120GB Intel SSDSA2CW120G3 Data Recovery

September 2, 2022 by Aaron Hook

The SSDSA2CW120G3 Drive Issue This 120GB Intel SSDSA2CW120G3 came in with the issue description that it had just stopped working. It had important files on it that were not backed up, so the client was looking to get as much data back as possible. The drive had already been to another shop that attempted to run software-based data recovery applications on it, but they were not able to get back any of the important information. The shop that looked at it sends drives it is not able to recover to us. We have a great track record of recovering their customer’s drives, so this client was excited to hopefully get their important information back. 8MB bad CTX SSD Diagnosis Once I received the SSDSA2CW120G3 drive, I started with testing to see if there was a power-based issue. Sometimes with solid state drives the issue is just that the power is not getting through the board as it should, but on this one, the drive did power on and I could see the issue was the … Read more

SD Card Recovery – Fix Corrupt Memory Card and Recover Data

August 17, 2022August 9, 2022 by Aaron Hook

SanDisk Ultra Plus 32GB Micro SD Recovery Micro SD memory cards provide convenient and cheap storage for DSLRs and other portable devices. In some cases an SD memory card may be corrupted accidentally or damaged in some way, causing loss of stored photos, videos, audio files, or other important data. In this case, the micro SD card recovery was required because the card had issues with bad sectors. Common signs & symptoms of a corrupt or damaged SD card The most common sign of a corrupt or damaged SD card is that the sd card will not show up on your computer when you plug it in. If you have important data stored on the card, you will likely need to have data recovery performed to get those files recovered. Another symptom of a failing micro SD card is that it will unmount during use. If your memory card is showing this intermittent symptom, you will want to backup your important file to a different storage device like an external hard drive before you need … Read more

My Passport For Mac Recovered – Literally $2100 in Savings!

July 12, 2022 by Aaron Hook

This Western Digital My Passport external hard drive came to me from a client that had tried another data recovery company first. He had sent it out to one of the big data recovery companies and received a quote of $2500 for the recovery. These multi-thousand dollar quotes are not unusual in the recovery industry, I hear from clients all the time about these high quotes. While the family photos on the drive were worth that much to them, they decided to see if they could find a better price for the recovery as $2500 was not in the budget. They had found us after calling their local computer repair shop to see if they could recommend anybody else besides the big recovery company they had already tried. The shop told them about us, so they got the drive back from the big recovery company and gave us a call to discuss their hard drive issue. They reported that the drive had just stopped working and was no longer showing up on their computer. They … Read more

Why is my external hard drive beeping?

May 20, 2022May 20, 2022 by Aaron Hook

Recovering hard drive that is making a beeping noise This beeping Samsung drive came in from a local computer repair shop. They had sent it to us for recovery as they were not able to get anything from it themselves. They reported that when plugged in the drive would make audible beeps, but would not show up on their computer at all. If you run a repair shop and need an affordable recovery lab to work with, please get in touch as we offer a few options! Why is my external hard drive beeping? Your external hard drive is beeping because the platters are not able to spin as they should. This is usually caused by the heads being stuck to the surface of the platter instead of being on the parking ramp where they should be. Beeping hard drives are usually drives with stuck heads. Many people will hear the beeping sound coming from their Samsung drive and think it is some sort of error noise. I have had a couple of clients mention … Read more

Odd Samsung 970 EVO Data Recovery

May 16, 2022April 25, 2022 by Aaron Hook

Sometimes a data recovery doesn’t go as you expect, this Samsung 970 EVO data recovery definitely was out of the ordinary! These Solid State Drives are excellent to help speed up your computer. As the price comes down I am seeing more and more of these in the wild. I expect to see a lot of these drives needing data recovery as they are so popular. Remember to always back up your data as any drive can fail. Samsung 970 EVO Mail-in Recovery This Samsung 970 EVO needed data recovery because it had important data that could no longer be accessed. The client stated that the Samsung SSD just stopped working out of the blue. They had brought it into a computer repair shop, but the repair shop said they were not able to recover any of the data from the drive as it would not mount or even be recognized on any of their recovery rigs. Almost all the drives I receive for data recovery have already been to a computer repair shop. Some … Read more

Unusual ST1000LM035 Firmware Issues Recovery

May 12, 2022April 19, 2022 by Aaron Hook

There are times (rare, but they do happen) when I receive a drive with a firmware issue that is beyond my capabilities to fix. Firmware issues can be very routine (like the Module 32 WD Slow Fix firmware issue), to something like this ST1000LM035 firmware situation where I had to contact the makers of the PC-3000 data recovery rig I have to help with the firmware fix. Recovering ST1000LM035 Firmware Issue This ST1000LM035 Seagate hard drive was a mail-in from Houston, Texas. The client needed to get their personal photos and school documents from the Seagate drive that was inside their laptop. The drive was no longer mounting and the other repair and recovery shops they had gone to said the drive was not recoverable. They reported the drive had just stopped working and had not been dropped or damaged in any way. Inspecting the drive for recovery When I received the drive, I completed a visual inspection and found that the drive looked physically perfect. No issues were visible with the heads, platters, PCB, … Read more

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

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