A first look
Before anyone spends money on recovery, find out what can be reached. One call, a check of each device, and the answer in writing.
One fixed price. You owe nothing more unless you ask us to go on.
What you get
A call with you at the computer
About an hour, by video or phone. You have the devices in front of you and we tell you what to check.
A check of each device
Does it start? Does it ask for a password? Is the drive encrypted, and is it healthy? For a home server: how many drives it has and how they are set up.
A written list
Every device and account we found, each marked one of three ways: can be reached, has to go through a provider, or is lost. We send it within three working days of the call.
A fixed quote
If there is recovery work worth doing, we give you one fixed price for all of it. You decide then.
A straight answer
If you can do the rest yourselves, we say so and tell you how. If something is lost, we say that too, and why.
How it goes
Tell us what there is
A short list is enough: the laptop, the phone, the box in the loft with the blinking lights.
The call
We go through each device with you and note what we find.
The written list
You get the list by email, with what each item needs next.
You decide
Stop there, carry on yourselves, or ask us for a full recovery.
Have this ready
- Proof that you act for the estate
- The devices, with chargers and power leads
- Anything written down: notebooks, PINs, old passwords
- The accounts you already know about, even if you cannot get into them
What a first look does not do
- We do not copy or recover anything at this stage. The first look tells you whether that is possible
- A device that has to be opened up or sent to us is looked at as part of a full recovery
- It does not open a locked phone, a password manager with no master password or an encrypted drive with no key
Questions
Do you need to visit?
Usually not. Most checks can be done on a call with you at the computer. A server or drive that has to be looked at by hand can be sent by tracked courier.
What if nothing can be recovered?
Then the list says so, and why. You have paid for the answer, and you have not paid for recovery work that was never going to succeed.
We do not know what half of it is. Does that matter?
No. Describe what you can see. Working out what each box is and what it holds is part of the first look.