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Hard Disk SMART Errors

/ / Data Recovery Services

In this post we look at 2 common hard disk problems:

  • How to get your data back when you get a “Disk Error” message
  • Recovering data from a hard drive with a SMART error

How to fix a disk error

“Disk error” is a common message to see when a hard disk stops working. The actual error message describes little about the actual problem with the disk though, instead it just tells us that something is not working and the hard disk can not longer be accessed. Here’s a typical scenario:

I boot my machine and simply says “disk error” and doesn’t go any further.
I have a folder on there that is photographs of family members on the desktop.
I think from what I can remember is I had the machine built when I ran my photography business it was my first machine. I had it built on a RAID5.
The unfortunate thing is that the guy who built it who is real great mind like yourselves died of cancer about 3 years ago. He kept logs and stuff, I know he did. But when I went back to the shop they said he had passed away. Really sad.
I cannot even sleep at night thinking about the potential that these images are gone.

'Disk Error' error message

First of all to try and rectify this problem and get to your files again try these simple fixes. If this doesn’t work then your hard drive has a more serious problem that will require a data recovery service – see our location pages to find a local data recovery centre near you. RAID5 data storage provides additional difficulty when recovering data – you can view our RAID 5 data recovery page here: https://www.dataclinic.co.uk/raid-data-recovery/.

Recovering data from SMART errors

I have a user who has experienced a SMART error on his Seagate hard drive
I have tried unsuccessfully to recover the data using an external hard drive adapter card.
There are extremely vital emails on the drive which unfortunately have not been backed up and are required for a very important project.
Would you be able to offer any advice on whether this data is recoverable and possibly a quote for the service? I am in Manchester.

Hard disk SMART error

SMART errors concern the health of your hard drive. SMART is a type of disk monitoring that runs in the system background, when certain values are exceeded a flag is raised and a SMART error is generated (see here). Usually once a SMART error is produced it’s too late to run any type of file recovery software on the hard drive as the system will no longer give you access to the disk. The only option you usually have is to use a data recovery service who will be able to bypass the SMART error and hopefully retrieve your data. You can find details of Data Clinic’s Manchester office here.

data, disk, error, recovery, smart

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Data Clinic Reviews

Data Clinic Ltd - Manchester
Data Clinic Ltd - Manchester
4.5
Based on 141 reviews
See all reviewsWrite a review
Stewart Whitworth
Stewart Whitworth
12:42 28 Jun 22
Whilst Data Clinic were not able to retrieve the data from 1 of the 3 drives I sent to them - they were very easy to work with, accomodated my requests allowing for a very flexible recovery process (I dropped off the drives in person and provided an obscure drive type for the recovered data which they were perfectly happy with). When I asked why the last drive was unrecoverable, they explained with lots of detail, and of course I was not charged for said drive.I've learnt my lesson and hopefully won't ever need a recovery service again, but if I do I know who to go to!
Brian Greco
Brian Greco
13:38 09 Jun 22
3 years of my lifes' work and photos saved because of the amazing professionals at this company. My iPhone XS Max got stuck in a "boot loop" with a nearly full 512GB of storage. Most of the internet said there was no hope for this Error 14/1110: but Michelle, Elliot, and the team at Data Clinic said otherwise. Amazing friendly personable customer coordination from Michelle including arrangement of emergency service for which I flew into Manchester to the main lab. Elliot was patient, capable, and helped get the job DONE! I now have my phone not only backed up to an SSD for the data itself, but my phone is working as it was, and has updated software to the newest iOS. I cannot express my gratitude enough for the capable professionals who I was able to trust here at Data Clinic. I truly believe this is the best tech service I have ever experienced. Worth every penny and grateful for the invaluable benefit of my memories being restored. THANK YOU! Brian from USA based in Turkey

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