These are honest guides to dealing with failed or failing drives (including those where your data has vanished) and what you need to do before you make things worse. These have been developed by the very engineers who use their knowledge to recover data every single day, in-house.
The biggest mistake you can make when trying to deal with a clicking or failing drive is to power it up again, so stop using it and contact us. In most cases this is what causes the damage that makes the recovery process virtually impossible.
Clicking, vanishing, dying or dead: what are the most common symptoms in disk drives and what steps should you take in each case?
This section describes some of the better-known programs for recovering deleted data including: Disk Drill, EaseUS, Data Rescue and the free options, and also shows you how to choose one based upon what you want to accomplish. It also points out how APFS and FileVault can cause problems. Finally it tells you when a Mac needs to come into our laboratory.
This article explains where the six places are that BitLocker stores your 48 digit recovery key, how the Key ID matches them and what you can do if the key is no longer available or if the drive itself has failed.
When a LinkStation or TeraStation NAS RAID system crashes, often there are firmware problems or something went wrong during transition into emergency-mode (EM). Some users experience problems with their DriveStation external drives. We explain why you should never attempt to rebuild a RAID array once it has degraded and tell you what you need to send.
Sometimes, but generally speaking, SSDs are harder to recover than traditional hard disks. TRIM commands issued by Windows/other operating systems instruct the controller to discard any blocks marked for deletion. Encryption works directly against your ability to recover data. Together these factors determine the likelihood of retrieving your data from your drive.
If you know whether your failure is logical, mechanical, electronic or firmware, you can determine how to proceed safely. We describe each type of failure along with the characteristics that would indicate you have encountered one of them and what parts of the data may still be retrievable.
If you find that your memory card will not mount then it is not necessarily dead. Faulty readers, corrupted media and even memory cards marketed as having larger capacities than they actually have can prevent the card from being recognised, and we show you how to get your photos off it.
Full price bands start at £250. How we determine your quote. How our pricing works (in most cases you only pay if we recover your data). Why software for £99 is not likely to be good value.
Whether to use DIY software and/or send a drive to a lab depends upon one thing: whether the issue is logical or physical, plus the amount of risk involved in doing so incorrectly.
A straightforward view of what can be recovered by Disk Drill, as well as the limitations placed upon both the free version and the paid version; the single rule to prevent Disk Drill from causing damage; and the point at which you will need to stop relying on software.
No. Apple normally repairs/replaces their products and generally formats/erases all data contained within the product. What Apple actually does with your data; and who is likely to recover data from a Mac.
In terms of a hard drive, no: all of your files are fully recoverable. In terms of a solid state drive (SSD), usually. In terms of a mobile phone, yes. This is important prior to selling/disposing of the device and also answers the question regarding whether you may still recover files even though you have done a reset.
Truly free tools (Recuva, PhotoRec, TestDisk, winfr); what each tool excels at; where free becomes a paywall; and the limitations that they share.
Not all dead drives are actually dead drives; frequently the problem lies within either the cable, port, enclosure or partition. This article will show you how to work through issues without making things worse; and also how to recover your files if the drive itself is dead.
Why age is the most significant threat to the dependability of Deskstar, Travelstar & Ultrastar drives. Enterprise RAID systems; and what can still be recovered.
There is one rule that keeps recovery safe: work on a read-only copy and never on the original. Additionally, this article will explain the difference between logical problems and physical problems; and provide clear answers as to who sees your data.
Create hash-verified write-blocked images; create documentation of the system artefacts showing “who”, “what” and “when”; analyse timelines; keep a documented chain of custody. From £800 + VAT.
Read SMART info for Windows & Mac with CrystalDiskInfo; CHKDSK; Disk Utility; and understand when SMART results indicate it’s time to back up and stop.
Learn how to do an SSD health check; learn what SMART wear numbers matter, and what they mean for your SSD’s realistic life span; and learn how to spot the signs of SSD failure.
Find out about the one critical mistake to avoid (rebuilding onto a degraded array); understand what failure means at each RAID level; and know how failed RAID 0, 5 & 6 arrays are rebuilt read only.
Did you empty the recycle bin or delete a file for good? Where files remain; learn how to retrieve them on both Windows and Mac; and know the single rule that determines whether you can.
Step-by-step guide: safe order of operations; when to use the DIY route for logical faults vs when the drive requires a lab.
Zip “click of death” drives; external drives & StorCenter NAS: how each Iomega format is recovered read-only; and what to send in.
Rugged & d2 single drives & 2big/6big RAID units: why encrypted singles need to come in whole; the RAID 0 trap; and what can be recovered.
Legacy Maxtor drives are now Seagate-era hardware (most were made over 15 years ago): why age makes them a risk; and how they are recovered read only. From £300 + VAT.
Network malfunction, a failed disk or an array that has just degraded? Learn how to determine which one it is; and how to recover data if the NAS itself fails. Don’t attempt blindly to rebuild.
What does the error mean? How to troubleshoot it, from benign causes to serious faults, and how to retrieve your files if the drive has died.
RAID 5 provides more capacity, while RAID 10 offers faster writes and safer rebuilds. A simple comparison of redundancy, rebuild risk and capacity, plus which is better for you.
Why RAID rebuilds go wrong, why forcing one can destroy your data, and the safe way to recover a failed array. Don’t retry anything until you’ve read this.
Is it really dead or just refusing to mount? How to tell, which methods are safe to try and which aren’t, and how a data recovery lab gets data off a drive that won’t power on.
Emptied the bin, or lost photos when a Recently Deleted album expired? Where “permanently deleted” photos are still stored, on your phone, SD card and PC, and when they’re actually gone.
EVO, PRO and NVMe SSDs: why recovering them is different from a traditional spinning hard drive, the controller pattern where the drive suddenly disappears, and what may be recoverable.
Memory cards, USB sticks and Extreme portable SSDs all have flash chips at their heart: chip-level flash recovery, a note on Extreme SSD reliability, and what’s recoverable.
Barracuda, IronWolf and Backup Plus drives: the specific failures that strike Seagate drives, the encryption catch on the externals, and what you can expect to recover.
Clicking, slow transfers, freezing, disappearing files and SMART errors are all warning signs of a failing drive. What to do the moment you spot one.
Canvio externals, laptop and internal drives: send the drive itself, not the laptop. Plus common failure patterns and what might be recovered.
Repair programs remove all information stored on a USB stick to correct issues with the device. Therefore, before using a program to erase the stick, you need to recover any files you wish to keep. What are the various USB repair tools designed to do, and how can you access files on a dead stick?
The colour range and My Passport external drives: the hardware encryption catch; the WD Red SMR rebuild warning; what is recoverable.
What is the certificate allowing an organisation to decrypt BitLocker and EFS without each drive’s key? How does it work? How does it differ from a recovery key? Where does a lab fit in?
Recovering data from failed storage devices can often allow for recovering a wallet file. However, there is no way to recover a lost seed phrase or password. There are also several common scams you should be aware of when dealing with these types of services.
When you hear that “click” as you try turning on your drive, it signifies a mechanical failure and places your data at risk every single time you boot up that drive. What does this mean? Why attempting DIY fixes will only make things worse, and how clicking-drive recovery can get your files off the failing drive.
What does it signify when a drive gives you a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) error? Why running ChkDsk on a failing drive will only make matters worse. How we obtain a read-only image of the drive, allowing us to pull your files off past the point where the drive becomes unreadable due to bad sectors.
Typically, the file system of the drive has become corrupted, however none of the individual files have. Why you shouldn’t format or attempt to run ChkDsk to fix problems with your file system. How we rebuild your files from a read-only image of the drive.
If a drive prompts you to format it prior to accessing your files, chances are good that your files are still intact. Why formatting is the mistake. How we first recover your data.
A master file table error typically means that your drive is going bad, rather than indicating that you’ve lost a specific file. What the master file table error signifies. Why attempting to run ChkDsk may cause additional damage to your files. How a read-only image of your drive enables us to bypass the errors associated with bad sectors.
The true advantages and disadvantages: the amount of storage and the price of the hardware versus the one weakness that matters; which drives are the most reliable; and what mechanical failure means for your stored files.
The situations in which you may safely attempt to do it yourself, as well as how to retrieve deleted files without causing further damage.
Simply explaining higher-stakes recovery processes of failed RAID systems and failed solid state drives.
The drive brands we see most (Seagate, Western Digital, Toshiba, Samsung, SanDisk), and how to proceed with your failed unit.
Reading only takes you so far. Call to tell us about your situation or send us some information about your failed unit. We will perform a complimentary diagnostic on your failed unit, and we will provide you with an honest assessment. In most cases you only pay if we recover your data.