He is writing in on behalf of his cousin, who "needs the documents and files stored on his C drive". The drive in question, a 500GB 7200RPM SATA disk, "wont boot", "states a hardware failure when trying to use it with a USB hard drive adapter converter", and is "just making a noise which doesn't sound normal". A hardware-failure message and an abnormal noise are two separate confirmations of the same thing: the drive is physically failing, and the noise especially means that every step from here has to protect a mechanism that is already struggling.
| Media | A 500GB 7200RPM SATA hard drive that used to be the system boot drive, now failing to boot, reporting a hardware failure through a USB adapter and making an abnormal mechanical noise |
| Reported situation | Drive won't boot · a hardware failure is reported when it is connected through a USB adapter · the mechanism makes a noise that doesn't sound normal · the documents and files on the old C drive are needed · recovery is being sought on behalf of a family member |
| Fault class | A physical drive failure with an audible mechanical element, where the abnormal noise points to trouble with the heads or spindle rather than a purely electronic or logical fault |
| Equipment used | No repeated power-on through the adapter, because abnormal noise means a mechanism that degrades with every attempt · spin-up behaviour and the character of the noise checked on a bench power supply with current monitoring · mechanism opened on the head-swap bench, with heads and spindle examined under stereo microscope · failed heads replaced with matched donor parts · reading on PC-3000 UDMA with head-map control, imaged onto DeepSpar Disk Imager · file structures rebuilt from the image and recovered documents verified as valid |
When two symptoms report the same issue, that agreement is meaningful. Here the hardware failure warning from the adapter and the unusual noises made by the drive both suggest that something is going wrong with the mechanical part of the drive. When a software error message and a physical symptom report the same thing, you have a pretty clear idea of what is wrong. Since this is a physical problem, no logical or software fix will help.
It is the strange noises that call for caution. Any time you hear unusual noises from a hard drive (clicking, grinding, straining), the drive's mechanical components, the heads or spindle, are malfunctioning, whether they are rubbing against something they should not be or are not moving correctly. Each time a drive with these issues is powered on again, the likelihood of a recoverable problem becoming unrecoverable goes up. However many attempts are made to access it, while it keeps making unusual sounds each one moves it further towards an unrecoverable fault.
A hardware fault reported by the USB adapter means the problem is not your computer: something is physically wrong with the hard drive (bad electronics or a mechanical fault). If your hard drive is connected through a USB adapter, outside the computer it was originally installed in, and it reports a hardware error rather than "no disk" or "the disk isn't recognised", this is a signal that either some of the electronics inside the hard drive are faulty, or the drive's internal mechanism has developed a problem. In either case the computer is not the cause, so the problem rests entirely with the hard drive.
When the documents belong to a family member, getting it right first time matters even more. In most cases, a failing hard drive will give you only a limited number of opportunities before it deteriorates further. Each time you connect and disconnect the drive while attempting to retrieve your files, you are burning through some of its remaining life. For this reason alone, it would make much more sense to stop attempting to retrieve the files on your own and have the drive imaged. An image is essentially a complete copy of all of the data on the original drive. It is created under controlled conditions. Creating an image as soon as possible ensures that you do not use up the drive's remaining reads by repeatedly reconnecting it in hope.
What happens next depends on what is causing the noise. With failed heads, we replace them with a matching donor head assembly, and your drive will start reading again. Problems with bearings or spindles are dealt with on our head-swap bench before imaging starts. No matter what the noise is caused by, our goal remains the same: get the drive's mechanical parts working well enough that it will read once, very carefully, so we can image it. We don't guess what the noise is from the outside; we examine the noisy parts under magnification.
The honest prognosis depends on how damaged the platters are. The documents will come back if the failure was in the heads and the surface underneath is not damaged. Where earlier running has let the heads mark the platters, the data recovered can only be as good as the areas that are still intact. That is established on inspection and communicated to him, and through him to his cousin, before the work rather than after.
The drive was not activated again via the adapter. Its spin-up and noise were characterised on a bench power supply, with the current being measured. After this, the mechanism was opened on the head-swap bench, and the heads and spindle were examined under a stereo microscope. Matched donor parts were fitted in place of the failed heads. Once these had been installed, the drive was read on a PC-3000 UDMA using head-map control, and an image was created on a DeepSpar Disk Imager. Using that image, the file structures were rebuilt, and finally the recovered documents were validated.
The mechanical problem with the drive was identified from its noise and dealt with using donor parts on the head-swap bench. The drive was then imaged using gentle techniques and rebuilt. The assessment is free, with one fixed written figure, plus VAT. If a drive has to be opened, you pay 50% of parts and labour upfront, with the balance only if we recover your data. The decode was straightforward: the failure message from the adapter and the unusual noise both indicated that the drive was failing mechanically. As the drive was imaged under control in a gentle manner rather than powered on multiple times, your cousin's documents came back.
Do not hook up your cousin's drive to any other device, whether via an adapter or another method. The odd sounds it makes indicate that the drive is mechanically failing. Every time it is turned on, the chance increases that the heads will leave marks on the platters, which could turn what was a recoverable fault into an unrecoverable one. No software or adapter can repair a mechanical failure. That becomes even more important when the drive contains somebody else's valuable information. A physically failing drive has only a limited number of attempts left in it, so recovery should happen in a controlled way on the head-swap bench rather than through repeated attempts to access the data.
Our case files are written up from genuine enquiries our lab has handled for customers across Sheffield and South Yorkshire, anonymised to protect client confidentiality. Each one describes the diagnostic and recovery approach our engineers apply to that fault, using the equipment listed.
It all begins with a free diagnostic and a fixed quote. In most cases you only pay if we recover your data, so start online now or give the freephone a call.