Broken Hard Drive

[Zero]

I recently spilt something on my laptop, which caused the keyboard and mousepad to stop working. Then I dropped it from about ten feet in the air (while it was switched off). Then it failed to switch on. Whenever I put the Hard Drive in a disk enclosure, it starts clicking and fails to show up in Windows Explorer, Device Manager, or Disk Management.

 

What are the chances of my data being recovered with a data recovery specialist?

 

Can you recommend any such specialists or identify any that need to be steered clear of?

 

And are there any data recovery software programmes that I could use instead?

 

Thanks in advance.

[KenB]

Hi and welcome to ExTS

 

Then I dropped it from about ten feet

Oh dear - this hasn't done it any good at all.

It sounds as if your hard drive is mechanical.

The clicking is the Actuator Arm which carries the Read Heads swinging out and back and hitting the Stop [ Parking Ramp ]

It cannot read any data off the Platter - probably because the laser Heads are now mis-aligned.

 

 

What are the chances of my data being recovered with a data recovery specialist?

Recovering your data should be possible as long as the Actuator Arm has not damaged the Platter.

They normally don't come into contact.

This, however, is not cheap.

A friend of mine recently paid £250 to get data recovered.

 

Re Software:

If the drive fails to show in Disk Management then using software is unlikely to see any data to recover.

You can give it a try as it costs nothing.

I have used Recuva before successfully.

 

click here

 

I doubt that you will be successful - but worth a try.

 

Recovery Specialists:

The small firm near me where my friend took his hard drive seemed fair.

[ I didn't deal with him ]

My friend was happy to get his data back even if it seemed expensive.