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