We can work all sorts of magic, but there's one thing we can't do.

We can never bring back data from a computer that you've lost or had stolen.

If a hard drive is damaged, we can usually recover data from it, but sometimes not all of it, and occasionally none of it.

If you do have a computer or hard drive where you can't access the data, we can probably help.

First, if you are reading this from the computer with the missing data (eg you want to recover a deleted file) turn the computer off now. Don't shut it down - just turn it off at the wall and then phone us. All the time you are using the computer, the chances of recoverin gyour data get smaller.

There are two ways of recovering data. Most cheaply, we have several different software tools we use, combined with our experience, to recover data from corrupt or faulty hard drives, and it usually works well.

Hard drives are mechanical, and some physical or mechanical problems result in data that can't be recovered by software alone. Recovery from this situation is a highly specialist job, and expensive - but it is often successful in an emergency.

Finally, it's hard to achieve the impossible, and if the data really isn't there any longer, there may be nothing that anyone can do to recover it.