The lab · privacy
Our privacy notice, starting with the short version.
Short version: we only collect what the job requires; data that was stored on your device remains solely yours, and no information will ever be sold to anyone. After your files have been returned to you, all copies of those files (the ones created during the recovery process) are destroyed thirty days later. Longer details follow below.
Who we are. This website belongs to a limited company called Easy Data Recovery Ltd (company number NI625698), trading under the style of Exeter Data Recovery. The Information Commissioner's Office has registered us under ZC173784. If you wish to contact us for anything in relation to data protection, please write to our intake laboratory: Bristol Data Recovery, Castlemead, Lower Castle Street, Bristol, BS1 3AG. This is the name the building will be addressed by, therefore it should appear on your envelopes. Telephone: 0800 6890668. Updated 18 August 2026.
What we keep, and why we keep it
Your enquiry information. We will record your name, your contact telephone number, your email address and your description of how something has gone wrong when you contact us, either by phone or using an online form. This is so that we can respond to you with answers to any questions you may have, diagnose the device to prepare a quotation, and finally progress the case. Lawful basis: it is necessary to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract with you (which includes responding to an initial enquiry), and once we enter into a contract with you, we process this data because it is necessary to perform our contractual obligations.
Record of case. Case references; correspondence relating to each case; quotations submitted and approved; and details regarding delivery, retained for the purposes of completing the contracted works and to meet accounting and legal compliance requirements. Lawful bases: contractual obligations, and legal obligations.
Files contained in your electronic device. It will be impossible to restore your files without having an engineer interact with them. The only thing we would ever open to complete your recovery instructions is what the recovery requires; we browse through nothing, and we will never do anything else with the information that was on your device except return it to you. The lawful basis for this processing is performance of a contract. If there is any special category data involved with your recovery process, then our handling of it will only extend to the technical recovery of the files you directed us to.
What never happens here
- You won't receive any newsletters, and we don’t have a mailing list. Your information is also never sold or forwarded to advertisers.
- There are no tracking cookies or advertising cookies on this website. The website works perfectly well without knowing where you go after leaving here.
- Your device does not travel outside of the UK (and therefore neither does your data), as everything is done inside our own UK laboratory.
The few others involved
Only to the extent required by the nature of the work we do: our mail host (Hostinger) receives emails from the contact forms that you submit to us; courier companies have access to the parcels they carry and their destination addresses; our accountants can only see the invoices raised for services provided and cannot see anything regarding your files. Each has a contractual obligation with us and acts only on our instructions. The authorities receive data based upon a legal requirement only.
Retention: the timescales
Once you have your files back from us, we keep our working copies of them in a secure environment for thirty days (as an additional safeguard should there be a need to check anything again), after which they will be securely destroyed. When a device is left unclaimed or unpaid for more than thirty days, our Terms apply as to what happens to that item. Enquiry and case records are stored for no longer than six years to comply with tax, legal and warranty obligations, after which time all records will be removed.
Your rights under UK GDPR
You have all your usual rights under the standard UK GDPR: access (via a subject access request), rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, portability and objection. If you wish to use any of these rights, please contact us using either the telephone number or the postal address shown above. We will respond as soon as is reasonably practicable, which means before the end of one calendar month from receipt of your request. If we do not adequately respond to your request, then you can complain to the ICO at ico.org.uk, though we would rather fix the problem ourselves first.
How your device is protected
From the moment of its arrival until the time it leaves our lab, your device will bear one case reference and be stored securely, and all handling will take place only with our engineers. The recovered data is then returned to you via new media, and we wipe our copies according to the schedule above. In the event that a breach could pose a threat to your rights as a data subject, we shall inform the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) within 72 hours and advise you promptly using clear language.
Related reading: Terms & Conditions (PDF) · Contact us.