Hard Drive Data Recovery

What to do now

• Power the drive off if it clicks, beeps, grinds, repeatedly disconnects or becomes extremely slow.
• Do not keep reconnecting it to “see if it comes back”.
• Do not initialise, format, rebuild, defragment or run file-system repair.
• Do not open the sealed drive outside an appropriate controlled environment.
• Do not install recovery software onto the affected drive or save recovered files back to it.

Every additional read attempt can matter when heads, media or firmware are deteriorating.

Hard-drive problems we assess

Devices and brands

We assess 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA drives, portable USB hard drives, desktop external drives and many SAS or enterprise drives. Common manufacturers include Seagate, Western Digital, Toshiba, HGST, Samsung and LaCie-branded products. Support depends on the exact model, failure and availability of compatible parts.

Our recovery process

1. Intake: we record the model, serial number, symptoms, previous attempts and priority data.
2. Non-destructive diagnosis: we check power, electronics, identification, firmware behaviour, heads and media condition as appropriate.
3. Written quote: the quote explains the proposed work, likely charges, donor-part requirements and known limitations.
4. Stabilisation: approved work may involve electronics repair, firmware intervention, controlled head work or other temporary measures needed to read the original media.
5. Imaging: the goal is normally to copy readable sectors to stable storage using controlled retries rather than working directly from the failing source.
6. File extraction and verification: files are reconstructed from the image and checked against the priorities you supplied.

Pricing and additional costs

Simple logical cases are usually less expensive than mechanically damaged drives requiring donor parts and controlled internal work. Capacity alone does not determine the fee. Before approving a case, check the current data recovery pricing and fee policy, including the assessment charge that can apply when recovery is possible and a quote is declined.

When recovery may not be possible

Severe platter scoring, overwritten data, missing encryption keys, extensive prior DIY work, fire damage, corrosion or unrecoverable destruction of critical media can prevent recovery. A percentage of recovered file count is not automatically a useful result, so we ask you to identify priority folders and file types before paid work begins.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my drive clicking?

Clicking commonly indicates that the drive cannot complete normal head positioning or read required information. Stop powering it and seek an assessment rather than repeatedly reconnecting it.

Can a beeping portable drive be recovered?

Sometimes. Beeping can be associated with a motor that cannot start, stuck heads, insufficient power or other mechanical faults. The exact cause must be diagnosed.

Can I replace the circuit board?

On many modern drives, a matching donor board alone is not enough because adaptive information unique to the drive must be retained or transferred. An incorrect swap can add damage.

Will the original drive be repaired for normal use?

No. Data recovery work aims to obtain a temporary readable state and copy the data. A recovered source drive should not be returned to service.