Devices · laptops & desktop machines
A broken-down computer typically has nothing to do with a broken hard drive: everything else seems to fail on its own timeline (the screen, the motherboard etc) but the data remains safe in the hard drive. It doesn't matter whether it's your Exeter desktop or a student laptop, it's still just the files that are important to you, and so long as we can get those files from the hard drive there is no reason for us to be concerned about the rest of the computer. We need to provide a quote prior to receiving the drive itself, so please get one first, either via telephone or using the form. Please don't send us the entire computer, just post the hard drive(s), or feel free to bring it into our Bristol intake lab, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, with no appointment needed. Storage soldered directly to the motherboard is not something we undertake and therefore, if you're unsure of the type of connection your hard drive uses, we recommend calling us first before sending anything.
Talk it over with an engineer
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| What it says | What it usually means | Step one |
|---|---|---|
| HP: SMART Hard Disk Error — Hard Disk 1 (301) | SMART issues were reported by the firmware, so it will no longer allow the computer to boot from the affected disk | Believe it: get an image made |
| HP: Boot Device Not Found (3F0) | No bootable drive in sight | A dead disk or a dropped connection |
| Dell: Error Code 2000-0142 | Failed Dell self-test (heads, as a rule) | Do not repeat the test |
| Dell: Error Code 2000-0146 | The drive's error log already holds a history of errors | It has been failing for a while |
| Lenovo: 2100 — Detection error on HDD0 (Main HDD) | The drive is unseen: a loose cable, or the disk has gone | Get the image made before you touch any cables |
| A disk read error occurred — press Ctrl+Alt+Del | Boot sector destroyed, or the system disk is unreadable | Rebooting will not solve this issue |
| Reboot and Select proper Boot Device | The BIOS cannot locate an acceptable disk to boot from | We diagnose it: no reinstallation |
Your device will be logged under its own case number on the day it comes into our lab. The engineer who works on your device identifies the problem with it, clearly states what we think has a good chance of coming back and provides you with one fixed quote. There are no charges for this assessment; there is no obligation for you to do anything; and paid work does not begin until you authorise us to start.
If the drive can be unclipped, then obviously that can simply be done prior to sending, and you get to keep your laptop; just the drive is sent to us. In the case where your storage has been permanently attached to your motherboard, we do not take those units on. If you are unsure whether or not your storage was soldered down, please call us ahead of time.
Failed drives follow either the standard HDD or SSD recovery path. Healthy drives out of a dead laptop are simply imaged, often one of our fastest jobs.
Once your folders are checked against a list you have approved, they will all return to you on the new media with the same layouts (profiles, desktop, document storage, and email).
You have access to a complete list of every item recovered from your device, which you approve prior to any fees being applied. The files will be returned via new media (brand new) with the return postage paid by us, and the case remains open for as long as it takes to confirm that all the files open properly on your own machine.
A pattern from the intake bench: if the integrated diagnostics on your laptop point to storage as the problem, it is likely (in the great majority of cases) that the drive has actually failed; there may be an occasion or two where one of the leads has become unseated. In all other aspects, notebook hard drives do not have different failure characteristics from the hard disk and solid state drive scenarios previously described.
Repairing the laptop would have been a waste of money, and the hard drive was starting to click. We replaced the heads with new ones we got from a donor drive and then imaged it carefully. By the end of the third day, she had all of her lesson plans, coursework grades and reports, five years of them, back again.
Only the drive: it is much safer as well as less expensive to send, and any local repair shop can have it out in minutes. Please get a quote first, either via telephone or using our contact form, then post it to us, or bring it into our Bristol intake lab, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, with no appointment needed. We do not accept complete units, and storage that has been soldered onto the board is also something we cannot undertake. If you are unsure what type of storage you have, call us before sending.
That's pretty good odds indeed. Screens, motherboard failures and electrical failures destroy a lot more laptops than failed hard disks do. A working hard drive from a dead computer is probably as safe a bet for us as anything we'll work with.
No, as long as you are able to provide either the password or recovery key, BitLocker data recoveries are routine for us. If you do not have access to the key, then the encryption does exactly as it says, locking you and all others out; please check your Microsoft account for it.
In part, in most cases: an install overwrites some parts of the existing installation while leaving other elements intact. The sooner you stop using the computer after the install, the better chance there is of recovering anything from it. So, make stopping use of it your number one priority.
Every time a failing hardware component is powered back up, there is additional lost data. First open a case with us: the inspection (look over) is always at no cost, whichever way it goes.