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Hard Drive Recovery
Datlabs data recovery services will repair and recover data from ANY faulty hard drive and return your data to you on a new external hard drive. We fix all makes and models of hard drive; Seagate, Western Digital, HP, Hitachi, Toshiba and many more. Our technicians are Laptop and Solid State Drive (SSD) data recovery specialists. For immediate Hard Drive Data Recovery Service Advice and Assistance Call our Help Line: 0800 008 6638. (Please note that; during Covid, drop-in at our city offices is by appointment only.)
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FREE COURIER Collect + drop-in at any of our local offices. A registered company since 2002 we are ICO registered and PCI security checked. Your data is processed in a secure facility by qualified data recovery technicians.
Local Offices
- Logical Failure (corrupt file system ).
- Electronic Failure (PCB damage).
- Firmware Failure (corrupt code).
- Recording Media Degradation.
- Bad Sectors.
- Mechanical Failure.
- Connector and HDA Damage.
- Water and Liquid Damage.
- Drops, knocks and damage
- Clicking, buzzing or unusual noises
- Data corruption
- User Error, failed updates.
- Deleted files
- Reformatting
Hard Drive Repair
To determine the precise nature of the hard drive fault condition that is preventing you from accessing your stored data we undertake a detailed fault diagnosis process . This diagnosis process categorizes faults that require remedial work and the specific procedures that are needed to retrieve your data and transfer it to a new hard drive. We retain a huge stock of replacement hard disk drive spare parts, both electronic and mechanical, for the majority of current world manufactures of hard drives i.e. Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung, Hitachi and Toshiba and many legacy hard disk drives such as Fujitsu, IBM, Quantum, Connor and many more.
Recovering Data From Hard Drives.
Hard Drive Logical Failure
A hard drive logical failure usually involves a file system software failure. A file system determines the physical location and structure of data as arranged on the recording media of a computer hard drive. Different computer operating systems support different file systems, Windows OS typically uses for example FAT32 , FAT 64 and NTFS , Mac-formatted drives typically use HFS+, and Linux has its own file systems etc .
A file system provides a way of separating data recorded on the drive into files., for example, their filenames, permissions, and other attributes. The file system also provides an index — a list of the files on the drive and where they are located on the hard drive, such that the operating system can see what’s on the drive in one place rather than searching the entire drive to find a file.
Your operating system needs to accommodate a file system such that it can display its contents, open files, and save files to it. If your operating system doesn’t work with a particular a file system, you may be able to install a file system driver that will facilitate this.
When File Systems code becomes corrupt your computer operating system will facilitate access to the data stored on the hard drive recording media. Datlabs technical staff are able to restore a corrupt file systems and access to your data files and folders.
Hard Drive Electronic Faults.
A computer hard drive’s physical control, management and electrical interfaces are manifest in a Printed Circuit Board mounted as a part of the Hard Drive Assembly (HDA). This PCB circuitry has edge connectors for power and data transfers to and from your computer motherboard processor and the read/write registers or read/write head assembly that access the data storage media. If your hard drive is a mechanical device the PCB will also have electronic circuitry that controls and regulates the speed of the hard disk drive recording media platter/s spindle motor. As with all electronic circuits they are susceptible to failure as a consequence of environmental issues such as power surges, overheating , short circuits , water and liquid damage. Datlabs laboratories and technicians have the capabilities and expertise to diagnose and repair hard drive electronic faults, restore it to a working condition and transfer your data to an alternative device.
Hard Drive Controller Card Fix
Corrupt Hard Drive Firmware.
The hard drive firmware is the operating code or as we like to call it the drives own operating system, which controls the actual hard drive operation. From time to time the hard drive firmware may become corrupted or damaged and access to the stored data on the hard drive will be lost.
Symptoms of a firmware failure vary, however if your drive sounds as it should and isn’t recognized in BIOS then it may just be suffering from a firmware failure. Is your device is recognized in BIOS with an unusual capacity or incorrect drive label then this is an indication that the hard drive firmware is faulty or corrupt.
Updating, repairing and correcting faulty hard drive firmware requires that you have access to the hard drive interface at machine code level using specialist equipment. Here at Datlabs we have all the tools and experience needed to overcome firmware failure and recover inaccessible data.
Hard Drive Bad Sectors.
The most common fault or lab technicians are called upon to remedy is hard drive bad sectors. Bad sectors are areas of the data storage media that cannot be read or read with an error report. All hard drives whether mechanical or solid state are susceptible to developing corrupt or bad sectors sectors ( defined by the file system). In mechanical hard drives bad sectors can develop as a consequence of faulty or poorly performing read write heads or poor environmental conditions that adversely affect the recording media. Read operations that fail after a number of retries are flagged to the operating system or monitoring applications such as SMART as an error report.
The initial consequences of these error reports is that application process access times to their associated stored data will be much slower than usual. Your computer will appear to run slower than is usual or be unresponsive. In worst case the bad sectors will be such that the computer will fail to boot. If the bad sectors have developed as a result of faulty or poorly performing read/write heads, Datlabs will replace the read/write heads in order to improve the data read operation of the drive.
In all cases of hard drive bad sectors specialist equipment is used to read, transfer and record the condition of the data prior to analysis and validation. Click to find more information regarding hard drive bad sectors
Hard Disk Drive Mechanical Faults.
Hard disk drive mechanical faults as the name suggests, involve a failure of the moving parts within the device. Second only to media issues, we see an inordinate number of hard disk drives whose moving parts have failed, often in portable devices such as laptops and external hard drives where they at an increased risk of a knock or fall. Hard disk drive moving parts will exhibit signs of wear and tear over their extended life leading to problems such as an increased number of reported bad sectors (bad sector count) and SMART error reports.
A typical symptom of a hard disk drive with faulty mechanical parts is unusual noises during power-up and operation. If you hear clicking, beeping, grinding or buzzing we encourage you to power off the device immediately to prevent further damage occurring.
If you hear such a noise our staff are on hand to help and if required discuss your needs for data recovery, we have a fully equipped clean room to deal with all hard disk drive mechanical faults and can in the majority cases replace faulty components , restore operation and recover the data stored on the recording media. Datlabs provide a specialist clicking hard drive recovery service.
Hard Drive Head Failure Noise
Hard Drive Connector and HDA Faults.
Connector and hard drive assembly (HDA) faults are largely associated with portable and external hard drives. New to market portable hard drives are small and susceptible to damage either in transit or as a result of being snagged by their USB connection cable. Tugging on the cable can damage the edge connector that is either an integral part of the hard drive PCB or a part of the enclosure itself. Damaged edge connectors can generally be repaired or substituted and access restored to your data. When the damaged connector is a part of the enclosure it is essential that both the hard drive and its enclosure is provided to Datlabs for data recovery. Portable hard drives with a separate enclosure generally have additional features such as hardware encryption , wifi and other ancillaries that maybe unique to the storage of data.
When a portable hard drive has sustained a knock or a drop that has physically distorted its assembly then Datlabs has the capability to transfer the recording media into a new and compatible HDA and create an environment for the transfer of its data.
Datlabs Data Loss Tip
Power off Your computer /hard drive.
If your hard drive is malfunctioning then power off your computer and / or hard drive. If your hard drive / computer continues to operate, you may risk permanent physical damage to the hard drive and its recording media. Stored data and file structures may become corrupt as a result of continued use and become an impediment to successfully retrieving your data.
Datlabs Data Loss Tip
Water damaged hard drives.
Contamination and damage to hard drive recording media and electronics is exacerbated during a normal drying cycle. Drying and desiccation will leave particulates on the surface of a hard drive platter surface that require advanced specialist cleaning processes and procedures to restore it to a working condition. Datlabs has developed unique technology solutions to undertake such work.
Datlabs Data Loss Tip
Hard Drive Clicking and Buzzing Noises
Hard Drive clicking , buzzing or grinding noises are associated with defective read write heads. Continued attempts to boot the device often results in permanent damage to components, recording media or data files and folders. Our best advice is power down the device and contact our help line.
Lost and Deleted Data Recovery from Hard Drives.
Recovering deleted data from computer hard drives and external hard drives is standard procedure for our data recovery lab technicians and is for the most part one of the most successful services we offer. Providing the device has not experienced an an inordinate amount of use, has reasonable slack space and it is not long following the deletion then our services will generally be successful. In some cases the files will exhibit without file extensions or nomenclature however these with a little patience can be reconstructed by the user. Information regarding SSD and Deleted Data Recovery.
For More Details About Hard Drive Faults , Click The Icon:-
Seagate, Western Digital and Toshiba
Hard Drive Recovery.
On topic hard drive recovery publications of interest:
Datlabs Data Recovery Service Offices.
You can take your Hard Drive to any of our Datlabs Data Recovery Offices which are open 0800 – 1700 on week days. Call our Customer Service Desk for an appointment and a reference number before dropping in. With Emergency cases we attend by courier within hours and will work on your Hard Drive until your data is recovered. Prior to any arranged collection or drop off you will need to robustly package your Hard Drive and insure it against loss or damage to its full and perceived value.
Datlabs London
Data Recovery Office
68 Lombard Street.
Near Bank Station
City of London.
EC3V 9LJ.
T: 0207 293 0815
Datlabs Birmingham
Data Recovery Office.
Grosvenor House,
11 St Pauls Square,
Birmingham.
B3 1RB.
T: 0121 629 0437
Datlabs Chiswick
Data Recovery Office.
Bldg 3. Chiswick Park
566 Chiswick High Road.
London.
W4 5YA.
T: 0207 111 0965
Datlabs Liverpool
Data Recovery Office.
Horton House.
Exchange Flags.
Liverpool.
L2 3PF.
T: 0151 676 0000.
Datlabs Manchester
Data Recovery Office.
The Pavilions.
Bridgehall Drive.
Bury.
BL9 7NY.
T: 0161 452 3896.
Datlabs Leeds
Data Recovery Office.
City West Business Park,
Gelderd Road.
Leeds.
LS12 6LN.
T: 0113 254 9742
