Seized motor hard drive recovery

Since the transition to Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR) technology that started to occur in commercial hard disk drives in 2005, incidences of motor bearing seizure in drives that use Fluid Dynamic Bearings have increased. These failures can be as a direct result of the strain placed on the spindle motor by the weight of the platter.

More commonly, however, motor seizure can happen following a knock or a drop sustained by a desktop hard disk or an external hard disk - the effect is normally noticed immediately, however, it can be a number of problem free operations before the motor seizes solid and the data on the hard disk drive becomes inaccessible. Notebook hard disks are also affected, however, these failures are far less common.

Hard disk drives from a number of different manufacturers can be affected by this problem, TRC Data Recovery commonly deal with Seagate (and Maxtor branded Seagate devices), Hitachi, Toshiba and Western Digital devices that have failed in this way.

If your hard disk drive has received an impact, or if you have any other reason to suspect a mechanical failure of the motor assembly, look out for the following:

• Your hard disk is not recognised by your computer
• The hard drive will not spin
• In the case of Seagate and Hitachi devices you will hear a quiet buzzing sound Maxtor hard disk may produce an almost musical beeping noise
• Toshiba devices can make a clicking or scratching sound

There are potentially a whole array of other noticeable symptoms of a spindle seizure, so if in doubt it is critical that you follow the advice below:

• Power down the drive immediately, subsequent attempts to power up the drive can result in extensive damage to the data held on the platters
• Do not shake the device, if unusual noises are heard when the device is powered down it is best to move the HDD no more than necessary
• Use our contact form or call for expert advise on 0845 2002 845 and we can talk you through how to proceed

TRC Data Recovery are experts in the recovery of lost data from failed storage media including seized motor data recovery. What's more we are also the only UK data recovery company with a certified ISO 3 laboratory, our proof can be found on our data recovery lab page. Don't take risks with your failed hard drive, call the UK data recovery experts now!