Windows PC Data Recovery

Hull Data Recovery is Hull’s desktop computer data recovery specialist, with over 25 years of experience in retrieving lost data from PC hard disks and SSDs. We handle drives of all types and sizes – from traditional HDDs to the latest SSDs – and work with every file system, including Windows NTFS, macOS HFS+/APFS, FAT32 and exFAT. Our expert engineers have dealt with every imaginable desktop drive fault, and we support every major brand sold in the UK. For example, global PC market leaders include Lenovo, HP and Dell, followed by Apple, Asus and Acer – and we recover data from all of these and many more.

Top 20 Desktop Drive Manufacturers

We recover data from drives made by every major storage manufacturer. Market research lists Seagate, Western Digital (WD) and Toshiba among the top HDD companies, along with others like Sony, Transcend, Lenovo and ADATA. In practice we work on drives from all leading makers, including (but not limited to):

• Seagate Technology (including Maxtor): a world-leading HDD maker.

• Western Digital (WD) (including HGST/Hitachi): second only to Seagate in HDD market share.

• Toshiba: a major Japanese HDD and SSD supplier.

• Samsung: best known today for SSDs (Samsung HDD production was acquired by Seagate in 2011).

• SanDisk (now part of WD): maker of SSDs and flash storage.

• Kingston Technology: SSDs and memory (recovery often involves their SSD controllers).

• Intel: introduced many consumer SSDs.

• Crucial (Micron): popular SSD brand.

• ADATA: Taiwanese maker of SSDs and DRAM.

• Corsair: PC components and SSDs.

• Transcend: Taiwanese company making portable drives and SSDs.

• PNY: SSDs and flash memory.

• Lexar: flash and some SSDs.

• Patriot Memory: SSDs and memory.

• Mushkin: niche gaming SSD/memory brand.

• Verbatim: external USB drives and flash media.

• LaCie: Seagate-owned brand for high-end external drives.

• Buffalo: maker of NAS and external drives.

• G-Technology (Western Digital): premium drives for creative pros.

We also handle older or defunct brands (e.g. Maxtor, IBM/Hitachi) and every firmware revision of each model. No matter who built your drive, our lab has seen it many times.

Main Hard Drive Connection Types

Desktop drives can connect to the computer in several ways. The most common modern interface is SATA (Serial ATA), which is standard on almost all motherboards for 3.5″ and 2.5″ drives (up to 6 Gb/s in SATA III). SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) is another serial interface (up to 12 Gb/s) used in high-reliability enterprise or server setups. The fastest drives use NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) over PCIe: NVMe SSDs (often in M.2 or U.2 form factors) deliver blazing speeds (32 Gb/s and above) for high-performance desktops. Legacy interfaces include PATA/IDE (parallel ATA, now very old) and SCSI (for older servers). Externally, drives may use USB, eSATA, or Thunderbolt to connect via hubs or enclosures. We work with every interface and connector, ensuring data recovery whether the drive is SATA, SAS, NVMe M.2, USB-attached or otherwise.

Supported File Systems

Because we recover data and not the end user’s OS, we support every major filesystem. Our techs routinely recover Windows NTFS, FAT32 and exFAT drives, Apple HFS+ and APFS, as well as Linux filesystems (ext4, XFS, Btrfs, etc.). In fact, tools like TestDisk can reconstruct partitions on APFS, FAT32, exFAT, HFS+ and NTFS among others. In short, whether your desktop was running Windows, Linux or macOS, we can handle its drive.

Common Data Recovery Issues (Desktop Drives)

In our 25 years we’ve seen hundreds of recovery scenarios. Below are 30 of the most frequent desktop drive failure causes – with a brief description of each problem and how we fix it:

1. Mechanical Shock / Drive Drop: If a desktop is dropped or jolted, the read/write heads can slam into the platters (a “head crash”), causing clicking noises or a failure to spin. Fix: The drive is opened in a clean-room, debris and oil are carefully cleaned from the platters, and a donor head assembly is installed. We then clone the platters using the healthy heads to recover the data.

2. Platter Damage (Scratches): Deep scratches on the platter surface can destroy data in those regions. Fix: We identify which platters and regions are damaged and isolate them. Data is read from the remaining intact platters. In some cases we can read around a scratch or mirror the damaged area from another head if possible. (Our clean-room and cloning procedures protect the undamaged data.)

3. Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Failure: A common electrical fault (often due to a power surge or incorrect cable connection) is a dead or shorted PCB. In this case the drive will not power on or spin. Fix: We replace the damaged PCB with an identical donor board and transfer the unique adaptive ROM or firmware chip to the new board. This restores the drive’s electronics and allows us to read the data.

4. Firmware Corruption: The drive’s internal firmware (its own “operating system” on the platters) can become damaged (for example, due to interrupted updates or electronic faults). A firmware fault often causes the drive to not spin or be undetectable. Fix: Using specialized recovery hardware (like PC-3000), we repair or rewrite the firmware in the Service Area of the platters. Gillware notes that corrupted drive firmware must be repaired or the drive cannot boot itself, so we keep a library of firmware modules and use professional tools to restore them.

5. Bad Sectors / Media Degradation: Over time (or due to a defect), certain disk sectors become unreadable. This causes I/O errors and file corruption. For example, a 1 TB drive has over 2 billion sectors – if some are unreadable, files in those sectors are lost. Fix: We use professional data recovery imagers that repeatedly read and recover each bad sector, using custom retry strategies (forward/backward reads, ignoring ECC, etc.). Our systems can extend read timeouts far beyond normal OS limits and copy out as much data as possible. The recovered sectors are then pieced together in the same order.

6. Read/Write Head Failure: A stuck, misaligned or faulty read head will produce constant clicking noises (“click of death”) and prevent data access. Fix: In our ISO-4 clean-room we replace the failed head stack with a matching donor. Often we replace only the bad heads (if possible) to avoid cross-contamination. The donor heads are thoroughly tested and then calibrated to the old platters. After install we proceed with careful cloning to retrieve the data.

7. Head Stiction: Sometimes heads stick to the platter surface after prolonged power-off or shock, stopping the drive from spinning. Fix: In the lab we gently spin the drive in clean air to free the heads, or use specialized tools to unstick them. Once freed, we can spin up the platters and recover data as usual.

8. Spindle/Motor Failure: The drive’s spindle motor can seize or fail, so the platters won’t spin. The drive may make a faint beeping or whirring sound. Fix: If the motor is locked, we may replace the spindle assembly in the drive. Often this requires a head swap anyway (since the platters must come out). We install a working motor or drive mechanics to get the platters spinning again.

9. Power Surge / Electrical Overload: A spike from the mains can fry the electronics on a drive. This is similar to a PCB failure but can also damage the controller chip. Fix: We replace scorched components and PCB, and check for collateral damage. Often the fix is the same as a PCB swap, but we carefully inspect capacitors and chips for damage.

10. Overheating (Thermal Damage): High sustained temperature can warp components or damage electronics. Overheating is a common cause of drive failure, especially in cramped cases or poor ventilation. Fix: We first let the drive cool to ambient and then proceed as usual. Internally, we examine the drive in our lab – often the data is intact. We recover the files (and advise improving cooling). In extreme cases, heat can damage the PCB or heads, which are treated as above.

11. Water/Liquid Damage: Spills or leaks can corrode the platters and circuitry. Fix: We do a chemical clean of the drive components in the clean-room to remove corrosion. Often the PCB is ruined (will be replaced), but sometimes the platters survive. We then proceed with a head swap or clone as needed. (Time is critical: faster we dry/clean the drive, better the chance of recovering data.)

12. Fire or Heat Exposure: Extreme heat can physically melt parts of a drive. Fix: Recovery is very difficult if platters warp. We attempt a chip-off of the NAND or controller chips (for SSDs) or platter imaging if any regions survived. Often some data is irretrievable, but we try to salvage intact chips or use forensic imaging on remaining platter areas.

13. SSD Controller Failure: On a solid-state drive, the controller chip can fail electrically. The SSD then won’t respond at all. Fix: We often perform “chip-off” recovery: removing the flash memory chips and reading them directly with specialized equipment. Even if the controller is dead, our lab can often piece together the raw NAND data.

14. NAND Flash Wear-Out (SSD): SSDs have limited program/erase cycles. If the NAND wears out (especially on TLC/QLC drives), the SSD can go read-only or fail. Fix: We again resort to chip-off methods. Even partially worn flash can sometimes be read. We collect whatever data remains and reconstruct it; any lost (permanently erased) cells are treated as data loss.

15. SSD Firmware/Logic Board Corruption: SSDs have firmware and controllers too. If an SSD’s firmware area is corrupted, the drive may not enumerate. Fix: Like HDD firmware, we use manufacturer tools and on-chip techniques to rewrite the SSD firmware or bypass it and extract the NAND.

16. File System Corruption (Logical): Filesystem structures (NTFS, FAT, HFS+, ext4, etc.) can be corrupted by improper shutdowns, software bugs or bad sectors. The drive may appear RAW, or files and folders look garbled. Fix: We create a forensic image of the drive and use advanced recovery software to rebuild the filesystem structures or recover files directly. TestDisk-style tools are used to repair partition tables and directory trees without altering the original drive. Professionals always work on a clone so any repair attempts won’t harm the source.

17. Partition Table Damage: If the partition table (or GUID partition table) is erased or overwritten, the OS will see the drive as unallocated. Fix: We scan the drive to locate the old partition start/end points and restore the table. Tools can often recover missing partitions and make the filesystem accessible again.

18. Master Boot Record (MBR) or Boot Sector Failure: If the boot record is corrupted, Windows or Linux may fail to boot. Fix: We reconstruct the MBR/boot sector or recover the filesystem using low-level scans. Often this restores access to data without harming the filesystem.

19. Accidental File Deletion: The user deleted important files (or emptied the Recycle Bin). Fix: We immediately stop using the drive to prevent overwriting. Data is recovered using un-delete tools and signature scanning on a cloned image. Note that SSDs complicate deletion recovery (because of TRIM), so we work fast and often create a bitwise copy to search for file remnants.

20. Accidental Formatting/Initialisation: The drive was formatted or reinitialized by mistake. Fix: As long as new data hasn’t overwritten the old, the original files can often be recovered. We scan the raw disk for file signatures and rebuild file/folder structures. This is done on a copy to preserve the original. We restore as much of the original data as possible.

21. Drive Not Detected by BIOS/OS: If the BIOS/UEFI won’t recognize the drive at all, it could be due to hardware or partition faults. Fix: We first check cables and controllers. If the drive still isn’t seen, we open it in the lab. Often a PCB swap or firmware fix will allow detection. Even if it never shows up, we can image the drive directly with hardware tools once it’s spinning. Early symptoms like “missing drive” are a cue for pro diagnostics.

22. Faulty Cable or Connector: Sometimes the SATA cable or power connector is bad, causing intermittent failures. Fix: We always test drives with known-good cables and connectors. If that fixes the issue, recovery proceeds normally. If the drive suffered spikes through a faulty cable, we treat that as an electrical fault and follow PCB repair procedures.

23. SMART Errors or Pending Failures: Modern drives report S.M.A.R.T. warnings (e.g. reallocating sector counts increasing). If ignored, the drive may soon fail. Fix: We treat any SMART warning as urgent: we clone the drive immediately (often slotting it into a controlled duplicator that reads even SMART-flagged drives slowly). The data is then recovered from the clone.

24. Ransomware or Malware Encryption: Malicious software can encrypt files or lock the drive. Fix: This is tricky. We first clean the malware to prevent further damage. We then attempt to decrypt or recover files. Sometimes we can roll back to shadow copies or use decryption tools if available. Otherwise, we recover as much data as possible (unencrypted fragments, etc.) and deliver recovered files.

25. Hardware Encryption (e.g. BitLocker, Secure Drive): If the drive was encrypted in hardware or by OS encryption (and the password is lost), the data appears random. Fix: Without keys, some encrypted drives cannot be recovered. If the client provides the encryption key or password, we apply it in our lab and then recover data normally. In some cases (like self-encrypting HDDs), we use advanced techniques to disable the lock using manufacturer tools.

26. Unexpected Shutdown / Power Loss During Write: Sudden power cuts while writing can corrupt data structures or cache. Fix: Typically, this is handled as filesystem corruption. We scan for orphaned data and repair directory entries as needed, recovering what was written up to the power failure.

27. Multiple Simultaneous Failures: Occasionally a drive may suffer two issues at once (e.g. a shock and later an electronics fault). Fix: We tackle each problem in sequence: e.g. if heads crashed and then the PCB fried, we replace heads in clean-room and swap the board, then proceed with imaging. Our multi-pronged expertise means we can juggle complex cases.

28. User Tampering / Partial Repair Attempts: If someone has opened the drive at home (breaking seals) or attached random tools, the drive may be damaged further. Fix: We take extreme care with such drives. Often we see dust or bent parts. In a clean-room we carefully reverse any damage (removing dust, correcting any obvious issues) before proceeding. We can often still recover data even from a “DIY-opened” drive, as long as the platters are intact.

29. Wear & Aging: Drives simply wear out after years of use. Bearings fail, lubricant dries, heads degrade. Fix: Age-related failures are treated case-by-case: if mechanical, we repair it; if head/media, we clone and recover. Even an old drive at end-of-life can often have most data rescued by treating it as a media fault (extended read passes, etc.).

30. Electrostatic / Environmental Damage: Rarely, drives can be damaged by extreme magnetic fields or electrostatic discharge. Fix: Such failures (e.g. “hermetic seal breaches” or fried ICs) are handled by component-level repair: replacing the damaged chips, cleaning contacts, and then performing a standard recovery. These cases are uncommon but our lab is equipped for them.

Each issue above represents the vast majority of data loss cases we see. Our engineers use advanced techniques – clean-room swapping, forensic imaging, firmware repair tools and chip-off methods – to fix them. For example, when partitions or file systems fail, we rebuild or extract the data structure on a clone. When media errors occur, we use PC-3000 and similar hardware to override firmware timeouts and read every possible sector. In every case, all recovery work is done on copies; the original drive is preserved.

With 25+ years of practice, Hull Data Recovery has handled the full spectrum of desktop data loss – from simple logical issues to the most advanced mechanical failures. We have state-of-the-art cleanrooms (ISO 4) and diagnostic labs where we perform all procedures safely. Our focus is always on retrieving your files intact, whether it’s photos, documents or critical business data. As a trusted partner in data recovery, we know that time and technique are crucial: we diagnose problems swiftly, outline the repair plan, and keep you informed every step of the way.

Contact Hull Data Recovery today for a free diagnostic on your desktop drive. With decades of experience and a friendly, professional team, we’ll maximize the chance of getting your data back safely. We understand how stressful data loss can be, so let our expertise give you peace of mind.