When a client’s hard drive started making a scratching noise, they made the error of trying to run data recovery software. Thankfully, our hard drive recovery team were on hand.
The hard drive in question – a Seagate portable drive – was frequently carried with the client in a bag and was likely knocked about at some point. When the drive was powered up one morning, it wasn’t recognised by the client’s laptop – but it was powering up. When connected, the drive would make the usual whirring noise indicating that it was powering up, but then transition to more of a scratching noise. But the portable hard disk drive was being recognised by data recovery software, so the client attempted to recover the files stored within this way. When this failed, they turned to us.
The hard drive arrived into our office, and was catalogued with a unique job reference number, before being passed to our hard drive recovery team. The client explained the situation, and it was clear that there was some physical damage to the drive. Upon inspection, our hard drive recovery team discovered that the drive had indeed suffered from a head crash, and the platters had sustained significant damage; this was likely due to the client running data recovery software. While data recovery software can be useful – for example, recovering accidentally deleted files – running it on a physically damaged drive will typically do more harm than good. If a hard disk drive has suffered physical damage such as a head crash, then it must be dealt with by data recovery professionals in the correct environment. Our hard drive recovery team carries out all physical data recovery work in a class 100 clean room, ensuring no contaminants come into contact with the hard drive’s inner workings. This environment is similar to the one in which the hard drive will have been assembled.
Our hard drive recovery team sourced donor parts and began the process of recovering the client’s data. Because the hard drive’s platters were damaged, not all of the data stored on the drive could be recovered. Out of the approximately 800GB of data on the drive, around 600GB was recoverable. The client was sent a list of recoverable files, along with a no-obligation quote to complete the hard drive recovery process, which was accepted. The recovered data was then returned to the client on a new portable hard drive.
If you’re ever in doubt, consult a professional hard drive recovery expert before using data recovery software.
