Hard drives almost never fail without warning their users. When the user hears a rhythmic click the heads are probably dead. There is a faint beep that indicates the motor has stopped working. Scrape sounds indicate that something is wrong with the internal mechanicals (the heads or motor) so stop using your hard drive immediately. Total silence is indicative of either electrical failure or a firmware problem. Whatever type of problem you are experiencing, it has been evaluated many times over by our engineers. Whether you searched for hard drive recovery, data recovery hard drive or hard drive data recovery, we provide a complimentary diagnosis and in most cases will only bill you if we retrieve your data.
A clicking or grinding drive gets worse each time you try to power it up. The one thing you can do immediately is turn it off and walk away from it; then we’ll take a closer look at it for free.
Clicks, buzzes, etc., are always a sign of mechanical problems. Either the heads (read/write) have been worn down or the spindle has frozen, so in either case this requires opening the hard drive and repairing it on our workbench, not fixing via software. Slow-mounting drives that stall after some files have copied and hang on others indicate bad sectors. When an area of the drive’s surface starts to fail, the drive will start to slow mount until it eventually stalls. Therefore, prior to doing anything else, if you see a drive that appears to be slow mounting and/or stalling while trying to copy files, the drive should be imaged. If you have a drive that doesn’t even appear to be detected by your system at all, there is typically something wrong with its PCB (logic board) or firmware, where the physical media itself is perfectly good, but your system cannot communicate with it. Both require a separate type of repair than what would be required for a mechanical problem like the above-mentioned issues. And using data recovery software on any of these types of devices just continues to run the device until it finally fails.
Every drive will be checked for failure prior to touching the data. When the failure is mechanically based we replace the heads with parts from matching donor drives or replace the motor. If the failure was due to an electronic issue, then the printed circuit board (PCB) can be repaired or its firmware reflashed. Once this is completed, we take a sector by sector image of the failing disk using specialised hardware. The image is taken so that we may read through the failing sectors without causing additional damage. Your files are then restored from the good copy, never from the bad disk. This process is slower but much safer than the “plug it in and let’s go” method, and it’s why a drive powered off promptly is usually a routine job.
We restore desktop and laptop hard disk drives from all manufacturers (Seagate, Western Digital, Toshiba, Hitachi/HGST, Samsung, etc.) including desktop 3.5″ units as well as thinner 2.5″ laptop models using either SATA connections (or older ports). Our engineers also support recovery of external USB hard disks regardless of whether they were branded by Western Digital, Seagate or LaCie.
Typically, yes. Each “click” represents a failed head assembly. Bench work for transplanting heads from a matched donor drive to your drive is common. The real danger to your data is powering on the drive; with each “click”, the failing heads move over the disks. Off, in a drawer, and we’ll take a look.
A drive that is physically failing will be in the opposite case: software will keep spinning the dead drive and potentially make what could have been recovered unrecoverable. Software will help with recovering deleted files or corruption of the file system as long as your drive is logically intact. If you’re hearing clicks or other unusual noises, or the drive is undetected, then your problem is hardware.
Standard work will typically take a few working days after you accept the price quote. Straightforward logical recoveries may take less time; however, difficult head swaps with finding a suitable donor may take longer. The no-cost diagnostic inspection prior to purchasing allows for the determination as to what type of issue exists with your device.
No. Once you have your price quote, you are able to bring your unit into our Leeds office located in The Pinnacle on Albion Street, Monday to Friday (no appointment needed) or post it to us fully insured from anywhere in Yorkshire. Regardless of how it arrives, it will be processed in-house by one of our own engineers.
Turn off power to your device: dead boards, corrupt firmware, and/or failed heads are common causes of undetected drives that cannot be resolved via software installed on your computer. The free diagnostic will identify what caused the failure on your unit; the solution will be a matching donor part(s) or firmware repair followed by a safe data transfer/image process, both completed in-house.
A free diagnostic report prior to starting work; an exact price for that work will be given to you in writing before we start; and in most cases there is no charge for the recovery service if we can’t recover the data. We give a single price for most standard hard drive recoveries, which are determined as part of the initial diagnostic process and confirmed once a quote has been provided. Mechanical head or motor work quotes are also given once the initial diagnostics have taken place. Once you have a quote you simply drop off your device at our Leeds office located at The Pinnacle; there is no need to book an appointment. Alternatively you may send your device to us via post; it will be sent to us on a fully insured basis and from anywhere within Yorkshire. Either way, your device will be treated directly by one of our own engineers, not outsourced.
If you are looking for hard drive data recovery near me, search from your location in Leeds, or somewhere in Yorkshire, and this will take you straight here, with an actual address that you can simply walk into and a free diagnosis whatever the fault. Hard drive recovery near me doesn’t have to involve sending a hard drive off to some remote service centre via a courier (in fact, we never do).
Once you receive a quote for your project, bring your device to the counter at The Pinnacle on Albion Street. You can visit us Monday to Friday between 9am and 5:30pm (no appointments necessary). Alternatively, send your device by insured post. Our data recovery UK services cover all areas of the United Kingdom under the same conditions: free diagnostic, fixed written quote and no charge on most projects unless we recover your data.
There’s no charge for the free diagnostic, which includes assessing the extent of data loss and telling you exactly what data you may be able to get back. In addition, all our prices are agreed in writing prior to any work being carried out, and on most jobs, unless we’re successful, there is no cost at all. Hearing clicks or grinding? Kill the power before you read another word.