01
Sync is not backup
OneDrive, iCloud and Google Drive mirror your files rather than protecting them. Delete something by accident, or let ransomware encrypt it, and the service faithfully copies that change everywhere. Useful, but not a backup.
Services
Data transfer and backup
Moving everything to a new machine, and setting up a backup that actually runs. This is the cheap version of data recovery — the one you do before anything goes wrong.
When people call us
Usually one of these, and usually just in time.
None of these are emergencies yet. That is exactly what makes them worth dealing with now rather than later.
✓ Moving to a new computer
✓ Nothing has ever been backed up
✓ You think it is backing up but are not sure
✓ An old laptop that still holds the photos
✓ A phone full of photos with nowhere to put them
✓ A drive that is nearly full
Worth knowing
Most people who have a backup do not.
These are the four reasons we most often find that the backup someone was relying on would not have saved them.
02
One copy in one building
An external drive sitting next to the computer covers drive failure, which is the most likely thing to go wrong. It does not cover fire, flood or theft, because both copies are in the same room.
03
Backups that quietly stopped
The most common thing we find. Something was set up years ago, the drive got unplugged or the software stopped running, and nobody noticed because a backup only announces itself when it fails to exist.
04
The old machine in the cupboard
Replaced but never emptied, and still the only place a decade of photos exists. It is also getting older every year it sits there, and drives fail just as happily when they are switched off.
How it works
Set up once, then left to run.
A backup you have to remember to do is one that stops happening. The point is to set up something that runs whether or not anyone thinks about it.
01
We find out what matters
Photos, documents, email, tax records. Backing up everything is slower and more expensive than backing up what you would actually miss.
02
We move it or copy it
Onto the new machine, an external drive, cloud storage, or a combination — whichever suits how you actually work.
03
We check it restores
A backup nobody has ever restored from is a guess. We pull a file back out of it in front of you.
What it costs
Quoted before we start.
Nothing is done and nothing is charged until you have seen the price and agreed to it.
Pickup & delivery is a flat $19.99. That covers collecting the machine or the drive and bringing it back when the work is done, the same anywhere in our service area. It is held on a card beforehand rather than charged, and you pay it along with the service when we hand everything back — by card or cash. If no work goes ahead, the $19.99 is all you pay.
Or drop it off and collect it yourself — then there is no fee, and no card hold either. We will arrange the spot when we schedule.
Data transfer and backup starts at $49. If you are also having a new computer set up, this is discounted when the two are bundled together.
An internal or external drive, if you need one, is an additional cost. Parts, licenses, and third-party services are priced separately when applicable.
No fix, no fee.
If we cannot get your files moved or your backup working, you do not pay for the attempt.
Straight answers
This is the cheap version of data recovery.
Recovering files from a failed drive is slow, uncertain and costs considerably more than setting up a backup would have. It is also the one service we cannot guarantee the outcome of, because sometimes the answer is that the data is gone.
A working backup turns that entire problem into an inconvenience. If you are reading this because something has already failed, you want data recovery instead — and it is worth stopping and reading that page first, because continuing to use the machine can make things worse.
Related help
If you already know roughly what you are dealing with, these pages go into more detail.