Data Recovery from an External Hard Drive

We provide engineering-led data recovery for all external hard disks and portable SSDs—from dropped USB drives to encrypted, firmware-faulted or bridge-board-locked units. We support UK-wide cases and handle consumer, professional and enterprise-class enclosures.

How to send your device: place the disk in an anti-static bag, cushion it well in a padded envelope or small box, include your contact details, and post or drop it in. Diagnostics are free; we’ll confirm findings and options before any work.

Interfaces we recover (legacy → modern)

PATA/IDE, SATA I/II/III (3.5″/2.5″), SAS, Parallel SCSI (Ultra/Ultra320), Fibre Channel (via enclosures), eSATA, USB 2.0/3.x/UASP, USB-C, FireWire 400/800 (legacy), Thunderbolt 1–4 (enclosures), PCIe, NVMe, M.2 (B/M/B+M keys), U.2 / SFF-8639 / U.3, mini-SAS (SFF-8087/8643/8644), Hybrid/Fusion pairings.

Top 30 external storage brands & representative popular models

1. Seagate – Expansion Portable/Desktop, One Touch/Ultra Touch, Backup Plus Hub, Game Drive

2. Western Digital (WD) – My Passport / Ultra, Elements Portable, My Book, WD_BLACK P10/D10

3. Toshiba – Canvio Basics/Ready/Advance/Flex/Gaming

4. Samsung – Portable SSD T7/T7 Shield/T9 (legacy M3/Story HDDs)

5. LaCie – Rugged (USB-C/Thunderbolt), d2, 2big RAID

6. SanDisk – Extreme / Extreme PRO Portable SSD

7. Crucial – X6, X8, X9 Pro, X10 Pro Portable SSD

8. ADATA – HD650/HD710 Pro/HV620S (HDD), SE800/SE900G (SSD)

9. Transcend – StoreJet 25M3/25H3 (HDD), ESD270C/ESD370C (SSD)

10. Kingston – XS1000 / XS2000 Portable SSD

11. Sabrent – Rocket Nano / XTRM-Q / EC-series (prebuilt & enclosures)

12. PNY – Pro Elite / Elite-X Portable SSD

13. Silicon Power – Armor A60/A80 (HDD), Bolt B75 Pro (SSD)

14. TeamGroup – PD1000 / PD1000C Portable SSD

15. Verbatim – Store ’n’ Go Portable HDD/SSD, Vi7000

16. SanDisk Professional (G-Technology) – G-DRIVE ArmorATD, G-RAID, G-DRIVE Desktop

17. Intenso – Memory Case (HDD), Portable SSD Professional

18. Buffalo – MiniStation, DriveStation

19. iStorage – diskAshur PRO/PRO2 (HDD/SSD hardware-encrypted)

20. Apricorn – Aegis Padlock (hardware-encrypted HDD/SSD)

21. OWC – Envoy Pro EX, Mercury Elite Pro

22. CalDigit – Tuff / Tuff nano / Element Hub storage

23. Freecom – Mobile Drive / Tough Drive

24. Maxtor (by Seagate) – M3, D3

25. Emtec – Portable HDD/SSD ranges

26. Netac – Portable SSDs (Z-series)

27. TerraMaster (DAS) – D2-310/D4-300 (JBOD/RAID enclosures)

28. ORICO – Prebuilt portables & bridge-board solutions

29. Hitachi/HGST (legacy) – Touro Mobile/Pro

30. Fujitsu (legacy) – Portable external HDDs

(Models are representative; we handle all families and capacities.)

Professional recovery workflow (what we actually do)

1. Intake & write-protection – Record serials and SMART; originals handled read-only behind hardware write-blockers.

2. Bridge-board triage – Identify USB/SATA/NVMe bridge (ASMedia/JMicron/Realtek/Initio/etc.), detect hardware encryption, and bypass to native interface when needed.

3. Electronics/firmware – TVS/regulator checks, ROM/EEPROM transfer, SA (service area) module validation, translator rebuilds, pre-amp tests.

4. Mechanical (HDD) – Head-stack swaps, spindle swap/platter migration (radial alignment & clocking preserved), stiction release, servo alignment.

5. Imaging strategy – PC-3000/DeepSpar multi-pass cloning (head-select, zone priority, progressive block sizes, reverse reads, adaptive timeouts).

6. SSD/NVMe specifics – Controller SAFE/ROM mode, FTL (L2P) extraction, ECC/XOR/interleave parameters; chip-level NAND workflows only when necessary.

7. Logical reconstruction – APFS/HFS+, NTFS/ReFS, exFAT/FAT32, EXT/XFS/ZFS; journal/intent replay, B-tree & bitmap repair; content-aware carving for photos/video/office.

8. Encryption – BitLocker/FileVault/SED support with valid keys; decryption is performed on the clone; otherwise raw carving for any plaintext remnants.

9. Verification & delivery – SHA-256 manifests, sample file opens, directory audits; secure handover.

Top 75 external-drive faults we recover — and how we resolve them

Mechanical (HDD)

1. Head crash/clicking: Donor HSA matched by micro-code; translator rebuild; head-map imaging (good heads/zones first).

2. Spindle seizure/no spin: Spindle swap or platter migration to donor base; SA validation; clone good surfaces.

3. Stiction (heads stuck): Controlled release; pre-amp test; immediate short-timeout cloning.

4. Platter scoring: Donor heads; isolate damaged surfaces; partial imaging with skip maps.

5. Off-track servo: Adaptive calibration; low-speed track following; recover readable ranges.

6. Ramp/parking failure: HSA replacement, ramp alignment, bias checks; clone per head.

7. Excessive reallocated/pending sectors: Multi-pass, reverse/small-block reads; reconstruct FS around gaps.

8. Servo wedge damage: Interleave reads; skip wedges; logical rebuild with holes documented.

9. Bearing noise/drag: Spindle swap; recalibrate SA; image in thermal-controlled windows.

10. Helium loss symptoms: Treat as mechanical; conservative imaging; partial recovery expected.

Electronics & Bridge Boards

11. PCB burn/TVS short: Replace TVS/regulator; ROM move; safe power; image.

12. Pre-amp short (read channel dead): HSA swap; bias verification; clone.

13. Corrupt ROM/adaptives: Rebuild from donor family; patch adaptives.

14. Translator/SA module corruption: Re-gen from P/G-lists; rewrite modules; restore LBA.

15. USB-SATA bridge failure: Bypass to native SATA; replace enclosure if required.

16. Encrypted bridge (WD/Samsung/iStorage): Extract keystore/metadata; decrypt on the image with user key/PIN.

17. FireWire bridge dead: Bridge transplant or native bus; clone.

18. Thunderbolt enclosure resets: Limit link speed; firmware update; image via stable host.

Media & Signal Integrity

19. Bad sectors “storms”: Adaptive timeouts, retry budgets, cooling cycles; reverse pass; map weak LBAs.

20. SMR write log corruption: Reconstruct zone translator; logical rebuild.

21. Magnetic surface wear (aged 2.5″): Small-block, low-queue imaging; fill gaps post.

22. Intermittent USB dropouts: Bench PSU & powered hub; UASP→BOT fallback; clone.

23. Cable/backplane CRC errors: Replace path; image with hardware imager only.

SSD/NVMe in external cases

24. Controller lock/firmware crash: Admin reset; ROM/SAFE mode; L2P/FTL extraction; namespace clone.

25. NAND wear/ECC maxed: ECC threshold tuning; majority-vote reads; channel/plane isolation.

26. Power-loss metadata loss: Rebuild mapping/journals; if absent, chip-level dumps and reassembly (ECC/XOR/interleave).

27. Thermal throttling resets: Active cooling, staged reads, reduced queue depth.

28. BGA controller detachment: Prefer ROM/SAFE access; reball only as last resort.

29. Unknown XOR/scrambler: Derive via known-plaintext; apply across dumps.

30. Hidden vendor namespace: Enumerate/admin cmds; clone all namespaces.

Enclosure/Power/Physical Damage

31. Bent USB connector: Re-terminate connector; micro-wire jumpers if pads torn; image.

32. Broken PCB traces: Continuity mapping; micro-jumpers; stabilise; image.

33. 5V short from surge: Replace protection; verify rails; safe power; clone.

34. Water ingress (freshwater): Controlled dry; corrosion mitigation; then image.

35. Saltwater exposure: De-ionised rinse, controlled ultrasonic, dry; image or chip-level.

36. Fire/heat damage: Inspect packages; if intact, slow ECC-heavy imaging/dumps.

37. Vibration/shock in transit: Clean ramp alignment; HSA verify; immediate imaging.

38. Noisy PSU from hub/TV: Bench PSU, EMI filtering; stable clone.

File-System / Logical

39. exFAT/FAT32 “needs formatting”: Image; rebuild boot/FAT/bitmap; carve missing chains.

40. NTFS shows RAW: Pair $MFT/$MFTMirr; replay $LogFile; repair $Bitmap; recover orphans.

41. APFS/HFS+ won’t mount: APFS object map/spacemap rebuild; HFS+ catalog/extent B-trees; journal replay.

42. ReFS metadata error (on externals): CoW rollback; shadow copy mining.

43. EXT/XFS on Linux backups: Superblock/journal repair; readonly export.

44. Partition table loss (GPT/MBR): Rebuild from secondary headers and FS signatures.

45. Accidental deletion: Unallocated scan; snapshot/state recovery; signature carving.

46. Accidental format (quick): Boot/FS rebuild; carve for orphaned data.

47. Time Machine sparsebundle corrupt: Band map reconstruction; mountable DMG from bands.

48. Large PST/OST corrupt: Low-level store repair; export to fresh PST.

49. Office files won’t open: OOXML ZIP repair; stream fix; CRC regeneration.

50. Video (MP4/MOV) unplayable: Rebuild moov/mdat; GOP re-index; re-mux.

51. Photo RAW fragmentation: Heuristic stitching using maker notes; preview recovery.

52. SQLite/QuickBooks DB damage: Page-level salvage; schema rebuild; export rows.

Encryption & Security

53. BitLocker To Go without key: Requires recovery key/password; otherwise raw carving only.

54. FileVault-encrypted external: Decrypt with credentials; rebuild APFS; export.

55. SED (self-encrypting) enclosure: Use user PIN/key; reconstruct mapping; decrypt on clone.

56. Malware/locker damage to metadata: Offline parse; journal replay; recover pre-encryption states where possible.

RAID/DAS / Multi-Disk Externals

57. 2-bay JBOD/Raid0 in a desktop enclosure: Clone members; virtualise array; recover.

58. RAID1 external mirror failure: Use healthy member; rebuild from mirror metadata.

59. RAID5/10 desktop DAS (TerraMaster/OWC): Clone all disks; compute stripe/parity; export.

Operating-System / Host Issues

60. Windows auto-repair “fixed” drive: Always image first; undo/repair on clone.

61. macOS First Aid altered catalog: Work on image; revert changes; rebuild properly.

62. Driver/UASP instability: Force BOT; stable host; image.

63. “Access denied” after ACL corruption: Export from clone; fix ACLs/ownership.

64. OneDrive/Dropbox placeholders only: Recover local cache/data store from image.

Advanced Media Conditions

65. Localized weak head: Disable head; image per-head; rebuild tree from good surfaces.

66. Hot-zone degradation: Thermal map; short, cooled imaging sessions; reverse pass.

67. Firmware slow-response bug (families): Module repair; translator regen; image.

68. G-list overflow: Purge/patch lists; rebuild translator; careful imaging.

69. SA copy 0 unreadable: Mirror SA recovery; module copy/repair.

70. ROM ID mismatch after bad PCB swap: Move/adapt ROM; retrain adaptives.

71. SMR host-managed anomalies: Reconstruct ZAC/ZBC mapping; logical repair.

72. Hybrid HDD+NAND cache corruption: Identify pair; image HDD + cache; merge.

73. Hidden OEM/diagnostic partitions: Image all; mount separately; export content.

74. Counterfeit capacity wrap-around: Map true capacity; recover genuine region; warn on missing tail.

75. Frequent CRC during OS copy: Avoid OS; use hardware imager; build error map; recover from clone.

Why choose Sheffield Data Recovery

• 25+ years dedicated to HDD/SSD engineering and forensic-grade workflows

• Bridge-board, firmware and mechanical expertise (HDD & NVMe/SSD)

• Advanced imagers & donor inventory to maximise recovery odds

• Forensic discipline: write-blocked handling, SHA-256 verification, documented results

• Free diagnostics with clear, evidence-based recovery options

Ready to start? Package your device safely (anti-static + padded envelope/small box) and post or drop it in. We’ll assess, present options, and proceed with the recovery path you approve.