MacBooks fail quietly — no clicks, no warnings, just a machine that won't charge or won't wake. Whether it's a spilled drink, a failed drive or a removable blade SSD, we recover data from MacBook Air and Pro models with removable storage for customers right across Staines and Surrey.
Free diagnostic on every apple macbook job. One fixed quote in writing before any work begins.
No fix, no fee all jobs except electronic and mechanical failures, chip level work, DVR and Forensic jobs. Full pricing is on the data recovery cost page.
Every apple macbook job starts by matching the symptoms to the fault — these twelve cover almost everything that reaches the bench.
No single thing kills more MacBooks — the logic board corrodes fast, but the data on the SSD nearly always rides it out.
A dead board or charging circuit doesn't end a recovery: if the drive or blade SSD unplugs, we image it on its own.
The internal drive or SSD has either failed or lost its operating system — we extract the data first and talk repairs later.
When an update dies mid-install the Mac just loops — your documents wait unharmed beneath the broken system.
The older machines run everyday 2.5" hard drives, and when those fail mechanically it's a job for the clean bench.
Apple's own SSD sticks fail the way all SSDs do; with the right adapters and service-mode access they give the data up.
One stray click in Disk Utility and the volume is gone; on a removable drive it comes back while the freed space lasts.
Encrypted volumes behave like any other once your password or recovery key is supplied — dig it out before you ring.
They survive only as long as the space they occupied — put the Mac down now and don't use it again.
Flexgate and failed panels leave a healthy Mac behind dark glass; getting the data out is entirely routine.
Apple's proprietary blade SSDs occasionally lose their controller mapping and disappear — read through blade adapters in service mode.
The delicate internal SATA/flex cable in older MacBooks wears and mimics a drive failure — the drive itself is usually fine once imaged.
A pre-2012 MacBook carries an ordinary 2.5-inch drive, and the 2013–2017 machines carry Apple's proprietary blade SSDs — either kind lifts out, images cleanly and gets recovered here, classic Mac hard-drive work on one side and blade-SSD work on the other. Everything from 2018 onward is different: the T2 chip or Apple Silicon hardware-encrypts storage that's soldered straight into the logic board, so it can't be removed, and a failed board or SSD takes the data with it. Recovery of soldered Mac storage isn't something we offer — board-level attempts on these machines are a service we withdrew two years ago, the success rate having fallen too low to promise anyone. If you're unsure which your MacBook is, call before sending it.
Tea, coffee and water make a beeline for the logic board. The encouraging part: where the machine has a removable drive or blade SSD, the spill rarely touches the data, and the module is imaged directly once it's out. Don't charge it, don't 'wait and see' — corrosion spreads by the day. Get the machine to us fast and the odds swing firmly in your favour.
The whole MacBook workflow points one way: get the removable drive or blade SSD onto an imaging rig fast.
Blades in 12+16-pin and gumstick formats connect natively for imaging — no donor MacBook required to read them.
The mechanical 2.5-inch drives in pre-2012 machines go through the classic hard-drive workflow, heads to firmware.
A blade that met a drink is decontaminated, its connectors treated, until the module reads cleanly again.
Apple file systems parsed natively — snapshots recovered, FileVault opened with your password.
Wiped volumes, deleted files and lost APFS snapshots come back from whatever freed space is still standing.
A removable drive that another lab sent back 'unrecoverable' gets a real second attempt on fresh hardware here.
If the storage lifts out, we recover it: that means the 2.5" SATA drives in pre-2012 MacBooks and Apple's proprietary blade SSDs of 2013–2017. Liquid spills that short the logic board usually leave a removable drive perfectly readable; older machines also suffer frayed internal SATA cables that mimic a drive failure; and blade SSDs occasionally lose their controller mapping and vanish. Storage soldered to the logic board — the T2 and Apple Silicon machines from 2018 onward — is outside what we recover.
Most customers post their media to us tracked and insured.
Sending a drive from a computer, laptop, MacBook, iMac, CCTV / DVR or server? Please remove the internal hard drive or SSD and send us just the drive — we don't provide an internal drive-removal service. We don't recover storage soldered to a motherboard (e.g. Apple Silicon Macs and some thin laptops) — only drives that can be removed and sent to us.
↓ Print the booking-in & shipping form (PDF)
Mark the package for the attention of Guildford Data Recovery and we'll call you as soon as we diagnose your media.
Not sure what to send? Call 0800 689 0668 first or use the free online diagnostic.
Free diagnostic, fixed quote, no fix no fee — start now or call the freephone.