A dead drive with no spinning or powering is usually an electronic or mechanical problem. In our experience, rarely will you lose your data. We replace the damaged circuit board, add back your original firmware, and restore your file(s) in-house.
If you repeatedly run a drive with a faulty electrical system it will either destroy the motors, or make the failure of your board even worse. Also never try and swap out a replacement board as most of today’s drives have what they call “ROM” (read-only memory) chips which hold the drive specific calibration information, and if the ROM chip is not transferred when swapping boards, it may be impossible to recover the drive. Please turn off the drive and contact us.
Silent, dead drives usually suffer either an electrical or motor fault. The following problems account for many of the issues that arise and are fixed by us on a daily basis.
Since 2002 we have successfully recovered dead drives from all major brands. So long as the data is stored on spinning platters there is a very good chance that we can assist you.
Internal and external • 3.5” desktop and 2.5” laptop • SATA, SAS, IDE/PATA and SCSI • from 40GB legacy drives to the latest 24TB helium models.
To recover your data from a non-functioning drive we need to repair the electronic components first, and then safely turn on the device so that we can transfer your files, at a safe speed and in order.
Either drop your hard disk off at our premises, or just post it to us. We then check whether there’s a problem with the circuit board, motor or the power supply. We will send you a written quotation (usually within 48 hours).
Using magnifying equipment, we inspect the board to find evidence of short circuits, destroyed diodes and/or damaged components. On external drives, we are able to remove the enclosure and connect to the bare drive. This way, if there are any faults caused by anything other than the circuit board itself, they can be identified and fixed.
Where possible, we repair faulty diodes and damaged components. Where not, we have a large number of matching circuit boards in stock, thus avoiding weeks spent awaiting delivery.
The original ROM chip is transferred over to the donor board, which allows the drive to recognise all of its own calibration information and turn on normally.
When it turns on successfully, we copy all sectors of the drive to safe media. It doesn’t matter how long this takes; we’ll do this step-by-step until we’ve copied everything we can.
Once we’ve completed copying your files from this good image, we will verify them against a file listing and ship them back to you on clean media.
Depending upon size your files will be shipped back on an external drive, or via download at no charge, if they are under 75GB.
Many won’t power on units get repaired immediately because we match boards, ROMs, motors and heads in-house, so you don’t lose any time waiting for a donor unit.
Tell us about your drive and we’ll come back to you, usually within half an hour during the working day.
We’ll be in touch shortly. If it’s urgent, call 0191 406 1051.
There are no additional fees and there is no pressure sales tactic: we provide you with a free diagnosis prior to beginning any work and provide you with a written quote of what services we would like to perform.
We have done many of these recently. All were completed in house. Identifying details about all of them have been removed. Each was validated.
A shorted circuit board and blown TVS diode. We had a donor PCB on hand that we used to replace the bad one. Then we installed the original ROM chip back onto the new board. On the first attempt the drive was imaged.
The fault was determined to be an internally failed USB bridge, not the drive itself. Once the enclosure was removed and the drive mounted as a bare unit, it tested fine.
A burned-out motor control board. We swapped the board out with a matching replacement, restored the firmware, and got the full volume back online.
When you send the unit in for its free diagnostic, let us know what happened with the unit. An engineer will review the unit and confirm your quote in writing prior to starting on your recovery.
Before you post or drop off your device, please get a quote from us by phone or with the form. Once we receive your device, our recovery process can start. Safely pack your device, include your name and contact information within the packaging and ship it to us. After performing your free diagnostic, we’ll send you a written confirmation of the exact price of our services prior to starting any work.
If you decide to post it, we would advise using a trackable and insured postal service. Or if you prefer to drop it off, we are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, and you don’t need an appointment. Just pack the unit as described in step one before dropping it off.
Would you like a little more background information prior to sending it? Fill in the form to provide more details about your problem; an engineer will evaluate it and reply with a customised quote.
We’ll be in touch shortly. If it’s urgent, call 0191 406 1051.
A drive that does not draw any power, i.e. there is no spin, no clicks, etc. usually means that the drive has suffered from loss of the PCB (circuit board), not mechanical loss. The surge or reverse polarity through the adapter can blow the protection diodes on the board instantly. Repairing hard drive electronics is actual bench work and is much different than the internet legend “swap boards.” Most modern PCBs hold drive-specific calibration data on a ROM chip. Therefore, a donor board will only function after moving the ROM chip or its contents onto the new board. When handled properly, a surge-killed drive may come back fully readable. There is a current example in our case files: a Western Digital brought down by a power surge but repaired using this exact method.
Things people commonly want to know when their drives don’t turn on.
It’s usually not because you’ve lost your files. Most of the time it is something electrical: either a bad circuit board, a destroyed protection diode or a fried motor control board. Usually, if you have files stored in your hard drive they are still there. This is also the reason why many times we can recover from these types of failures.
No. If you continue to apply power to a failing electronic component (e.g. motor) it will likely destroy the motor or cause further damage to the boards. Turn it off, pull the plug and call us; the less power your device receives, the greater your chances of recovery.
Yes. Usually we replace the failed board with a matching board, transfer the firmware from the original, then recover all of your files by imaging the drive.
No. It is generally very bad practice to swap out a board because each modern disk has calibration data stored as part of its ROM. If you do not move this data when swapping out the boards the disk will be unreadable and what could have been an easy fix will now require much greater effort to recover.
Often not. The problem is often at least partially located outside of the drive; e.g. if the issue occurs with an external drive, it’s likely due to either the power supply adapter or the USB-to-SATA bridge board inside the enclosure. We bypass the enclosure and attach the bare drive to our equipment and often find that the bare drive works just fine.
Standard pricing for a non-working (won’t power up) hard drive is as follows: £300 plus VAT with a free written report from us on the initial inspection of your unit. In most cases you only pay if we recover your data, but in addition to that if we need to obtain a replacement PCB or the motor has seized then there will be an additional cost for parts and labour.
Once you have approved the quote for most won’t power-on recovery services, the majority will take between 3 and 4 working days to complete. In many cases, the diagnostic process itself will typically be completed within 48 hours. If you want urgent attention to your case please let us know.
All leading manufacturers of hard disk drives (Seagate, Western Digital, Toshiba, Samsung, HGST, Hitachi, Maxtor, Fujitsu, IBM, Quantum, SanDisk, LaCie, G-Technology, Buffalo, Verbatim, ADATA, Transcend, Silicon Power, Iomega, UnionSine, ModusTech and Intenso) in 3.5-inch desktop and 2.5-inch laptop as well as 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch external form factors.
We offer two options for how to get your hard disk drive repaired. First, drop off the hard disk drive with us at our office located in Newcastle Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm. Alternatively, you may post your hard disk drive to us fully insured. When sending by post please ensure it is packaged securely and sealed and include all relevant contact information (name, postal address, telephone number and e-mail). On receipt of your hard disk drive, we will carry out the complimentary diagnostic test and issue a written quotation detailing the costs of any subsequent works prior to commencing those works.
We offer a complimentary written diagnostic and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. We also have an inventory of 10,000 parts to support each and every job. Start recovering your files now.