Don’t think that after a flood, spill or fire all of your files will be gone forever; there is still time to react. Our team’s engineers will remove corrosion and soot, select replacement parts from their inventory of 10,000 items, and recover your lost data in house.
Using electricity to power a wet hard disk could result in instant failure. Drying out the drive using heat, air flow or even rice creates conditions for corrosion and deposition of minerals onto the platters, which makes recovering data much more difficult with each passing hour. Please leave the drive as is (do not touch or open the unit), seal it up immediately and send it to us as soon as possible.
The effects of liquid and heat damage to a drive occur in very different manners: through corrosion and shorts in the case of liquids; and through sooting, warping and other types of damage caused by the high temperatures generated during fires. These are the types of failures we experience most commonly.
Over two decades, we have been able to recover from water & fire damaged hard drives from nearly all manufacturers. As long as the device has spinning platters and stores data, we are likely going to be able to assist with recovery.
Internal and external · 3.5" desktop and 2.5" laptop · SATA, SAS, IDE/PATA and SCSI · from 40 GB legacy drives to the latest 24 TB helium models.
In recovering from an event such as a flood, spill, or fire we clean the drive first before we begin to read. First we decontaminate (clean) the drive. Next we determine what physical damage there has been to the boards, heads, etc., and perform repairs. Lastly, we will read the information on the drive again, this time very slowly and in proper sequence.
Post or bring the drive into our facility for assessment of the water/fire damage to the board, heads and platters. We also provide you with a written quote of the work needed to recover your data, usually completed by 48 hours after receipt of your drive.
We begin the restoration process by opening the drive ourselves, then cleaning out all residue, soot, corrosion and mineral buildup on both the internal components and platter surface of the drive.
We then install replacement heads, boards or motors that are matched to what was lost due to the damage caused by water or fire from our parts stock.
When the board cannot be repaired, we copy the original firmware onto a new donor board that matches the specifications of the damaged unit so the drive will power-up properly.
Once the drive is running, we begin the process of cloning the hard disk sector-by-sector to a stable disk. As long as there is enough of an intact area on the damaged disk, we can work through any damaged sectors to complete this process.
We create copies of your files using the imaging process, compare those files to a list of the original files, and then provide your restored data on new media.
Your data will be backed-up onto an external hard drive, and shipped back to you, or you will be able to access your restored data via our free download service for up to 75 GB.
We also have parts that match the specifications of the damaged hard disk. This includes matching heads, boards, motors etc. Due to this we normally do not need to wait weeks for another donor to become available after cleaning of the original drive.
Tell us about your drive and we will get back to you, usually within 30 minutes during the day.
We will be in touch shortly. For anything urgent, call 0117 332 1137.
There are no hidden costs and/or pressures, simply a complimentary examination and a detailed written quotation prior to commencing any repair.
A selection of some of our last few water and/or fire damaged recoveries completed completely in-house. All names removed for privacy protection; all recoveries confirmed.
Heavily corroded board and connectors. After thoroughly cleaning the internal components, we installed a replacement board with identical specs and successfully imaged the damaged drive in one go.
The liquid damage had caused electrical shorts on the circuit board. We removed the remaining corrosive substances, replaced the damaged board and then transferred the original firmware onto the donor board before recovering every byte of the user’s files.
Heavy soot and smoky residues and heavy deposits of water used during fire extinguishing efforts. We restored cleanliness to the disk platters, replaced the heads with clean ones and were able to restore a significant portion of the user’s lost data.
All reviews posted on this website are based upon real customer responses; none have been created by us.
No invented reviews here — every testimonial we publish is genuine. Ask us to arrange a reference for a job like yours on 0117 332 1137.
Send us your device for a no-obligation free diagnostic and let us know what went wrong. One of our engineers will inspect it and confirm your exact quote in writing prior to doing any work.
To get started with recovering your data, first get your device to us. Wrap it securely, write your contact details on a slip of paper inside the package, include a brief description of what happened and post it to us. After running a complimentary diagnostic we will write to you confirming the exact price prior to starting work.
Do you want to post the device to us? We highly recommend using a trackable postal service with insurance. Would you prefer to deliver it yourself? That’s fine too. Our office hours for accepting deliveries are Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm. Please make sure to wrap the device as described previously.
Need some additional information regarding our data recovery services? Fill out the form and provide further detail about your problem and one of our engineers will review it and offer you a personalised quote.
We’ll be in touch shortly. For anything urgent, call 0117 332 1137.
The questions we get asked most about water, flood and fire damaged hard drives are:
Don’t turn it on, and don’t try to dry it out using heat or rice. Turning a wet drive on can short circuit it. Allowing a wet drive to simply sit and dry (as if by magic) will cause corrosion and mineral deposits to set upon the platters of your drive. Simply leave it alone and send it to us ASAP.
Yes, most often. If received in a timely manner, we will remove all of the internal and platter corrosion/contamination, repair or replace any bad components, and then make an image of the drive. This is always best done as soon as possible for the best results.
Yes. Frequently. We remove fire soot and smoke from the interior and platter surfaces, replace parts that were damaged by excessive heat, and are able to recover some data (if there is enough left) on the magnetic surface. Many times fire damaged drives also have water damage from extinguishing efforts, and we can handle this in conjunction with the fire damage.
No, this is an urban legend and does not apply to hard drives. The rice will never reach the internal components of a sealed hard drive and will merely give time for the corrosion to develop. Don’t attempt to “dry” your drive. Instead, take it to us immediately.
Yes, very much so. Both corrosion and mineral build up are accelerated by sitting with moisture on a drive. Therefore, the faster we can clean & stabilise a wet drive, the better your chances at a complete data recovery. Wet drives should be treated as urgent.
Standard pricing for water / fire damaged hard drives is £300 + VAT. You receive a complimentary written diagnostic first. In most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Severe heat damage or heavy contamination might require a critical recovery quote which would be confirmed in writing prior to any work being performed.
Most of our water & fire recovery projects will be complete within 3 to 4 working days after you have approved our quote. Heavily contaminated drives may take longer. Our initial diagnostic process typically takes up to 48 hours.
All of the large manufacturers for hard drives are represented; these include Western Digital, Toshiba, Seagate, HGST, Hitachi, Maxtor, Fujitsu, IBM, Quantum, Samsung, SanDisk, LaCie, G-Technology, Buffalo, Verbatim, ADATA, Transcend, Silicon Power, Iomega, UnionSine, ModusTech and Intenso, in both 3.5-inch desktop and 2.5-inch laptop and external form factors.
The item may be delivered to our office in Bristol (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm) where you will receive a complimentary diagnosis and a written quote prior to the initiation of any repairs, or sent by post insured. When sending by post please ensure that the device is well packaged, sealed, and includes all contact information for yourself within the packaging (name, address, telephone number and email address). This allows us to book the unit in for repair when we receive it.
A free written diagnostic; in most cases you only pay if we recover your data; and a 10,000-part inventory available for each of our repairs. The quicker you send us the damaged unit, the sooner we can begin the recovery process. Begin your recovery today.