WHAT IS A MECHANICAL HARD DRIVE?
Parts of a hard drive
Board components
PROBLEMS WITH A MECHANICAL HARD DRIVE?
If you're facing any of the following situations:- The computer won't start and displays a hard drive failure warning.
- The hard drive makes strange noises or runs very slowly.
- After a power outage or voltage drop, the hard drive stops working.
- The computer was dropped and the hard drive broke.
- The computer starts but does not recognize the hard drive.
- It is not possible to access videos, photos and/or stored documents.
- Any other situation not mentioned above.
TIPS TO AVOID DATA LOSS
Both internal and external mechanical disks offer capacity and performance at a relatively low cost. However, they contain fragile components such as reader units (heads) that can be damaged over time, through use, shock or unexpected vibrations.
To avoid further damage to the device:
Turn off the device as soon as possible. It will prevent further damage that may condition the recovery process.
Do not tamper with the device. Forcing screws, or opening it in an uncontrolled, dust-free environment can adversely affect the chances of recovery. Remember that the inner parts are very sensitive and delicate.
The use of recovery software in physical cases may permanently damage the device. Avoid using it in such cases.
Contact a data recovery laboratory. These are the professionals who have the tools and adequate training to be able to evaluate and carry out the data extraction and recovery processes.
We are specialists in recovering data from damaged hard drives, with over 23.600 diagnosed cases. We want to advise you based on our extensive experience.
HOW DO WE CARRY OUT THE DATA RECOVERY
PROCESS FROM MECHANICAL HARD DRIVES?
WE EXPLAIN IT TO YOU IN A VIDEO
THIS IS HOW WE RECOVER YOUR DATA STEP BY STEP
Transparency, technology, and expertise at every stage of the process. Watch the video and discover how we work.
WHY CHOOSE US? – THE ADVANTAGES OF RECOVERING DATA FROM A HARD DRIVE WITH US
Customers
Analyzes performed
Spare parts
Experience
Free collection and delivery service (*)
Free diagnosis and quote
Real-time tracking through our intranet
If we don’t recover your data, you don’t pay
Free customer support phone line
Electronics Laboratory and Class 100 Clean Room
Qualified technical staff and ongoing training
Service with European-wide coverage
* If the device is unrecoverable or the quotation is rejected, courier charges will be charged.
The best is to let OUR CLIENTS speak for us
Our 300+ reviews are published on Google
Average rating: 4.7 out of 5
HOW MUCH DOES HARD DRIVE DATA RECOVERY COST?
PRECIOS DE RECUPERACIÓN DE DATOS DE DISCOS DUROS
The price for recovering data from hard drives will always depend on the damage the device has suffered, along with the working hours and technical equipment required to carry out the recovery processes.
In any case, a prior diagnosis is necessary to detect the type of failure or combination of multiple failures. Below we detail the most common issues and reference prices:
For logical failures or board issues
- Access issues due to damaged partitions, defective sectors or surface degradation / Burnt electronic boards / Damaged by short circuits, incorrect voltage or burnt components.
For firmware failures
- Internal disk software corrupted. Damaged modules.
For motor failures.
- Overheating or motor unit failure
For head failures.
- Surface degradation or read head failure.
If you need to recover data from a mechanical hard drive...
The prices in the recovery of data in mechanical hard drives is given mainly by two factors: Damage to the components of the mechanical hard disk and the hours of work involved in the recovery.
At Laby we will NOT charge you a higher amount for data volume. Only because of the difficulty of access. This difficulty is also noticeable in today’s hard disks (SMR technology).
Older hard drives (approximately up to 2015) used the PMR or CMR format. The idea was simple, the reader unit was positioned in a certain area and read or wrote in a sector (a sector could be considered as a small box where information is stored). As an idea, we could say that the width of the reading needle would be equivalent to the width of a track on these discs (A track would be the equivalent of a circle on the disk where within that circle are all the boxes or sectors). Within a plate there are several tracks and these tracks in turn contain many sectors. The flow rate was constant, and the module responsible for translating physical information into logical information (Translator) was rarely corrupted. The modules, or firmware, would be the equivalent of small, independent programs that work together to operate the mechanical hard drive.
In order to achieve more capacity in the same space, manufacturers have developed SMR technology. The tracks are smaller than the reader unit and therefore fit more data density.
However, there is a problem and that is that the reading unit or head can not be positioned in a certain sector as it could with PMR or CMR technology. It must now read a set of sectors, load it into a buffer (swap memory), modify the necessary values and write the data again (both modified and unmodified data).
It is an inefficient process, which affects the disk performance in terms of writing and also entails major firmware problems due to all the operations that have to be carried out.
This example – although there are many more – gives an idea of why there is a wide “price range” for mechanical hard disk recovery processes.
If we don't recover your data, we don't get paid
These prices are indicative, to give you a reference.
If you want to know the exact cost of data recovery from your hard drive, please contact us and we will provide you with a free, no-obligation quote.
WHAT DEVICES CAN WE RECOVER AT LABY?
Data Recovery from Mechanical Hard
HDD disks have as main components the metal plates (disks), where the data is stored, and the heads that are responsible for accessing the information. The most common hard disk.
SSD Hard Drive Recovery
SSDs do not move, hence the name solid state. The information is stored in blocks and no headers are required to access it. It is much more efficient and faster than an HDD hard disk.
External Hard Disk Drive Recovery
External hard disks allow us to store outside the computer all the important information of which we want to make a backup copy. But one failure can cause us to lose all this data.
iPhone, iPad, iMac or MacBook
Apple devices, including iPhone, iPad, iMac, MacBook, Mac Mini, etc. They are reliable, elegant, powerful and easy to use.
Laptop Hard Drive Data Recovery
On the laptop hard disk we store important work or home information. If a failure occurs, it can cause us to lose all this valuable personal data.
Data Recovery NAS, SAN and
A SAN, NAS or DAS disk is a compact enclosure consisting of several hard disks that are connected via a network cable to the system, hence the common name network hard disk.
Data recovery from RAID systems
RAID disks are a redundant group of independent disks. They can be HDD disks or SSD disks and together they form a storage system to distribute or replicate data.
Recovery of USB Flash Drives
Pen drives or USB flash drives consist of one or more memory blocks. They work in many cases like SSD devices (same Flash technology).
Memory Card Recovery
Memory cards are used to store information from devices such as cameras, cell phones or tablets. They differ in their storage capacity and read/write speed.
Ransomware or Virus Recovery
We recover data encrypted with viruses or ransomware. Ransomware is extortive software: its purpose is to prevent you from using your device until you have paid a ransom. Depending on the type of ransomware, either the entire operating system or only some files are encrypted.
Mobile and Tablet Recovery
In mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets, recovery processes can be performed by analyzing the electronics of the damaged components or by performing the chip off process.
If you’ve made it this far, it’s time to help you.
FAQs ABOUT MECHANICAL HARD DRIVES
A mechanical hard disk is a magnetic storage device, composed of disks or platters that are usually made of aluminum or glass and read/write heads, to store and access data.
Unlike solid-state drives (SSDs) that have no moving parts, mechanical hard drives are more prone to mechanical failure caused by shock or vibration, sudden impacts of the drive drive onto the surface of the disks, and degradation and loss of magnetic properties of platter surfaces.
Esto hace que no sea extraño que se necesite recuperar datos de un disco duro mecánico, ya que es muy sencillo que un disco duro reciba un golpe y falle algunas de las partes mecánicas del dispositivo.
In addition, in general terms they can be slower in terms of speed of access to data. However, they offer a large storage capacity at a relatively low cost, compared to SSDs.
A mechanical hard disk consists of one or more magnetic disks or platters that rotate at high speed. Data is stored on disks via read/write drives or headers. These move quickly over the disks, reading and writing the information in the form of 0s and 1s.
Precise operation involves precise coordination between the movement of the discs and the heads to access the required information. The differences in speed between mechanical discs is determined in many cases by the rotational speed of the platters, the most common being 4200 RPM (turns per minute) to the fastest of 15000 RPM.
The main parts of a mechanical hard disk include the magnetic disks or platters that are usually made of glass or aluminum, the heads or read/write units, the motor that spins the platters and the electronic board, which contains the connection for power and data connectivity. Magnetic disks store data, while read/write heads read and write data to disks.
The electronic board or PCB contains various chips such as the MCU (Main Controler Unit) that would be like the main processor in charge of managing all the requests, the SPIN MOTOR that is the motor controller (in charge of starting, speed control and braking when turned off) and the MHA (controller of the reading unit).
Additionally, there is in the vast majority of boards a ROM (a read-only chip) that contains unique information for that disk, recorded at the time of manufacture of the disk. For this reason, among others, in modern disks, the boards cannot be exchanged without making certain specific modifications with adequate hardware (tools) and knowledge.
If your hard drive has been dropped and is now making clicking, whirring, or repetitive tapping noises, it has likely suffered physical damage and you need to recover data from the hard drive.
The reading unit or heads, are very sensitive to vibrations or sudden shocks. It is important to keep in mind that a fortuitous blow can cause the reading units to impact on the surface of the discs or platters, marking them or even scratching the surface. After a sudden blow, if any abnormal sound is heard, it is advisable to stop using the hard drive and seek professional help to assess the situation and determine if the information can be recovered.
In the vast majority of cases, it is possible to recover information stored on a hard drive that has suffered a physical impact. However, successful recovery depends on the severity of the damage and the expertise and resources of the company performing the process. It is important to stop using the hard drive and not attempt to repair it on your own, as this can make the situation worse or even leave the device unrecoverable. The best option is to contact a professional data recovery laboratory that has experience in similar situations to evaluate the feasibility of information recovery. It should be noted that it is not always possible to recover the data in cases of severe physical damage.
