No LED lights; nothing happening; no vibration; absolutely silent. While this may feel like one of the worst possible outcomes, it is usually among the better ones: complete lack of noise typically indicates issues with the mainboard instead of the mechanical assembly, and so your mechanical assembly (platters) and all components attached thereto are completely unaffected by the electronic failure.
More often than not a completely dead drive has been killed electrically, as opposed to physically, so that the mechanics of the drive (the platters and your data) remain untouched behind a defective electronic circuit. It’s difficult to resist using a replacement board from the same type of drive, but don’t: in today’s technology a replacement board alone is insufficient to get you back up and running.
Four possible reasons why there are no lights, no vibrations, and no sounds emanating from your hard drive.
The above is the single most common piece of good-hearted advice that will cost you your files/data.
Since around 2005, all drive circuit boards have held “adaptive” calibration data (head resistance, pre-amp gain levels, defect map locations) for each individual drive on a small read-only memory (ROM) chip on the circuit board. These values are used by the drive to calibrate itself for operation and there isn’t another possible configuration. If you replace a damaged drive board with one from a different drive without copying over the original ROM, the drive may be completely non-functional or it may attempt to run the heads at incorrect calibration levels, which can cause significant damage.
As such, a board level fix will be one of two things; either we will repair your original circuit board, or we will transfer the ROM onto an identical circuit board (donor). Both of these options can be done on the bench using appropriate tools. This is definitely not something you want to attempt at home. Furthermore, recommending that someone replace their board by purchasing a second-hand copy of the exact same drive is outdated by ten years!
As silence is a poor indicator of what has gone wrong, everything is approached systematically.
When troubleshooting an external device, first check the cables, ports and power supplies. A broken power adapter or bridge board on an external item is a frequent culprit, and ruling it out does not cost anything.
Many times burn marks, failed TVS diodes and burned-out components will give a clue as to where the problem lies. When looking at a failure which shows signs of having been caused by an electrical surge, if you see one component has blown, but most others have survived then this may indicate that the surge was halted at some point. This could be because of a protective diode blowing, which is a good sign. In other words the surge was stopped at that point.
Wherever possible, the original board will be repaired. However, if the original board cannot be repaired a matched donor board will be used. The donor board will be populated with the original ROM and any ROM adaptives from the original board will also be transferred.
In cases where the motor has seized up, the platter pack needs to be transferred to a donor chassis while preserving alignment. In cases of stiction, the drive needs to be opened so that we may release the heads from their stuck position.
The read-only clone process begins as soon as the drive has responded to our request. A revived drive is not reliable, so the aim is one good read.
Both board and mechanical labour costs are charged identically.
Any single drive which does not turn on is chargeable from £300 +VAT. This price is always confirmed in writing and is subject to a complimentary 48-hour diagnostic service. In most cases you only pay if we recover your data. If the drive needs to be disassembled or additional parts need to be sourced from another drive (donor), then a 50% deposit is due before commencement and the remaining 50% due on successful completion of the recovery process.
Send us that bare drive where you can, or send the whole thing if it’s an external. Detailed reports: a Gateway desktop with a seized motor and WD Red Recovery: Spinning, but Not Recognised.
Before we can start work on your unit you will need to send it in for a free diagnostic review and tell us briefly what happened. We then have one of our engineers review your unit & verify your exact quote in writing prior to starting any work.
Before dropping off or posting your device please request a quotation either by telephone or using our quotation form. The first step to recover your data is to get the device to us. Please ensure that you pack the device securely, include your contact information and then forward it to us. Once we have completed the free diagnostic of your device we will provide you with your exact price in writing prior to commencing any further work.
Posting it? We would suggest using a tracked and insured delivery method. Want to drop it off? That’s okay too. Monday to Friday, from 9am to 5:30pm is good; no appointment necessary: simply prepare the item as described above.
If you want a few more details first, fill out this form and let an engineer go through it and send you back a custom quote.
We’ll be in touch shortly. If it’s urgent, call 01865 593000.
The moment a hard disk drive will not even draw power, literally nothing going on (no motor spinning, no clicking), complete silence, it has most likely had its printed circuit board destroyed through an electrical surge or having used the wrong polarity on the power adapter. Fixing damage to an electronic board requires real bench time and could not be further removed from swapping a board as described in many Internet tutorials; a modern PCB contains a ROM chip with drive specific calibration information. Therefore, a donor board is only functional when the same chip (or its data) is copied over. If done correctly, there are many cases where we have successfully recovered a damaged hard disk drive due to a surge failure by copying the contents of this chip over. Our case records contain a recent example of such recovery: a WD Red Recovery: Spinning, but Not Recognised, which was recovered using this exact method.
Dead, won’t power on drives: what we get asked the most about.
Usually not. Silence is more likely to be electrical than mechanical; the platter and your data are almost always good behind a failed circuit board.
Not on any modern drive. Modern hard disk boards contain adaptive calibration data specific to each drive stored in a ROM chip, so a replacement board will need this data copied from the old board before use. If not, the new board may do nothing (or perform bad reads) because it doesn’t know how to calibrate itself properly, and since improper calibration may result in damage to the internal mechanics, this is something you want to avoid.
A protective component installed on the drive’s PCB intended to short out if the voltage exceeds safe levels by way of absorbing the energy spike. This will kill the drive but protects the rest of the unit, which is precisely why it was there in the first place.
First check the power supply, especially on 3.5-inch desktop models with an external AC brick. Then look at the data cable and finally at the ports. We’ve seen many “dead” externals where all that needed replacing was the AC brick, and checking these areas requires no cost or effort on your part.
That’s an indication of an issue with the motor (and possibly the bearings) as opposed to the drive board. Stop trying to start it, because if you keep trying, there is a risk of dislodging a head from its arms.
From £300 + VAT (after a complimentary 48-hour diagnostic & written quotation). In most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Half payment (50% deposit) required when starting the donor-part work, with the balance due only on success.
Each repair has access to a 10,000-part stock, a free written diagnostic to start, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Get started with your recovery today.