Toshiba laptop hard drives are widely used in business and personal devices, providing reliable data storage. However, when a hard drive becomes completely silent, it often indicates a motor failure or power supply issue, preventing the drive from spinning up and making stored data inaccessible.
This case study details how we successfully recovered Sage accounting files for a local bakery from a Toshiba laptop hard disk, after the drive became unresponsive with no signs of activity.
As Cambridge Data Recovery, with 25 years of experience, we used cleanroom disassembly, motor repair, and forensic data extraction techniques to restore lost financial data.
The Challenge: Toshiba Laptop Hard Drive Completely Silent & Unresponsive
A local bakery contacted us after their Toshiba laptop hard drive stopped working, with the following issues:
- The HDD was completely silent with no spinning noise or vibration.
- The laptop BIOS failed to detect the hard drive.
- Attempts to connect the drive externally resulted in no response.
- The drive contained critical Sage accounting files, invoices, and payroll data.
Since a silent hard drive suggests spindle motor failure or power delivery issues, an immediate cleanroom recovery solution was required.
Diagnosis & Evaluation
When the Toshiba laptop hard drive arrived at our ISO 5 Class 100 cleanroom facility, we conducted a full mechanical and electrical diagnostic. Our findings:
- Failed spindle motor – The drive was not spinning due to a mechanical fault.
- No PCB failure detected – The power board was operational.
- No visible platter damage – Increasing the chances of a successful recovery.
Since motor failures require physical intervention, we prioritized cleanroom disassembly and motor replacement.
The Recovery Process
1. Cleanroom Disassembly & Spindle Motor Repair
To repair the drive and allow data extraction, we:
- Opened the hard drive in a dust-free cleanroom environment.
- Inspected and realigned the spindle motor assembly.
- Transferred the platters to a donor Toshiba hard drive with a functional motor.
2. Imaging & Cloning the Repaired Hard Drive
Once the platter assembly was stabilised, we:
- Created a sector-by-sector forensic clone of the recovered drive.
- Used advanced tools to bypass bad sectors and extract all readable data.
3. Extracting & Verifying Sage Accounting Files
Once data extraction was complete, we:
- Recovered all Sage accounting records, invoices, and payroll files.
- Checked all recovered financial documents for accuracy.
- Transferred the fully restored data to a secure external backup device.
The Results: 96% Data Recovery Success
Thanks to our cleanroom motor replacement and forensic imaging techniques, we successfully recovered 96% of the bakery’s lost data, including:
✅ Sage accounts and financial transactions
✅ Payroll data and staff salary records
✅ Invoices, tax reports, and customer orders
The bakery was able to continue business operations without losing any financial records, preventing compliance and payroll issues.
Why Choose Us?
With 25 years of experience and tens of thousands of successful hard drive recoveries, we are the leading data recovery specialists in Cambridge and the UK. Our expertise includes:
✔ Cleanroom hard drive repair
✔ Spindle motor replacement & platter realignment
✔ Sage accounts & financial data recovery
✔ Secure & confidential business data retrieval
If your laptop hard drive is completely silent, failing to spin, or preventing access to important accounting data, stop using it immediately and contact us for expert hard drive recovery.