Devices · disks with spinning platters
There are four parts in a spinning drive that give out (heads, spindle motor, circuit board and firmware), and each one will get worse, never better, with every further attempt the machine makes. Every one of those attempts scores a surface that would have imaged cleanly just an hour before. Switch off the power and leave it switched off, wherever in London it may sit. It is not possible to determine which part has failed until an engineer inspects the drive on the bench, and that costs you nothing. One drive is £300 + VAT, and that figure is written down for you before any chargeable work is performed.
Put it to an engineer — the first look costs nothing
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| What is going on | The usual reason for it | Where that leaves you |
|---|---|---|
| The drive won't open, and Windows recommends formatting it | Windows cannot access the index, so it identifies the volume as RAW; however, nothing written to the disk has physically moved from its original location. | Turn down every format option presented to you, and switch off the power to the unit. |
| A copy will terminate with: Data error (cyclic redundancy check) | A sector was unable to validate its checksum, and the surface below it is likely failing. | Stop trying to copy the files, and instead completely image the disk. |
| Error code 0x8007045D, an I/O device error: the request will never complete. | Commands sent to the disk have still not been acknowledged when the time-out period expires. | Switch off the unit, and note down the full model number. |
| An alert appears stating "Windows detected a hard disk problem" | One of the SMART values has exceeded the limit established for it | Image the entire disk instead of pulling files off it |
| The 0x800701E3 code means that the device is reporting a hardware error. | Part way through the copying process, the disk stops responding on the bus. | There's no need to try anything else. This is bench work. |
| At power-up the screen shows: SMART Status BAD, Backup and Replace | This drive has already completed a self-test of its own and determined that something is wrong. | The machine must not be allowed to boot from this drive again. |
| Capacity listed as 0GB, or a model name that is gibberish. | Damage to the service area has caused the drive to incorrectly identify itself. | Firmware work, which can be done nowhere other than the bench. |
As soon as your parcel arrives here, an engineer assigns a case number that same day, prior to determining what has really failed, which is the first thing done and costs you nothing. In addition to a note of what can and cannot be recovered from your drive, you will receive at the same time the fixed, written price for restoring what can be recovered. You can accept this quote, or decline it, which will result in no further obligation on your part and nothing owed to us.
No repairs occur until an image of your original data exists. The imaging hardware reads your disk at whatever rate the mechanical components will allow, and all stubborn areas are set aside for one final run through rather than being hammered at. It is only after an image of your original data is safely created that the "real" work begins.
Any donor heads are matched to your existing drive prior to installation. Any spindle that will not turn is freed. When the issue is with the circuit board, the ROM chip is removed from the board being replaced and installed onto the new board.
Your disk has left the process by then, and everything else is done on the copy. The file system is re-built there, and you get the list of recovered files a whole lot sooner than an invoice arrives.
You will see what has been recovered as a list first, after which a bill exists. Accepting the list means that a bill will be issued. Rejecting the list means that a bill will not be issued, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. The recovered data travels from here back to you via new media purchased specifically for your project, with the cost of postage paid by us. Your case is not resolved (i.e., "closed") until you personally view the files on a computer of your own.
How often do drives really fail? The only large published set of data was provided by Backblaze's Drive Stats, giving an annualised failure rate of 1.36% across 2025, based on around 344,000 disks. In 2024 they reported 1.57%. Those disks are kept cool and stable in a rack, while yours sits under a desk in Walthamstow or Bermondsey, where it gets knocked, gets unplugged mid-write and moves house, and its SMART data has never been read. Use 1.36% as the minimum failure rate.
Prior to arrival at our facility the disk had been standing idle for weeks, and two heads had already gone. A matched donor supplied new heads. The very first imaging pass alone yielded 96%. Once the owner had been through the list, new media carried home the ledgers, the invoices and family photos spanning decades.
Usually not. Clicks indicate a head fault, and the heads hold none of your data; your data resides on the platters they skim across, and the noise (clicks) provides absolutely no information regarding those platters. What the noise does tell us is that the servo pattern used to guide the heads has stopped answering. Donors provide new heads, each surface is then read very slowly, and most drives that click give back the majority of their data. However, with each subsequent attempt to power the drive up, that percentage decreases.
Generally yes: tell us who opened it, and what they did. In some instances dust gets into the drive while it is open, and once dust settles onto a platter the work can fall outside the usual terms, under which in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. An engineer inspects the surfaces under a light source before any price is put on it.
£300 + VAT will cover one drive. There is no cost to take a look before the price comes out in writing, and nothing has been charged until you confirm that you want to proceed. Logical faults lie at the bottom of the band; matched donor parts and mechanical labour (opening up the drive) increase the cost. On most jobs, you only pay if we recover your data.
We see IDE, early SATA and SAS on the bench most weeks. The age of the drive affects the adapter and the imager sitting behind it, but does not affect anything else as far as how we carry out your recovery.
It doesn't cost you anything for us to look at it. All we do is give you a breakdown of what opened and what did not, plus a single fixed price to complete, written down before you agree to let us continue. On most jobs, you only pay if we recover your data. Please don't turn on the drive until you get that breakdown.