A laptop knocked off a table mid-presentation. Most dropped drives have one problem; this had two — a seized spindle and a damaged head-stack — which had to be resolved in the right order before anything could be read.
A consultant’s laptop went off a meeting-room table onto a hard floor while presenting. It never restarted. On it were client deliverables, a proposal due that week, and several years of working files with no complete backup.
Dropped while running is the damaging case — the heads are flying rather than parked, and an impact drives them into the surface. Under clean air this drive had taken it badly: one head visibly bent, contact marks on the corresponding platter, and a spindle that would not turn by hand. The shock had both crashed the heads and damaged the bearing.
Order mattered. There is no point fitting donor heads to a drive that cannot spin, so the platter pack was transferred to a donor chassis first — with the alignment of the stack preserved, since the servo data written across the surfaces depends on it. Only then was a matched donor head-stack fitted, and the internal filter replaced to catch debris from the original crash.
Imaging ran head by head in short passes. The undamaged surface read almost completely; the struck one gave up what lay outside the contact marks and nothing within them.
The proposal and current client deliverables were confirmed complete and reported first, since those were the immediate need. The wider archive followed, with files inside the damaged region listed by name.
About 87% recovered — lower than a typical laptop job, and the reason is worth being clear about. The loss was caused entirely by the impact itself, in the moment the drive hit the floor. Nothing done afterwards, by the consultant or by us, could have changed it.
A laptop knocked while powered down usually survives — the heads are parked and the mechanism tolerates real shock. Dropped while spinning, the heads can strike a surface they normally fly above, and the damage is immediate and permanent. The instinct to restart it and check is what turns one damaged surface into several. Single drives from £300 +VAT, 50% deposit for clean-air work.
Get the device to us for a free diagnostic and a quick note on what went wrong — an engineer looks it over and puts your exact quote in writing before anything is started.
The route to your data starts with the device reaching us. Box it up securely, tuck your contact details inside, and send it across — after the free diagnostic, we put your exact price in writing before a single step is taken.
Sending it by post? Go with a tracked, insured service. Prefer to bring it round? Our door is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm — just pack the device as described above beforehand.
Prefer to get a sense of things first? Complete the form with a bit more about the fault and an engineer will look it over and send back a tailored quote.
We’ll get back to you soon. Anything pressing, call 01865 593000.
Usually a substantial proportion, though it depends heavily on whether it was running. Dropped while spinning, the heads can strike the platter and cause immediate permanent damage; dropped while off, the mechanism often survives entirely.
Yes, and a heavy impact commonly causes two — crashed heads and a damaged spindle bearing. They have to be addressed in order, since there is no point fitting donor heads to a drive that cannot turn.
No. If the heads are resting on the platter, powering up spins that surface underneath them. Testing a dropped drive is the commonest way one damaged area becomes several.
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 due only on a successful recovery.
Kick off with an instant online quote, or ring us and talk it through first. Either way you’ll know a clear, fixed price before any work starts.