Toshiba drives are everywhere, but they often don’t announce their presence: inside countless laptops as the built-in drive, on desks as the Canvio portable line, and inside desktop computers and network attached storage (NAS) boxes as internal drives. When one fails, recovery is typically routine; the useful things to know are where you are most likely to find a Toshiba drive, and the simple step that saves time if it is inside a laptop.
Toshiba supplies internal drives to many laptop manufacturers and sells the popular Canvio portable externals. Toshiba failures are generally the usual mechanical faults or bad sectors, and if the drive is inside a laptop, sending us just the drive instead of the entire laptop is less expensive and allows for a quicker turnaround.
Toshiba is one of the major suppliers of the 2.5-inch drives that laptop manufacturers fit as standard, so there is a good chance your older laptop has a Toshiba drive, whether or not the laptop itself is a Toshiba. On the desktop side, the P300 and X300 series are internal drives, while the N300 series is designed for NAS units, and Toshiba’s MG series serves enterprise applications. And Toshiba’s Canvio portable drives are a common sight on desks. Just like with any other brand, knowing which model you have shapes the recovery: a single Canvio or laptop drive is a straightforward job, whereas a set of N300s from a NAS is a RAID reconstruction.
Because so many Toshiba drives reside inside laptops, this is the tip that saves the most hassle. When a laptop will not boot and you would like the data on its drive, please remove the drive and send it on its own, as we are not able to accept complete laptops. On most laptops it takes a couple of screws to remove the drive, and a local computer shop can do this in minutes if you’d rather not do it yourself. Sending only the bare drive means cheaper postage, no risk to your machine (and no need to part with it), and a faster turnaround. The only time to send the entire unit is when the drive genuinely cannot be removed, and if you’re unsure, just ask us before sending.
Toshiba drives experience problems in the same familiar ways as any other traditional hard drive. There is outright mechanical failure, through worn or stuck heads or a seized motor, which typically results in clicking or a drive that won’t spin. Another common problem is the gradual accumulation of bad sectors on the disk, which shows up as freezes, extremely slow copying and files that won’t open. Laptop drives also take more physical knocks than desktop units, simply because laptops get carried around and dropped, so impact damage is a little more common. Regardless of the source of the problem, a physically distressed drive should not be left running or repeatedly restarted, because each restart increases the likelihood of further damage.
The vast majority of Toshiba failures are recoverable. After a drive has failed, it is only repaired enough to read it (a donor head to replace one that has crashed, or a repair to a circuit board damaged by an electrical surge), then it is imaged read-only and your files are reconstructed from a copy, so the original drive isn’t stressed any further. A single Toshiba internal or laptop drive or a Canvio external costs from £300 +VAT; an N300 NAS or RAID set costs from £500 +VAT. All of our work begins with a complimentary diagnostic and a fixed written quote, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data.
Yes, we recover Toshiba drives routinely. Failures are the usual mechanical ones (clicking heads or a seized motor), bad sectors starting to appear, or physical damage to laptop drives. In our process, the drive is repaired only enough to read it, then imaged read-only, so the files are copied from the image and no additional stress is put on the original drive. A single drive recovery costs from £300 plus VAT, after a free diagnostic.
Yes. Send us only the drive, as we are not able to accept complete laptops or desktop systems. The drive contains all of your files and is usually held in with just a couple of screws; any computer shop can take it out in minutes. By sending us only the drive, you save money on postage, don’t have to part with your machine and get a faster recovery. Only send us the entire device if the drive cannot be removed from it.
Generally speaking, yes. If it is a logical fault, the data is often recoverable via a read-only image of the drive. If, however, the drive is clicking or silent, there is a mechanical fault requiring bench recovery. Either way, please stop trying to use it and send it in. A Canvio external recovery costs from £300 plus VAT, after a free diagnostic.
Not inherently. Laptop drives of any brand get carried and moved around, and when dropped they do experience more shock and impact than a desktop drive, so impact damage is a little more common. The actual causes of failure (worn heads, seized motors, bad sectors) are exactly the same, and all of these failures are recoverable, provided the right care is taken.
The cost for a single Toshiba internal, laptop or Canvio external drive starts from £300 plus VAT, and an N300 NAS or RAID set starts from £500 plus VAT. The exact cost depends on the nature of the fault and is confirmed in a fixed written quote after a complimentary diagnostic, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data.
Is your Canvio clicking, or your laptop refusing to boot? Take the drive out and send it off, and we’ll tell you what can be recovered. Complimentary diagnostic and a fixed quote first.