Hard drive not recognised? We can recover it.

There are many different causes of why an HDD might not appear. For example, if the firmware is damaged then the drive will likely not be able to present itself as a device to the host operating system. Similarly if the heads are weak or have failed entirely, the drive will probably be unable to provide sufficient information to allow it to be recognised by the host OS. Other possible causes include damage to the main circuit board and/or failure of the external bridge for e.g., SATA based interfaces. Additionally, if the partition table is damaged then the drive will not be recognisable, as the host OS will not recognise it due to lack of necessary information. Fortunately though, in most cases where an HDD does not present itself properly to its host, the actual data stored on the drive remains intact and can be recovered. It is merely the ability of the HDD to communicate with its host that has been compromised.

If the drive appears to power and spin properly however, but the host is unable to detect it, typically one of two things is happening: the firmware/service area is damaged, or one or more of the heads of the drive are failing and can no longer obtain enough signal from their respective tracks to read back the drive’s configuration/identification data. We make extensive use of specialised tools to address these issues. Once repaired, the drive should begin to initialise properly with the host again.

No, do not format it. “Needs formatting”, “RAW” or “not initialised” is nearly always indicative of a damaged partition/file system and although you’ve lost track of the exact location of your files/data, they’re still very much available. Initialising/formatting any storage media can overwrite existing data. Instead, we rebuild your file system and recover your lost data.

Yes, very often the problem lies not with the hard disk drive (HDD), but rather with the external enclosure housing it. Many times, a failed USB-to-SATA interface bridge prevents the computer from recognising the internal HDD when the HDD itself is fully functional. To determine whether this is indeed your issue we’ll need to bypass the enclosure and connect the bare HDD directly.

Most of the time yes. We have repaired these types of faults (firmware, hardware, file system corruption etc.) with most of our customers and recovered their data. If your device won’t appear at all then this is very much normal business for us.

Our base charge for this service is £300 + VAT. As part of the process you’ll receive a complimentary written diagnosis, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. The cost of most straightforward firmware and/or file-system based repairs may be less than this, and if the job requires anything more complex, we will write to confirm exactly how much the final bill will be before starting.

We normally complete non-recognised data recovery projects in approximately 3 to 4 working days after you have accepted our quotation. The majority of diagnostic reports are typically submitted within forty-eight (48) hours from receipt of your project. Priority scheduling for urgent requests is often available upon request.

All of the large manufacturers for hard drives are represented; these include Western Digital, Toshiba, Seagate, HGST, Hitachi, Maxtor, Fujitsu, IBM, Quantum, Samsung, SanDisk, LaCie, G-Technology, Buffalo, Verbatim, ADATA, Transcend, Silicon Power, Iomega, UnionSine, ModusTech and Intenso, in both 3.5-inch desktop and 2.5-inch laptop and external form factors.

The item may be delivered to our office in Bristol (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm) where you will receive a complimentary diagnosis and a written quote prior to the initiation of any repairs, or sent by post insured. When sending by post please ensure that the device is well packaged, sealed, and includes all contact information for yourself within the packaging (name, address, telephone number and email address). This allows us to book the unit in for repair when we receive it.