the nearest one sent to you
Drop-off points: ten places to hand your drives in. A sealed parcel, your name on the outside, the booking sheet inside, and it travels to the bench from there.
There are ten drop-off points across the UK, and if one is on your way you can hand the drives in rather than post them. They are not listed here. Tell us where you are on the form, by town or postcode, and the nearest point's address and opening hours come back by email with packing notes and a booking sheet to print. The sheet goes inside the parcel and your name on the outside, and that is what matches what you hand in to your enquiry; your case number is issued when the parcel is logged at the bench. Each point is a staffed reception that takes a sealed parcel during its opening hours and sends it on to the bench; nobody there opens it, looks at it or quotes for it, and the free look happens where it always does, on a hardware imager at the bench. From the moment the parcel is logged there the job runs exactly as a posted one, and the drives go home by tracked post with the recovered files, postage paid here. Nothing is collected from anybody, and the bench itself has no counter.
Rather talk it through? An engineer answers the bench line
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How a drop-off runs, end to end.
The job in full →The form, with where you are
Tell us about the drives, what they came out of, what is wrong, and your town or postcode. Back by email come the nearest drop-off point with its address and opening hours, packing notes, and a booking sheet to print. Put the sheet inside the parcel and write your name on the outside.
The parcel
The failed drive in its carrier with the slot written on it, or every member where the set is the job, each in an anti-static bag in its own padding, in one box with the booking sheet, sealed.
Hand them in
During the point's opening hours, ask at reception for the data recovery drop-off and hand the parcel over. It is logged against your name there and then, and nobody opens it.
To the bench
The parcel travels to the bench tracked, usually leaving the point within a working day, and is logged and photographed on arrival exactly as a posted one is, given its case number, and you are emailed to say it has arrived.
The free look, and one figure Free
The drives go on the bench and the first assessment is made, read-only; back come the findings and one price in writing. Nothing chargeable begins until you agree.
Home by post
The recovered files on fresh media, with the original drives, by tracked post to the address on your sheet, postage paid here. Nothing goes back to the drop-off point.
What a drop-off point does, and does not do.
Do this much first
- Takes a sealed parcel with a name on it and the booking sheet inside, during opening hours
- Logs it against your name on the spot
- Sends it on to the bench, tracked
- Saves you the outbound postage and the walk to a post office
What sets us back
- Open the parcel, look at the drives, or run anything on them
- Give findings, a price, or an opinion on what is wrong
- Take a parcel with no booking sheet inside
- Take phones, or hand the drives back to you afterwards; returns are by post
The questions that come up first.
Where are the drop-off points?
Across the UK, ten of them. They are not listed on the site: say where you are on the form, by town or postcode, and the nearest point's address and opening hours come by email in reply.
Can I just turn up with the drives?
Send the form first; it takes two minutes, and back by email come the nearest point, packing notes and a booking sheet to print. The sheet goes inside the parcel and your name on the outside, and that is what matches what you hand in to your enquiry. Your case number is issued when the parcel is logged at the bench, and emailed to you that day.
Will someone at the drop-off point look at the drives?
No. The point takes a sealed parcel and sends it on. Everything is assessed at the bench, on a hardware imager, and the free look is the same whether it was posted or handed in.
Is dropping off faster than posting?
It saves the outbound posting day where a point is on your way. The parcel still travels from the point to the bench, usually leaving within a working day, so reckon on much the same overall time as tracked post, with the postage saved.
How do I get them back?
By tracked post to the address on your sheet, with the postage paid here, together with the recovered files on fresh media. The drives do not come back to the drop-off point.
The nearest point is not near me either. What then?
Tracked post from any postbox, which is how most drives reach the bench. The packing and posting guide says how, and the posting address comes by email in reply to the form.
Do you collect?
No. Tracked post, or the nearest of the ten drop-off points.
Say where you are, and the nearest point comes back with the posting details.
The form takes two minutes. Back by email come the nearest point and its hours and a sheet to print, and the first look is free whichever way the parcel travels.