The look is free · an honest answer before any figure
Get an honest BitLocker assessment. Tell us what happened and whether you have the key; we will tell you straight what can be done.
This page is for BitLocker and encrypted-drive recovery: a machine demanding a recovery key after an update, a drive that failed while BitLocker was on, a forgotten password, a lost key, an encrypted USB or external drive, or a locked-out work machine. Tell us the make and model, what the recovery screen says, what happened just before it, and whether you have or can retrieve your recovery key, and an engineer replies by email inside one working day. For most lockouts the honest answer is that the data is intact and your key, probably in your account, is the whole solution, which costs you nothing. Where the drive has failed, single-disk decryption is £800 + VAT, with 50% taken on acceptance and not refunded and 50% on a no-fix-no-fee basis; the drive must be removed and sent in on its own. And where a key is genuinely lost on a modern drive, we will tell you plainly that it cannot be recovered. We recover BitLocker drives only for their owners, and ask for proof of ownership before any work begins.
Put it to an engineer — the first look costs nothing
0800 6890668
Tell us what happened.
What happens after you send it.
The price and the split, in full →An honest answer inside a working day
A person reads what you write; nothing is sorted by script. Back comes a straight first view of whether yours is the easy kind, usually solved by finding your key, or the hard kind, the posting address, the nearest drop-off point, the proof of ownership we need, and a booking sheet to print. We would rather tell you the key is in your account and send you away happy than take an unnecessary job.
The free look settles what is possible Free
If the drive comes in, we check your proof of ownership, then examine the drive read-only: whether it is healthy behind a lost key or failed behind a known key, and whether what you want can be done. On a lost-key drive that cannot be opened, you are told so with nothing to pay. Nothing is ever decrypted on the original drive.
One price, and the split, in writing
If recovery is possible you get one figure, £800 + VAT for a single disk, and the terms in writing: 50% is taken on acceptance and is not refunded, because the decryption effort depends on your key existing rather than on us, and the other 50% is on a no-fix-no-fee basis. Nothing chargeable begins until you accept.
Sending a drive in.
Run through this before you send anything
- Try your recovery key first. For most lockouts it is the whole answer and costs nothing; the finder page lists every place it could be.
- Do not reinstall Windows or reformat the drive. At the recovery screen the data is intact behind the key; reinstalling or reformatting is the one mistake that turns a solvable lockout into real loss.
- If the machine is still running and unlocked, do not shut it down before reading the lost-key pages; the key may be liftable from memory while it runs.
- Have your proof of ownership ready. We recover BitLocker drives only for their owners, and check it before any work begins.
- Tell us everything you remember about a forgotten password. It is the single biggest factor in whether it can be recovered.
Worth saying plainly: we will tell you honestly when a drive cannot be recovered, at the free look, before you spend anything. A modern AES-256 drive with a genuinely lost key and no way to it cannot be opened by anyone, and we would rather lose the job than mislead you.
The questions that come up first.
Will the checker or the free look tell me if it is hopeless?
Yes, and that is the point of them. The free look exists to give you an honest answer before you spend anything. A modern AES-256 drive with a lost key and no way to it cannot be recovered by anyone, and we say so rather than take the work.
How much will it be?
For most lockouts, nothing from us: finding your key solves it, and the key is free. Where the drive has failed, single-disk decryption is £800 + VAT, with 50% taken on acceptance and not refunded and 50% on a no-fix-no-fee basis. The pricing page explains the split in full.
Why is half the fee non-refundable?
Because the decryption and any password work depend on your key existing or your password being recoverable, not on our effort, so unlike ordinary hardware recovery it cannot be entirely no-fix-no-fee. The non-refundable half covers that forensic effort; the other half is no fix, no fee. We set this out before you accept, and we tell you honestly at the free look whether recovery is likely.
Do I have to send the whole computer?
No, and please do not: take the drive out and send the drive on its own. Whole laptops and desktops are not accepted. The one exception is a Surface or other machine with a soldered SSD, where the unit comes in because the storage cannot be separated; tell us the model and we will say which applies.
What proof of ownership do you need?
Proof that the drive is yours or that you are authorised to have it recovered: a purchase receipt, the device serial, a letter on company letterhead for a work machine, or written authorisation from the owner, with photo ID and a signed authorisation. It is a condition of the work and what keeps it lawful.
An honest answer inside two minutes.
Find your key first, because for most lockouts that is the whole solution and it is free. If the drive has failed or the key is lost, tell us what happened and send proof it is yours, and we will tell you straight what can be done and what it would cost.