The noise we hear is also an indicator of which parts are failing and how quickly they are getting worse. A continuous “click” indicates that the heads can't determine their position. A “scrape” means one of the heads has contacted the platter itself. In either case, deterioration occurs with each revolution of the disk. Therefore, the period between hearing the first noise and turning off the power is the single most important element in determining whether you will recover your data.
A “click of death” is not a general symptom of impending drive failure. It is a precise mechanical failure report. Each type of noise will point to a separate problem in the drive.
Everything else regarding your data recovery will be determined by the nature of the failure. However, how many times you use it (i.e., how many cycles) is entirely in your control and more important than everything we can do after.
You have a limited number of rotations remaining on a drive with failing heads before the physical damage is irreversible. Every time the drive is turned on, the heads are loaded; they move to locate the desired track, fail and try again; and if the heads are already making contact with the platter, the magnetic material coating of the platter is removed, which is non-recoverable.
Whether you turn off a failing drive when it makes its first clicking noise or continue using it for two weeks waiting for it to “settle” often determines if all of your files will be recovered or only a portion. There is no method to restore a damaged platter that has been physically scratched. The data on that track was lost in a physical manner.
Therefore, there is never another response to what you should do immediately other than to shut it down; keep it shut down; and under no circumstances, turn it back on to see if it continues to produce the noise.
The freezer does not work. It is thirty-year-old advice and comes from an age of different drive technology. When applied to a modern hard disk, it creates condensation in a sealed mechanism (with head clearance down to sub-microns). It has destroyed recoveries which would have been routine without this instruction.
This is the most misinterpreted area of mechanical recovery and will be the biggest influence on time spent on a job.
If we need to replace your failed head stack, then we will remove one from a good drive. There are many people who have reason to believe that this will mean purchasing the exact model number. However, two drives with identical names may contain different head configurations, may have different numbers of platters and may contain different versions of firmware. Any combination of these elements means the new head stack does not work correctly on the surface upon which it sits.
A valid donor will match on family, head map and firmware generation. We maintain inventory of the major families sent to us by this region: Barracuda/Western Digital Blue generations; the 2.5-inch Toshiba MQ range; and as a deliberate backup stock, we maintain an inventory of the older IDE and early SATA families due to the continued production of these units by fenland industrial equipment.
When a donor has to be sourced, it affects the time scale of a recovery job but does not affect the final outcome. You will be informed by us during the diagnostic process whether a donor drive is required; i.e., it will not be discovered during week three.
An audible click/grind when operating a drive can be identified as being mechanical-class work priced from £300 +VAT. Mechanical-class work is agreed in writing after a complimentary 48-hour diagnostic test. In cases where multiple drives form part of an array, prices for mechanical work commence at £500 +VAT.
Due to the fact that mechanical failures involve committing real costs associated with both labour and parts once such work has commenced, 50 per cent deposits are applied to all mechanical jobs and payment of the remaining balance is conditional upon successful completion of said jobs. It should also be noted that this policy is clearly communicated to customers prior to entering into any agreement.
No, there is no difference. The drive attempted to perform an initialisation operation and failed. However, instead of continually attempting to initialise, the drive simply gave up. The head(s) have still made contact with the media, and the ultimate outcome of the job will depend on how many cycles the faulty drive has performed.
Do not use scanning software on a drive that is experiencing a mechanical failure. Using scanning software on a drive that is experiencing a mechanical failure continues to power the drive and causes it to continue seeking for hours. This is exactly what turns a partially failed drive into a completely failed drive. Therefore, if the damaged drive successfully mounts, you should copy your most critical data to another location immediately and discontinue use of the original drive. Do not initiate a software scan.
It depends on what length of time the drive was operational. If it was turned off promptly, there will likely be a substantially complete recovery. If it ran for weeks, recovery may only be partial; however, we will advise as to our expectations regarding partial or substantially complete recovery at the initial diagnostic stage rather than after recovery.
No. In order to read from a damaged disk, it is fitted with donor parts and used as a temporary disk for reading the data off a single time. Once all necessary information has been recovered from the damaged disk, it cannot be returned to service. Therefore, when someone suggests returning the original disk to service, it's simply not possible.
A donor disk recovery takes five to ten working days if the donor disk is already in stock. In the event that a donor disk needs to be acquired outside of our current inventory, then additional time will be required to locate and acquire the needed part(s) of the disk. This timeframe will be indicated during the initial diagnostic session.
Frequently, yes. Age affects the availability of donor disks rather than the ability to successfully recover the desired information. For this reason, we maintain older drive families in our inventory because many organisations in this area have existing industrial and laboratory equipment that uses these older drives.
Each repair includes access to a 10,000-piece donor inventory, opens with a complimentary written diagnostic, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Begin today.