Common Failures

● The HDD does not respond at all after being connected to the computer (the computer cannot identify the HDD)

● Data access is very slow (the data access speed of HDD is significantly slower than usual)

● The HDD makes sudden strange sounds (cluck or other abnormal sounds)

● Data is deleted accidentally (the recycle bin has been cleaned, or the file is deleted by directly pressing Shift + Delete)

● Prompt of formatting (the computer prompts HDD formatting)

● The computer cannot re-start after power cut (after sudden power cut or cut-off of the computer power, the computer cannot start)

● The computer crashes after the HDD is connected to the computer (the computer cannot operate after the HDD is connected

Processing Method

Among numerous failures, there is only one situation that we suggest you try to recover by yourself, and we suggest you leave the remaining situations to a company specifically engaged in data recovery for processing (we will, in the paragraphs below, explain the reason why you should leave the remaining situations to a data recovery company, rather than try to solve them by yourself). The only one situation is that the HDD does not suffer hardware damage, such as careless deletion of data and no writing of any data, or careless formatting of the HDD, and then you can try to recover data with data recovery software. The commonly used data recovery software includes EasyRecovery, WiseRecovery and Disk Drill, and it is necessary to pay attention to and identify their advantages and disadvantages in use. Of course, before trying it out on your own, there are certain steps you must pay attention to, otherwise, data may not be recovered and your HDD may be further damaged. The first step is to make a complete copy of the HDD according to the current state to another HDD (not the copy and paste through Windows, but completely copy every byte of the HDD through software, which can be done only when the HDD does not suffer hardware damage). This step requires a writing protection device (Write Blocker), so as to prevent change of the data. Then you can use the data recovery software to recover the copied HDD, but the recovered data must not be put back to the original HDD. It is because, in this case, overwriting and recovering will occur simultaneously and the recovered data cannot be opened. So keep in mind the above steps. For anything you don’t understand, please feel free to contact us for details at any time, and we are willing to answer questions for each customer. But sometimes the data recovery software cannot solve all problems, and in most cases, you have to rely on data recovery engineers for analysis. For example, why the rescued data does not have directory or file name or not a byte of data can be rescued. At this point, you don't have to give up and you can contact us. We will try to rescue your important data.

If the HDD suffers hardware damage, and because there is no professional technology or equipment, you might truly make the HDD worse or the data lost forever through aimless attempts. For example, there is a bad sector on the HDD, but you use the data recovery software to scan the HDD, and then you will find the HDD is getting slower and slower, even a crash. This is because scanning is to read the information of each sector of the HDD. When it comes to the bad sector, it will get stuck and reading cannot continue. The magnetism of the HDD will become increasingly weaker due to continuous forced reading, and the number of bad sectors will increase. At this moment, it is quite usual that a friend or someone knowing much about computer will tell you to recover the bad sectors with special software. The result, of course, will be in vain. This is because the software doesn't fix the bad sectors at all but marks areas with bad sectors as no longer in use, and by that time, things are worse than they originally were. If you take the HDD to a professional data recovery company at this moment, the failure detected will be more serious than it initially was. Actually, if you want to recover the data from the HDD with bad sector failure, the data can be smoothly recovered with corresponding equipment support, with relatively low price and high degree of data integrity. But if you make forced reading, scanning and bad sector recovery on your own, the HDD will become more damaged, even the magnetic head used to read and write data might fail. Then the price will be high and data integrity will be reduced. In individual cases, the disk might be scratched, leading to serious data loss. In the past recovery cases, many users would constantly try to read the HDD on their own, which would have a great impact on the subsequent data recovery. It is therefore suggested that non-professionals should minimize aimless operation. There is only one chance for data recovery. Please make backup and find a professional data recovery company to help rescue your valuable information.

Solutions

If the data in an HDD needs to be rescued in case of failure, the first thing to do is to find out whether the HDD failure is a logic failure or a hardware failure, which can be done through customer’s detailed description and detailed detection with professional devices. Commonly used professional devices include PC-3000, Data Compass, dust-free laboratory, microscope and oscilloscope. These professional devices and tools can help us accurately detect specific HDD failures without damaging the HDD. The Company uses corresponding technology to solve these failures, and will be able to normally extract the raw data from the HDD and recover the data as required by customers through analysis and reorganization. As a result, aimless operation will cause unnecessary damage to the HDD and affect HDD data salvation.

The HDD is broken? Can data be rescued by forced formatting?

In the process of data recovery in the past, we found that many hard drives with damaged hardware had been forcibly formatted. We've learned in the communication with customers that it was because they heard forced formatting could rescue data. But can this method really solve hardware failures and rescue data? The answer is no. Customers who have tried this method failed to rescue the data, but deepened the HDD failures instead, resulting in more data loss and higher cost of data recovery. Therefore, don’t trust such rumors. Otherwise, things will just get worse.

Common Problems with Seagate HDD

Firmware failure is one of the biggest common problems with hard drives of Seagate. Many people still remember the incident of firmware failure of Seagate in 2009. The most typical incident was the 36-hour system crash at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. The occurrence of Seagate’s firmware failure, typically without any indication, is a sudden problem in most cases. The general manifestation is normal operation when powered on, but cannot be identified. In case of such a situation, professional equipment is generally required for solution, specific terminal communication will be used to connect the HDD, and recovery is made through input instructions. Of course, each type of firmware failure also requires corresponding instructions for solution.

Common Problems with Western Digital HDD

The firmware failures with hard drives of Western Digital have various manifestations, e.g., the HDD can be identified but data access is very slow, the HDD can only identify the information of the circuit board, the HDD is working normally but cannot be identified, and etc. The most commonly used method to solve the firmware failures of Western Digital HDD is "heat exchange". The principle of heat exchange is to modify a normal HDD that has the same parameters as the failed HDD and make a certain setting of the normal HDD match the failed HDD, so as to read the data from the failed HDD. This can avoid the failure to normally access data storage areas due to the failed HDD's reading of the bad firmware upon direct start.

Common Problems with Toshiba HDD

While customers are using Toshiba HDD, one situation encountered by many customers is that the HDD is becoming increasingly slower in use, and later on, the HDD cannot be identified from time to time, and to the end, the HDD is unidentifiable completely. This situation is a typical failure of Toshiba HDD. There is a defect list in the firmware of Toshiba HDD. The purpose of the defect list is to store the bad sectors generated by HDD, and with the increase of bad sectors, the defect list will be filled up and cause the HDD to fail. To solve such a failure, it is required to clean up the defect list with corresponding equipment and extract normal data by avoiding the bad sectors, so as to recover data of the failed HDD.

Common Problems with Hitachi HDD

The most common failure with Hitachi HDD is that the HDD can be identified and can read part of the data, but while reading a certain part, the HDD will get stuck and cannot read any more. We call such a failure as good beginning and bad ending. The reason for this failure is that some part of the HDD firmware is damaged, but since Hitachi’s firmware has backup, we can successfully extract the data by reading Hitachi’s firmware backup and re-writing on the wrong firmware. Of course, it is also possible that even the backup of the firmware is damaged. In this case, it is necessary to re-repair the damaged firmware through comparison and adjustment, so as to achieve the purpose of data recovery.