Data Recovery from a hard disk with a Seized Spindle Motor/Damaged Motor.

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

In most cases a hard disk will develop this buzzing sound as a result of shock, overheating, wear & tear of the spindle motor inside the disk. It's a very common problem, we see many hard disks with a damaged motor arrive at our labs each day.

Spindle motor seizure is very common with Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 and .11 series 3.5" hard drives & Maxtor 3.5" hard disks. Toshiba, Western Digital & Hitachi 2.5" hard drives especially with particular models more prone to this fault than others. It's also common for external hard disk drives (especially Seagate brand) to have this problem as they can easily fall or be knocked over.

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 valuation 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).

This process is made up 7 steps:

1. Correctly identify the fault (normally damaged a motor if making a 'buzz buzz' sound).
   
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, 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 buzzing and not spinning, it may also be a different problem. In some cases we see hard disks with a damaged PCB or a faulty power supply for an external hard disk make similar noises. 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!