A drop, knock or fall can crash the heads into the platters — and every power-on risks scratching them further. Our engineers open the drive, replace the damaged parts from our 10,000-strong inventory, and recover your data in-house.
$ bdr diagnose /dev/sda → Device: Seagate ST1000LM048 (1 TB, 2.5") → Status: DROPPED — head crash / heads not reading → Client: Marsh, K. · Bishopston BS7 $ bdr engineer-working → Donor heads matched: from stock · 0 days wait → Head-stack swap: complete → Imaging: 0.81 TB / 1.00 TB (81%) $ bdr verify → ✓ photos — 58,210 files → ✓ university_work — 3,940 files → ✓ everything reachable — recovered
A dropped drive that clicks, grinds or works only intermittently has damaged heads. Every time it spins, those heads can scratch the platters and destroy data that is still recoverable today. Don't run recovery software and don't keep retrying it — power it down and talk to us.
Hard drives are built to fine tolerances, so even a short fall can do real mechanical harm. These are the faults we see — and recover from — most often.
In over 25 years we have recovered dropped and damaged drives from every major brand. If it stores data on spinning platters, we can almost certainly help.
Internal and external · 3.5" desktop and 2.5" laptop · SATA, SAS, IDE/PATA and SCSI · from 40 GB legacy drives to the latest 24 TB helium models.
Recovering a dropped or damaged drive means physically repairing it first. We replace what the fall has broken, then read your data back — carefully, in the right order.
Bring in or post your drive. We assess the head, platter and motor damage and send a written quote — usually within 48 hours.
Our engineers open the drive in-house to examine the heads and platters under magnification and confirm exactly what the fall has damaged.
We pull matched heads, motors or parts from our inventory — no waiting weeks for a donor drive to be sourced.
We carefully replace the crashed head stack — the most common impact damage — and any other failed components.
We clone the repaired drive sector by sector to stable storage, working patiently around any scratched or weak areas.
We rebuild your files from the image, check them against a file listing, and return your data on fresh media.
We backup your data to either an external drive and ship it back to you, or we also offer a free download service for your data up to 75GB.
Matching heads, motors and parts in-house means most dropped and damaged drives move straight to repair — no waiting weeks for a donor drive to be sourced.
Tell us about your drive and we will get back to you, usually within 30 minutes during the day.
We will be in touch shortly. For anything urgent, call 0117 332 1137.
No hidden fees and no pressure — just a free diagnostic and a written quote before any work starts.
A snapshot of recent dropped and damaged recoveries, handled in-house. Names redacted, results verified.
Classic head crash from the fall. We matched a donor head stack from stock, performed an in-house head swap, and imaged the drive on the second pass.
Impact damaged the heads and motor. We replaced both from inventory, re-aligned the assembly, and recovered the full volume.
Crashed heads after the fall. We fitted a matched donor head stack, imaged the drive, and returned nearly every file.
Reviews from real clients whose dropped and damaged drives we brought back.
I dropped my laptop and the hard drive started clicking. They replaced the heads and recovered all of my photos and documents. Absolute lifesavers.
Our external drive was knocked off the desk and stopped working completely. They opened it up, fixed the damage and got everything back within days.
Knocked my PC over during a house move and lost access to years of work. They recovered nearly everything. I cannot recommend them enough.
Send us your device for a free diagnostic, and tell us a little about what happened — an engineer will review it and confirm your exact quote in writing before any work begins.
Recovering your data starts with getting the device to us. Pack it safely, add your contact details, and send it over — after we run a free diagnostic, we’ll confirm your exact price in writing before any work begins.
Posting it in? We recommend a tracked, insured service. Prefer to drop it off? You’re welcome Monday–Friday, 9am–5:30pm — please still package the device as above.
If you need more information on our data recovery service, fill out the form with more detail about your issue and an engineer will review it and give you a custom quote.
We’ll be in touch shortly. For anything urgent, call 0117 332 1137.
The questions we are asked most about dropped and physically damaged drives.
A drop can slam the read/write heads into the platters, damaging both. The clicking is the heads failing to read and resetting over and over. It is a physical fault that needs the drive opened and the heads replaced — not something software can fix.
No — this is the single most important thing. Every time a dropped drive with damaged heads spins up, it can scratch the platters further and turn a recoverable job into permanent loss. Switch it off immediately and leave it alone until we have seen it.
In most cases, yes. We open the drive in-house, replace the crashed heads and any damaged parts from our inventory, then image the drive and rebuild your files. Severity varies, but dropped and knocked drives are routine work for us.
No. Intermittent access after a drop means the heads are already failing. Each attempt risks more platter damage, so continuing to use it is the quickest way to lose everything. Power it down and contact us.
Our standard price for a dropped or damaged hard drive is £300 + VAT. You get a free, written diagnostic first, and on most jobs it is no fix, no fee. Severe physical damage such as scratched platters may need a higher critical-recovery quote, which we always confirm in writing before any work begins.
Most dropped-drive recoveries are completed within 3 to 4 working days once you approve the quote, and the initial diagnostic is usually finished within 48 hours. Urgent cases can often be prioritised — just let us know.
Every major manufacturer, including Seagate, Western Digital, Toshiba, Samsung, HGST, Hitachi, Maxtor, Fujitsu, IBM, Quantum, SanDisk, LaCie, G-Technology, Buffalo, Verbatim, ADATA, Transcend, Silicon Power, Iomega, UnionSine, ModusTech and Intenso — in both 3.5-inch desktop and 2.5-inch laptop and external form factors.
You can drop it off at our Bristol location Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, or post it to us fully insured. Ensure the drive is packaged and sealed, include your full contact details inside the package including Name, Address, Phone Number and Email Address so we can fully book in your drive. Once we have it, we will run the free diagnostic and send you a written quote before any work begins.
Free written diagnostic, no fix no fee on most jobs, and a 10,000-part inventory behind every repair. Start your recovery today.