IG1 to IG6, E18 · Redbridge
Redbridge data recovery. Terabytes of camera cards from one Saturday. And a family still waiting to see them.
Ilford gave its name to photographic film: Alfred Harman began making gelatino-bromide dry plates there in 1879, and the Roden Street factory carried on until they ceased production in 1976. The brand left, but the works did not go with it. That trade now has a digital descendant which remains one of the most active sources of work within this London borough: wedding and event photographers and videographers based in Ilford, Gants Hill and Barkingside, filling terabytes of camera cards for a day that cannot be staged twice. Around them is a settled professional suburb. According to the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) 2013 town centre health check, Ilford town centre contained approximately 145,000 square metres of town-centre floorspace. The borough is home to many professional services including: accountants; solicitors; immigration advisers; dental and general practitioner surgeries; private tutors and supplementary schools, each of these operating under an obligation to hold other people’s records, on machines that no IT department ever chose. In addition, minicab and courier companies keep driver records and dispatch information; restaurants and shops retain EPOS, stock and supplier files; and forecourts and small retailers also use CCTV systems linked to a standalone recorder, where the disk contained within the unit retains the only record of events over the preceding month. Ensure you get the postcodes right, as the IG area does not constitute a borough and covers parts outside of London: IG1 to IG6 are the ILFORD post town and cover Redbridge, IG7 crosses Chigwell in Essex and Hainault in Redbridge, IG8 is part of both Redbridge and Waltham Forest, IG9 and IG10 correspond to Buckhurst Hill and Loughton, while IG11 corresponds to Barking. Hainault is in Redbridge. E18 South Woodford is entirely within Redbridge and Wanstead's E11 is shared, while the RM6 area of Chadwell Heath is divided into three separate areas. Redbridge is a district, a station and a roundabout in addition to being a borough, although there is no actual ‘red’ bridge visible. The original brick bridge over the River Roding was demolished in 1921. No physical counter exists within either Redbridge or London, nor do any collections take place. A quote is required first, via telephone or by completing the online quotation form, before posting your media tracked to our Guildford intake lab or dropping it off there yourself, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm (no need to book an appointment). The examination will incur no costs; however, you will receive a written quoted cost prior to undertaking any charged-for activities.
Put it to an engineer — the first look costs nothing
0203 0868633
What Ilford and Woodford send.
Different fault? Try the finder →| What is going on | What arrives from here | Where that leaves you |
|---|---|---|
| A photographer's laptop which does not want to turn on | The cards offloaded after Saturday's shoot, along with the clients wanting their album | Do not turn it on; get a quote from us first, then send us the disk alone |
| The camera now reports the card as unformatted | Each picture taken during a day that nobody could plan again | Do not attempt to format it. Get a quote before sending your card, then post it to us unformatted. |
| A practice computer that refuses to finish starting. | Patient scans and the appointments system, running on that PC | Turn it off. Do not reinstall. |
| A forecourt recorder that has stopped recording | The last month's worth of pictures exists only on the disk inside this unit | Pull the recorder's plug out of the socket, then take the disk out of the recorder. |
| A solicitor's data storage device that has started making a clicking noise. | Files of years of correspondence that were scanned and are still required to be kept. | Do not use it. Each time you try to start it up you are using up reads that you cannot afford to lose. |
Before the parcel leaves you.
What Redbridge asks.
Does an IG postcode always mean Redbridge?
The answer to this question is no, and that’s when people from outside really find themselves in trouble. IG1 to IG6 use the post town ILFORD and are all part of the Borough of Redbridge: Ilford, Gants Hill, Seven Kings, Goodmayes, Clayhall, Barkingside and Fairlop. IG7 splits across Chigwell in Essex and Hainault in Redbridge, IG8 splits with Waltham Forest, IG9 and IG10 are Buckhurst Hill and Loughton, and IG11 is Barking in another borough. Hainault is Redbridge. E18 South Woodford is entirely within Redbridge and E11 Wanstead is partially in Redbridge and partially in neighbouring boroughs.
A whole wedding is on those cards. Who else gets to see it?
Only an engineer will see this information. Nothing will ever be written onto your card. An exact “read-only” image of your card will be created, and every attempt we make after that runs against this image instead of the actual physical media. Therefore, your card will return exactly as it was sent. The job sheet will have a case number listed instead of your company name. No copies will ever leave this laboratory. Once thirty days pass after the media has left the laboratory, the working copy here will be deleted; the Privacy Policy outlines this in greater detail.
The practice server upstairs will not mount. Do we open it?
If it is a NAS, only if possible. Disconnect power to stop it retrying, and do not attempt a rebuild; then remove the disks if possible, labelling each disk with the bay it occupied, or otherwise leave the disks in their bays and send the entire unit. RAID sets and servers will always be sent as individual disks; remove the disks and label each one with the bay it occupied. Please call us prior to opening any enclosure: obtain a quote first either via telephone or using the request form, then post the disks or the entire unit to us, or drop them off at our Guildford intake lab, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm; there is no need to make an appointment. For jobs with multiple disks, pricing starts at £500 + VAT.
How does a drive get there from Ilford?
You may send your disk through the postal service to our Guildford intake lab. We also accept delivery of your disk by hand at our Guildford intake lab. Neither Redbridge nor London has a counter, and we do not collect any items, therefore please obtain a quote first by telephone or using the request form. Then hand it over to any IG post office, tracked and insured; typically your disk arrives at the bench on the following working morning. Alternatively you may deliver it yourself to our Guildford intake lab, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm (no appointment needed). The disk on its own is enough, so you may keep your computer behind. There is no cost to examine your disk; we pay for its transportation home.
Begin here if yours is doing the same thing.
Near Redbridge, on the same terms
Post it from any IG counter; the look costs you nothing.
Please ensure the system remains powered down, as each power cycle increases the difficulty of the job rather than decreasing it. When you contact us about having your disk examined, state how the disk had been operating at the moment it ceased functioning. The examination is at no cost; the price you are quoted will be documented in writing, and no chargeable work can begin unless you agree upon that price.