Whatever state the server itself is in, recovery comes down to reaching the data on its drives. With the drives in hand, each is imaged read-only, any RAID array is rebuilt from the copies, and the file system — along with the files, virtual machines and databases sitting on it — is recovered.
$ bdr diagnose /dev/server → Server: Dell PowerEdge · RAID 5 · 6 × 2 TB → Status: ARRAY OFFLINE — 2 disks failed → Client: confidential · Guildford GU2 8XH $ bdr engineer-working → Member disks: all 6 imaged read-only → RAID 5: rebuilt off the controller → Windows Server: volumes mounted $ bdr verify → ✓ file shares — 6.1 TB → ✓ SQL databases — restored → ✓ server recovered — data back
Server that won’t boot, a RAID array dropped offline, or a rebuild that stalled? Stop there — no rebuild, no re-initialise, no re-sync. Rebuilding lays down fresh writes and can smother the exact data we came for. Power the server down, note which bay each drive came out of, and call us. The drives almost always outlive the server, and that first recovery attempt is the safest one.
The server work reaching us most runs from boxes that won’t boot to corrupt databases — hardware failures, RAID gone offline or degraded, rebuilds that failed, and virtual machines and databases turned corrupt.
No server is out of scope — Dell, HPE, Lenovo, Supermicro, the rest — whether it runs Hyper-V, VMware, Linux or Windows Server. Whatever the make or the role, the data comes off the drives.
Cisco UCS, Fujitsu PRIMERGY and Supermicro; Lenovo ThinkSystem; HPE ProLiant; Dell PowerEdge · blade, rack and tower · Hyper-V, VMware ESXi, Linux and Windows Server · HP Smart Array and Dell PERC RAID · Active Directory, Exchange and SQL Server · NVMe, SATA and SAS.
Send the drives in for a free diagnostic — with the server make, RAID setup and role — and an engineer scopes them, confirming the exact figure in writing before any work begins.
Tell us about the server — its make and model, the RAID setup, what it runs, what went wrong — and an engineer sizes it up and sends back a written quote, usually within 48 hours.
On dedicated hardware, every drive in the box — failing ones and all — gets a read-only image, so everything downstream runs on copies and your originals are never written to.
A drive that has failed — mechanically or on its electronics — goes onto the clean-air bench for new heads or a rebuilt board, just far enough to image and no more.
Where the server ran RAID, the array is worked out from the images — the disk order, the stripe size, the parity — and the volume rebuilt in software, no controller required.
From the file system we pull everything on it — Active Directory, SQL and Exchange databases, virtual machines, files and shares — repairing databases and VMs wherever they need it.
Nothing is returned until the recovered volumes, databases and virtual machines have been opened and confirmed complete.
Your recovered data comes back on new storage sized to the server, ready to restore and drop straight back into service.
Post the drives or bring them in. Diagnosis first, quote next — and most jobs run no fix, no fee.
Tell us what happened and we’ll get back to you, usually within a working day.
We’ll be in touch very soon. If it can’t wait, call 01483 901310.
Server recovery sits on a straightforward tier; you get a free diagnostic and see the quote in writing before any work starts.
A selection of recent server jobs — offline arrays, failed hosts, corrupt databases and deleted volumes. Identifying details stripped; every result verified.
Two of the array’s disks had gone. All six were imaged, the RAID 5 rebuilt, and the volume recovered.
A dead board, but the drives themselves were sound. We rebuilt the array off the drives and recovered the Hyper-V VMs.
The RAID itself was fine; the Exchange database was the damage. We recovered the store and repaired it back to mounting.
The rebuild had written over part of the array. We imaged every disk, reconstructed the RAID 6, and lifted out the VMware datastore.
The SSD’s controller had failed. We recovered the NAND and rebuilt the Linux file system to bring the site and its data back.
Hardly anything had landed on the data since. The array was rebuilt and the deleted volume recovered.
Send the drives in for their free diagnostic with the server make, RAID setup and role; an engineer assesses it and confirms the exact quote in writing before any work starts.
Getting your data back starts with getting the drives — labelled in bay order — or the whole server to us. Pack it safely, enclose your contact details, and once we've run the free diagnostic we confirm your exact quote in writing before any work begins.
Posting it? A tracked, insured service is what we’d recommend. Rather drop it in? You’re welcome Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm — just package the device up as above first.
Need a scoped quote first? Describe the server, RAID setup and fault on the form and an engineer will assess it and reply with a tailored quote.
We’ll be in touch shortly. If it’s urgent, call 01483 901310.
The questions we’re asked most about recovering a server.
Usually, yes. A server that won’t boot most often has a hardware or OS fault rather than lost data. We image the drives, rebuild any RAID array, and recover the file system and everything on it from a copy.
Yes — it’s core server work. We image every member drive, work out the array geometry (disk order, stripe, parity) from the images, and rebuild the volume in software, recovering the data even from a degraded or failed-rebuild array.
Yes. With the array and file system rebuilt, the virtual machines (VMDK, VHDX) sit on the datastore like any other files — we extract them and, where one is corrupt, repair it back to booting.
Often, yes. With the volume recovered, we extract the SQL (MDF/LDF) or Exchange (EDB) database and, where it’s damaged, repair it to a consistent, mountable state ready to reattach.
It runs on tiers: a single-drive or mirrored server from £500 + VAT, and a multi-disk RAID server — RAID 5, 6 or 10 — from £800 + VAT. Each starts with a free diagnostic and a written quote.
You always get a free diagnostic and a written quote first. On multi-disk, mechanical and database work a deposit is taken against that quote, with the balance due only on a successful recovery.
All of them — Cisco UCS, Fujitsu PRIMERGY, Supermicro, Lenovo ThinkSystem, HPE ProLiant, Dell PowerEdge and custom builds; blade, rack and tower. Since we recover off the drives, the make and role rarely come into it.
You don’t. Most of the time you can pull just the drives and send them tagged with their bay order — that’s all we need. If it’s simpler, ship the whole server; either works.
Yes. A domain controller keeps AD in an ESE database (NTDS.dit) on the volume — with the file system recovered, we extract and, where needed, repair the AD database along with SYSVOL.
Most finish inside three to seven working days. The timing turns on the drive count, the RAID level, any database repair, and whether mechanical work is needed on the clean-air bench.
Pull the drives and label each with its bay order before sending, or ship the entire server — both are fine. Post it fully insured to the Guildford address, or drop it in on a weekday between 9am and 5:30pm.
Free to diagnose, priced on a tier from £500, and no fix no fee on the majority of jobs — every server recovered off the hardware, Dell, HPE, Windows Server, VMware and beyond. Get your recovery moving today.