Data Recovery from a hard disk with damaged heads (Clicking).

If your hard disk is making any unusual clicking, ticking, knocking or unusual sounds, unplug the power cable from the hard drive and leave it off to prevent further damage. We can test your disk for free, confirm the problem and give you a confirmed quote within 24 hours.

In most cases a hard disk will develop this 'click of death' sound as a result of shock, overheating, wear & tear of the heads or a defect with the disk. It's a very common problem, we see at least 10-15 clicking hard disks arrive at our labs each day. Most of the time the clicking disks are from Laptops that have been dropped or knocked around, or that always feel very hot. It's also common for this problem to occur with an external hard disk drive that has been dropped or overheated. Desktop and Server disks also have this problem very frequently but it is not as common as laptop and external hard disk drives as they are generally not moved around as much.

The good news is, in over 90% of the time - the data can still be recovered. As long as the disk platters inside your drive are not scratched, there is always a good chance that we can recover the data for you and copy it to another working hard disk to return the data to you.

Cost:
The bad news is, this is normally the most difficult, most time consuming and most expensive problem to have data recovered from. This will normally cost $2400 inc GST in total and take 2-4 weeks of time on average. This is a realistic time estimate, we don't false advertise fast time estimates to gain your business. We are always honest with you. 

We always offer an obligation free, free of charge evaluation and Quote within 24 hours to test your disk, confirm the problem and give you a confirmed quote. Our prices normally start at $250 for a simple problem and up to $2400 for the most complex problems (i.e Damaged Heads or Damaged Motor). If there is any cheaper option we can offer you, we will always offer you this.

This process is made up 7 steps:

1. Correctly identify the fault (normally damaged or malfunctioning heads if clicking).
   
2. We will email you a quote asking for a payment of $450 inc GST to attempt this data recovery work. This is a non-refundable fee for our time. This is charged to cover our engineers time as this work may take 2-4 weeks on average, the cost of spare parts needed and also to ensure that you are sure you want this data recovered and you will not change your mind after we spend considerable time trying to get your data back. If the data can be recovered to your satisfaction, an additional $1950 inc GST is due.
   
3. Locate and test spare parts needed.
   
4. Using spare parts, temporarily repair your faulty hard disk only for the purpose of data recovery. This work is always done in a class-100 clean room, this is a dust-free, anti-static, safe work environment to repair hard disks. See more information about our clean room here.
   
5. In many cases, once 1 problem is fixed (e.g the heads are replaced) we discover other problems such as a firmware corruption, bad sectors/read errors or a file system corruption.
   
6. Once the data has been saved, we'll copy the data to another hard disk for you (we supply external hard disks at an additional cost to the $2400 mentioned).
   
7. You can come to our office to examine/test any important data saved on a computer (or we can email you a file listing and some screenshots if you prefer then send it back by a courier) and if you are happy with the results, you pay the $1950 inc GST due at this stage (+ the cost of an external hard disk if you would like to buy one from us). If for any reason the data cannot be recovered, you do not pay this $1950 fee. Or if for any reason you are not happy with the result and do not accept the data, you do not pay this $1950 fee.

Payment Plan option: $2400 to recover data from a hard disk that's only worth $100-$200 can be a shock! If you cannot afford to pay the full $2400 when the work is completed, we can offer you a 12 month payment plan for the $1950 amount when the work is completed. We will request you provide us with your credit card details and we will charge you $162.50/each month on your credit card. No interest or other charges. This is simply to help you. Note: You must ask for this Payment plan when you approve the quote to begin work to take up this option.

Any cheaper option?
If your hard disk is making clicking sounds, it may also be a different problem. In some cases we see hard disks with a damaged PCB, corrupted firmware or bad sectors (read errors) make clicking sounds. Our services range in price from $250 up to $2400. We always offer a free evaluation and quote within 24 hours. We recommend letting us test the disk for you, free of charge and we'll confirm the problem for you. If you do not wish to proceed, there is no charge and you may simply have your disk back. You've got nothing to loose - we are here to help you!