A dead motherboard doesn't mean lost data - we removed the healthy drive and imaged it externally.
A Bristol customer's laptop simply wouldn't turn on — no lights, no fan, nothing — and like most people in that situation they assumed their files had gone with it. It is one of the most common things we hear, and one of the most reassuring to be able to answer, because a laptop that won't power on very often has nothing wrong with its storage at all. The fault is on the motherboard, and the drive sitting inside is perfectly healthy; the data isn't lost, it's just trapped behind a machine that won't boot.
We removed the storage drive from the laptop and connected it to our own equipment through a hardware write-blocker, which lets us read a drive without any possibility of writing to it. It read normally and showed a healthy, intact file system — confirming that the problem was entirely the laptop's electronics, not the data.
With a healthy drive the work is straightforward but still done properly: we took a full image of it on the PC3000, working against that copy rather than the original at every stage. That way the customer's data was protected regardless of what happened to the laptop itself, and we had a complete, verifiable copy to work from. Where a laptop uses soldered or encrypted storage we adapt the approach, but here the drive was a standard removable one and came across cleanly.
We checked the file system on the image and confirmed the customer's documents, photos and email opened correctly, then wrote everything to fresh media ready to use on their next machine.
Every file was returned within three working days — no parts, no repair, just the data safely lifted off a dead machine. The reassurance worth repeating: a laptop that won't switch on is very often a motherboard problem, and the files on its drive are usually completely recoverable.
PC3000 — imaging and recovery carried out in-house. Every job is imaged before any recovery work begins, and the original media is never written to.
Send us your device for a free diagnostic, and tell us a little about what happened — an engineer will review it and confirm your exact quote in writing before any work begins.
Recovering your data starts with getting the device to us. Pack it safely, add your contact details, and send it over — after we run a free diagnostic, we’ll confirm your exact price in writing before any work begins.
Posting it in? We recommend a tracked, insured service. Prefer to drop it off? You’re welcome Monday–Friday, 9am–5:30pm — please still package the device as above.
If you need more information on our data recovery service, fill out the form with more detail about your issue and an engineer will review it and give you a custom quote.
We’ll be in touch shortly. For anything urgent, call 0117 332 1137.
Usually, yes. A dead laptop is often a motherboard fault with a perfectly healthy drive — we remove the drive and image it on the PC3000, or recover a failed drive in the clean-air environment.
From £300 plus VAT, no fix, no fee on most jobs, with a fixed written quote first.
Yes, bring the laptop so we can remove and test the drive, especially where the storage is soldered or encrypted.
Start with an instant online quote, or call and talk it through with us first. You'll have a clear, fixed price before any work begins.