EN6 · Potters Bar, Cuffley, Northaw
Data recovery in Potters Bar. The bookkeeping file will not open. And the backup stopped eighteen months ago.
Begin with the postcode, since that's where everyone seems to go wrong. EN6 is completely in Hertfordshire (Potters Bar and South Mimms in Hertsmere, Cuffley and Northaw in Welwyn Hatfield), whereas EN1, EN2 and EN3 are in Enfield, and therefore in Greater London. EN5, whose post town is BARNET, straddles both sides of that boundary, and EN9, at Waltham Abbey, is in Essex altogether. The town was part of Middlesex until 1965, which explains why the postcode looks like a London postcode and why sixty years haven't yet sorted out the confusion. What is present here isn't one huge employer, but hundreds of small employers, most employing fewer than ten people, without any IT department, with only one office computer or a small NAS on a shelf in a back room. Estate agencies with their property files, floor plans and marketing photos. Independent financial advisers with suitability files and records of the pension advice given. Accountancy practices with their Sage or Xero file being the whole of their operation. Insurance brokers storing policy documents and claims records under retention. Private dentists and healthcare providers with patient records and practice-management databases. Motor tradespeople with service histories. Builders and maintenance tradesmen with quotations, job costings and site photography. Horse-related and agricultural businesses located on the green-belt fringe with stock records, land records and movement records. The typical job is a two-person practice whose accounts file won't open, and it transpires during the call that their backup stopped eighteen months ago. Nothing is collected in EN6, and there aren't any counters in Potters Bar or in London: get a quote first, via phone or through the form, then send it tracked or drop it off at our Guildford intake lab, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm (no appointment needed). There is no charge to examine it, and every job carries one written price before any charges apply for work done.
Put it to an engineer — the first look costs nothing
0203 0868633
What EN6 puts on the bench.
Different fault? Try the finder →| What is going on | What arrives from here | Where that leaves you |
|---|---|---|
| An accountant's PC that won't boot | The Sage file, client list and every scanned receipt on it | Leave it off and let us know the filing deadline |
| A dental practice NAS with one amber bay | Patient records and the practice-management database | Shut it down and get a quote first; disks out of the NAS and labelled by bay if possible, otherwise the NAS comes in still cased |
| Motor trade recorder that stopped recording | One disk holding all the cameras on site, rewritten weekly | Take the disk out of the recorder and leave it at that |
| Estate agent's PC that cannot find a disk | Property files, floor plans and photos for every listing | Switch the power off, get a quote first, then post the disk alone |
| Household laptop has started clicking | Home photos and the work that went home | Do not use it again; each time you boot up spends a little more of the disk |
Getting the parcel ready in EN6.
Four EN6 questions.
Does EN6 take in Cuffley and Northaw as well as the town?
It does. EN6 is a single district covering Potters Bar itself and the surrounding areas of South Mimms, Cuffley and Northaw. All of these places are within the county of Hertfordshire, although the postcode looks like a London one. There are two councils that share EN6, Hertsmere and Welwyn Hatfield, but at our end of things neither council has any bearing. Due to the fact that it is usually the media that travels rather than the person, a stable yard located on the green-belt perimeter and a first-floor office above a shop will both be at the same distance from a bench, for the same amount. First get a quote, either by phone or via the online form; handed in at a post office midweek, your package should normally reach an engineer at our Guildford laboratory the following morning. Alternatively, you can drop off your package at our Guildford intake lab yourself, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm (no appointment needed).
Our bookkeeping file will not open. Is that recoverable?
Very often, and it depends largely on which of two problems you have encountered. If the physical disk underneath has started to fail, do not continue to use the equipment, since each start-up causes some additional damage. If the disk is still operational but the data file itself is damaged, this is distinct work and usually quicker. The purpose of the free examination is to determine whether you have experienced a failure of the underlying disk or simply damage to the file itself, prior to any figure being quoted.
The backup has not run since last year. Does that matter?
Only in that it means the disk in front of us is the sole copy of your data. This determines how we go about doing the work rather than if we can do the work. We do not attempt anything on your original disk: after creating a read-only image of your disk, we perform all subsequent operations against that image. Please advise us when you contact us that there is no backup behind it, as this ensures that we take extra care right from the beginning.
So where does an EN6 parcel actually go?
The shipping form directs the drive to the Guildford intake lab. There are no counters located in EN6 or anywhere within London to hand over the drive, and all of the requirements of the work (imagers, donor disks, engineers) reside in one location, therefore the drive will be the item being transported. First get a quote via telephone or using the form, then send the drive insured via the postal service, or alternatively drop it off at the Guildford intake lab, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, with no need for an appointment. Examination fees do not apply, and transport charges back to you are also free.
Begin here if yours is doing the same thing.
Next door to Potters Bar, on the same terms
Post it from EN6 and it is opened the morning it arrives.
Switch it off at the wall and leave it off. Of note is its behaviour in the hour prior to it stopping working, so do pass that on. No charge will be assessed for evaluating the drive; after the evaluation a single figure will come on paper, and no chargeable work will begin until you have agreed upon that amount.