Remote Consulting
Before you ship a drive, talk to an engineer.
Server crash, RAID failure or corrupted virtual machine? A remote consulting session gets a specialist looking at your system within hours — often the only step needed to protect the data and avoid an unnecessary shutdown.
Why consult first
The wrong move costs more than the failure.
When storage fails, every action either preserves your chance of recovery or destroys it.
When a server, SAN or virtual machine fails, the first question is never "how much will this cost" — it is "what can be done next, safely". A forced rebuild, a repair utility run against a degraded array, or simply leaving a failed system powered on can turn a recoverable incident into a permanent loss.
Remote consulting closes that gap. Instead of packaging drives and waiting on a courier, an engineer reviews your system with you — over the phone or through a secure remote session — and tells you honestly what is safe to try, what is not, and whether the case needs lab recovery at all.
- Immediate access to expertise — no waiting for shipment before you get answers.
- Remote risk assessment — understand recoverability before committing to any next step.
- Avoid costly mistakes — stop a rebuild or repair attempt before it wipes out an array.
- A tailored recovery roadmap — advice specific to your platform, not a generic checklist.
For many businesses, this conversation is the entire recovery — no drives ever need to leave the building.
Scope
What a consulting session covers.
Remote Investigation
A secure remote session to review the system, identify the failure point, and confirm whether data is still accessible.
Server Crash Advisory
Dell PowerEdge, HP ProLiant, IBM and other platforms — deciding between rebuild, restore, or escalation to lab recovery.
Learn more →Virtual Machine & Hypervisor
VMware ESXi, Hyper-V, Proxmox and Citrix XenServer — guidance for a failed host or a corrupted VMDK, VHD or VHDX.
RAID, NAS & SAN Arrays
Risk assessment for RAID 5/6/10, SAN LUN rebuilds, and NAS platforms including Synology and QNAP.
Learn more →Enterprise Storage
Large-scale arrays from Dell EMC, NetApp and HPE, assessed by engineers who work on them daily.
Continuity Planning
Where the question shifts from "can this be recovered" to "how do we stop it happening again" — stronger storage policy and backup design.
Process
From first call to a safe decision.
- 01
Same-hour triage call
Describe the failure to an engineer, not a call handler. Critical cases are prioritised on the 24/7 line.
- 02
Secure remote session
Where useful, the engineer reviews the system directly with you to confirm the failure point and data state.
- 03
Honest recommendation
You are told plainly whether a rebuild is safe, whether to stop immediately, or whether the case needs our lab.
- 04
Lab escalation if needed
If drives do need to come to us, the case moves under one chain of custody with a fixed quote confirmed before work begins.
Audience
Built for teams under pressure, not solo users.
- Corporate IT teams — where in-house knowledge runs out at the hardware or array level.
- SMBs without dedicated IT staff — external expertise on demand, exactly when it is needed.
- Managed service providers — specialist backup for complex client environments and unfamiliar storage.
- Legal and corporate teams — where downtime carries contractual, regulatory or client-facing consequences.
This service sits alongside our wider RAID recovery work and our server recovery service — the same in-house lab and chain of custody, whether the case resolves remotely or needs physical recovery. If storage is on a NAS or DAS unit rather than a server, see our NAS recovery and DAS recovery pages.
Questions
Asked before the first call.
Is remote consulting secure?
Yes. Sessions run through secure, access-controlled remote platforms, and every engagement is handled under confidentiality — NDAs are signed routinely on request.
Will you tell us to stop a rebuild that's already running?
If it is unsafe, yes, immediately. A rebuild in progress on a degraded array is one of the most common causes of total data loss, and stopping it early can be the difference between a full recovery and none.
Does consulting always avoid shipping drives to the lab?
Not always, but often. Many cases resolve with remote guidance alone. Where physical recovery is genuinely needed, the case moves to our Belfast lab under the same chain of custody, with a fixed quote agreed first.
What platforms do you support?
Dell, HP, IBM and Lenovo servers; VMware ESXi, Hyper-V, Proxmox and Citrix XenServer; RAID, SAN and NAS storage including NetApp, Dell EMC, HPE, Synology and QNAP.
What does a consulting session cost?
Diagnosis first — a fixed quote is confirmed with you before any paid work begins, whether the case resolves remotely or is escalated to the lab.
Speak directly to an engineer before you try anything else. Ten minutes of the right advice can save the whole array.