In-depth write-ups of real recoveries and investigations — the diagnosis, the tools and exactly how each job was brought back. Most drives are imaged on our PC3000 and DeepSpar systems before any recovery begins. For shorter summaries, see our case studies.
Seagate Barracuda 2 TB · Head crash, platter surface 2
A clicking 2 TB Barracuda with a crashed head - donor heads fitted, then a careful head-by-head image on DeepSpar.
Hitachi Deskstar 1 TB · Stiction - heads stuck to platters
A Hitachi Deskstar that buzzed but never span - heads freed in the clean area, then imaged on DeepSpar.
Maxtor DiamondMax 500 GB · Degraded heads, widespread bad sectors
An old Maxtor with worn heads and bad sectors throughout - imaged slowly on DeepSpar to recover the maximum.
Samsung SpinPoint 1 TB · Corrupt service-area modules
A Samsung SpinPoint that span up but identified as garbage - service-area modules rebuilt on the PC3000.
WD Blue 2 TB · Burnt PCB after mains surge
A WD Blue left silent by a surge - PCB repaired and its adaptive ROM transferred, then a clean image.
Kingston DataTraveler 64 GB · Failed controller
A USB stick that powered on but demanded formatting - NAND read directly and the data rebuilt from the raw dump.
Samsung T7 1 TB portable SSD · Controller failure
A Samsung T7 portable SSD that stopped being recognised - controller revived and its translator rebuilt to read the flash.
Iomega external 1 TB · Seized spindle after a fall
A dropped Iomega external whose motor had seized - platter stack freed in the clean area, then imaged on DeepSpar.
LaCie d2 4 TB · Failed USB bridge (hardware encryption)
A LaCie d2 that vanished from every PC - disk healthy, the encrypting bridge dead; identified the scheme and imaged the bare drive.
Acer Aspire · 2.5" 1 TB HDD · Head failure (clicking)
A clicking Acer Aspire laptop drive - donor heads fitted, then a head-by-head image on DeepSpar saved a dissertation.
Asus ZenBook · 512 GB NVMe SSD · Controller lock-up
An Asus ZenBook whose NVMe disappeared from the BIOS - controller revived in technical mode and the translator rebuilt.
Fujitsu Lifebook · 2.5" 320 GB HDD · Degraded surface, bad sectors
An ageing Fujitsu Lifebook drive failing with bad sectors - imaged in passes on DeepSpar to recover case files.
Windows laptop · failed motherboard · Dead board, healthy drive
A laptop that wouldn't power on - the board had failed but the drive was fine, removed and imaged externally.
Sony VAIO · 2.5" 500 GB HDD · Seized spindle, head damage
A dropped Sony VAIO laptop drive with a seized motor and damaged heads - rebuilt in the clean area, imaged on DeepSpar.
Toshiba · 2.5" 1 TB HDD · Corrupt service area
A Toshiba laptop drive that span but identified as garbage - service-area modules rebuilt on the PC3000.
MacBook Pro (Retina) · soldered SSD · Liquid damage to logic board
A liquid-damaged MacBook Pro with soldered storage - board repaired enough to read the flash and image it.
iMac · Fusion Drive (SSD + HDD) · HDD half failed, broken logical volume
An iMac Fusion Drive broken when its HDD half failed - the failed disk imaged, then the logical volume reconstructed.
Compaq desktop · IDE/PATA HDD · Degraded heads, bad sectors
An ageing Compaq desktop drive with worn heads - imaged carefully on DeepSpar to recover an old photo archive.
Dell desktop · 3.5" 2 TB HDD · Head crash
A clicking Dell desktop drive with a crashed head - donor heads fitted, then a head-by-head image on DeepSpar.
Windows PC · healthy HDD · Corrupt partition table
A PC whose drive suddenly showed as empty - a corrupt partition table rebuilt from an image, with no hardware fault.
Gateway desktop · 3.5" HDD · Seized spindle motor
A Gateway desktop drive whose motor had seized - platters transplanted into a donor and imaged on DeepSpar.
Lenovo desktop · 1 TB SATA SSD · Controller fault after power loss
A Lenovo desktop SSD that disappeared from the BIOS after a power cut - controller cleared and the data imaged.
Netgear ReadyNAS · 4-bay (X-RAID) · Volume offline after disk failure
A Netgear ReadyNAS volume that wouldn't mount after a disk failed - members imaged, then the X-RAID/btrfs volume rebuilt.
Synology · 4-bay (SHR, btrfs) · Volume crashed, disk failure + power loss
A Synology SHR volume that crashed after a disk failure and power cut - members imaged, then the SHR/btrfs volume rebuilt.
4-disk RAID 5 server · Failed rebuild, second disk dropped
A four-disk RAID 5 that failed during a rebuild - every member disk imaged, then the array reconstructed virtually from the copies.
2-disk RAID 0 · One member failed (head fault)
A two-disk RAID 0 brought down by a single failed drive - the dead member recovered, then the stripe reassembled.
2-disk RAID 1 · Bad sectors on both members
A RAID 1 where both mirror disks were failing - good sectors merged from each to reconstruct one complete image.
8-disk RAID 6 server · Multiple disk failures, array offline
A business-critical RAID 6 server down with multiple failed disks - imaged and reconstructed on an emergency, expedited basis.
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