Hard Drive Data Recovery

We are a professional data recovery company based in Hull, England, with over 25 years of experience recovering data from failed hard drives. Our team combines friendly customer service with deep technical expertise to retrieve your valuable files in even the most challenging situations. Hull Data Recovery has helped thousands of clients in Hull and across the UK – from home users to businesses – get their data back safely and securely. We provide specialist hard drive recovery services for any brand, any type of hard drive, any operating system, and any failure scenario, leveraging the decades of knowledge we’ve accumulated.

Why choose Hull Data Recovery? We are Hull’s hard drive data recovery experts, in business for 25+ years. Our engineers utilize state-of-the-art tools and a certified cleanroom environment to handle delicate hard drive repairs. Whether your drive has failed mechanically, suffered a power surge, been accidentally formatted, or is no longer recognized by your computer, we have the skills to recover your data. We understand how stressful data loss can be, so we approach every case with professionalism and care – explaining the process in plain language and keeping you informed. In fact, hardware failures like hard drive crashes are the leading cause of data loss (about 67% of cases), which is why having an experienced team on your side is so important. From personal photos and documents to business databases, we’ve seen it all and recovered it all.

Top Hard Drive Brands We Recover

We can recover data from any hard drive brand. This includes all the major manufacturers and popular hard drive/SSD brands sold in the UK. Some of the top drive brands we work with include:

• Seagate – Internal and external Seagate drives (Barracuda, Expansion, etc.)

• Western Digital (WD) – WD Blue/Black/Red drives, My Passport, Elements externals, etc.

• Toshiba – Toshiba 2.5” laptop drives, 3.5” desktop drives, and Toshiba external HDDs.

• Hitachi/HGST – Hitachi Global Storage Technologies drives (now part of WD).

• Samsung – Samsung SSDs (Evo/Pro series) and legacy Samsung hard drives.

• Crucial (Micron) – Crucial SSDs and storage devices.

• SanDisk – SanDisk SSDs and flash-based drives (now a WD company).

• Intel – Intel solid-state drives (enterprise and consumer SSDs).

• Kingston – Kingston SSDs and flash storage products.

• ADATA – ADATA SSDs and external hard drives.

• PNY – PNY solid-state drives and portable SSDs.

• Corsair – Corsair SSDs and gaming storage drives.

• Sabrent – High-speed NVMe SSDs and external enclosures by Sabrent.

• TeamGroup – TeamGroup SATA and NVMe SSDs.

• Fujitsu – Fujitsu hard drives (commonly found in older laptops/servers).

• LaCie – LaCie external hard drives (rugged drives popular with Mac users).

• Maxtor – Maxtor drives (an older brand now owned by Seagate).

• Transcend – Transcend portable hard drives and SSDs.

• Lexar – Lexar SSDs and external storage devices.

• Verbatim – Verbatim external hard drives.

If your drive’s brand isn’t listed, don’t worry – we can handle any manufacturer. From common brands to niche or discontinued models, our Hull data recovery service covers them all. We maintain an extensive inventory of donor parts and specialised tools for drives from 20+ manufacturers, ensuring we can recover data from any hard disk or SSD that comes through our lab.

All Hard Drive Connection Types Supported

Hard drives come with many different interfaces and connection types. Our engineers are experienced with all major hard drive interfaces – we have the equipment to connect and recover drives no matter how they plug in. The main drive connection types we handle include:

• SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) – The most common interface for modern internal 3.5″ desktop and 2.5″ laptop hard drives and SSDs.

• PATA (Parallel ATA / IDE) – The older IDE ribbon-cable drives found in legacy PCs and some early laptops.

• NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) – High-speed PCIe-based interface for modern SSDs (often on M.2 drives).

• SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) – Used in older servers and enterprise systems; we recover SCSI hard disks.

• SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) – Common in servers and RAID systems; we handle SAS hard drives.

• PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) – Some SSDs (add-in cards) and storage devices use direct PCIe connections.

• M.2 – Compact slot interface for SSDs (NVMe or SATA protocol) in laptops and desktops.

• U.2 – Enterprise SSD interface (NVMe over a cabled connector) used in servers/high-end workstations.

• eSATA (External SATA) – External drives with eSATA ports (we can connect these for imaging).

• USB – External USB drives of all kinds (USB 3.0/3.1 portable HDDs and SSDs – we’ll remove the drive from the enclosure if needed to recover it).

• FireWire (IEEE 1394) – Older external drives/enclosures using FireWire 400/800 (often seen with some Mac-oriented drives).

• Thunderbolt – High-speed external drives (commonly on Macs) that use Thunderbolt 1/2/3 interfaces.

In short, if it’s a hard drive or SSD and it connects to a computer, we have the tools to work with it. Our Hull data recovery lab has specialised adapters and hardware imagers for SATA, IDE, SCSI/SAS, NVMe/M.2, USB, and more – covering everything from old IDE laptop drives to the latest NVMe M.2 SSDs.

Any Device, Any Operating System – We’ve Got You Covered

Over 25 years, we’ve recovered data from practically any type of device that contains a hard drive or solid-state drive. No matter what kind of system or device your drive came from, we have the expertise to handle it. Here are some of the devices and systems we work with:

• Desktop Computers & Workstations: Standard PC hard drives (Windows desktops, iMacs, all-in-one PCs, etc.). If your home or office desktop’s HDD or SSD fails, we can recover the files.

• Laptops & Notebooks: We specialize in laptop hard drive recovery – whether it’s a Windows laptop, MacBook, or any notebook. We handle the smaller 2.5″ drives and SSDs common in laptops, including ultrabooks.

• Servers & RAID Arrays: Our team has extensive experience with server data recovery, including multi-drive RAID systems (RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, etc.). If a server drive failed or a RAID array degraded (even multiple disks failed), we can rebuild the RAID and recover the data. RAID data recovery is complex, but we have the tools to handle broken RAID controllers, missing drives, and parity reconstruction.

• NAS Devices (Network Attached Storage): We recover data from NAS units (e.g. Synology, QNAP, Buffalo, etc.). NAS drives often use Linux file systems (EXT4, Btrfs) or even custom RAID setups – our engineers can work with these to extract your files after a NAS failure.

• External Hard Drives: If your external USB hard drive has died (not detected, making noises, or was dropped), we can open the enclosure, fix any internal drive issues, and recover the data. This includes popular external drives like Seagate Backup Plus, WD My Passport, Toshiba Canvio, etc. We also handle drives from DVRs and external backup units.

• CCTV DVR Systems: We recover video footage from CCTV and DVR hard drives used in security camera systems. Whether the DVR’s hard drive has failed or footage was accidentally deleted, our data recovery service can attempt to retrieve the video files (common in legal or security-related recoveries).

Operating Systems and File Systems: Whether your drive was used on Windows, macOS, Linux, Unix, or others, we have the tools to access and extract the data. We support all common file systems, including NTFS, FAT32/exFAT (Windows), HFS+ / APFS (Mac), EXT2/EXT3/EXT4, XFS, Btrfs (Linux), UFS (Unix) and more. Even if your drive is from a legacy OS or a proprietary system, our experts will find a way to read it. We understand how different file systems store data, which allows us to recover files even when the system says the disk is unreadable or needs formatting. For example, if your external drive suddenly says “needs to be formatted” (a RAW file system error), we can work at a low level to pull the data without altering the drive’s contents.

Types of Data: We recover all types of files from hard drives – documents, photos, videos, music, emails, databases, virtual machine images, you name it. Whether you lost cherished family photos, an important project report, or an entire business database, our Hull data recovery team has likely seen a similar case and successfully retrieved that data. We use advanced techniques to ensure that the recovered files remain intact and usable.

30 Common Hard Drive Data Recovery Issues (and How We Fix Them)

Over the decades, we have encountered and resolved virtually every type of hard drive failure or data loss scenario. Below are 30 of the most common issues customers in Hull bring to us for data recovery – along with a brief explanation of each problem and how we fix it:

1. Mechanical Failure (Wear & Tear): Internal moving parts of the hard drive wear out or break down over time – for example, spindle bearings can seize or the head assembly can fail from age. How We Fix: We open the drive in our cleanroom, replace or repair the faulty components (such as swapping in a matching donor spindle or head stack), and then image the drive to recover the data. Our experience with mechanical failures means we can revive drives that have suffered general wear or internal part failure. (Cracked or scratched platters from mechanical issues often require specialized cleanroom techniques to restore files – and we have those capabilities.)

2. Bad Sectors (Unreadable Spots on Disk): Portions of the disk platter have become unreadable due to physical degradation or magnetic wear. This leads to errors or very slow performance when reading certain files. How We Fix: We use hardware imager tools to create a sector-by-sector clone of the drive, skipping or repeatedly reading the bad sectors to retrieve as much data as possible. By carefully re-reading unstable sectors and using error-correction techniques, we salvage files from drives with bad sectors. In many cases, we’ll get a nearly complete image of the drive, and then we reconstruct any corrupted files from the recovered data blocks.

3. Firmware Corruption (Drive Microcode Issues): The hard drive’s internal firmware (the software on the drive’s controller board that controls drive operations) becomes corrupted or malfunctions. This can cause the drive to behave erratically or not be recognized by the system. How We Fix: Our lab has vendor-specific tools that can interface with the drive’s firmware service area. We can repair or reload the firmware modules on the drive’s PCB/platters. Once we fix the firmware (or sometimes transplant the platters into an identical model drive and adapt the firmware), the drive will become accessible again and we can image the data. For instance, certain drives are known to become “busy” or show 0GB capacity due to firmware bugs – we apply firmware patches or use recovery ROMs to resolve these issues and recover the data.

4. Logical Corruption (File System Errors): The drive is physically fine, but the file system is corrupted – for example, the partition might turn RAW or the directories become unreadable due to software errors, improper ejection, or power loss during writes. How We Fix: We perform a logical data recovery by using specialized software to scan the drive at a low level. We can rebuild the file system structures or carve out files by signature. For example, if an NTFS master file table (MFT) is damaged, we’ll search the disk for file records and reconstruct the directory tree. In cases where the file system is severely damaged, we recover the raw files and then you can rebuild the folder organization as needed. The key is we bypass the OS’s normal methods and directly read data from sectors, which allows us to rescue files from an apparently “corrupted” drive.

5. PCB Failure (Electronics Burnout): The drive’s printed circuit board (PCB) – the green board with chips on it – has failed due to an electrical short, power surge, or component burnout. Symptoms include the drive not spinning up at all, no power, or a burnt smell. How We Fix: We find a compatible donor PCB from our parts stock (same model and firmware version). We often need to transfer a small ROM chip from the old board to the donor (because it contains calibration data unique to your drive). Once we’ve effectively “resurrected” the electronics, the drive can power on normally. In some cases, we even repair the original PCB by replacing blown components (like TVS diodes, resistors, etc.). With a working board in place, we proceed to clone the drive. (Power surges can harm vital PCB electronics, but experienced engineers with soldering skills can repair the damage and restore the data – exactly what we do in these cases.)

6. Accidental File Deletion: You mistakenly deleted important files, and now they’re not in the Recycle Bin. Perhaps you emptied the bin or used Shift+Delete, making the files invisible to the OS. How We Fix: When files are deleted, the actual data often remains on the disk until overwritten. We use advanced data recovery software to scan the drive for deleted file records and recover them. Our tools look for file metadata and content signatures to identify recoverable deleted files. We can often restore the files with original folder structures and names if not too fragmented. It’s important that you stop using the drive after deletion to avoid overwriting the data – our team can advise clients on this, and then we perform the recovery safely on a cloned copy of the drive.

7. Drive Not Recognized by Computer (No Detection): You connect the hard drive and it doesn’t show up in Windows Explorer or Disk Utility at all. It may not be seen in the BIOS either. This could be caused by any number of issues – electronics, firmware, or internal failure. How We Fix: First, we diagnose why the drive isn’t detected. If it’s not spinning, it could be PCB or motor issues (which we’d fix as in cases #1 or #5). If it spins but isn’t recognized, it might be firmware (#3 scenario) or logical issues (#4). Our technicians will use hardware diagnostics to see if the drive identifies itself on a serial terminal (for example, many drives output error codes via a service interface). Once we pinpoint the cause, we address it – be it swapping the PCB, repairing firmware, or moving the platters to a new drive chassis. After that, we image the drive’s content. In summary, we make the drive visible to our recovery systems even if your computer can’t see it, then extract the data.

8. Power Surges or Electrical Failure: A sudden power surge (for instance, lightning strike or faulty power supply) can damage a hard drive. This often results in a dead drive (no power) or sometimes a partially working drive that crashes soon after. How We Fix: Similar to PCB failure (#5), we deal with the electrical damage by repairing or replacing components. This might involve changing the PCB, or even repairing internal components if the surge caused damage to the preamp on the head assembly. We also check and replace any blown fuses or TVS diodes that sacrificed themselves during the surge. Once the electronics are stable, the drive is powered up in a controlled environment and we proceed to clone it. By stabilizing the power circuitry, we can often fully recover the data. (It’s always wise to use surge protectors – but if a surge does get through, our team can undo the damage to retrieve your files.)

9. Head Crash (Read/Write Head Damage): This is one of the most feared mechanical failures – a head crash means the read/write heads (which normally float just above the platter surface) have collided with the platters. This usually happens due to a physical shock (like dropping the drive while it’s running) or a severe internal malfunction. A head crash often causes a telltale clicking or scraping noise as the heads get damaged and the disk may get scratched. How We Fix: We immediately stop the drive to prevent further damage. In our cleanroom, we inspect the platters for any visible scratches. We then perform a head swap – replacing the entire head stack with compatible donor heads. After installing new heads, we carefully attempt to read the drive on a controlled imager that can slow down reads and skip bad sections. If platter damage is minor, we can read around the damaged areas and get back a large portion of data. However, if the platters are severely scored (scraped), some data loss is inevitable (since physical gouges remove the magnetic material). We do everything possible to recover whatever data isn’t destroyed. Our success rate with head crashes is high when the damage is limited to a small area. We also often advise clients to power off a clicking drive immediately – continuing to run it can turn a minor head crash into a catastrophic one (as the scratching can worsen).

10. Platter Damage (Scratches or Surface Damage): The platters are the disks inside the drive that store data. If they become scratched, warped, or contaminated, data in those areas can be permanently lost. Platter damage can occur from a head crash (as above) or debris getting inside the drive. How We Fix: If platter damage is present, we treat the drive with extreme care. We might clean the platter surface if there are particles (using specialized cleaning solutions in the cleanroom). Then using donor heads, we attempt to image the platters, often multiple times, to read around the damaged areas. Advanced recovery imaging hardware can often read partially damaged sectors by retrying from different head angles or filtering noise. We also sometimes adjust firmware parameters to ignore servo errors caused by scratches. The goal is to extract data from the good parts of the platters. If a scratch is small, we may recover nearly everything except data directly under the scratch. For larger damage, we focus on critical files and try to get whatever fragments we can. Unfortunately, no current technology can fully recover data from areas where the magnetic layer is completely gone (for instance, a deep scratch), but we often succeed in getting data from the rest of the drive.

11. SSD Controller Failure: Unlike hard drives, solid-state drives (SSD) have no moving parts – instead they use memory chips (NAND flash) controlled by an embedded processor (controller). If the SSD’s controller chip fails or its firmware crashes, the SSD may not be recognized at all or might show errors. How We Fix: When an SSD’s controller is dead, one method is chip-off recovery. We carefully remove the NAND flash memory chips from the SSD’s circuit board (using specialized de-soldering and rework tools). Then we read the raw data from these chips using a flash reader. Finally, we use specialized software to reconstruct the data by accounting for the controller’s algorithms (wear leveling, encryption, etc.). This process is complex, as raw NAND data is not organized like files – but our team has the tools to emulate the failed controller’s behaviour and rebuild your data. In some cases, if the controller is partially working, we can put the drive in a special “technician mode” to extract data via vendor utilities. Either way, we bypass the failed controller so we can get your files back from the flash memory.

12. NAND Flash Wear (SSD Degradation): SSDs can fail due to flash memory cells wearing out after many write cycles. Over time, the cells that store bits of data can no longer retain data reliably, leading to bad blocks and a drive that might go into read-only mode or die completely. How We Fix: If an SSD is degrading (e.g. many bad blocks, or it becomes very slow or read-only), we use advanced imaging techniques to pull as much data as possible before it fails entirely. We’ll clone the SSD by repeatedly reading unstable areas and using error-correcting code (ECC) to recover data from failing cells. If the SSD has already gone completely dead due to wear, we resort to the chip-off method mentioned above, reading what’s left on the NAND chips directly. Often we can recover most of the data except for the truly worn-out sections. It’s important to act fast with a degrading SSD – unlike HDDs that might limp along, an SSD can work one day and be totally unreadable the next due to flash wear.

13. Accidental Formatting or Disk Initialisation: You accidentally formatted a drive or initialized a disk (for example, clicked “Format” or agreed to “initialize disk” in Disk Management, and now the data is gone). This often happens when a drive is connected and the OS prompts to format it, or a wrong drive is chosen for formatting. How We Fix: A quick format typically only erases the file system metadata but not the actual file content. We perform a deep scan of the drive to find file system structures from before the format. For instance, if you formatted an NTFS drive, we’ll search for the old NTFS metadata (MFT, $MFTMirr, etc.) on the disk. Often we can rebuild the partition and file system to how it was pre-format. In cases of full format (which might overwrite everything with zeros) the chances are lower, but even then sometimes not all sectors are overwritten. We also handle cases where a new file system was created on top of an old one – we might find traces of the old one further into the disk. By carving for file headers (like PDF, JPG, DOCX signatures), we can also recover files even if the directory info is lost. The key is we advise stop using the drive immediately after a mistaken format – any new data written can overwrite your old data. Our tools have successfully recovered drives that users thought were gone forever after an accidental format.

14. Overheating: Excessive heat can cause a hard drive (or SSD) to fail. For HDDs, overheating can lead to components expanding out of tolerance, lubricant breakdown, or electronics overheating. For SSDs, the controller can throttle or shut down, and high heat can cause faster degradation. How We Fix: If we suspect a drive failed due to heat, the first step is to cool it down to a safe operating temperature. We then address whatever specific issue the heat caused. For example, if overheating caused read/write heads to misalign or stick, we might do a head replacement (#9). If it caused PCB components to fail, we swap the PCB (#5). Sometimes an overheated drive will temporarily work again when cooled – in such cases, we make an immediate clone of the drive bit-by-bit while it’s cool. We’ve also used techniques like imaging a drive inside a controlled chamber to keep it cool during the process. Preventing overheating (by ensuring proper ventilation and shutting down a computer that’s running hot) is important, but if a drive has overheated and failed, we’ll stabilise it and recover the data using the appropriate mechanical or electronic fix.

15. Encrypted Drive Failures: Many drives (or the systems they’re in) use encryption for security – for example, BitLocker on Windows, FileVault on Mac, or self-encrypting drives with ATA password/HDD password. If such a drive fails or becomes inaccessible, recovering data is extra tricky because everything on the drive is encrypted binary data. How We Fix: We can absolutely recover data from encrypted drives provided you have the encryption key or password. Our process is to fix the underlying issue with the drive first (whether it’s mechanical, electronic, etc., as with other scenarios) to retrieve the raw encrypted data. Once we have an image of the encrypted volume, we use the supplied password or key to unlock the data and access your files. For example, if a BitLocker-encrypted HDD has a firmware failure, we’ll repair the drive, clone all the encrypted sectors, then use your BitLocker Recovery Key to decrypt the image and extract the files. If the issue is that the encryption software itself failed or the header is corrupted, we try to reconstruct the header or use any available backups of the key. Note: If the password/key is completely lost and the encryption is strong, the data may be unrecoverable (encryption by design prevents access without the key). We always advise clients to keep backups of encryption keys. But assuming the drive failure is the only problem, we can get your encrypted data back and help you decrypt it.

16. Water or Liquid Damage: Your hard drive was exposed to water or excessive moisture – for example, in a flood, spilled drink, or fire-fighting water from putting out a fire. Water can short electronics and cause corrosion. How We Fix: First, do not power on a wet hard drive – this can cause further electrical shorting. When we receive a water-damaged drive, we rinse it with pure distilled water or appropriate cleaning solutions to remove contaminants (yes, it sounds counterintuitive to add water, but we need to remove impurities and salts). Then we carefully dry the drive in a controlled environment. Next, we address whatever is damaged: usually the PCB is corroded and needs replacement (#5), and sometimes internal components like the head assembly may have corrosion or stiction if water got inside. We’ll open the drive in the cleanroom, check for rust or residue on platters and heads, clean them if possible, and swap parts as needed. Once the drive is cleaned and repaired, we proceed to recover the data. We have saved data from drives submerged in floods and even from laptops that had coffee spilled – as long as the platters (for HDD) or flash chips (for SSD) are intact, there’s a good chance of recovery after thorough cleaning and part replacement.

17. Fire Damage: A drive that has been through a fire can suffer extreme heat damage, plus soot and melting. The case might be charred; plastics are melted. Inside, platters can warp due to heat, and PCBs are often burnt. How We Fix: For fire-damaged drives, we carefully disassemble the drive. We may receive drives that were in fires (for example, building fires) – some have melted covers or ash inside. In our cleanroom, we will clean off soot and debris. We then see if the platters have survived (metal/alloy platters might survive moderate heat; older drives with glass platters can crack or shatter in extreme heat). If platters are intact, we find a compatible donor drive chassis. We transplant the platters into the donor, along with a matching donor head stack and PCB. Essentially we rebuild the drive using the platters from the burned drive. If the platters aren’t too warped and the magnetic coating is mostly intact, we can then read them and recover data. We’ve successfully recovered drives from fire safes and building fires where the outside was scorched but data survived inside. However, if the heat was intense enough to completely destroy the magnetic media (for instance, platters blued and warped), recovery may not be possible. Each fire case is unique – but we give it our best with cleaning and donor transplants to rescue what we can.

18. Dropped Hard Drive (Physical Shock): The drive was dropped or bumped hard (for example, an external drive fell off a table, or a laptop was dropped). Even when powered off, a severe shock can cause internal damage; if it was on, a head crash (#9) often results. If it was off, heads could get parked but sometimes stiction occurs (heads stick to platters) or the spindle might get misaligned. How We Fix: We treat drop damage much like other physical damage: open the drive in a cleanroom and inspect. Commonly, we find that the heads are either damaged or stuck. If they’re stuck to the platter (stiction), we carefully lift them off using specialized tools and techniques (the platters’ surface hopefully isn’t scratched where they stuck). We then likely replace the heads with new ones because the originals might have been damaged in the shock or by the stiction. We also check the spindle/motor – in some drops, the motor bearing is damaged so the platters don’t spin freely (this often causes a buzzing or beeping sound). If the spindle is seized, we’ll move the platters to a donor drive base with a good motor. After these fixes (replacing heads, freeing the spindle, etc.), we can clone the drive to recover the data. We’ve recovered countless dropped drives – so if you knock your external HDD off the shelf and it stops working, you can trust us in Hull to perform the delicate surgery needed to get your data back.

19. Virus or Malware Attack (Data Corruption/Deletion): Malicious software can wreak havoc on data. Some viruses delete files or corrupt the file system; others might make data inaccessible by damaging the OS. Unlike ransomware (next item), a typical virus or malware might not specifically encrypt files, but it can still cause major data loss (for instance, a virus that systematically deletes documents, or malware that corrupts all .xlsx files). How We Fix: Our approach to virus-related data loss is first to neutralize the threat (we ensure the virus/malware is not active on the clone of the drive we work with, to avoid re-infection). Then, we treat it as a logical recovery: we identify which files are missing or corrupted and use recovery tools to restore them. If files were deleted, we undelete them (similar to #6). If they were corrupted or partially overwritten by the malware, we attempt file repair if possible (sometimes we can salvage parts of corrupted files or find older versions in temporary files or volume shadow copies if available). We also advise on scanning other drives to ensure the malware didn’t spread. Essentially, we focus on extracting all intact data from before the malware damage. Note: For severe cases, sometimes the best we can do is recover whatever data is still good on the drive, and you may need to restore fully clean data from backups if available. But we will guide you through the process and recover everything that can be saved from the infected drive.

20. Ransomware Attack (Encrypted Files by Hacker): Ransomware is a particularly nasty type of malware that encrypts your files and then demands a ransom payment for the decryption key. In this scenario, the drive itself is usually fine (not physically damaged), but all the important files (documents, databases, etc.) have been encrypted with a key only the attacker has. How We Fix: Ransomware recovery is partly outside the realm of traditional cleanroom work and more in data security, but we do assist clients who have been hit by ransomware. Our first step is to see if the ransomware strain is one for which a public decryption tool or key exists (sometimes, security researchers break older ransomware or keys are released – we keep up-to-date with these resources). If a tool is available, we’ll use it to decrypt your files. If not, we focus on containment and retrieval: we make a full image of the system to preserve the state of the encrypted data. We might locate shadow copies or backups on the disk (some ransomware fails to delete Windows Volume Shadow Copies – if they exist, we can recover previous versions of files from those). We also help extract a list of encrypted files for your reference. In some cases, businesses choose to pay the ransom as a last resort – while we don’t engage in negotiations, we can assist with safely using the decryption tool if a key is obtained. Importantly, we ensure the malware is removed so that after recovery the system can be safely used. In summary, for ransomware our role is to recover any unencrypted data available, assist in decryption if possible, and support you in restoring your system. (This might involve working with cybersecurity experts as well.)

21. RAID Array Failure: In systems with RAID (multiple drives working together for performance or redundancy), data is spread across drives. RAID can tolerate some drive failures, but if too many drives fail or something goes wrong with the RAID controller or configuration, the entire array can go down. Common scenarios: two drives fail in a RAID5, making the array offline; or a RAID controller malfunctions or loses its configuration; or drives become desynced. How We Fix: RAID data recovery is one of our specialties. We start by imaging each individual drive in the array (addressing any issues on each drive, like cloning drives that have bad sectors or repairing them if needed). Once we have images of all member disks, we determine the RAID parameters – such as order of drives, block size, parity rotation, etc. Using our RAID reconstruction software, we virtually reassemble the RAID to access the data. If the RAID had a logical issue (like someone reinitialized the RAID or the file system got corrupted after the failure), we then perform logical recovery on the reconstructed volume. We handle RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 and more complex SAN/NAS setups. For example, in a RAID5 with two failed disks, we might rebuild one failed disk from parity if possible, then rebuild the array. If parity is inconsistent, we try multiple combinations. Our experience with various RAID controllers (Dell, HP, Synology, etc.) helps us interpret proprietary metadata too. In short, we treat each drive, then the RAID as a whole, to recover the files. Clients in Hull have brought us RAID servers from businesses that other shops couldn’t handle – and we’ve successfully gotten their data back.

22. Partition Table or MBR/GPT Corruption: The drive’s partition table (the index that tells the OS how the disk is divided and where partitions start) is corrupted or deleted. This can happen due to user error (e.g., using diskpart clean, or a buggy partitioning software) or malware. Symptoms: the drive appears as unallocated or has the wrong size, and no partitions are shown, even though data was there. How We Fix: We use partition recovery techniques. Our tools scan the disk for partition signatures – for instance, the beginning of an NTFS or EXT partition has identifiable markers. We find the start and end of any previously existing partitions and can rebuild the partition table (MBR or GPT). If successful, the partition and file system become accessible again with all files in place. If the partition metadata is too far gone, we fall back to scanning for individual files (like in logical corruption #4). Oftentimes, partition loss is fixable by simply locating the backup GPT or inferring the layout from the data. We have had many cases where a client’s drive showed up as RAW/unformatted and we were able to instantly restore the partitions (for example, using our tools we find an NTFS boot sector at sector 2048 and reconstruct the NTFS volume). We also ensure to clone the drive first, so any risky operations are done on the image, preserving the original.

23. External Drive Enclosure Failure: Sometimes the issue is not the hard drive itself, but the external enclosure or interface that it’s housed in. For example, many external USB drives have a USB-to-SATA bridge board that can fail (due to power issues or damage to the USB port). In some Western Digital My Passport drives, the USB bridge board also handles encryption – if that board fails, the drive may appear as gibberish even if the HDD inside is fine. How We Fix: We take the hard drive out of the external enclosure and connect it directly to our recovery hardware. If the enclosure had proprietary encryption (like WD My Passport series), we use the original bridge (if functional) or a compatible decryption method to access the data. If the USB/SATA bridge board is dead, we try to repair it or find an identical board and move any encryption chips over. In many cases, simply removing the drive and imaging it directly via SATA solves the issue. We’ve seen enclosures where the only problem was a broken USB port or a fried controller chip – the HDD inside had all the data intact. Once we bypass or fix the enclosure, we treat the drive like any normal drive. Bottom line: If your external drive isn’t showing up, it could be just the enclosure – bring it to us and we’ll ensure the actual hard disk is accessed properly so your data can be recovered.

24. Operating System Crash / Unbootable Computer: Your computer won’t boot into the operating system (Windows won’t start up, or Mac shows a folder with a question mark, etc.). This can be due to OS corruption, drive issues, or other failures. Often, the user’s concern is getting their files back from a computer that no longer boots. How We Fix: If the drive itself is healthy, we simply connect it to our lab systems as a secondary drive and copy off the user data. If the drive has issues causing the boot failure, we address those (mechanical, electronic, or logical repairs as described in other points). Essentially, an unbootable system is not a big obstacle for us – we have various tools to access drives outside of their original environment. We also handle cases like a Windows BitLocker boot failure or a Mac that won’t boot due to disk errors (we can connect in Target Disk Mode for Macs, etc.). After recovery, we provide the files to you on a new drive so you can rebuild your system. Our service often functions as the “data salvage” step when an IT technician can’t get a system to boot – we ensure you don’t lose your documents before they reinstall the OS.

25. Beeping or Buzzing Hard Drive: If your hard drive is beeping (a common symptom in some failed drives, especially 2.5″ externals) or making a quiet buzzing sound, it usually means the platters are not spinning. Often this is caused by the heads being stuck to the platter (stiction) or a seized spindle motor. The beeping sound is actually the platter motor trying to spin but being stuck – the force of the heads stuck or motor jammed makes it emit a buzz or beep. How We Fix: We bring the drive into the cleanroom and carefully assess if the heads are stuck. If yes, we use a thin tool to gently release the heads from the platter surface. If the heads are parking off-platter on a ramp but the motor is seized, we then consider a platter transplant: moving the platters to a donor drive that has a working motor. Both procedures (head release and motor swap) are delicate and require our specialized equipment and steady hands. Once we get the platters spinning again (with either the original or donor motor) and good heads in place, we immediately image the drive to avoid any further wear. Important: Beeping drives should never be forced or opened by non-experts – it needs cleanroom handling. We have a very high success rate with drives that only suffered stiction or motor issues (i.e., the data was fine once we got it spinning). If you hear your drive beeping, turn it off and bring it in – we’ll safely recover it.

26. Contamination (Dust or Debris Inside Drive): If a drive’s seal is opened or compromised (for instance, someone opened the drive at home, or the drive’s enclosure was cracked in an accident), dust and airborne particles can get onto the platters. Even microscopic dust can cause the read/write heads to crash or get stuck. We’ve also seen cases where smoke or dust from the environment (say, construction dust, or smoke from a fire) infiltrated the drive through the breather hole. How We Fix: In our cleanroom, we will clean the drive platters using specialized lint-free swabs and cleaning solutions designed for hard drives. We also always replace the entire head stack in these cases, because if dust caused a head crash, the heads are usually ruined. After cleaning the internal surfaces and platters as much as possible (under a microscope, if needed), and installing fresh heads, we attempt to read the drive. Sometimes, despite cleaning, microscopic scratches from dust might be present – we then treat it similar to platter damage (#10) and try to read around any bad spots. The key point is that any drive that has been opened or contaminated needs professional cleaning. Our facility’s cleanroom meets ISO Class-5 standards (far cleaner than normal air), which is crucial for safely working on open hard drives. We’ve recovered data from drives that customers opened themselves and thought they had destroyed – once we properly cleaned and reassembled them with new parts, a lot of the data was still there to recover.

27. Password-Locked Drive (Forgotten Password): Some hard drives (especially in laptops or set via BIOS) can be locked with an ATA password – the drive refuses to allow access without the correct password. Also, hardware-encrypted external drives can be locked by a password (separate from software encryption we discussed). If you forget the password or an employee left without sharing it, the data becomes inaccessible. How We Fix: For ATA password locks (the kind set in BIOS or on the drive firmware), our data recovery tools can often bypass or remove the password. We have professional hardware (like PC-3000) that can issue low-level commands to disable the lock or brute-force short simple passwords. In many cases, there are manufacturer backdoor keys or methods to retrieve the user password from the drive’s firmware area. We attempt those methods to unlock the drive without damaging data. If successful, the drive will unlock and we can clone out the data normally. For encrypted external drives that prompt for a password (like certain Secure WD or iStorage drives), if the password is lost, unfortunately the encryption cannot be broken by conventional means (since it’s designed to be secure). In such cases, we can still extract the encrypted data from the drive, but it remains gibberish without the key – we’d inform the client that without the password, decryption isn’t possible. In summary, if it’s a firmware lock, we’ll probably get past it; if it’s true encryption, we need the key. We always encourage clients to provide any known credentials. Rest assured, if there’s a way in, we’ll find it and get your data unlocked.

28. Firmware Bugs in Specific Models: Sometimes hard drives have manufacturer firmware defects that cause them to fail unexpectedly. One famous example was the Seagate 7200.11 drives that would brick due to a firmware bug, making them show up as 0GB or not at all – even though the drive was physically fine. Similar issues have affected certain Western Digital and Samsung models over the years, where a firmware flaw causes the drive to become inaccessible until fixed. How We Fix: Our engineers stay informed about such known issues. When a drive comes in with symptoms matching a known firmware bug, we apply the known solution – for instance, for the Seagate 7200.11 “BSY” bug, we use a serial interface to send the fix commands to the drive to bring it back to life. For other firmware glitches, we might upgrade the firmware to a stable version (after securing the data, or by backing up the firmware modules first). In some cases, the drive gets stuck in a factory mode and we have to essentially reinitialize some firmware modules. The good news is that when it is a known bug, the data is typically fully recoverable after the firmware is patched because there was no physical damage. We’ve encountered many such cases and have the specialized manufacturer-specific knowledge to implement the fixes. After the drive is restored to working condition via firmware repair, we clone it and return the data. (We also often put the data on a new drive that doesn’t have that bug!)

29. Broken or Damaged Connectors/Ports: This is a more “physical” issue – for example, the SATA connector on a hard drive is cracked or broken off (we’ve seen drives where the plastic L-shaped SATA port snapped), or an external drive’s USB port broke loose from the circuit board. When a connector is damaged, the drive may not be able to plug in at all or might make intermittent connection. How We Fix: If the SATA data or power connector on a hard drive’s PCB is broken, we have a few methods: we can sometimes repair the connector by soldering it back or jury-rigging a connection for the purpose of imaging. If that’s not feasible, we can move the entire PCB (and swap the firmware chip as needed) to provide a new connector. For drives where the connector is part of the drive’s internals (like some 1.8″ drives or odd connectors), we use adapter kits to interface directly with the drive’s contacts. In the case of a broken USB port on an external’s interface board, we usually simply remove the drive from the case and connect directly via SATA. If the port is on a portable SSD, we’ll solder wires to the board to retrieve data. Essentially, we bypass the broken connector by either fixing it or accessing the drive through an alternate route. This way, a simple port issue doesn’t stand between you and your data.

30. Slow or Freezing Hard Drive (Very Slow Response): Sometimes a hard disk hasn’t completely failed yet, but it becomes extremely slow, causing the computer to freeze when accessing certain files or during boot. This often indicates that the drive is encountering difficulties reading certain areas (usually due to bad sectors or a failing read/write head that must retry many times). It could also be a sign of firmware issues causing timeouts. How We Fix: We treat a slow drive as a drive on the verge of failure – meaning time is critical. We do not attempt to copy files through normal means as that can make it worse. Instead, we put the drive on our hardware imager which is designed to handle unstable drives. We adjust settings to read unstable sectors in a non-windows environment that won’t freeze up. We often image the drive in several passes: first grabbing all the good sectors quickly, then going back to try for the harder-to-read sectors. This minimizes stress on the drive. If a particular head is causing slowdowns (say Head 1 is weak), we can disable it temporarily to image other heads, then re-enable it. In some cases, we might swap the head assembly if one head is extremely weak (similar to #9, but when it’s not totally dead yet). Ultimately, we achieve a full or near-full clone of the drive by working around the slow areas. After that, we retrieve the data from the clone, which will now respond normally. Important tip: if your drive is getting very slow or freezing the system when plugged in, stop using it and get it recovered – it’s usually a sign of impending failure. Our Hull data recovery experts can safely clone a slow, dying drive and save your data before it becomes unrecoverable.

As you can see, there is virtually no hard drive failure scenario that we haven’t encountered and resolved. From everyday issues like deleted files to catastrophic hardware crashes, Hull Data Recovery has the expertise to tackle them. Our success comes from combining the right tools (cleanroom, donor parts, imaging hardware, forensic software) with decades of know-how. We treat each case with the utmost care, because we understand that behind every failed drive is someone’s important data.

Contact Hull Data Recovery Today for a Free Diagnostic

If you’re in Hull or the surrounding region and experiencing hard drive issues or data loss, don’t panic – Hull Data Recovery is here to help. We offer a free diagnostic evaluation for any device. Our team will assess your hard drive and provide a no-obligation quote and report on the problem. With 25 years in the data recovery business, we have a proven track record of successfully retrieving data where others might give up.

Get in touch with us today to begin your recovery process: our friendly staff will guide you through bringing in or shipping your drive to our Hull lab. We operate on a “no data, no fee” policy in the majority of cases – if for some reason we cannot recover your data, there is no charge. You have nothing to lose (and your data to regain) by contacting us for expert assistance.

Don’t let data loss cripple you or your business. Whether it’s a personal hard drive full of memories or a critical company server, Hull Data Recovery has the tools and experience to get your data back quickly and safely. Call us or contact us online today for professional hard drive data recovery in Hull. Let the Hull hard drive recovery experts put their 25+ years of experience to work for you and save your data!