Electrical/Electronic Failure

The printed circuit board (PCB) of a hard drive controls and coordinates the communication between the computer and the hard drive in order to read and write data. So, when it gets damaged (mostly due to surges or power spikes) you lose access to your data. More often than not other hard drive components are affected as well such as the read-write heads and pre-amplified circuit.

Signs of electrical/electronic failure are:

• Drive is powered, but shows as if not functioning (platters not spinning)
• Disk knocking as the motor fails to spin
• Repeated clicking sound as the heads search or initialize

Determining the failure of your hard drive is not always straightforward. Some types of failures are obvious to detect and others not. Some very common signs that your hard drive is failing are:

Loud Noises: If your drive makes unusual noises such as clicking, grinding, scraping or emitting a very high-pitched whine, then this is a clear indication that your drive is either soon failing or has already failed.

Not recognised: If your hard drive is not recognised at all in BIOS during boot time, while it used to in the past, that is also and indication of some sort of hard drive failure.

Smart Indication: If your hard drive supports the Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART), then any indication of a SMART error while booting your computer is a clear sign that your hard drive is failing.

Below we are describing how to remove your hard drive in order to send it to us for data recovery purposes.

1) First turn off your computer and remove all cables. Before removing the power cable, touch the side of the metal case to discharge any static which may have built up on your body.The majority of computer cases are secured using screws. The removal of these allows access to the inside of the case. Below is an example of a case with "side doors". Only one of these needs to be removed to access the drive. Depending on where your drive sits inside the case you may need to remove both the left and right side doors.

2) Identify the hard disc, which will have two connections - data and power. Appearance will vary depending on whether it is an IDE drive or a SATA drive. Carefully slide out both connections taking care not to damage the cables. On IDE drives, the power connector will be in quite firmly . The first image below is an IDE drive and in the second a SATA Drive.