A damaged drive gets worse every time it is powered on. Switch it off and leave it off. Don't open it, shake it, dry it out or run recovery software on it.
Signs of a physically damaged drive
- The drive clicks, beeps or grinds
- It was dropped, especially while running
- Water, coffee or another liquid got into the laptop or drive
- Fire, heat or smoke damage
- A power surge and now it will not spin
- A burning smell from the drive or its board
What happens inside a damaged drive?
A drop or knock. The read/write heads can hit the platters. If the drive was running, they can gouge the surface, which is called a head crash. They can also stick to the platters, so the drive beeps and cannot spin.
Liquid. Liquid short-circuits the circuit board if the drive is powered while wet, and corrosion sets in as it dries. That is why a wet drive should be sealed in a bag, not dried out.
Fire and heat. The casing and circuit board suffer first. The platters sit inside a metal body and can survive when the outside looks ruined.
A power surge. A surge burns out components on the circuit board. A board from another drive rarely works on its own, because each board holds calibration data unique to its drive.
Why do damaged drives need a clean room?
Inside a hard drive, the read/write heads float a tiny fraction of a millimetre above the platters that hold your data. That gap is far smaller than a speck of dust, so a single particle inside the drive can scratch the surface. That is why damaged drives are only ever opened in our clean room.
We diagnose the fault first, then replace the failed parts, sometimes using a matching donor drive, and copy your data to a healthy drive.
What to do right now
- Switch the drive or computer off and leave it off
- Do not shake, tap or open the drive
- Do not put it in rice or try to dry it with heat
- If it is wet, keep it in a sealed bag and bring it in as it is
- Do not run recovery software on a clicking drive
What kinds of damage can be recovered?
Head crashes, seized motors, damaged circuit boards, water and liquid damage, fire and heat damage, and drives damaged by power surges.
How much comes back depends on the platters. Where the heads have scraped the magnetic coating away, the data stored there is gone, but the rest of the surface can often still be read. If nothing has happened to the drive and it has simply stopped working, see hard drive data recovery.
How much does damaged drive recovery cost?
| Service | Price |
|---|---|
| Initial consultationFind out what has gone wrong | Free |
| Clean room diagnosticNeeded for drives with physical faults | £79 + VAT |
| Physical recovery on a single driveLabour, plus a donor drive if needed | £450 + VAT |
| Donor driveWe send you a link to buy the right donor drive. If you'd like us to buy it for you, we add 30% plus any import charges and VAT | You buy and provide it |
Prices exclude VAT. We confirm your price before any recovery work starts. See the full data recovery price list.
Damaged drive questions
Can data be recovered from a water-damaged drive?
Often, yes, if it has not been powered on since. Do not dry it with heat. Keep it sealed and bring it in quickly.
Why does it cost more than a deleted file recovery?
Physical recovery means opening the drive in a clean room, replacing failed parts and carefully reading damaged media, which takes specialist equipment and time.
What is a clean room diagnostic?
We open the drive in the clean room to find exactly what has failed, so we can give you an accurate quote for the recovery.
My drive was dropped but still works. Is it safe to keep using?
Treat it as a warning. A knock can weaken the heads without stopping the drive straight away. Copy your important files to another drive, and if it starts to click, slow down or disconnect, switch it off.