When damage to the magnetic heads occurs, the drive stops reading data from the surface of the platters, including control firmware and user data. Electrical or mechanical damage is possible. Strong mechanical shocks to the drive might bend the magnetic head actuators, which will cause the heads to scratch the disk platters and make data recovery difficult.

The user’s files are unaffected by this issue if the magnetic platters are not damaged. The total volume of the disk should theoretically be accessible after the block of magnetic heads has been replaced. The problem mainly comes from the fact that heads rarely fail without scratching the platters.

Since the magnetic heads frequently make contact with the data-storing platters, the plates themselves are frequently damaged in addition to the heads. Even when the block of magnetic heads is replaced, complete data recovery will be impossible in this case.

WD My Passport HDDs Data Recovery 

Two Western Digital My Passport portable hard drives that belonged to a photographer were recently sent for our evaluation. When the customer was done editing his files, he safely extracted HDDs but accidentally dropped them on the ground. The client could not access his files, and noises were heard from the drives.

During the consultation, he decided to proceed with the expedited evaluation. This diagnostics option is finished in eight hours. The examination showed that My Passport Orange HDD had a damaged block of magnetic heads, while My Passport Blue came with a damaged spindle motor.

As mentioned above, this type of malfunctions are resolved by replacing the damaged unit with a new one. For a safe and secure data recovery process, cleanrooms with a controlled environment are a necessity. Our engineers perform these processes in an ISO Certified Class 10 Cleanroom. When the diagnostics were over, our technician had a robust recovery strategy and started with magnetic head unit replacement.

Western Digital My Passport Orange BMH Recovery

Luckily, when the drive failed, the platters’ surfaces were not damaged, and there were no circular scratches. When trying to read data, the read/write heads did not leave the parking ramp, but extraneous noise was heard.  Clicks occurred due to the inaccessibility of a servo tag and location of the magnetic heads.

The drive tried to start over and snapped its head into the parking space. Our data recovery experts successfully replaced the magnetic heads unit thanks to years of experience and a vast base of donor hard drives. 

The contents of the user zone were read using the data extractors. A disc with non-native heads requires a unique approach and special tools. 

During the data analysis, the engineer noticed logical bad blocks which stopped the process. With this malfunction, as a rule, the operating system stops loading, and some folders or files cannot be read. Lost files were recovered using the method of sector-by-sector transfer to another hard drive using a hardware complex. 

WD My Passport Blue Spindle Motor Data Recovery

One of the most common malfunctions of modern HDDs is jamming the spindle motor shaft. Often the malfunction of the bearing is complicated by the control chip failure. It tries to spin the motor, experiences increased loads, heats up more, and often burns out. Replacing the electronic board with a serviceable one, in this case, can lead to the fact that another microcircuit will burn out.

In the client’s case, the spindle motor was damaged, but all the chips remained functional. To recover data from WD My Passport Blue, we needed the same brand donor disk to recover data from such a hard drive. Next, our specialist transferred platters from the broken HDD to the failed drive. The operation was complex, requiring unique equipment to center the plates further. Any micro-displacement along the axis could lead to the fact that the heads cannot be positioned correctly according to the servo markings.

Our data recovery engineer successfully restored 100% of all data from both hard disk drives. The client reviewed the results via a remote session and approved them. We shipped his recovered files on new WD My Passport external hard drives and deleted all the client’s data stored on our servers.

Call PITS Global Data Recovery Services at (888) 611-0737 to request help with your data loss case. Our engineers will safely and confidentially restore all your lost data, including deleted files.