When a drive powers up but your computer, laptop or Mac can’t see it, the files are usually intact. Firmware, electronics, file system — whichever the fault, our engineers put it right and pull your data back, here on site.
$ bdr diagnose /dev/sda → Device: Seagate ST2000DM006 · 2 TB → Status: NOT DETECTED — service area / firmware corruption → Client: confidential · Guildford, Surrey $ bdr engineer-working → Service area: firmware repaired → Drive: re-initialised · detected → Imaging: 1.82 TB / 2.00 TB (91%) $ bdr verify → ✓ documents — 64,820 files → ✓ photos — 51,300 files → ✓ drive visible again — recovered
A drive reading as RAW, “needs formatting” or “not initialised” nearly always still holds everything — and formatting or initialising it risks overwriting what we could recover. Keep repair tools that write to the drive well away, and stop reconnecting a drive whose hardware is failing. Errors such as “file record segment is unreadable” during a chkdsk scan are another common sign of a failing drive. Shut it down and get in touch.
Hardware, firmware or logical trouble can each make a drive vanish from your computer. Below are the faults we diagnose — and fix — most often.
Since 2002 we have brought undetected drives back to life across every major brand. If your data lives on spinning platters, we can almost certainly help.
SATA, SAS, IDE/PATA and SCSI · internal and external · 3.5" desktop and 2.5" laptop · from 40 GB legacy drives up to today’s 24 TB helium models.
Bringing a drive back into view might involve firmware, hardware or file-system repair. We track the true fault down, correct it, and then read your data back — carefully, and in a deliberate order.
Drop in or post your drive. We pin down whether the fault sits in firmware, hardware, the board or the file system, then send a written quote — normally within 48 hours.
The cable, port and bridge are ruled out first; with external drives we go past the enclosure entirely and test the bare drive on its own.
When a drive refuses to initialise, specialist tools give us access to its internal service area, where the repair brings it back to being recognised.
If the drive can no longer read its own setup data, matched heads or a board come straight from our inventory — no weeks lost waiting on a donor to arrive.
As soon as it is detected, the drive is cloned sector by sector to stable storage, worked patiently around any weak areas.
Any corrupt partition or file system is reconstructed, your files rebuilt, and your data returned on fresh media.
Your data comes back on an external drive by insured post, or — for up to 75GB of it — as a free download.
Matched heads and boards on site, plus specialist firmware tools, mean most undetected drives go straight to repair — no weeks spent sourcing a donor.
Tell us about your drive and we will get back to you, usually within 30 minutes during the day.
We will be in touch shortly. For anything urgent, call 01483 901310.
No surprise fees and no pressure — a free diagnostic and a written quote come before any work starts.
A few recent not-recognised recoveries, every one handled in-house. Identifying details removed, results confirmed.
Service-area firmware had corrupted. Using specialist tools we reached and repaired it, the drive re-initialised, and it imaged cleanly on the first pass.
A dead USB bridge was the culprit, not the drive itself. We bypassed the enclosure, wired the bare drive in, and found it perfectly healthy.
A bad shutdown had corrupted the partition and file system. We imaged the drive and rebuilt the volume to pull the data out intact.
Send us your device for a free diagnostic, and tell us a little about what happened — an engineer will review it and confirm your exact quote in writing before any work begins.
Getting your data back begins with getting the device to us. Pack it up safely, pop your contact details inside, and send it over — once we’ve run the free diagnostic, we’ll confirm your exact price in writing before any work starts.
Posting it? A tracked, insured service is what we’d recommend. Rather drop it in? You’re welcome Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm — just package the device up as above first.
Want a bit more detail first? Fill in the form with more about your issue and an engineer will review it and send you a custom quote.
We’ll be in touch shortly. For anything urgent, call 01483 901310.
What we get asked most about drives the computer won’t detect or recognise.
Several things can do it — a corrupt partition, weak heads, a dead external bridge, corrupted firmware, or a failed board. The reassuring part is that the data itself is usually intact and recoverable; what has failed is the drive’s ability to report itself, not the files on it.
When a drive powers and spins yet the computer can’t see it, the usual culprit is the firmware or service area, or heads too weak to read the drive’s own setup data. With specialist tools we reach that area, repair it, and bring the drive back to initialising.
No — don’t format it. “Needs formatting”, RAW or “not initialised” nearly always points to a corrupt partition or file system, with your data still sitting there. Formatting or initialising can overwrite it, so instead we rebuild the file system and recover your files.
More often than not the case is at fault, not the drive. When a USB-to-SATA bridge dies, the computer can’t see the drive even though the one inside is completely healthy. To settle it, we go past the enclosure and connect the bare drive directly.
Usually, yes. Whatever the fault proves to be — firmware, hardware or a corrupt file system — we carry out the repair required and get your data back. For us, a drive that just won’t appear is an everyday job.
The flat price is £300 + VAT. A free written diagnostic comes first, and most jobs are no fix, no fee. A straightforward firmware or file-system fix can come in lower, while anything more involved is always put in writing for you to approve first.
Once the quote is approved, most not-recognised jobs are finished inside three to four working days, and the diagnostic itself is usually wrapped up within 48 hours. Urgent cases can often be pushed forward — just say.
All the major makers — Seagate and WD through Toshiba, Samsung, HGST and Hitachi, on to Maxtor, Fujitsu, IBM, Quantum, LaCie, SanDisk, Buffalo, G-Technology, Iomega, Verbatim, Transcend, ADATA, Silicon Power, Intenso, UnionSine and ModusTech — covering desktop 3.5-inch, laptop 2.5-inch and external builds.
Either drop it at our Guildford point on a weekday between 9am and 5:30pm, or post it fully insured. Package it well and slip your details inside — name, address, phone and email — so it can be booked in. The free diagnostic starts once it lands, and a written quote follows before any work.
Behind every repair sits a 10,000-part inventory, a free written diagnostic to open, and no fix no fee on most jobs. Begin your recovery today.