Despite being made to survive, hard drives (HDDs) can nonetheless fail. It’s critical to get in touch with a data recovery specialist as soon as you realise a drive has sustained physical damage. We strongly advise against attempting to fix the issue yourself because DIY data recovery attempts on damaged HDDs could further worsen the situation.
Our data recovery engineers frequently encounter a select few instances of hard disc damage.
What are the typical reasons why hard drives fail?
Head Crash
When the read/write head of the hard drive physically contacts the surface of a magnetic, rotating platter, head crash hard drive damage results. Both the drive and its data suffer serious harm as a result. Unusual noises like clicking or grinding are warning signals of head trauma.
Mechanical Failure
Have you heard any unusual noises coming from your drive? A mechanical issue can be to blame. Included in this category of hard drive damage are seized motors, broken parts, and misaligned heads.
Liquid Damage
Hard drives that come into touch with liquid run the risk of having their platter surfaces harmed by moisture and/or residue. To properly correct the problem, specific specialist tools and approaches are then needed.
DIY Damage
DIY data recovery attempts typically because more harm than benefit. We strongly advise saving yourself the hassle and leaving the hard drive recovery to the professionals because the initial recovery attempt usually yields the best results.
Failure of Solid-State Drives and Flash Drives
Contrary to popular belief, solid-state drives (SSDs) are much more vulnerable to physical damage than HDDs because they are frequently utilized in portable devices. Just consider how many times you’ve dropped your phone this week alone. However, solid-state drives can also be harmed in other situations. Typical examples of frequent SSD and flash failures are:
Physical Damage
When it comes to harming flash-based devices, such as smartphones, tablets, USB sticks, and memory cards, knocks are a close second to the previously stated sporadic drops. These mishaps frequently render data inaccessible if spare parts aren’t used and a recovery engineer isn’t hired to help.
Electronic Failure
Unlike SSDs, which are made up of complex electrical components as opposed to the numerous moving physical parts found in hard drives, a failure might render the drive and its data inaccessible without the aid of new parts.
Medium Errors
NAND flash chips, which have a high bit-error rate and a limited lifetime, are used to store SSD data. Built-in error correction algorithms are unfortunately limited in their ability to correct past a certain amount of bit mistakes, although recovery is still achievable with the use of appropriate methods offered by data recovery experts.
SSDs or HDDs: which is more prone to failure?
In actuality, solid-state drives are significantly more difficult to recover from than hard drives due to their design. There are numerous manufacturers who utilize a wide range of techniques and firmware, and sophisticated features like wear-levelling and block mapping are additional elements used to enhance performance and prolong the lifespan of NAND flash memory chips. However, even though these factors might make SSD data recovery more challenging, it’s still doable. When it comes to properly recovering lost data of any kind, proper experience and the appropriate tools go a long way.