The fault · a drop or a knock
Leave it unplugged. Whether the disk was spinning at the moment it fell will decide almost everything that happens next. Switched off, a hard drive survives a fall better than most people think: the heads are parked safely out of the way and the case helps absorb the shock. Spinning, there's no room for error at all: platters at 5,400 or 7,200rpm, the head floating nanometres above them with nowhere else to go. So resist the urge to plug the drive in and check it. After a drop, the very first spin-up can be the last clean pass it has left, and a test spends it. Diagnosis costs nothing, a single drive is £300 + VAT, and the figure is in writing before any work starts.
An engineer answers, and looking is free
0800 6890668
| What you notice | What is likely wrong | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| Clicking ever since it went over | The impact knocked the heads out of alignment, and it keeps trying to find its place again | Do not switch it on |
| One beep after the knock | Nothing is rotating: the heads are flat down on the platter, or a bearing has failed | Shaking it achieves nothing |
| The computer no longer detects it | Heads down on the surface, a spindle motor that has stopped, or damage to the board or socket | Have it looked at rather than retried |
| All right at first, worse since | Minor damage that will get worse with each hour it keeps running | Move while it still answers |
| An SSD or a USB stick that stopped working when it was dropped | Nothing inside these moves, so the cause is likely a damaged circuit board, joint or connector | Repair work at board level |
A case number is assigned to your device when we receive it. An engineer then finds the real fault (free) before anything else occurs; you will be advised clearly of what will be returned and what will not, along with a single written price. Charges cannot begin until you have read this and accepted.
The engineer checks the drive by hand first; only once that's done does anything get powered up. A head knocked out of alignment can end up down on the surface within the first revolution of the first spin-up. A drive that does need to be turned gets one rotation, and that is watched.
The damaged head stack is removed and a donor head stack matched to your drive replaces it. If the spindle has seized it is freed, any head stuck to a platter is carefully lifted clear, and damaged boards and sockets are repaired.
Everything that reads cleanly comes off the disk first and is placed somewhere safe. Only after that are any attempts made on the sectors ruined by the impact.
You look at the file list first and make a decision about what to do. We will never invoice anything until you have said yes, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. All of the information that we recover will be put on new media purchased by us specifically for this job, and our company pays the cost of postage back to you. The case stays open on the bench until you tell us the files open on your own machine.
What the datasheets show: 2.5" notebook mechanisms are usually rated at around ~350–400G while running and ~1,000G once parked, while certain 3.5" desktop units, with the platters turning, are quoted as low as ~30G. It costs you nothing to shut your computer down before you move it, and no other advice on this page is worth as much.
It went over while the bags were being packed down, and the clicking began before it even reached the bench. That drive held three years of paid work, the morning's ceremony included. A matched donor stack was fitted, two days went on the copy, and every gallery came back.
Usually, as long as nobody else has had a go at it first. We are not attempting to restore the drive to working order; it needs to survive one slow read and no longer. A donor head stack of the same model and batch is fitted, the imaging is done gently, and generally most of the surface comes off.
More than any other point on this page. Powered down, the same fall is substantially less damaging. A head travelling nanometres above a spinning platter has no room for error, and it may score the coating on the way. So leave it unplugged.
Not often. With no motion inside the drive, the damage is generally confined to the board: a broken connector, a solder joint that splits. That is bench electronics, and it is most likely repairable. Your files are stored on flash memory chips, and those usually survive the fall unscathed.
Almost certainly. Knock a head or bearing just slightly from its true position and each spin-up after that moves it a little further. The fall decided the outcome; each start since has brought it nearer.
There is no charge for the look. You then receive a list of the files that opened, those that did not, and a fixed amount to complete the job. Keep it switched off until you have received that in writing.