Hard-disk Failure - Data Recovery

Data Recovery

Data from a failed drive can sometimes be partially or totally recovered if the platters' magnetic coating is not totally destroyed. Specialised companies carry out data recovery, at significant cost, by opening the drives in a clean room and using appropriate equipment to read data from the platters directly. If the electronics have failed, it is sometimes possible to replace the electronics board, though often drives of nominally exactly the same model manufactured at different times have different, incompatible, circuit boards.

Sometimes operation can be restored for long enough to recover data. Risky techniques are justifiable if the drive is otherwise dead. If a drive is started up once it may continue to run for a shorter or longer time but never start again, so as much data as possible is recovered as soon as the drive starts. A 1990s drive that does not start due to stiction can sometimes be started by tapping it or rotating the body of the drive rapidly by hand. Another technique which is sometimes known to work is to cool the drive, in a waterproof wrapping, in a domestic freezer. There is much useful information about this in blogs and forums, but professionals also resort to this method with some success.