No clicking and no spin — just a faint strain on power-up. The bearing had failed, and the only route to the data was moving the platters themselves into a working chassis without disturbing their alignment by a fraction.
A photographer’s older editing machine had been used intermittently for years. On a morning it was needed it made a faint strained noise on power-up and never reached speed. Roughly eight years of shoot archives were on the internal drive, with only partial backups elsewhere.
No click, no spin, and a very slight mechanical strain — the signature of a motor under load it cannot overcome. Opened under clean air, the heads were correctly parked on their ramp and undamaged, which ruled out stiction. The spindle itself would not turn by hand: the bearing had failed, probably from years of intermittent use and long idle periods.
A seized spindle cannot be repaired in place. The route is to move the entire platter pack into a donor chassis of the same model, and the difficulty is alignment: the platters must retain their exact rotational relationship to one another, because the servo information written across them assumes it. A stack that shifts during the transfer is unreadable afterwards, and the drive will simply click.
Purpose-made tooling clamps the stack so it can be lifted and reseated as a unit. The donor’s own platters were removed, the original pack fitted, and the drive closed and imaged immediately — a transplanted drive is a one-attempt proposition.
The volume mounted from the image without repair, which is usual for a purely mechanical failure — nothing had been written incorrectly, the disk had simply stopped turning. RAW files were verified by rendering and the archive returned in full.
A complete recovery. Mechanical failures of this kind sound catastrophic and are frequently among the cleaner outcomes, because the platters are untouched — provided nobody has kept trying to start it. Repeated attempts against a seized bearing can shift the stack or damage the motor mount, and that does affect what is possible.
A seized bearing cannot be forced. Repeated power-up attempts risk shifting the platter stack or damaging the motor mount, and both make a platter transplant harder or impossible. If a drive strains and will not reach speed, disconnect it — the platters are almost certainly fine, and keeping them that way is the whole job. Single drives from £300 +VAT, 50% deposit for clean-air work.
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.
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Usually, and often completely. A seized spindle is a mechanical problem that leaves the platters and your data untouched. The platter pack is transferred to a donor chassis with its alignment preserved, then imaged.
The spindle bearing is not a serviceable part — it is integral to the base casting. The practical route is moving the platters to a working chassis of the same model, which is precise but well-established work.
Alignment. The platters must keep their exact rotational relationship to one another, because the servo data written across them assumes it. A stack that shifts during the move is unreadable afterwards, which is why purpose-made clamping tooling is used.
From £300 plus VAT for a single drive after a free 48-hour diagnostic. Clean-air and donor work carries a 50% deposit, with the balance payable only on success.
Start with an instant online quote, or call and talk it through with us first. You'll have a clear, fixed price before any work begins.