TechGeek’s Posthaven Site

When you have a broken hard drive that you need to get the files from you have to send your computer disk to a data recovery company to get them to retrieve your data. They will examine your hard drive and find out what is wrong with it. Then they'll send you a report detailing the faults and issues. Here's a standard report:

This is the report from another company I used two years ago:
The report from the lab has been finalized and the engineer has reported the following.
· When powered the drive clicks and spins down
· Drive opened within clean lab for internal examination
· Failing read/write heads preventing access to data
· Possible damage on media surface area causing mechanical and logical read/write operation to fail.
· Partition tables unreadable due to read/write failure
Access to data is unsuccessful due to damaged read/write heads.
The heads are the mechanical components that read/write data to/from the internal platters.
The work required to correct the faults include:
1. Drive disassembled within clean lab facility
2. Drive rebuilt with compatible donor heads
3. Drive to be placed on Data Extractor to improve stability and read/write process
4. Attempted Sector by sector image
This is a highly skilled process that is not infallible. The chance of a successful recovery once this process has been completed is approx: 70%.
Unfortunately there are currently no parts in stock to complete the rebuild but we can purchase a compatible donor from our suppliers in the US.

As you can see, a data recovery report clearly identifies what the problem with the hard drive is and the chance of them getting your data back should you decide you want to proceed with the data recovery cost. You can expect to pay in the region of £300 to £700 for a data recovery service from a hard drive.

When it comes to being asked to recover data from large systems running RAID - I always pass the work onto a competent company like Data Clinic's RAID recovery team. ICO compliant with your data security, their team retrieves the information from RAID systems (HP, Qnap, and NAS, running RAID 5, 6, 10 and 50, throughout most of the UK. Furthermore whilst I work on a 5-7 day schedule, Data Clinic have an emergency service that recovers data ASAP - sometimes the same day.

Here are 3 example enquiries I've had lately where Data Clinic were able to recover the client's files.

I have a server disk which one of our users has accidentally deleted approx. 70gb of data, which we now need recovered. The OS is Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 – 64bit

I have a Iomega 200D with 4 x 1TB Seagate SATA drives installed configured in a RAID 5 array. One of the drives has failed and we are no longer able to access the data on the device.

We've had our QNAP NAS fail recently and we need to copy the data from our drives. It's a 4x2TB setup with the 2nd bay appearing to be malfunctioning. We bought a new drive for that bay but it failed to mount and rebuild. This means that the drives are probably all in good shape but the NAS itself is non-functioning. Can someone come have a look ASAP please, it's extremely urgent that we have this data copied over to a new drive.

Data Clinic's RAID recovery team are based in Manchester and London but also recover data across the UK, still on an emergency (same day) service.

I'm sometimes asked why I don't handle RAID data recovery work myself - the answer is simple: RAID is a very complex type of data storage where files are stored in segments across all the hard drives in the RAID array - this data once recovered, has to be pieced back together rather like a patchwork quilt - this is a very skilled job that is beyond the capabilities of most, including me, therefore that's why I leave it up to Data Clinic.

Recently I've been experiencing a particularly difficult problem with my desktop hard drive. It has failed and i need the data extracting from it. As I'm located in streatham hill, london I've sent it to Datlab data recovery London branch.

External 1TB Seagate Hard Drive not being recognised by MacBook. Faint beeping on plugging in but drive not starting up. This contains around 800GB of very sentimental photos & videos,which are not backed up. Based in London and can travel so can you look at the drive?

I have many important documents and family photos stored on a Samsung external hard drive. I have never had any problem writing to this drive or reading from it until recently when my laptop and other computers I have tried have failed to recognise it completely when connected via USB. I need to recover as much data from it as possible and am 5 miles south of London.

I have a Seagate Expansion drive that has been dropped and no longer connects to my PC. What would be the cost to recover the data if it is possible.

I was hoping to obtain a quote for the retrieval of data from a Seagate external hard drive. When connected to a laptop the hard drive connection was severed when the hard drive fell off a desk. The 'safely remove hardware' procedure not been completed. After this, the hard drive is no longer recognised by any computer which I have tried the drive in. The computer is aware there is a connection, but it is never possible to open the drive. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers for the hard drive but this hasn't worked. I would be grateful if you could indicate the likely cost of retrieving the files from the drive?

I travel frequently and after my most recent trip my external hard drive ( model: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FP50JAG?tag=ps-uk-seagate-01-21) cannot be read. It powers on, I can hear noises coming from it yet it doesn't seem to be recognized by my PC. Questions: 1) How much would the service cost? 2) What timeline can I expect? 3) Can you pick up the HDD from my business or do I have to personally deliver it?

Hard drive failure on a Seagate 500gb SATA Drive not detectable by external reader or laptop. Looking for quote at this stage – data lost is personal baby photos, and its the HR director for the company!

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.

My portable hard drive seems to have stopped working with any of my devices. Makes a clicking noise and then disconnects itself. It has a lot of photos and music stored on it and no other back up.

There is a physical fault on my laptop hard drive (according to the guy in my local computer shop) I would need data recovery of photos/videos and word documents. If that is possible can you give me a price quote and timeframe for the service.

I own a very old Macpro desktop, circa 2006. This Macpro contains equally old 500GB Seagate hard disks. Model name Barracuda 7200.9 (let me know if any further info regarding the disk itself would be helpful). On this disk I had a windows partition installed via bootcamp. After more than 10 years of mostly faithful service this hard disk finally seems to have died. I can no longer boot the windows partition from the disk, and when I boot into Mac OS I can no longer even see the disk being detected by disk utility or system information apps. Even if the hard disk is dead, there is still data on the disk that I would like to recover. I wanted to come to you to see if this was possible, and if so, if you could give me a quote for recovery from such a disk. Let me know if I can provide any further info.

I wanted to see if my data can be recovered. My OS crashed and I couldn't access my HDD. I tried to boot up Ubuntu to access the files (was previously on Windows 10), but in doing this I accidentally formatted one of the partitions from NFTS to ext4. I can't access the files and want to know if this can be recovered. How much will this cost and what is the lead time?

I was copying some files and suddenly the external hard drive froze. I just unplugged it without stopping it properly and now I cannot access my files anymore. It says: F is not accessible. The disk structure is corrupted and unreadable. I cannot remember dropping the device or causing any other physical damage.

Barry says: Disk structuring problems can be simple or difficult to sort out - it depends on the problem. Whether the data is recoverable or not also depends on the problem. Usually Windows machines are easier to work on than Apple ones because of the way the filesystem works. You can contact me direct or try an independent expert like Data Recovery Tips (UK).

I am looking for a price to recover data from an WD My Passport external 1TB hard drive. The drive is clicking so and will not respond. All of a sudden my WD passport wouldn't mount. It wasn't dropped or knocked or anything. I have tried on several comps and with different usb cables in different ports. Disk utility sees it, but it's greyed out and it can't restore it. I ran disk warrior and it failed. Please help! I have to finish a client film on there by Friday!

There was a power cut in our local London area. After I switched my PC back on, I noticed that a large folder and all it's subfolders was now missing from the 'pictures' folder in My PC. This folder contained thousands of image and video files, totalling around 500GB or more. I've used some basic file recovery software that has found most of the image files, but the video files have all come back corrupt.

I have a western digital external hard drive with suspected impact damage. I cannot access or recover any data. Please advise on the cost and procedure of your repair service.

Hardrive was struck against a wooden table. Cracked outercasing but still in tact. when attempting to power up it just powers up then clicks and ceases. Then repeats. No detection thru laptop USB.

External hard drive has stopped working completely. It whirrs briefly into life but then beeps a lot and the motor stops. I have replaced the SATA connection but that has made no difference. Just need to recover data off the drive if possible.

Can not acces the drive. I think is due the drive has been droped , unfortunately. My external hard drive was working yesterday today I couldn't access it. The drive it showing up on the computer but it wont allow access. Could I have someone call me regarding this as all my London dissertation/ university work is on it?

The desktop computer was running a software that was writing files to the hard drive (D). When I came back to the computer the monitor was black and it was not responding and there was no weird noises. I restarted it using the button. When it started the drive (D) was not listed in the explorer, disk manager or device manager. I could not tell if there was any noises from the hard drive or not, but I think it was silent. I have now removed the drive from the computer. OS: windows 7 Hard Drive: 2TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm SATA 6Gbit/s PS. I would prefer if we could discuss on email and not phone. Then I could call Data Clinic if I think it is necessary.

All files suddenly disappeared from external hard drive and I didn't delete them. How much would it cost to recover them in the London area?

I think my daughter removed the drive without safely ejecting it. Now when it is plugged in it just requests to be formatted. It is now not recognisable on my MacBook Pro either. I use it to back up my main HP Windows PC but I have before been able to access files when plugging it into my MacBook. The hard drive is an Hitachi 1TB XL1000. In London and have used the excellent services of http://londondatarecovery.pen.io/ before.

Wd My passport Ultra 1TB, hello I've been backing things up from our iMac and the lights are on, the disc is making a noise but its not recognised on my iMac, it is recognised in disk utility, I've tried disc utility and it says unrepairable, one minute then the partition map appears to be okay, can you help ?

My iPhone 5S is stuck in recovery mode. It was water damaged (I jumped in a canal to save a dog!) so I stuck in rice to try and save it. This worked but the home button is no longer functional. And since the iOS update you cannot swipe to enter your passcode. Therefore I turned it off as this forces a pin entry. However when I turned back on it was in recovery mode and has been since. I am not concerned about saving the phone itself, I had actually purchased a new one prior to the canal incident, but I do really want to rescue the photos which irritatingly don't appear in my iCloud photo library. In the last 24 hours the iPhone will charge off my Mac but is no longer recognised as a device.

3 questions in this post from visitors to the Data Clinic web site.

Question: I need a recording on my CCTV that has been overwritten, it will vindcate someone in a police case. Is this possible ??? Please I need this ASAP and am located in Sheffield.

Answer: I'm sorry for you as it is not possible to recover information from a CCTV system where the data has been overwritten.

Question: I have the 5BIG Lacie Raid (30TB Thunderbolt 2 version) and switching it on today it now gives me "Error code -36" in Finder when copying or writing to the drive and when I open Premiere Projects it says "Files damaged or corrupt". Could you please let me know if this is fixable either remotely or should I bring it in to your London data recovery location? FYI all 5 lights on the ride drives are blue and functioning!

Answer: Yes thanks for your enquiry you've probably got bad sectors on one or more of the hard drives that can't be read correctly. This can lead to files becoming damaged or corrupted and also greatly increase the response time of the unit. As you are in London I recommend that you take the RAID into Data Clinic's offices on Lombard Street (next the the Bank tube station)

Question: My old laptop has been left for a couple of years and no longer switches on.

Answer: Thank you for your question. My first recommendation is that we understand what the problem with your laptop is. If the only thing wrong with it is that it won't switch on then you don't need a hard drive recovery company. You can extract the data yourself. My advice is to get in touch with the people at the Data Recovery Advice web site who will be able to guide you through the steps necessary to retrieve your data.

Thanks for reading! - see you next time.

• 
  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 !