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NDR / Devices and media / Asus and HP laptop recovery

Asus and HP · ZenBook, VivoBook, ROG, Pavilion, EliteBook

Asus and HP laptop recovery, Nottingham. Get a quote, send the drive, keep the laptop; soldered flash we cannot take on.

The fee for one drive is £300 + VAT, and the assessment before that is free. The four most common faults: a disk that has been spinning for many years and eventually runs out of time. An M.2 card with a fault in the controller. Storage fitted directly to the mainboard that can't be removed. And BitLocker, with nobody able to find the key. Which of these you have determines the amount of work required and the price quoted, and it is identified before we quote. Most laptops release the drive once one panel and a few screws come off; however, low-cost options such as the HP Stream, Asus Chromebook or budget VivoBook give no access to a drive, because the flash is part of the board, and soldered storage like that is not something we take on. If you're not sure which kind you have, ring us first. We receive parcels from Nottingham, Beeston, Loughborough, Chesterfield, Derby and Newark-on-Trent.

Only pay if we recover your data, on most jobs Free diagnosis first, then a single price, in writing Parcels come in from Derby, Lincoln and Loughborough

Ask an engineer and the first look is free
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What an Asus or HP symptom points to.

Not yours? Open the fault finder →
What is happeningWhat usually causes itWhat that means for you
The machine halts at the Asus or HP logo and stays thereThe drive can no longer serve the files the machine starts from. Documents are generally untouchedGet a quote, then post the drive
A tick or a light knock inside a PavilionA worn 2.5in disk whose heads are on their way outShut it down, and leave it down
The BIOS asks for a hard-disk password nobody setHP DriveLock is held in firmware in the drive itself rather than in WindowsSay so before the parcel goes
An M.2 card no longer listed in the BIOSThe controller has gone quiet, though the flash sitting behind it is often untouchedGet a quote, then post the card alone
BitLocker wants forty-eight digitsReal encryption, working exactly as somebody configured itTrack down the key before posting
There is no drive in there to removeFlash is soldered to the mainboard, as is the case with Streams and budget VivoBooksNot taken on; ring us if unsure
How to pack and post it: get a quote first, then package it securely so it does not move in transit. Insure the parcel for what your files are worth and send it by a tracked delivery service to our intake lab. The return postage is paid by us. Do you want an engineer to help you with the packing before the tape goes on? Contact us. All the details are in the packing and postage guide.

Four ways an Asus or an HP stops, and what each one means.

Asus — ZenBook, VivoBook and ROGThin laptops with an M.2 card stored under one panel, and gaming laptops that often have two. The budget VivoBook and Chromebook models are the exception, as their flash memory is soldered to the board, so we cannot accept these devices. Let us know the model name shown underneath your laptop and we will tell you which kind it is before you remove any screws.
HP — Pavilion, Envy, EliteBook and ProBookHome machines may contain either an M.2 card or a spinning hard disk, but business machines also add two more things to the job: DriveLock, a password located in the drive's firmware, and BitLocker sitting above it. Don't let either of these delay contacting us; we will answer both honestly while the assessment is still free.
M.2, and the short cardsNot every M.2 slot accommodates the longer card. Many Asus and HP devices use the shorter 2230 size instead, and one won't stand in for the other. Please look at the model number printed on the bottom of your laptop and we will tell you which you have before anything is taken apart.
Soldered storage, and what it changesThe HP Stream, Asus Chromebooks and the cheapest VivoBooks have no removable drive at all: their flash memory is soldered to the board. There is nothing to unscrew, and soldered storage is not something we take on. If you're not sure which kind you have, please call us before sending anything.

From the parcel arriving to the files going home.

01

Booked in the day it arrives, and the first look is on us Free

Your case number is assigned when the item is received. Then an engineer works out what went wrong (no charge). At this point, you receive a basic summary of which parts are recoverable and which are not. You also receive a single written quote for the price of the recovery. Accept the quoted price or turn it down, and there is no obligation to pay anything.

The first look is freeOne fixed figure, in writingNo charge at this point
02

The drive comes out before anything is powered

No engineer here restarts a laptop in the hope that it will give a different response. We pull out the drive (an M.2 card in newer machines, a 2.5in spinning disk in older ones) and attach it to a write-blocked port, which answers the only important question at this point: is the problem with the machine itself or with the drive? Where the machine is to blame, the job becomes a plain copy and is priced accordingly.

Read behind a write blockerMachine or drive, told apart
03

Copied before any repair is attempted

From then on, every step works on the image, never on what was received in the post. If the spinning disk's heads have failed, an engineer opens it up and fits a replacement stack from a matching model and production batch. If the M.2 card begins to fail as it warms up, we read from it in bursts with cooling breaks in between, and tackle the hardest ground once the easier ground has been secured.

Donor heads where the originals have goneM.2 cards kept cool, read in bursts
04

Opened here before it goes home

We do not send anything out on our say-so alone. Everything taken off the drive is opened on our bench (documents, spreadsheets, photos, mailboxes and game saves) and the folder tree is compared with what you described over the phone. If you told us specific files were critical, we open them right through rather than tick them off a list.

Every file opened hereWhat you named gets checked first
05

The file list comes before the bill

A complete file list will be provided before any invoicing. Simply say "yes" or "no" to what we found: yes means it is billed, no means it is not, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. What we find is posted to you on media purchased specifically for your case, at no additional cost to you. We consider the process complete once you have opened those files yourself on your own computer.

Nothing is charged until you agree the figureNew media, bought in for your jobWe pay to send it home

What comes in most often

  • The logo screen blames nothing: it simply tells you that the machine cannot read its start-up files. That could be a disk worn out by hours of use, a damaged Windows installation, or a card that has moved in its socket. You have to read the storage itself to find out which.
  • Some devices have no drive to remove: on the HP Stream, Asus Chromebooks and the very cheapest VivoBooks, the flash memory is soldered directly to the mainboard. These we do not take on. If you are unsure which kind you have, please ring us before sending anything.
  • In gaming laptops, two cards are often striped together. An ROG or an Omen with two M.2 cards in a single volume will be extremely fast but leaves no margin at all, so when one card stops responding, the entire volume fails. Both cards travel together, both are copied, and the volume is rebuilt over the copies.
  • Encryption gets answered before you pay a penny: a modern HP business laptop will probably be encrypted from the day it was handed over, and BitLocker will stay locked, here and everywhere else, until the correct recovery key is provided. There are typically four places that hold the key: a Microsoft account, a company's directory records, a memory stick, or a printed copy in someone's file. Check every one, and call us either way.

Two hard limits on this page: nobody can bypass encryption without the password or the recovery key, despite what some advertisements claim, so any volume locked without one will remain locked. Any tracks on a platter that have been scored by a worn-out head can no longer be read: data that is no longer physically present cannot be recovered by anyone. An overwrite works the same way. A reinstall followed by a few weeks of normal use will permanently erase some of what was originally there. You are told this before you are charged anything. One drive costs £300 + VAT, confirmed in writing once the free assessment is complete, and it typically takes three to four working days from the parcel arriving until your data is returned on new media. We only take storage, so no phones or tablets, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data.

One of these, from start to finish.

NG · NTG-2026-2001ON THE LOG ✓

An EliteBook that got slower for a year and then stopped at the logo

Nine years' worth of tenancy files, valuations and site photographs were on an HP EliteBook owned by a land agent in Grantham. The practice's IT department had never once looked at the machine. Since the spring, opening anything had been getting slower. Then it got stuck on the logo screen and would go no further. When we removed the drive, we found it was a spinning disk. Although the drive would read on a write-blocked port at a slow rate, a band around the middle would not respond at all. We left that band alone until we had safely read the rest of the surface, then took it across two nights in short passes. Before any files were transferred, each folder was opened on the bench, starting with the tenancy agreements and the valuations, as those were the ones named over the phone.

Each folder opened before it went backThe whole disk copied before a repair

What helps, and what does damage.

Worth doing first

  • Shut it down now and leave it that way
  • Read us exactly what is on the screen
  • Let us know if a BIOS or drive password was ever set
  • Get a quote, then send the bagged drive alone

What makes it harder

  • Restarting it once more to see if it catches
  • A fresh Windows install on that disk
  • Letting Windows run a repair over a failing drive
  • Writing anything new to the disk you need

Answers before you spend anything.

Nothing happens past the HP logo. Is the disk finished?

Possibly, but that exact screen also appears for two or three other reasons, and you cannot tell which just by looking at it. The system is telling you that it could not read its start-up files. That can happen if the hard disk is worn out. It can also happen with a damaged Windows installation, or an M.2 card that has come loose in its socket. Each time you restart the laptop, you put the weak area under the same stress again, and nothing is resolved. Leave the laptop off. Get a quote. Then post the drive to us on its own, and a few minutes of free assessment will tell us whether it is the disk, Windows or a loose M.2 card.

The BIOS wants a hard-disk password and nobody remembers setting one.

That would be DriveLock. The password is stored in the hard disk's own firmware, not inside Windows, and HP business laptops have had DriveLock for many years. While it is set, the drive will refuse to answer an ordinary bench port. Please tell us before sealing the parcel, since it changes what the assessment has to deal with first. Laptops are often passed down from a former employer or an in-house IT team, and in most cases they will have the answer. Before assuming it has been lost, ask them first.

BitLocker is asking for forty-eight digits and we have not got them.

Then the volume stays locked. This is not a limitation of our bench; BitLocker is working as it was set up to, and no one can get into the encrypted volume without the key. What is worth knowing is how often people find the key after all. It may be in a Microsoft account, a company's directory records, a USB stick left in a desk drawer, or a printout kept by whoever set the machine up. Check all four. While you search, the locked volume can be imaged and the copy stored safely. None of this will cost you anything to find out.

Do you want the laptop, or only the drive?

The drive, on virtually all models. Remove one panel and the few screws beneath it, and take out either the M.2 card or the spinning disk. Place it in an anti-static bag, then in a padded box. Nothing else is needed. Sending a whole laptop costs more to post and gives the courier more to damage. There is one exception that matters: HP Stream, Asus Chromebook and the cheapest VivoBook models have their storage soldered directly onto the mainboard, so nothing can be removed and those devices are not accepted. If you're not sure which kind you have, ring us first. We do not collect, and there is no drop-off point in Nottingham, so get a quote first, then post the drive tracked and insured, or bring it to our Manchester intake lab (Peter House, Oxford Street, Manchester M1 5AN) any time from 9am to 5:30pm, Monday to Friday, with no need for an appointment.

Start here if the same thing is happening to yours.

When the server will not start → Mirrored RAID 1 sets → Files locked up by ransomware → The full device list →

Switched off, a drive cannot get any worse.

The look costs nothing. It gives you a file listing of what opened and what did not, along with the cost of finishing the job, in writing, before anything chargeable begins. In most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Do not switch the drive on until you have that listing.

0115 8220606

Get a quote, then send it Posting it to Manchester