TechGeek’s Posthaven Site

In this post I've combined together several enquiries for data recovery services from customers in or around the Liverpool area. I'm including Chester here too.

Solid State Drive Won't boot. I want to take some files from it, There are just a few files I need from it importantly that are irreplaceable. My mobile worstation is a m6800 and it says drive doesn't install, check cables.

My 2TB Seagate Backup Plus with not show the drive and the data. Makes beeping sound if ear is placed close to hard drive. Please email as currently working in Liverpool and can't get to a phone because of the type of work I'm doing. If it helps, I live in Aintree and I know there is a local data recovery business in Horton House Liverpool, just behind Exchange Flags.

Hard drive keeps clicking. The computer is recognising it but you cant access the data. Light keeps flashing on the drive. Drive is a WD my passport ultra. I have a fair amount of money to spend on getting this data recovered, so I'm looking to get the recovery done. I don't want to have to take out a second mortgage to get the recovery done thou! Ps I'm near Wallasey, Liverpool.

I have a CCTV system, I want the recover the videos thats been overwrite and gone, and I cant review them anymore

Western digital external USB 3 drive with one PCB for both the drive and adapter (external drives usually gave separate pcb for drive and another one connecting sata to USB) Drive gets power, but is not being recognised by Windows, Mac or Linux. I have a computer system that runs my mortgage advisor / brokering business. I don't know about what costs you charge, but if you are perhaps moving house or require mortgage brokering services perhaps we can have a chat and come to some arrangement.

Here are a number of enquiries I've recently dealt with from people with either broken hard drives or unresponsive phones who never took at backup (tut tut) and now need their data extracting from their broken device. I successfully fixed 2 of the faults myself, the others ones that I couldn't do were expertly recovered by the techs at Data Clinic - in London, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield.

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  Is there any way to retrieve photographs taken on Iphone 5 during 2015/16 but were deleted on 11 June 2016? No itunes or Icloud back up was made – the photographs were just kept on the phone. I have rung Apple and they have confirmed it is not possible to retrieve once deleted and it does say on the mobile phone on the deleted photos page that after so many days the photos are deleted permanently.
• NAS hardware failure (Iomega). Lenovo, who now own the Iomega company, advise me that it is a hardware failure and to contact a data recovery firm. This is not time sensitive, nor is it important documents… it is pure sentimental. Photo's, music, website documents, etc, etc. 
• I HAVE NOKIA MODEL rm-1012 is it possible to get the deleted messages from the phone please if so how much as they appear to be in memory as showing deleted, I have found on net a code to put in but it comes up do you wish to restore it would this do it ? 
• I'm looking to buy Western Digital WD10EZEX-08Y20A0 hard drives. Do you have any for sale? If so, how many? Dropped hard drive. When plugged in after it Initially mounted but then stopped (linux os). Now doesn't show in linux, Windows finds the drive but cannot access files. Mechanical sounds, drive sounds like it spins up when powered but then goes to a constant mechanical clicking sound.

If you've lost access to your data please get in touch - if I can't help I can always get you a special discount rate with Data Clinic !

Enquiry: My Hard Drive recently packed in. It was running ok the night before (although in retrospect after being asked about it, I'd heard it click a couple of times), but when I booted it up I kept getting an error message saying windows couldn't be found.
So on boot up I went to the BIOS menu to see if something had reordered the drives and discovered the hard drive couldn't be read. I then took it to a repair shop and they attempted to diagnose the problem (it was them who asked about the clicking). They left it over night for a diagnostic and said that on a couple of occasions the Hard Drive was picked up but the only info they could get off it was garbled nonsense. They said that they thought that the heads may have failed on the Hard Drive and that wasn't something they could fix and recommended someone else. The 2nd person came to the same conclusion and said he didn't want to tamper with the heads either as it wasn't something he could fix and so he recommended you.

The only other note I can think of is that the laptop seemed to be running quite hot leading up to the failure, but as I've replaced the hard drive this doesn't seem to be the problem. For reference, I live in Liverpool, just in case you need to refer me to that office.

My Response: What you have described there is a hard drive that is about to completely fail. It probably didn't help that the first repair shop you took it to kept it switched on last night. If a hard drive is running hot and slowly then my recommendation is to switch the hard drive quickly and wait a while for it to cool down - don't put it in a fridge or freezer and this will put unnecessary stress on the hard drive, instead let is cool naturally.

When it's completely cooled you can attach it again and attempt to copy your files off of it asap. If you are successful at this then you've had a lucky escape. If the hard drive begins to run slowly or is not recognised then I'm afraid it's too late for you to do anything - the hard drive is already badly damaged. If you need to remove the data from it you'll need to contact a data recovery company.

Finding a Data Recovery Company

You can look for a local data recovery company but my experience is that good data recovery companies a few and far between. Make a distinction between a data recovery specialist and a PC repair shop. They are not the same beast at all. Even though the shop may claim to perform data recovery, it's capabilities will be no where approaching what the data recovery company can do. The best way I've found is to do a countrywide internet search and then look at the reviews of the company. Another useful method is to look for bloggers who write about data recovery and hard drive issues - if you are in the UK you can visit the Recover Deleted Data web site. It deals in answering questions about all types of data recovery, not just retrieving deleted data.