Hard Drive Data Recovery
We are recognised experts. Our engineers draw on more than 20 years of experience, proprietary tools and methods.
Your hard drive is your everyday ally for storing all kinds of files. But it’s not immune to data loss. Documents or photos can be deleted by mistake, or a damaged hard drive can become faulty. Whatever the reason, you need to recover data from a hard drive. Chronodisk handles hard drive recovery.
What is a hard drive?
A hard drive consists of a rectangular metal casing with a circuit board on the back. Inside, magnetic platters spin at more than 5,000 rpm around a motor. Read heads handle the reading of data.
Hard drives have a few weak points:
The hard drive is the most fragile component of a computer or server. This fragility is mainly down to the drive’s mechanical parts. More than any other component, this type of media is subject to wear.
What types of faults can a hard drive have?
Several situations can lead to the repair and recovery of files from damaged media. Whether internal or external, a hard drive is made up of mechanical parts. These are very sensitive to a number of factors: vibration, drops, flooding, temperature changes, and so on.
Faults on this type of media generally fall into three categories: logical faults, electronic faults and mechanical faults.
Logical faults
Logical faults are the least serious of all external hard drive faults. The storage system generally works normally, but you’re unable to access your data.
These faults are usually caused by malware in the software, excessive accidental formatting, malicious software, partitioning, unexpected file deletion, and so on.
Electronic faults
With electronic faults, the drive is inert and makes no noise. These faults are frequently caused by an abnormally high electrical voltage or the failure of an electronic component.
Sound of a working hard drive:
Mechanical faults (cleanroom treatment)
Mechanical faults in an internal hard drive occur when the media is subjected to:
- impacts
- drops
- sharp temperature changes
- wear
- flooding or fire, etc.
Here are the telltale sounds of mechanical faults:
Faulty heads
70% success rate
Sounds from most to least common
It shows up as clicking (the read head arm moving back and forth) or beeping
Heads not responding
60% success rate
there is no head movement and the motor stops (Western Digital)
Scratched platter
30% success rate
This high-pitched whine usually signals scratches on the drive’s platter(s), which prevent the read/write heads from processing the stored data.
Jammed motor
90% success rate
A humming or clicking sound from your hard drive can indicate a stuck or damaged spindle motor.
Broken platter
0% success rate
The glass platter shatters into pieces. In this case, all of the drive’s mechanical functions are damaged.
We handle every type of hard drive recovery
We support every interface: SATA, USB 3.1 type A or C, PATA (IDE), SAS SCSI FC, for every fault: read head faults, motor faults, firmware faults, electronic faults, file access faults, platter faults, and more.
- External/portable hard drives
- External desktop hard drives
- Internal hard drives
- Full computer support
- Macintosh hard drives
- Wi-Fi network hard drives
- Hybrid SSHD drives
- Encrypted drives
The stages of recovery
01
You contact us and give us the details of your device
02
You receive a full assessment and quote, free of charge
03
You approve the recovery service and validate the list of recovered files
04
You receive your data once payment has been made
Proven expertise
Solid experience and ongoing R&D
No extra fees
You only pay for the data recovered, no additional charges for parts, etc.
Free
Free assessment of recoverable data, free collection of your media
Fast and affordable
We offer effective, affordable recovery solutions
How much does hard drive data recovery cost?
4 price levels matching 4 fault levels
Basic
Free diagnosis
From €299
Deleted data, quick format,
copy
Symptoms
Missing files, blue or black screen, blinking light, slow read speed
MEDIUM
Free diagnosis
From €599
Electrical surge, slightly degraded platter surface, bad sectors
Symptoms
Drive not detected, beeping, faulty power supply, blinking light
Severe
Free diagnosis
From €799
Dropped drive, jammed motor, faulty head, corrupted software
Symptoms
Drive not detected, incorrectly detected, “clack clack” noises
Extreme
Free diagnosis
From €999
Dropped drive: damaged platters, fire, water, following an incident
Symptoms
“Clack clack” noises, grinding or scraping noises
Why choose Chronodisk over another provider?
With a stock of more than 30,000 parts, you can be sure of getting your data back very quickly
What our clients say
Frequently asked questions
The product of high-level computing technology, the internal or external hard drive is both complex and fragile. While it can store many types of documents, it isn’t immune to failure. Indeed, this type of media can suffer all kinds of faults that can affect your files and block access to them. When that happens, one solution is available to you: call on Chronodisk’s data recovery services!
Why choose Chronodisk to recover your hard drive files?
We work on every type of drive, in every possible format and configuration. Don’t hesitate to contact us and hand us your case as soon as you notice a problem. Depending on the nature of your loss, we may be able to recover your files with or without opening your external hard drive.
For mechanical or electronic faults, data recovery is carried out by opening the media. For this, we have a specially fitted cleanroom and the right equipment for the job. For logical faults, we use specialised software to recover your documents from a damaged internal or external hard drive.
Our 15 years of experience in this field have allowed us to refine our knowledge so we can offer you the best possible service. That’s why our technicians have no trouble quickly identifying the cause of a fault, so they can apply the right data recovery solution.
Hard drive data recovery: who is it for?
Recovering documents from a storage device affects individuals and businesses alike. For businesses, losing important company data represents a huge financial risk. It can slow the business down and hinder its growth.
For individuals, losing files with sentimental or professional value can also take a real toll.
Either way, data loss is not irreversible, and it’s usually possible to recover it. At Chronodisk, we offer services suited to every need. For individuals, our technical team is available 6 days a week to help you.
For businesses, we have an emergency unit available every day of the week, 24 hours a day. A crisis situation deserves a crisis service!
Our tips for making hard drive data recovery easier
When your media (external or internal) is damaged, your documents aren’t irretrievably deleted. They’re still there, but you no longer have access to them. When the fault is such that your files become inaccessible, it’s important to hand the hard drive over to data recovery specialists.
To get the best out of the process and avoid reducing your chances of success, we recommend adopting a few good habits:
- Whatever the fault, mechanical, electronic or logical, it’s best to stop any further use of the external or internal hard drive. Don’t hesitate to switch off your device or unplug your media. This will reduce further damage and improve the odds of a successful recovery.
- In the event of a mechanical fault, we advise against using recovery software. It tends to have the opposite effect and can make the fault worse. Is your internal or external media suffering a logical fault? We recommend you stop using the device, as it risks overwriting data and permanently losing files that would otherwise still be inaccessible but recoverable.
Whatever the case, avoid repairing the device yourself, and hand it over to us instead! We have the tools, the laboratory and the technicians needed to deal with any damaged internal or external media.
Our services are available at affordable prices, to serve as many people as possible!
Expert opinion: some technical difficulties with hard drives
Impact while running:
A drive’s motor spins at 5,400, or even 7,200 rpm. The heads sit very close to the platters to increase data density. The slightest impact can create dents, or even scratches.
Scratches:
The slightest scratch on the drive can be fatal. The platters are made of aluminium or glass. The head flies at 2 nanometres, and a scratch creates raised debris that is fatal to the read heads. Sometimes we can disable certain heads and read the unaffected surfaces.
DIY tutorial myths:
You’ll find plenty of videos out there:
– swapping the circuit board: you need to find an identical board, and boards have been serialised since 2005, so this no longer works.
– opening the hard drive and swapping the read head (without a cleanroom to keep out dust, it’s a bit like Russian roulette)
– putting it in the freezer overnight (a nice urban legend — if it were really that simple…)
The danger of a botched repair attempt
Don’t hand your hard drive over to just anyone!
The neighbourhood tech geek or your local computer repair shop always mean well, but unfortunately few of them have the real skills for the job. They’re not aware of the risk they’re putting your data at.
Data recovery still isn’t taught in standard training courses… The risk is that one wrong move destroys any chance of recovery. Laboratories can achieve amazing results, but they can’t work miracles.
Every day, we see “wild” hard drive openings carried out outside a cleanroom, drives that have been forced too hard (destroying the magnetic surfaces), reversed circuit boards, missing components!!!
Ask your IT provider exactly what they’re going to do and how. If the answers are vague, send us your drive directly instead: you’ll double your chances of recovering your data.
Your recovery priorities :
This is the information about what you want recovered:
File type: for example 1/photos 2/Documents 3/Accounting
Their location: Partitions C:/photos/ D:Sage/accounting
Why is it important for our technicians to know your priorities?
Our procedures are strict: they always start by copying the priority data first, then copy the entire drive. Unfortunately, our forms often just say EVERYTHING!
If the drive gets scratched during reading, it’s better to have started with the right priorities.
The more specific you are, the more effective our technicians can be.