Unreliable Toshiba MQ04UBB400 Stops Working

May 16, 2022April 15, 2022 by Aaron Hook

External USB Toshiba Drive that just stopped working.

This External Toshiba MQ04UBB400 drive came in from a client in Michigan. They had been using the hard drive for about a year when it started to not show up on their computer any longer. It started out just being unreliable, and then eventually stopped showing up completely. Mail-in Toshiba data recovery The client contacted a local data recovery technician in Michigan who had the equipment necessary to complete imaging and PCB-based recoveries, but the tech did not have a PC-3000 for more advanced data recovery procedures. The recovery technician recommended us for the data recovery as we have been able to help their clients in the past with affordable data recovery. Swapping the G0034A PCB The first step I like to complete with these Toshiba MQ04UBB400 USB-based drives (drives that have the USB port built onto the PCB), is to swap out the PCB with a standard SATA based PCB. In this case, I had the USB PCB part in stock so I was able to swap the PCB board out and move over … Read more

MacBook Pro Spinning Wheel Recovery

May 12, 2022April 11, 2022 by Aaron Hook

MacBook Pro Seagate Drive that is not booting fully

I received a call from a client that needed a MacBook Pro spinning wheel recovery. Their MacBook Pro would get stuck on the spinning wheel at startup and would not boot fully. They had taken the computer to a computer repair shop hoping they would be able to get the machine to boot again, but the repair shop told them the issue was with the hard drive. This meant the client could get the hard drive replaced in the laptop and have a working machine again, but any of the data that was on the old laptop drive could not be transferred over to the new laptop drive. MacBook Pro Data Recovery This client had both work documents and family photos on their computer before it failed, so they needed data recovery services to get that important data back as safely as possible. The repair shop recommended us to help complete the spinning wheel recovery project and the client brought their drive in for recovery. Diagnosing the Seagate drive Some people are surprised to learn … Read more

Seagate ST31000528AS iMac Recovery

September 30, 2022April 8, 2022 by Aaron Hook

There are certain scenarios where bad sectors can really cause a lot of problems. In most bad sector cases, the data that is not stored in the failing sectors is easily retrieved by the owner of the drive, and many times they don’t even know they have an issue with their drive until they try to move files off of it that are stored in the area of the drive with the failing sectors. In this ST31000528AS iMac recovery case, the bad sectors on this Seagate hard drive caused the drive to not show up on the client’s computer, and even a computer repair shop couldn’t get any usable data from it. iMac stops responding The call came from a customer that had brought their Apple iMac into a computer repair shop when their drive had stopped responding out of the blue. Instead of booting the iMac was just showing a white screen. The Seagate ST31000528AS drive from inside the iMac would not mount on any of the repair shop’s equipment, even after they physically … Read more

Beeping Toshiba Drive Recovered Quickly

May 12, 2022April 5, 2022 by Aaron Hook

Anytime I hear that a Toshiba drive is making a beeping sound and not showing up on the computer, I think of stuck heads. Beeping drives are very commonly drives with heads stuck on the platter. With a beeping Toshiba drive, you usually hear a beeping sound 1-3 times before the drive just goes silent. Because the heads are stuck on the platters, the platter is not able to move. You hear a beeping sound because the motor is trying to spin and failing. Toshiba Mail-in Recovery In this beeping Toshiba drive case, the customer took their computer to a local computer repair shop because their drive had just stopped working. The shop diagnosed the problem as a bad hard drive and told them to mail it to us for recovery. The customer contacted us to see if we might be able to recover the important photos and excel files present on the drive. Based on our track record with beeping drives, I assured them there was a very good chance the data would be … Read more

Dropped My Passport Data Recovery

May 16, 2022April 2, 2022 by Aaron Hook

My Passport External Hard Drive Not showing up

My Passport stops showing up after drop This Western Digital My Passport external drive was dropped and then stopped showing up on the client’s computer. The client initially took the drive to another recovery shop that was nearer to them but were told their My Passport drive could not be recovered by them. Thankfully, the shop referred the client to us for My Passport data recovery and I was able to successfully get back their important data at an affordable price! Swapping the PCB Once the My Passport was received I started with a recovery diagnosis. This particular My Passport had a WD10TMVW model hard drive inside. This particular hard drive has a PCB board with a USB port directly attached to the board. This means that the data recovery tools (which are designed to work with regular SATA connections) can’t connect to the drive directly. I started by swapping out the USB PCB with a donor PCB with a SATA connection. It can be very difficult to find the PCB with the SATA connection … Read more

Economical Hitachi hard drive recovery

May 16, 2022March 29, 2022 by Aaron Hook

Hitachi desktop 1TB drive that is not recognized by computer

This 1TB HDS721010CLA332 Hitachi hard drive recovery was mailed to us after it stopped being detected by the computer it was installed in. The hard drive was used to store family photos and videos, so it was important to get all the data from the hard drive! As a dad, I understand how important these recoveries are. Mail-in HDS721010CLA332 recovery The client had brought their HDS721010CLA332 model hard drive to another shop first to find out if the data was recoverable, but that shop was not able to get the data back. Thankfully, the shop recommended us to the customer as an affordable data recovery lab, and the customer mailed their hard drive in for recovery. We receive drives from all over the country for recovery, so if you have a drive you need to be recovered, we can help! Diagnosing for data recovery Once the HDS721010CLA332 Hitachi drive arrived, I started with an inspection and found that the issue with the drive was a slow head and some bad sectors. I turned off all … Read more

Professional Synology Data Recovery

May 12, 2022March 24, 2022 by Aaron Hook

Two drives from a Synology that stopped working

These 2 Western Digital drives came in from a Synology RAID device. The data was important as it was the main server for a lawyer firm, so a Synology data recovery service was needed. The RAID just stopped mounting and the customer had brought the device into a local repair shop to try to get it back up and running. The repair shop was not able to access any of the data on the drives and they recommended us for the data recovery service. Recovering a RAID Array Different RAIDs are configured with different settings. In this case, the RAID was configured in what is called a RAID 0 format. This means half the data is on one drive, and half the data is on the other. A RAID configuration like RAID 0 will help the storage device run much faster than if you are storing files on a single drive. But if one drive fails, you lose access to all the data. With a Synology RAID like this, you can’t just pull the drives … Read more

Completely Dead Toshiba DT01ACA100 Case Study

May 16, 2022March 21, 2022 by Aaron Hook

Completely dead Toshiba drive 3.5 desktop drive

Anytime I hear that the most important data is Quickbooks and Excel files, I know I am dealing with a small business that really needs its data back! As a small business owner myself, I know exactly how important those business files are. Recreating them is usually possible, but the amount of time you invest in creating the files is overwhelming when you start thinking about having to create them all over again. I am pleased to be able to offer affordable data recovery services for small businesses. I also have a rush or priority service if you need your data back as quickly as possible. Dead Toshiba DT01ACA100 Recovery This Toshiba drive came in from a family that had multiple small businesses locally here in El Dorado, Kansas. And they needed that data back as soon as possible to be able to pick up where they left off when the drive just stopped working. Diagnosing the dead hard drive They reported that the Toshiba DT01ACA100 hard drive was completely dead. Once I had it … Read more

Seagate ST5000DM000 Recovery -Drive not responsive

May 16, 2022March 18, 2022 by Aaron Hook

This 5TB Seagate ST5000DM000 recovery came from a customer in Idaho. They had already tried to have the hard drive recovered at a few different data recovery shops closer to them, but none of them had been successful in getting the data off the drive. The hard drive was reported to spin up and sound good, but the computer would not recognize it at all. It would not mount on the desktop or even show up in any utilities. Seagate ST5000DM000 Recovery The client has actually been in the tech industry for many years (there is a lot of tech in Idaho, believe it or not), so they were comfortable explaining what the issue was with the ST5000DM000 hard drive and what the other shops had said they thought the problem might be. It sounded to me like it could possibly be some more advanced firmware issue, which is something a lot of shops are not able to handle as it takes a lot of experience to know how to fix some of the odder … Read more

Speedy RAID Recovery for HP Enterprise SAS

May 16, 2022March 15, 2022 by Aaron Hook

4 HP drives from RAID being recovered by PC-3000

RAID recovery is one of my favorite types of recovery. The recovery process can be pretty difficult and time consuming, but solving the puzzle and getting the data back feels especially rewarding. I am pleased to be able to offer an affordable RAID recovery option nationwide. RAID 5 Recovery I was in Wichita doing a drive pickup and brought my boys with me to make a quick stop at Vintage Stock in Towne West Square. The boys love going through the vintage games for our NES, and I love going through the vintage records and cassettes! It really is a super fun place to stop by and hunt for something you want. Anyway, while I was getting a few vinyl records, I got a call regarding this 6 drive RAID that needed data recovery. The call came from a shop that sends clients to me when the RAID recovery is something beyond what they can handle. This SAS RAID was a RAID 5 with what was reported to be 1 drive not working properly out … Read more