Jude Quartson-Mochrie
February 20, 2026
A computer that felt like a battle every single day — until it didn’t.
Jude’s 2013 iMac had become almost unusable. Storage was gone, performance had crawled to a halt, and the thought of replacing it entirely wasn’t an option. They just needed it to work again.
What Jude said:
“Instead of feeling like hard work, it’s back to being a tool that helps rather than hinders. We feel relieved, less stressed and more positive about using it day to day.”
The situation
700GB of storage had mysteriously vanished. The machine couldn’t even enter recovery mode. There was 300GB of critical data that couldn’t be lost. And there was a strict budget with no room for “just get a new one.”
What Charlie did
- Figured out why 700GB had disappeared and got it back
- Built a custom recovery tool to get around the broken recovery system
- Backed up and restored 300GB of data without losing a thing
- Cleaned up the software, moved files to iCloud, and made everything talk to each other across devices
- Walked Jude through how to manage it all going forward
The result
Full storage restored. No more lag. Everything synced across the iMac and iPad. And instead of dreading opening the thing every morning, Jude actually trusts it again.
“Charlie removed the sticking points and explored the underlying issues — everything now works seamlessly together across different devices and feels smoother and more reliable.”
“Our ‘ancient’ iMac had been running painfully slowly for ages and every day it was frustrating to use. Charlie was incredibly patient and methodical. He took the time to work through what was going on, did a factory reset to properly clear things out, and then set everything back up so the computer was running normally again. He was always willing to clarify questions and explain what he was doing in plain English. His patience, good natured manner, knowledge and perseverance really stood out for us.
The impact was huge! We can use our computer properly again without constant fire-fighting. Instead of feeling like hard work, it’s back to being a tool that helps rather than hinders and we feel relieved, less stressed and more positive about using it day to day.
We are feeling very confident with our equipment because all the little obstacles and the background frustration with the machine have gone. Charlie removed the sticking points and explored the underlying issues, whilst also reviewing our entire setup (storage, backups, iCloud syncing, email etc.). Everything now works seamlessly together across different devices and feels smoother and more reliable.
Whilst carefully managing our expectations, Charlie was prepared to do whatever it took to sort out our problems. He didn’t shortcut the process and although it may have taken longer than expected, it was absolutely worthwhile for the result, which was far better than we’d expected.”
