On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me, 3 RAID-5, 2 RAID-0, and RAID-1 from a NAS box

In Blog, RAID Data Recovery, Server Data Recovery by AdministratorDecember 15, 2011

Multiple RAID array failure. If system administrators or home users ever thought that their data would be perfectly safe as it was on a RAID/server device please review your setup. …

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Cheadle DATA Recovery Ltd5.0

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James White

19 hours ago

I had a new M.2 NVME drive fail on me with all my project files on so needed to do data recovery, after a bit of looking around my local area I got directed to Cheadle data recovery as the places I enquired with locally didn't deal with M.2 devices

I initially called to seek quotations and John was friendly, polite and professional whilst answering any questions I had about the process, reassuring me that I was dealing with someone who knew what they were doing and giving me confidence that I wouldn't be left short as they operate on a "no recovery, no fee" basis

Even going so far as to give follow up advice afterwards regarding how to create backups and other solutions to prevent this from happening in future. I really appreciate you going the extra mile and I cannot thank you enough for getting me my lost time back

Phill Dixon

2 days ago

Spoke to John at Cheadle Data Recovery about an enterprise grade HDD that needed recovery.
He was completely upfront that the helium filled nature meant it was out of scope but hen spent a great deal of time and effort putting me in contact with places that could.

He has made absolutely nothing off my call but spent 40 mins trying to help and recommending other very specialist recovery firms that could potentially help and explaining the process.

Absolutely brilliant service

Response from the owner:Hello Phill, thank you for the review. Helium filled HDDs present a major technical challenge for data recovery companies when the mechanical components have failed within the HDD. I am not aware of any UK based data recovery company that has a proven success record when working on mechanical failed helium filled hard disks. As such I recommend HelpDisc/HDDSurgery in Serbia or Morde in Portugal who are making genuine recovery attempts on these disks. Both of which perform work on a 'no-recovery, no-fee' basis, and do not charge for the donor HDD.

Unfortunately, I am aware of certain UK based data recovery companies which have charged £1000+ upfront for a recovery attempt on a helium filled disk, where no data has been subsequently recovered, and then on inspection of the disk it has been found that no work has actually taken place. As such, I advise those people with Helium filled HDDs to be cautious of some claims made by certain data recovery companies regarding their technical capabilities and to check the terms of work before any payment is made to the company.

Whilst CDR does not work on mechanically failed helium HDDs, we do still work on helium HDDs which have suffered failure associated with the firmware, printed circuit board, bad sectors/degraded media and corruption of the filesystem.

Best regards, John C. Reid.

RDC Creative Media

1 week ago

I have used Cheadle Data Recovery twice now for failed hard drives, John was so helpful and informative about both jobs and he went above and beyond to make sure that I was completely satisfied. I would HIGHLY recommend Cheadle Data Recovery to anyone looking for help with recovery issues. John is flexible, down to earth and just an all round great guy. I will be using him again if I ever have any issues!

Response from the owner:Hello Rudie, I am glad we were able to bring the job to a positive conclusion and I appreciate the unsolicited review. Best regards, John C. Reid.

LM M

2 weeks ago

I’m not usually someone who posts reviews, but in this case, I felt it was absolutely warranted. My only regret is that I didn’t find Dr. John Reid sooner.
Before reaching him, I had already wasted time, money, and a great deal of emotional energy. I had almost accepted that everything on my Toshiba 2TB drive my personal work, studies, sentimental family photos and videos, and professional work dating back to 2022 was gone for good. Other so-called “professionals” either refused to take on the job due to its complexity or simply didn’t have the expertise.
As a last resort, I emailed John one evening. By 9:00am the next morning, he had already called me. From the start, he was thorough, clear in his explanations, and completely upfront about costs and realistic expectations. I really appreciated that he didn’t offer false hope and maintained professionalism throughout.
I decided to take a chance and made a 70-minute journey with a small glimmer of hope. When I arrived, John didn’t just take the hard drive and send me away he took the time to explain in detail what the issue might be, the possible solutions, and even gave me advice on how to care for hard drives in the future.
He promised an update by the end of the day and he delivered. After I clarified that the drive was 2TB rather than 1TB, he provided a revised quote, which I agreed to. I placed my trust in him while keeping my expectations realistic.
Throughout the process, John kept me informed. When he said recovery might be possible, I remained cautiously optimistic. Then came the moment of truth: I received a link showing which files were recoverable. To my amazement, only a minimal number were damaged.
The relief and happiness I felt seeing those files again is hard to put into words. I truly cannot thank John enough.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him to anyone. The journey was absolutely worth it for such a professional and dedicated service—and I will definitely return with other devices I had previously given up on.
Thank you so much, John.

Response from the owner:Hello "LM M", I am not sure which job/disk this refers to, but thank you for taking the time to write the review and the sentiments. It's worth noting that you chose to visit in person, and it was possible for me to inspect your device during your visit. Unfortunately, on Google Maps a number of data recovery companies have created fake office listings in Manchester (and other city centres) where there are no staff, only a PO Box/Virtual Office. Best regards, Dr John C. Reid.