There is a theory that says that the human life cycle is as follows: You are born, you grow up, you damage your computer’s hard drive, you reproduce, you grow old and you die. It’s very likely that at some point in your life, whether you’re a technician or not, you’ll have the misfortune of needing to recover a damaged hard drive.
If there is a backup of the data, simply take the media with the backup copies, replace it with the damaged hard drive and continue operating your data normally, otherwise it will take a little more work to recover a damaged hard drive. When the hard drive suddenly stops working – and this happens a lot – try changing the cables, plugging the hard drive into a different computer, doing the standard things that any lay user does. If none of these work, it’s probably a case of data loss. Here are the most and least critical problems that could have damaged your hard drive:
Less critical problems
- Bad blocks: Occurs when there are power surges or when the computer is turned off incorrectly. This problem doesn’t really have a solution, but it can be circumvented: it is possible to “exchange the damaged block” for a properly functioning one, because the hard drive is already manufactured with damaged locations, but at the end of it there are several free blocks that are not being used.
- Burnt out board: This is caused by a voltage or similar problem. If the logic board burns out, buy a new one – you’ll need to buy an absolutely identical hard drive with the logic board intact, then simply replace it.
Most critical problems
- The hard drive motor is not turning: In this case the chances are high that you have lost your hard drive.
- Beating needle: Usually occurs with older HDDs and is due to position error, this is one of the most serious problems that can occur.
Here, in both cases, there is a rudimentary “solution”: the hard drive doesn’t work again, but it is possible to recover the data. The process consists of greatly reducing the temperature of the hard drive so that the cooling makes it easier for the “needle” to find the data. We give this tip here, but we always stress that it is very important that any intervention on a damaged hard drive is carried out by a company or specialized professional.
If nothing works, your problems are a little bigger than expected and you’ll have to turn to a data recovery service – whew! Good thing they exist. We’ve already talked in many posts about the basic requirements to be analyzed when choosing a data recovery company, and there are many, but first of all it’s important that you know the true value of your data, because most companies charge according to the amount of information on the hard drive. So be sure that the information is valuable enough and then just wait, specialized companies are unlikely to fail when it comes to recovering data from the hard drive.
Digital Recovery is a company with extensive technical know-how and the ability to recover damaged hard drives. Get in touch, talk to a technician and see everything Digital Recovery can do to recover your hard drive data.
