At Exeter Data Recovery, we are proud to be the No.1 IBM Hard Disk data recovery specialists in the South West. With over 25 years of experience, our engineering team has worked extensively with IBM’s legacy and enterprise-class storage devices. We provide secure, non-destructive, and high-success-rate recovery services for all major IBM hard drive models, including both SSD and HDD technologies.
Whether the fault is physical, firmware-based, or logical, our advanced data recovery techniques ensure that your critical data is recovered efficiently and professionally.
Common IBM Hard Drive Failures We Recover
IBM-branded hard drives—especially those found in legacy servers, blade systems, and enterprise storage platforms—may fail for a variety of technical reasons. Our team is trained to resolve all of the following:
● Mechanical Failures
- Stuck spindle motors or seized platters
- Read/write head crashes or alignment issues
- Excessive vibration or impact damage
- Internal component failure due to long-term wear
● Logical Failures
- File system corruption (NTFS, FAT32, ext3, ext4, etc.)
- Partition table loss or accidental reinitialisation
- Deleted or overwritten volumes
- Lost directory structures or unallocated space
● Bad Sectors and Media Degradation
- Read errors or drive freezing during access
- Deteriorated magnetic surfaces (especially in older drives)
- Progressive bad sector development during operation
- Slow performance or system lockups during file access
● Firmware Corruption
- Drive spinning but not detected in BIOS or OS
- Corrupt firmware modules affecting read translation tables
- ROM-based system area damage
- Vendor-specific firmware failure requiring repair tools
● PCB and Electrical Failures
- Sudden power loss or surge resulting in component failure
- Burned PCB, TVS diode failure, or shorted controller
- Need for PCB replacement and ROM chip transfer
● SSD-Specific Faults
- NAND wear or voltage instability
- Failed SSD controllers or power management chips
- Inaccessible partitions or devices not recognised
- TRIM-related data loss in IBM-branded SSDs
Our IBM Data Recovery Process – Step by Step
We follow a rigorous, technically detailed process to ensure the safest possible ibm data recovery. Each case is treated independently to maximise the chances of full recovery.
Step 1: Diagnostics & Initial Inspection
- Drive is examined for power activity, firmware status, and interface response.
- A full surface scan or electrical analysis is conducted, depending on the detected fault.
- For mechanically failed drives, disassembly occurs in a Class 100 Cleanroom environment.
Step 2: Imaging and Data Capture
- A forensic-grade sector-by-sector clone is created using tools such as PC-3000 or DeepSpar Disk Imager.
- Bad sectors are mapped and reattempted using multiple-pass imaging methods.
- This protects the original drive from further damage and ensures data safety throughout the process.
Step 3: Firmware or Electrical Repair (if required)
- If the PCB or firmware is damaged, we perform:
- Controller chip replacement
- ROM and NV-RAM chip extraction and transfer to donor boards
- Service area firmware repair and translation module reconstruction
Step 4: Logical File System Recovery
- File systems such as NTFS, FAT32, EXT4, or XFS are scanned and reconstructed.
- Deleted files, damaged indexes, and corrupted partitions are recovered and repaired.
- Data is restored with original structure and file names where possible.
Step 5: Data Integrity Verification & Transfer
- All recovered data is validated using checksums, open file tests, and hash matching.
- Recovered files are securely copied to a clean external drive provided by us or by the client.
Services Offered – IBM Hard Drive Recovery
We provide expert data recovery from all IBM storage hardware, including:
- IBM-branded HDDs used in legacy servers and workstations
- IBM SSDs from enterprise SAN or blade systems
- IBM/Hitachi Ultrastar enterprise-class drives
- IBM external hard drives and USB storage devices
- RAID arrays built using IBM drives (RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10)
- IBM drives used in xSeries, System x, and BladeCenter products
Supported Connection Types
Our recovery lab supports IBM hard drives and SSDs with the following interfaces:
- SATA (Serial ATA) – Common in desktop/server storage
- PATA / IDE (Parallel ATA) – Used in legacy IBM devices
- SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) – Common in IBM enterprise-grade hardware
- SCSI (Ultra320 and older) – Found in legacy server configurations
- PCIe / NVMe (M.2 and U.2) – IBM SSDs used in blade servers and enterprise platforms
- eSATA and USB – For IBM-branded external drives
Why Choose Exeter Data Recovery?
- 25+ Years of Proven Experience with IBM hardware and enterprise systems
- Certified Recovery Engineers with full firmware and electrical repair capability
- Cleanroom Facilities Onsite for mechanical repair and platter-level recovery
- No Outsourcing – 100% UK-Based Service in Exeter
- Advanced Recovery Tools for IBM firmware and RAID metadata reconstruction
- Free Diagnostic Evaluation and No-Recovery, No-Fee Guarantee
Contact the IBM Data Recovery Experts Today
If your IBM hard drive has failed, is no longer detected, or your data has become inaccessible, do not attempt recovery software or reinitialisation, as these actions may further damage the file system or overwrite vital metadata.
Instead, trust the professionals at Exeter Data Recovery—the industry leaders in ibm data recovery. We provide fast, secure, and professional service for all IBM drives and systems.
📞 Call now to arrange a free diagnostic and data recovery consultation with our expert team.