The recoverable scenario: the drive is visible to your computer, but there are some files that you expect to be there that are missing. Depending on how you proceed from here, you could permanently lose options for further action.
If you copy files off of the drive, create an image of the drive or perform a read-only scan, you cannot cause additional damage. However, formatting, running Check Disk (chkdsk), initialising the drive or installing software on the drive can, and usually will, result in loss of future options.
Copy off whatever still reads, most important files first. Anything partially recovered will help. Check the Recycle Bin: deleted items don’t always end up here, but some of them do. Look for a hidden or unmounted volume within Disk Management or Disk Utility; it could indicate that your data is under this “RAW” or “unallocated” drive. Run read-only recovery software from another hard drive to recover files to yet another hard drive.
You have no choice on that last item. Recovering to or installing to the bad hard drive will overwrite the area of the hard drive you are attempting to recover from.
Formatting your hard drive (even a quick format) when asked if you want to format. Initialising the disk when the operating system prompts you, which writes a new partition table over the old one. The chkdsk /f or /r options (which write over the file system to make sure everything is in sync by deleting items that cannot be resolved). Reformatting to “start again” before the data is off. Continuing to use the drive for anything, including where you plan to recover to.
Each of these is a write. Writing will be the only way you can lose recoverable data from a drive where there is no indexing of your data (i.e., a good drive).
Even though it may seem like an easy solution, do not take out the drive and plug in the bare disk, especially if the drive is Western Digital. Most newer My Passport and My Book drives store their encryption keys on the USB bridge board, so a bare disk reads as unformatted even when it is perfectly healthy. If you simply remove the enclosure and then try to format the drive at this time, you will cause real damage to the drive. There are some manufacturers who are slightly less strict but still use the bridge chip to perform sector translations (which has a similar effect); however, in both cases, you cannot simply initialise the drive after removing it from its enclosure.
Send your external drives to us whole, in their original enclosure, with any cable or enclosed item you may have available.
If your drive begins clicking or grinding at all during scanning please stop immediately and do not allow further scan processing of that drive. If it disappears partway through scanning and then re-appears when you re-plug your drive into the machine, this is a sign the drive is unstable and further scans will cause damage. If you run a scan on your drive and see your files but they preview as corrupt, there is nothing you can do by way of additional software scanning to improve those results. The problem points to read errors which need to be dealt with via imaging rather than software scanning.
Our price for data recovery services on a single external hard drive is from £300 +VAT after a free 48-hour diagnostic period and a written quote. In most cases you only pay if we recover your data.
Often, if it still connects to your machine and the fault is logical (e.g., an unmounted volume). Copying off what reads, checking for an unmounted volume and running read-only recovery software are all safe provided you install the software on a different drive and copy the results to a different drive.
No. The prompt means that there is no readable structure to a partition or file system, not that the data does not exist. Formatting creates a new layer of organisation over the one a recovery operation would need to use. Therefore decline this request and retrieve whatever can be read from the device.
No. Especially with Western Digital (WD). Most modern devices such as My Passport and My Book place the encryption key at the USB bridge; therefore, a bare disk appears as if the disk was never formatted, even when it is healthy, but formatting a bare disk then damages the disk. Send any external devices with their enclosures intact.
Yes, provided the device remains stable throughout the process, and the application provides read-only functionality while running from another location and performing the recovery at that other location. If the drive begins to click during scanning, disappears during a scan, or returns files that appear corrupted upon preview, stop immediately; all are signs of physical failure requiring imaging rather than additional scans.
Prices from £300 +VAT per external hard drive that is recovered, including a fixed written quotation after our free 48-hour diagnostic has been completed. In most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Please send the entire unit with its enclosure.
Often yes; however, “repaired” typically means repaired just well-enough to read (not to restore functionality). When a USB bridge or enclosure fails it’s a real fix: swap them out and the internal drive will be good again. A failing internal drive is completely different: when you use donor heads or board work to get one good image from it the data will be saved onto a new drive and the original drive will be retired. Anything that would describe a “permanent repair” of a failing mechanism is a promise that physics cannot keep.