Taking work now — the first look is freeSSDs posted in from anywhere in the UK, or handed in at ten drop-off pointsQuicker still, give us a ring:0800 6890668
SDRSSD Data Recovery 0800 6890668 Price my job
SDR / Whatever it is doing now / Laptop or MacBook dead

Dead laptop · dead MacBook · dead Surface · a healthy drive inside

The laptop is dead, and the SSD may not be. Most dead laptops have a healthy drive inside them.

A laptop that will not power on, will not charge, or stops at a logo has usually failed somewhere other than its storage: the board, the power stage, the screen, a keyboard that shorted after a spill. The SSD inside is very often fine. If the drive is removable, an M.2 stick or a 2.5-inch drive, take it out, or ask any repairer to, and send just the drive; it is ordinary work at £300 + VAT. If it is soldered, as on most MacBooks since 2016, some Surface models and many thin Windows laptops, send the whole machine and read the soldered-SSD page first. Either way, tell us about BitLocker or FileVault, because on a machine set up with a Microsoft account, BitLocker is often on without anybody choosing it.

Free first lookOne fixed figure in writingNo data, no bill on most jobsReturn postage paid

Rather talk it through? An engineer answers the bench line
0800 6890668

Drive or machine: which to send.

Most Windows laptops of the last decade, and every Mac to 2017, have a drive that comes out: a 2.5-inch SATA drive behind a panel, or an M.2 stick under one screw. Business machines from Dell, HP and Lenovo nearly always do; so do most Surface Pro and Surface Laptop models since 2020, which carry a small M.2 2230 drive under a magnetic cover. If yours is one of these, the drive is the only thing we need. Any repairer will take it out in five minutes, or the form can tell you where the screws are.

MacBooks since 2016, Surface models before about 2020, Chromebooks and a good many thin Windows laptops have their storage soldered to the logic board. Those come whole. On a T2 or Apple silicon Mac the board has to be made to run for the data to unlock at all; on a Windows machine the soldered flash can usually be read directly if the board is dead. The soldered SSD page says which is which.

One thing to do before anything else: find the encryption key. A Windows laptop signed into a Microsoft account has very often had device encryption turned on quietly at setup, and its drive, moved to another machine, will ask for a 48-digit recovery key that lives in that account under Devices. A Mac with FileVault needs the account password. Neither is a problem if you have it. Both are the end of the road if you do not, and no laboratory can change that.

What you see, and what it means.

Describe yours to us →
What you see The usual reason Where that leaves you
No power, no lightsBoard or power stage; drive usually fineSend the drive, or the machine if soldered
Stops at the logo, or at a spinning wheelThe drive may be failing, or the boardSend the drive; the free look tells which
Blue BitLocker screen after the drive was movedDevice encryption was onThe 48-digit key from the Microsoft account
A folder with a question mark on a MacThe Mac cannot find a bootable volumeDo not reinstall; send it
Spill, then deadBoard corrosionBag it; see water damage
The shop says the drive is deadSometimes true, often notSend the drive; the look is free

From the box arriving to your files going back.

Work we have closed →
01

Logged the day it lands, and the first look costs nothing Free

A case number goes on it the day the parcel is opened, and an engineer settles what has actually failed before anything else happens. The drive is read on our own equipment, never in a computer that might send it a TRIM command. Back to you come two things together: a straight note of what is liftable and what is not, plus one figure, fixed and written down. Accept it, or decline and owe us nothing.

Nothing to pay for lookingA single figure, put in writingNo TRIM, no writes
02

Powered on our terms

A removable drive is read on its own, on our equipment, never in another laptop that might send it a TRIM command or try to repair it. A soldered machine goes to a board-level inspection first, so that the original board can be brought to the point of unlocking its own storage.

Vendor diagnostic modeNo hopeful reboots
03

Past the fault, to the map

Working code is loaded into the controller's memory rather than onto the flash, the service area is read, and the translation table is rebuilt from what is there. Where the controller itself is dead, the chips are read one by one and the controller's scrambling and error correction are undone in software.

Loader in RAM, never on the flashMapping tables put back together
04

A full image, then the volume

Nothing is worked on live. The whole drive is imaged once, weak pages retried in their own passes, and the file system is put back together on the image. Encrypted volumes are unlocked there too, with the key you supply, and never on the original.

One careful imageThe volume verified end to end
05

You see the file list before you pay

What was recovered is listed for you first, and only then does a bill exist. Approve the list and it is invoiced; turn it down and it is not — and where nothing has come back, most jobs carry no charge at all. Recovered data travels home on fresh media bought in for your job, with the postage at our end. Your case is not closed until you have opened the files on a machine of your own.

No charge until you accept the figureFresh media, supplied with the job3–5 days at the bench

From the bench

  • The shop's diagnosis is about the laptop, not the drive. A dead board is a dead board; it says nothing about the flash inside. Ask for the drive back, or the whole machine if it is soldered, before anything is replaced.
  • BitLocker is on more often than people know. Windows turns device encryption on at setup on many machines signed into a Microsoft account. The key is in that account. Find it before you post.
  • A drive moved to another machine can ask for the key and nothing else. That is encryption doing its job, not a fault.
  • Do not let a shop reinstall Windows or macOS to see whether the machine works. A reinstall writes over the volume you want.

One job, followed all the way through.

UK · SDR-2026-0392JOB LOGGED ✓

A Dell Latitude that stopped charging, and the accounts for a year-end on the drive inside

The laptop was dead and the shop had quoted for a new board. The 2230 NVMe drive came out under one screw and came here alone. It was healthy. BitLocker had been on since setup; the recovery key was in the company's directory and the IT contact found it in ten minutes. The drive was imaged, the volume unlocked on the image, and the accounts went back on fresh media before the year-end.

100% of it recovered2 days here, and back by post
Illustrative example — replace with a genuine case

What helps, and what harms.

Do this much first

  • Find the BitLocker key or FileVault password first
  • Take the drive out if it comes out, or have a repairer do it
  • Send the whole machine only if the storage is soldered
  • Tell us what the machine did before it died

What sets us back

  • Letting a shop replace the board before the data is off
  • Reinstalling Windows or macOS
  • Putting the drive in another laptop and letting it repair anything
  • Assuming a dead laptop means a dead drive

Questions answered before you commit.

The laptop is dead. Is my data still there?

Usually. The drive is very often healthy inside a machine that has failed elsewhere. Take it out and send it, or send the machine if the storage is soldered.

Should I send the whole laptop?

Only if the drive is soldered. If it comes out, send only the drive; it is quicker, cheaper to post, and there is nothing else we need.

Where is my BitLocker key?

In the Microsoft account that set up the machine, under Devices, or with your employer's IT department. Find it before you post.

Can you get the data off a MacBook that will not turn on?

On Macs to 2017 the drive comes out and is read on its own. On T2 and Apple silicon Macs the board must be revived first; see the soldered SSD page, and do not let anyone replace the board.

What does it cost?

£300 + VAT for one drive after the free look, fixed in writing.

Where this usually leads.

Soldered SSDs →Encrypted and locked →Microsoft Surface and OEM drives →Apple →NVMe M.2 →

Nothing gets worse while the power is off.

Looking at it is free. Back comes a list of what opened and what did not, together with a single price to finish, set down in writing while you are still free to say no. Until that list reaches you, leave the drive switched off.

0800 6890668

Price my jobPacking and posting