Data Recovery
Example case study

Recovering data from an unidentified laptop hard disk drive

The drive was swiftly removed from the laptop by our customer and forwarded to his IT department for attempted Data Recovery. Unable to retrieve the data the IT department got in touch with Data Clinic explaining the symptoms of the drive, which now refused to spin at all.

On arrival at our Manchester office it was found that the drive label had been completely removed as had the barcode found on the side of the drive containing the serial number. One of the most difficult problems presented to data recovery is not knowing what, exactly, the media that you are attempting to recover from really is. From time to time dataclinic are presented with a data loss situation where with the best will in the world you are unable to immediately identify the medium on which you are working.

Without the luxury of a model number, manufacturer’s codes or a working drive to provide that information an investigation began to determine first of all; what the problem with the drive was, and secondly what if any parts were needed to recover the drive. Experience in handling hard disk drives allowed our technicians to visually identify that the hard disk drive was a Fujitsu laptop drive of the MHS or MHT series.

A detailed inspection of the PCB layout confirmed that the drive was infact of the MHT series, we also discovered that a fuse protecting both the motor and drive power +5V rails had blown, this fault was circumvented by replacing the damaged component. Whilst having a working PCB was a good starting point we still needed more information before attempting a recovery.

Prior to attempting to power on the drive it was necessary to make sure that in doing so we would not further complicate matters, a full internal inspection was carried out on the drive within our Class 100 clean room. The hard drive was found to have a problem known within the industry as ‘stiction’, stiction occurs when a hard drive (usually a laptop drive) suddenly stops spinning whilst the heads are positioned over the platter surface. Luckily in most cases the impact is not enough to cause any serious lasting damage, and in this case the platter surface was found to have sustained only minor damage. This problem was swiftly resolved and the investigation continued.

Using an Oscilloscope we were able to test the head assembly, only to find that the pre-amplifier chip was not responding, a fault which renders the head assembly useless. The head stack assembly was replaced with a fully tested and working stack from an identical drive. At this point we were ready to power up the drive in a controlled manner to see whether the repairs that had been carried were a success.

Other than a handful of bad sectors the drive was fully cloned and data streamed to another media for return.

Links
>> More about laptop hard disk failues
>> More about EMAK – Data Clinic's hard disk repair and data recovery tool

>> Go to our main data recovery page

The benefits of sending your damaged hard disks to

Best-in-Class Data Recovery
Our advanced techniques and methodologies allow us to perform complex hard drive recoveries, even on extremely damaged hard drives.

Recovery Options
In-Lab or On-Site recovery services, plus a variety of turnaround times to suit your requirements.

Success Rate
Data Clinic's data recovery success rate is proven by a consistent track record of recovering data after failed recovery attempts by other data recovery companies.

Free Advice and Consultation
Data Clinic Data Recovery provides free consultation to determine the best course of action without requiring any further obligation or financial commitment.

Fixed Cost
Data Clinic will quote you an exact price for the recovery of your data before you send your job to us. This will be the price we charge you. There are no hidden extras.

Customer Services
Data Clinic dedicated Customer Service team will keep you informed of the progress of your job and are available 7 days a week.