So what has happened to my hard drive?

Whilst it can very very difficult to diagnose a hard drive failure without data recovery tools, there are some tell tale indicators to determine the likely issue. Take a look below to see if your hard drive is exhibiting any of these symptoms.

Hard drive recognised by BIOS, but cannot be accessed

In most cases, logical failure is when the computer’s BIOS can see your hard drive, but for some reason can not access the data on it. It may not be able to mount the partition or may simply report that no drive is present at all. In the most extreme cases logical failure can include a hard drive that spins up fine, but is not even recognized by the computer’s BIOS as being present.

In a logical failure the hard drives electronic components and mechanical components are all working properly. Logical failures occur as a result of defective media (platter degradation) or data corruption from another source (destroyed file table, etc…)

Almost all logical failures can be recovered without the need to open the hard drive. While there are a number of logical data recover software programs on the market, its important to know why your drive has experienced a logical failure before you attempt to recover your data. If you misdiagnose a logical failure, you can cause irreparable damage to the drive in your recovery attempt.

Hard drive making clicking or ticking noises

Clicking sound in hard drives signal a disk drive has failed, often catastrophically. The clicking sound itself arises from the unexpected movement of the hard drive's read-write actuator. At startup, and during use, the disk head must move correctly and be able to confirm it is correctly tracking data on the disk. If the head fails to move as expected or upon moving cannot track the disk surface correctly, the disk controller may attempt to recover from the error by returning the head to its home position and then retrying, at times causing an audible "click".

In some devices, the process automatically retries causing a repeated clicking sound. Assuming there is no corresponding damage to the hard drive platters, we can recover the data by opening the hard drive in our clean room and replacing the heads.

Drive not recognised and appears dead

When it comes to data recovery one of the most common problems hard drives experience is burnt cuircuit boards (PCB). Hard drives are very vulnerable to overheating, power surges and streaks. Quite often a bad power supply unit combined with power streak is enough to fry the spindle driver chip on the electronics and make the data inaccessible.

Swapping the PCB from another hard drive of the same model can occasionally work on older models. The problem is that logic board on a modern hard drive is adapted to the head disk assembly it was manufactured with. In our lab we use specialized software and hardware to rebuild these parameters or transfer them from fried board to make donor PCB fully compatible with damaged drive.

Hard drive grinds on startup or doesn't spin

Grinding or screeching noises might mean the bearings or spindle motor are failing. This is one of the worst type of hard drivce failures as our technicians must remove the complete platter and head assembly to replace the motor or re-lubricate bearings. These failures can be as a direct result of the strain placed on the spindle motor by the weight of the platter, or sometimes an impact will also cause this type of failure.

Hard drive spins then shuts down very quickly

Just about anything could be wrong with a hard drive that is shutting down after a few seconds. Most hard drives will shutdown when they detect a severe error to try to prevent further damage. The controller board could be bad, and swapping it with an identical one may solve the problem. For some drives, it doesn't need to be just the same model - it needs to be the same revision and firmware level as well.

The spindle motor could be seized or partially seized causing it to draw more power than it should and shutting down. Similarly the heads could be stuck or damaged. Regardless, the only way to recover the data is to open the chassis in the clean room and inspect the damage.

Free Data Recovery Evaluation

"Our free hard drive data recovery evaluation service will tell you whether your data can be recovered, exactly how much it will cost and how long the data recovery will take. Simply phone or email us for a job number and send your data recovery to us. Your hard drive or media will be photographed, catalogued and bar-coded and the data recovery evaluation will start within an hour of receipt."

File Listing Of Recoverable Files

"Once in the laboratory, your media will undergo a comprehensive data recovery evaluation to determine the extent of the data loss. We aim to complete this process within 24 hours depending on the complexity of work involved. The engineers will provide a no obligation recovery prognosis, with a guaranteed list of recoverable files and an estimated timescale. You can then decide whether to proceed with the recovery. Should you choose not to proceed, we will return your media by secure data courier."

Completing the Data Recovery

"Should you choose to proceed, the data recovery process will be completed and the data will be safely stored on our servers. We will then copy out the data to your preferred choice of output media - either 64Gb memory stick or HDD (for purchase or loan). Your data will be dispatched on our secure, next day courier service. Once you have received your data any copies of your data will be permanently and securely erased from our servers after 7 days."

Established and Trusted

"40 years experience in the data recovery industry chairing ISO and BSI standards, we have developed a reputation for excellence at a price that is affordable. With extensive data recovery research and development capabilities, our success rates are second to none - without compromising on our prices! This is why over 36,000 companies and individuals come to us every year."

Safeguarding Your Data

"Your data is important to us, which is why all our data recovery procedures comply with the Association of Chief Police Officers Guidelines and Civil Procedure Rules for handling electronic evidence. Great care is taken when recovering and handling your data to ensure that its integrity is maintained and that there is a clear audit trail through the entire data recovery process."

Industry Leading Diagnostics

"Our data recovery laboratory completes over 120 successful recoveries every day from clients including the BBC, NHS and Ministry of Defence. With ISO 27000 (Information Security) and ISO 9001 (Quality Management) accreditation - we are a data recovery company you can rely upon! Class 100 clean rooms, specialised platter removal jigs and software applications allow us to provide the most comprehensive service in the industry."

"I would definitely recommend them to all"

"I had an employee who kept two years worth of his work, on his local drive rather than his network drive. When the drive died the user was in a panic! I send the drive to Data Recovery Specialists, who were able to recover all the users data, promptly and at a good price too! I would recommend them to all - 5 Stars!" - Gary Mulvihill

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"Laptop died with everything for my business on, all invoices, contacts, emails, resources and financials. One data recovery 'expert' just said "your hard drive is dead", but everything was recovered by DRS... Also, provided an extremely fast turn around for reasonable price, where other companies were asking for a significantly higher fee just to look at the computer. Literally, you guys saved my company. I can not thank you enough!!!" - Andrew Laundy

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"I thought we would never get our scans recovered and imported back onto our PACS system, but you came to our rescue. Your RAID data recovery service was fast, effective and professional and the consultants we dealt with were very knowledgeable and helpful. Brilliant data recovery service - thank you!" NHS

"Data Recovery Specialists are a real life saver"

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"I was so worried when I dropped my laptop. It contained all my work and stupidly, I had not backed up the hard drive! I had heard the hard drive data recovery was expensive but had no option. From my first discussion with Data Recovery Specialists, they really eased my mind and I felt confident they could do the job. And to my surprise, the quote for data recovery was not nearly as much as I had budgeted. Thanks for all your help guys! " Victoria Hall

"They really are life-savers!"

"From the moment I called Data Recovery Specialists to receiving the data, I cannot fault the service. They recovered absolutely everything from my hard drive and at a price I was comfortable with. Data Recovery Specialists really are life-savers! Whilst I hope it doesn't happen to me again, I would certainly call their data recovery team if I need to." Shenda Falvey

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