Best Reviews logo
Best Reviews may receive compensation for its content through paid collaborations. See how we sustain our work & review products.
How to Recover Data From a Dead Hard Drive

How to Recover Data From a Dead Hard Drive

By István F. István F. Verified by Adam B. Adam B. Last updated: July 18, 2024 (0)

It’s 8am in the morning. George arrives at the office after a battle with rush hour traffic with only one goal in his head: the deadline for sending his application for start-up funding is today. He and his team have been working on this for the past few months, and the business needs financial help to stay alive. But when George arrives at his desk and jams the start button of his desktop computer, disaster strikes: the computer won’t start!

It’s a struggle that can happen to anyone, and when the computer shows no sign of life and the hard drive containing all their data is dead, it’s easy to panic – especially when the stakes are so high. But what is the solution in such situations? Can that precious data be restored?

1. Connect the dead drive to another computer

As the header suggests, you will need another computer to connect the failed drive to. Desktop PC users can connect it through a SATA cable, while laptop owners can purchase an external USB cradle designed to accept common types of hard drives.

For Mac users in such a scenario, the Mac’s target disk mode is very handy. Just connect the faulty Mac to another via FireWire or Thunderbolt cable, turn the second Mac on, and then press and hold the T key while it starts up. The second Mac should see the hard drive of the failed machine as an external disk.

2. Assess whether it is a mechanical or logical drive failure

Every storage medium will eventually fail, but it does matter how. A mechanical failure is far worse than a logical failure because this means there is a physical problem with the drive, and it takes the necessary tools, skills, and environment (a dust-free clean lab) to fix it. If the problem is a mechanical issue, you’ll hear a distinguishable clicking sound.

As you may already know, hard drives contain moving parts and dropping a laptop or mishandling it can cause serious damage to the platters and/or the magnetic head of the HDD. Fixing it requires professional help and as such it’s more expensive than a logical drive failure.

The latter means the damage is ‘only’ on the software side of the storage medium. It’s still bad news, but it’s easier and cheaper to fix than a mechanical failure because a data recovery application is often enough in most cases to fix the file system issue and bring the lost files back.

3. Retrieve the files via a data recovery app

On a Mac, it’s wise to run Disk Utility first to see if the powerful built-in application can fix the logical failure related to the file system. If not, a third-party app such as Disk Drill or Stellar Mac Data Recovery is needed, while PC owners have no in-built tool and will need opt for such an application to recover the data. The good news is that these apps provide free versions to first assess the success rate of the data recovery before paying. If the results are positive, then purchase a license and prepare an external drive to save the recovered data onto.


Editor's choice
Stellar Windows Data Recovery logo
Editor's rating:
(4)
Simple, straightforward design
Overall great ease of use
Recovery of over 200 file types
Effective deep scans for internal drives
Complete solution
Disk Drill for Windows logo
Editor's rating:
(4)
Simple, straightforward user interface
Multiple customizable scanning options
Additional Recovery Vault protection
Free recovery of 500MB data
Beginners
Recuva logo
Editor's rating:
(4)
Simplified scanning with built-in wizard
Multi-language interface
Displays file condition
Option to overwrite/destroy data
User Feedback

 Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Latest Articles

Creating the Perfect Landing Page: A Beginner’s Guide
Even though we might not like it, first impressions are key. That’s why having a well-crafted landing page for your business is more than just having a pretty face on the web – it’s your ticket to ...
Read article
How To Master English Fluency: 10 Effective Tips and Tricks
When it comes to language learning, we often come across the word ‘fluency’. But what does it mean exactly? Simply put, fluency is the ability to articulate a message ...
Read article
4 Reasons To Choose CRM Software With AI
With the competition increasing, maintaining lasting customer relationships is more crucial than ever. Customer relationship management (CRM) systems have long been the backbone of most businesses’ effective interaction management, helping them streamline processes, improve satisfaction, and boost sales
Read article

Best Reviews

Best Reviews may receive compensation for its content through paid collaborations and/or affiliate links. Learn more about how we sustain our work and review products.

©2012-2024 Best Reviews, a clovio brand – All rights reserved
Privacy policy · Cookie policy · Terms of use · Partnerships · Contact us