The lab · how cases run
How an Exeter case runs. Seven stages, none of them sprung on you.
Every Exeter case follows the same open path: it starts with your phone call and ends with a return you approve personally — exactly how we'd want our own drive handled. Below is the whole path, including the two moments where only you decide.
Talk it over with an engineer
0800 6890668
The seven stages of an Exeter case, walked through.
Ring or write
Call, or fill in the quote form, and describe the failure and the files that matter most. You'll get a frank early opinion and simple instructions before anything else happens.
Post the device
Send it by tracked, insured carriage to our secure intake lab — shipping form printed and packed in the box — and for anything bulky or delicate, phone first and we'll settle a better arrangement.
Booked in, assessed for nothing Free
The moment it lands it gets a case reference of its own and a proper examination — the fault, the honest odds, and what recovering it will actually take.
You decide
One written price arrives. Accept it and we start; decline and the device comes home carrying our findings. Either answer leaves the diagnosis free.
The recovery itself
First, always, a full image. Whatever the fault demands after that — rebuilds, decryption, firmware repair, donor parts — happens on the copy while the original sits untouched.
Verify what came back
Payment waits until you've approved a full listing of the recovered files, checked against the folders you flagged.
The journey home
Your data returns on new media at our postage expense; thirty days later the working copies are securely destroyed. The case ends when you say it does.
Honest turnaround times.
| The case | What's involved | Typical time |
|---|---|---|
| Corruption, formats and deleted files — logical faults | File-system repair, done on a copy | 2–3 working days |
| Dead, dropped or clicking drives — mechanical faults | Fit donor parts, image patiently | 3–5 working days |
| Servers, NAS units and RAID 5 arrays | Image every member, reassemble virtually | 3–4 working days |
| Forensic work and encrypted media | Scoped individually; timing settled at the outset | Quoted per case |
| Genuine emergencies | A halted business or hard deadline goes first, continuously | Say so on the phone |
Packing the box: what to include.
Straight answers to the questions we hear most.
Do you keep me posted while the job runs?
Yes. As each stage above closes we get in touch, and between updates you're welcome to phone the lab. No portals to log into, no ticket vanishing into a queue.
What if nothing can be recovered?
For most work, an attempt that fails costs you nothing at all. And we'll tell you plainly if some other lab has a better shot — including when the honest answer is that no one has.
Who exactly will be handling my device?
All work stays in-house with our own engineers. No third parties, nothing sent abroad, and your device keeps the same case reference from the day it arrives until it goes home again.
What happens to the working copies you keep?
After your data goes home, the working images sit safely with us for thirty days in case anything needs a second look; then they're securely destroyed.
Begin when you're ready.
One call or one form starts it. The first stage costs nothing, and you're committed to nothing.