Can’t get into an encrypted volume any more? In almost every case the data is untouched — the disk has simply stopped releasing its key after an update, a hardware swap, a misplaced recovery code or the first signs of failure. Supply the credential that belongs to it — a Microsoft account, a saved password or the 48-digit code itself — and we take a clone, rebuild whatever the volume needs and extract your files from the far side of the lock.
$ bdr triage /dev/sdb → Device: Dell XPS SSD · 512 GB → Status: BITLOCKER LOCKED — volume refuses to mount → Owner: verified · key supplied $ bdr engineer-working → Read-only image: taken · source untouched → BitLocker metadata: repaired → Unlock: key accepted $ bdr verify → ✓ documents — 41,900 files → ✓ mailbox — 1 PST rebuilt → ✓ data recovered — drive decrypted
That prompt almost always means the contents are intact, so whatever you do, don’t wipe the disk, lay Windows down again or clear the TPM — each of those can throw the keys away for good. Your first job is to dig out the 48-digit code: Microsoft keeps a copy against your account, work machines often have one in Azure AD or the domain, and you may have printed it or dropped it onto a USB. Bring that code and the drive together; if the disk is also on the way out, set it aside and let us take the clone before it deteriorates. Once a key or password is in hand, the odds of a clean recovery are very high.
A drive that won’t decrypt is nearly always a key that’s gone missing, a volume that’s been damaged or hardware on its way out — the files themselves are rarely the trouble. Prove it’s yours and hand over the credential, and these are the jobs we take on most often.
Whatever scheme locked the drive, we can usually work in behind it — provided ownership checks out and you can hand over the password, the recovery credential or the key itself. None of the encryption is broken or weakened in the process; your files just reappear from the other side of it.
Across Windows, macOS and Linux — from single laptops and desktops through to servers and NAS boxes — plus hardware self-encrypting disks and any password-locked USB or portable drive.
The work runs in a set order: clone the locked disk first, then open it and lift the data — with your key or password when you have one, or by recovering a key the system left behind when you don’t. The original is read once and never written to.
Talk us through the drive, the kind of encryption on it, and which codes or logins you can still reach.
If the key has slipped away, we point you at where it hides — a Microsoft account, a company Azure AD or domain, an old printout, a saved file or a USB.
A full sector-level copy is taken and every later step happens on that copy, so the real disk is left alone — doubly important if it is failing.
Where the BitLocker or container structures are damaged, we mend the headers so the volume will actually open.
Your code, password or login lets us release the volume and read the data straight off the clone.
With no code to hand, we can occasionally lift one the system tucked away — in a hibernation file, a memory capture or an escrow copy — but a strong key that truly cannot be found cannot be forced, by us or by anyone.
Recovered files are opened and tested so we know they work and nothing has been left behind.
Everything returns decrypted on new media, or across a secure transfer.
From laptops and desktops up to NAS units, servers and USB media, we take on BitLocker, FileVault, VeraCrypt and the rest — always off a read-only clone, always unlocked with a key or password that belongs to you.
Tell us what happened and we will get back to you, usually within one working day.
We will be in touch shortly. For anything urgent, call 01483 901310.
No surprises and no hard sell — a free diagnostic and a written figure land before anyone touches the drive.
A few encrypted jobs from the last little while. Identities kept out of it, ownership confirmed each time.
The code was tucked away in the owner’s Microsoft account. We pulled it, cloned the SSD and released the volume — nothing missing.
We cloned the dying disk read-only, mended its BitLocker structures and let the code open it. Back in one piece.
A printed copy of the code saved the day. We fixed the volume header, opened the stick and lifted every file off it.
Send us your device for a free diagnostic, and tell us a little about what happened — an engineer will review it and confirm your exact quote in writing before any work begins.
Getting your data back begins with getting the device to us. Pack it up safely, pop your contact details inside, and send it over — once we’ve run the free diagnostic, we’ll confirm your exact price in writing before any work starts.
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.
Want a bit more detail first? Fill in the form with more about your issue and an engineer will review it and send you a custom quote.
We’ll be in touch shortly. For anything urgent, call 01483 901310.
The questions we are asked most about recovering BitLocker and encrypted drives.
In most cases yes, once you have shown the drive is yours and can produce the code, password or Microsoft account tied to it. We clone the disk, repair the volume if it needs it, and release it with your credential — a failing disk does not stop us.
Don’t reinstall or reformat in a panic. The 48-digit code usually still exists somewhere: signed into your Microsoft account under the device, kept in your company Azure AD or the domain, printed off, or sitting in a file or on a USB. Round up whatever you can find and leave the rest to us.
Occasionally. Fragments of a key can survive in RAM, a hibernation file or a temporary copy, and when they do we can sometimes rebuild it. But where nothing survives and no credential exists anywhere, the encryption holds — that limit applies to every lab, not only ours.
That is routine here. The failing disk is cloned read-only before anything else, the encrypted volume is repaired on the clone, and only then do we open it with your key. Reading from a copy keeps a dying drive from losing whatever is left.
We do. Beyond BitLocker and BitLocker To Go, that takes in Apple’s FileVault, VeraCrypt and TrueCrypt volumes, LUKS and dm-crypt on Linux, hardware self-encrypting disks, and password-locked USB and external drives — all with your own password or key.
Updates, a new board or TPM, or a BIOS reset can make BitLocker fall back on the code it locked away when encryption was first turned on. The data has not moved; it is the code it wants. Produce it and you are through in minutes.
Always. Encrypted work is done discreetly and under lock, and an NDA is no problem at all. Your files never leave our control and are wiped from our kit the moment they are back with you.
A single-disk system is £800 + VAT — half payable upfront for the labour, the other half only if the recovery succeeds, on the key-recovery side. Should the drive turn out to be physically failing, we agree any higher figure in writing before we begin.
Bring it to the Guildford Business Park drop-off between 9am and 5:30pm on a weekday, or send it in fully insured. Add your details and the recovery code if you have it, and we log it and begin once the free diagnostic is done.
A free diagnostic, a quick ownership check, and your encrypted drive opened and handed back decrypted — a failing disk included. Get in touch and we take it from there.