Inside the lab · your files
Privacy. The plain version first, the formal one below.
Briefly: we require only the bare minimum of details needed for a recovery job to proceed, and nothing further. Whatever is on your media is visible only to the engineer assigned to it, and to no one else in our building. Your data will never be sold, shared or used to market anything to you. Working copies are securely erased thirty days after delivery. Below, you will find more detail.
Who we are. Reading Data Recovery is the trading name of this website, while the business is registered as Easy Data Recovery Ltd (Northern Ireland registration NI625698), with ICO registration number ZC173784. Write to us about data protection using the address our parcels are sent to (Oxford Data Recovery, John Eccles House, Science Park, Robert Robinson Ave, Littlemore, Oxford OX4 4GP) or call us on 0800 6890668. Revised 18 August 2026.
What we keep on you, point by point
What an enquiry leaves behind. Whether an enquiry comes in through the form or by phone, we put four things on record: the person's name, email address, phone number and their description of what the device is doing. Each of these earns its place; remove any one and we couldn't get back to you, judge the media, price the work or return the device. We store this information to take the steps you ask for before a contract exists, and after the contract is in place we use it to carry out that contract.
The case file. Against your reference sit the email correspondence, telephone conversations, the written quote, your agreement to that quote and the postage evidence at both ends. This case file is used day to day to run the job, and it also supports inspections of our accounts and statutory returns. There are two lawful bases here: performance of a contract, and legal obligation.
What's on your media. We cannot recover the data from your media without one of our engineers working with those files, and that handling is the service you are buying. Beyond it, we do nothing. We will never browse through your folders or examine your disks out of curiosity, and the files that come off your disk go to you alone. Our performance of the contract is the lawful basis for processing your data. If we find sensitive personal information while doing a job, we recover it just like everything else on the disk, with no more scrutiny than anything else, and keep it no longer.
What we will never do
- We don't keep a mailing list, we never send a newsletter, and nobody buys or sells your personal details.
- There's no advertising set up here and no tracking as you move between websites. Wherever you go when this window is closed is not recorded, nor is it our concern.
- Everything stays within Britain. Nothing is sent abroad and nothing is subcontracted: your original media and every copy made of it stay inside our own lab.
Who else ever handles this
Only a few people work on your behalf, those a job can't be done without. Hostinger hosts the website, and the same company provides the mailbox for our contact form. The courier takes the parcel and sees the label, nothing else. The accountants receive invoices, never files. Each of them works under a contract limiting them to that one purpose. Your information reaches a public authority only if the law requires it.
How long we keep anything
Recovered data is returned first. Then the copies made during the job remain in access-controlled storage for thirty days to allow a second pass if that is wanted. After thirty days they are securely erased. Any device left unpaid or unclaimed past this point will be dealt with under the Terms. Paperwork from the enquiry and case has a longer life (six years, as set by tax, legal and warranty obligations), after which it too is securely disposed of.
The rights you can exercise
Nothing in this policy reduces your legal rights. They include asking to see a copy of the personal data we hold on you (a subject access request) as well as asking for it to be corrected, deleted, restricted or transferred. You also have the right to object to how we use it. Telephone, or write to us at the address shown above, and we will respond within one calendar month. If our response does not settle it, you can take a complaint to the Information Commissioner; the route is ico.org.uk. In most cases coming back to us a second time is quicker.
Your device while it is here
Booking in creates a single case reference for your device, which stays with it until the day the parcel goes back out. In between, it is held in access-controlled storage and is handled only by those working on that case. Recovered data always goes home on new media (never on the drive it came from), and our copies are deleted according to the schedule stated above. If an incident occurs that puts your rights at risk, we will notify both you and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) within 72 hours, in clear language and without delay.
Next: Terms & Conditions (PDF) · Contact us.