Screens, motherboards, power circuits and Windows installations all fail without touching the disk. Where the drive lifts out, the state of the machine stops mattering — which is why a laptop that will not start is usually a cheap recovery rather than a disaster.
$ mdr diagnose /dev/nvme0 → Device: Dell XPS 13 · 512GB NVMe → Status: WILL NOT POWER ON — board fault → Client: confidential · Manchester, Greater Manchester $ mdr engineer-working → Drive: removed · healthy → Imaging: 480 GB / 512 GB · 100% read → NTFS: rebuilt · files intact $ mdr verify → ✓ documents — 28,400 files → ✓ photos — 19,100 files → ✓ laptop recovered — data back
Screens, motherboards, power circuits and Windows installations all fail without touching what is on the disk. Where the drive lifts out it is read on separate equipment, so a machine that will not start is usually an inconvenience rather than a loss.
Two situations that look identical from the outside and have completely different costs.
Thirty seconds of observation that separates a dead computer from a dead drive.
No display at all, and no beeps. The machine is not reaching POST, which happens before the hard drive is even consulted. That is a motherboard, power supply or memory fault — and it means the drive is very likely untouched. Dell machines showing a solid amber or orange power light are the classic example: it is a board-level fault code, not a storage one.
A BIOS screen, then “no bootable device”. Now the drive is implicated, because the machine got far enough to look for one and found nothing usable. Could be a failed drive, a lost partition or simply a changed boot order.
Windows starts loading, then fails. The drive is being read, so it is alive. This is usually a corrupt operating system or a file system problem rather than dead hardware.
The distinction matters commercially. A dead motherboard with a healthy drive is a copy job, not a recovery, and we price it as one — frequently the cheapest thing we do. People write off machines and lose data assuming the drive died with the PC, and it usually did not.
Increasingly the first thing to establish, because it decides what is possible before any fault is diagnosed.
Every desktop and most laptops still use storage that comes out — a 2.5-inch SATA drive, or an M.2 SSD held by a single screw. Those are imaged on separate hardware regardless of what the machine is doing, which is why a dead laptop is usually a straightforward job.
A growing number of thin laptops solder the storage to the mainboard. Where the board still works, data can often be extracted through it. Where the board has failed there may be no route at all, and on machines with encryption tied to that board, none whatsoever. Tell us the make and model and we will establish which you have before you send anything.
Both are free to check and both change the job.
BitLocker. Business laptops and many recent consumer machines are encrypted whether or not anyone chose it. The recovery key is usually escrowed — to a Microsoft account on a personal device, or to Azure AD, Intune or Active Directory on a work one — and your IT department can retrieve it in minutes. Without it, no firm opens the volume. That check costs nothing and occasionally saves the whole job.
The other drive. Machines with a small SSD for Windows and a larger disk for data are common in this region’s office estate, and people frequently send the boot drive when their files are on the second one. If the machine had two, say so — it can turn a recovery into a five-minute copy.
The figure covers the drive. What varies is how much of the work the drive actually needs.
A single laptop or desktop drive is from £300 +VAT, fixed in writing after the free diagnostic. That is the same number whether the fault turns out to be a failed head-stack or a corrupt partition table — you are not quoted more because the diagnosis sounds worse.
Where it can be less: if the diagnostic shows a healthy drive and a dead laptop, that is a copy rather than a recovery and we price it accordingly rather than charging a full fee for an afternoon’s work. If it shows a job you could do yourself with read-only software on a drive that is mechanically sound, we will tell you that too.
Where the deposit applies: opening a drive in filtered air or fitting donor parts commits real cost the moment work starts, so those jobs take 50% up front with the balance only on success. Everything else runs no fix, no fee. You will know which before agreeing to anything.
Get the drive to us, and tell us a brief note on the machine and fault. The diagnostic that follows costs nothing, and one figure goes in writing before any work begins.
Nothing starts until the drive to us — you don't need to send the whole machine is on the bench. Pack it properly and put your contact details in with it. The diagnostic that follows costs nothing, and one figure goes in writing before any work begins.
Posting it? Use something tracked and insured — whatever is on the drive is worth considerably more than the postage. Bringing it in? Weekdays, 9am to 5:30pm, and it still wants packing as above for the journey.
Not sure it is worth sending? Tell us about the machine and fault, plus anything already attempted — an engineer reads every one of these and comes back with an honest view of the odds and a price band, before you post anything.
We’ll be in touch shortly. If it’s urgent, call 0161 871 0788.
The technical questions we get most about laptop and PC recovery.
Almost never. A failed screen, motherboard or power circuit leaves the drive untouched, and where it lifts out it is read on separate equipment. The state of the machine stops mattering once the disk is out of it.
Just the drive is cheaper to post, quicker to start and less to go astray — any computer shop will remove it in minutes. If you would rather not open the machine, send it whole and we will do it at no extra charge.
Only if the recovery key is genuinely gone, which is rarer than people assume. BitLocker keys are usually escrowed to Azure AD, Intune or Active Directory and your IT team can pull one in minutes. Ask before assuming the worst.
It matters a lot, and it is worth mentioning. Small-SSD-plus-large-disk builds are everywhere, and people routinely send the boot drive when their files were on the second one. Telling us can turn a recovery into a short copy.
It depends entirely on the mainboard. While the board works, data can usually be extracted through it. Once the board has failed — especially where encryption is tied to it — there may be no route at all. Send us the model and we will say before you post anything.
The free diagnostic is normally back within 48 hours, and a single drive typically completes in three to four working days from approval. Donor parts or heavy imaging extend that, and you get the timescale with the quote rather than afterwards.
The laptop rarely matters — the drive inside it does, along with whether device encryption was switched on and whether the storage is removable at all. Budget and ultrabook models increasingly solder it down.
Names with an arrow have a guide of their own — brand-specific faults, and what they mean for a recovery.
£300 +VAT per machine. A laptop that will not start is usually a board fault with an entirely healthy disk beside it — but check whether device encryption was ever switched on before anyone takes it apart, because the key lives on the board that died.