Recovering data from a hard drive after a fall. Common hard drive damage caused by dropping a laptop. Data recovery using software

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Every day everything large quantity people prefer using laptops over traditional ones desktop computers. One of the factors that influences this choice is portability, relatively light weight and size. You can take a netbook or laptop with you on a long business trip or trip; you can simply move the device around your apartment or office.

Unfortunately, the consequence of this mobility is a high probability of damage to the device.

Chips and cracks on the case, damage to the screen and hard drive A very common breakdown after a laptop falls. It is worth understanding that all damage from a fall has very serious consequences, and troubleshooting the problems that arise will require significant time and effort.

If your laptop falls, Special attention worth your time checking hard disk, since this device is very sensitive to falls and shocks and, as a result, the safety of information may be in question even as a result of minor damage.

Common hard drive damage caused by dropping a laptop.

Such breakdowns include: damage to the surface of the hard drive, sticking of magnetic heads and wedge of the hard drive spindle, damage to the electronics.

One of the most common defects that appear when a laptop is dropped is bearing jamming on HDD spindle motor. In the event of such a breakdown, the computer cannot start working, as it simply cannot spin up. HDD due to the spindle wedge. To correct this problem, the magnetic surfaces are rearranged damaged disk into the case of another HDD, with an attempt further recovery data. With this defect, the probability of data recovery is high.

Hard recovery disk in case magnetic heads sticking is carried out by removing them from the surface of the hard drive and then reading the information with the native HDD heads. If such actions do not bring the desired result, you can try the option of replacing the entire set of magnetic heads of the hard drive. IN in this case the chances of success are also very high.

The most unfavorable mechanical damage is physical impact onto the magnetic surface of the HDD. When a hard drive is dropped, the heads become deformed, which can scratch the magnetic surface. If a fall occurs during operation, concentric scratches may form on the surfaces of the hard drive, which makes HDD repair and recovery of information is unlikely.

Elimination of mechanical damage to the hard drive caused by dropping a laptop is carried out by service workshop specialists, however this operation very expensive and takes a long time.

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Imagine: you are working at a computer and then you need documents with external hard disk. You plug it in and... nothing happens. Your HDD is not working. Don't panic, there are several ways to extract data from it that you can try before turning to the professionals.

Failure can occur for a number of reasons, but most often for the following two. The first (and most easily fixed) is a software problem. You may have accidentally deleted required folders or format the disk. The second - and most common - is disk damage. As a rule, in the event of a damaged disk, there is little you can do on your own; you will need the help of professionals. However, here several tricks that can save your files.

Data recovery using software

The first thing to remember when recovering data is the damaged disk should be disconnected. With every second he works with the computer, the chances of his recovery dwindle. The computer's operating system constantly reads and writes information to the disk, regardless of whether you are working with it or not. It will identify the space freed up from lost files as “unallocated” and write new data, erasing the last chance of recovery.

Turn off the computer to which the lost data drive is connected. Now that the HDD is relatively safe, you can make a copy of it and try to recover data from it.

There are many different programs for disk cloning; Clonezilla and Redo Backup Recovery are suitable for Linux.

Scan the clone with several recovery programs: TestDisk (Windows/Mac/Linux), Recuva (Windows), PhotoRec (Windows/Mac/Linux), Restoration (Windows), Undelete Plus(Windows).

Main components of the hard drive: cover and circuit board removed.

Disassembling the hard drive

Congratulations if you managed to recover your lost data software. But what if the disk is not detected, or the computer detects it but freezes when accessing it? Or does it just not start and you can’t hear the characteristic sounds of rotation?

Let's briefly look at the main components of the HDD and the symptoms when they break down.

Printed circuit board: The green board at the bottom of the device contains the main controller (analogous to the processor in your computer) and many other electronic controllers. This is the interface that turns binary code into commands available to the computer.

Magnetic disks (“pancakes”): HDD contains from one to several thin magnetic disks. Data is stored directly on them. Made from glass or alloy, they are coated with a magnetic layer and rotate at speeds from 5900 to 7200 rpm.

Head block: Data from magnetic disks is read by a set of magnetic heads. During operation, they do not contact the surface of the disk, but “hover” nanometers away from it, reading and writing information. As a rule, everyone HDD drive equipped with two voices, one on each side. If the heads break after a device is dropped or hit, they no longer “float” above the disk, but come into contact with its surface, destroying data at speeds of several thousand revolutions per minute.

Firmware: Data processing is controlled by the device firmware. A failure in the firmware can result in data on the disk being unavailable. Unfortunately, the HDD firmware is not similar to that used in mobile phone or tablet - it cannot be updated or flashed.

Now, having familiarized ourselves with the main components of the HDD, let’s look at breakdowns and their symptoms. Having determined where the problem arose, you can assess the likelihood of fixing it on your own.

Disk won't start

This is the case when there is a good chance of resurrecting your hard drive if you are willing to put in the time and effort. If the disk does not respond at all when connected to the computer, in 99% of cases the reason is printed circuit board.

For previous HDDs, it was sometimes possible to find a suitable board from a similar device and replace the defective one. In modern ones hard drives used new architecture and technology, each HDD contains a unique microcode. Easy replacement In this case, not only will it not solve the problem, but it may also lead to complete loss of data.

There are two reasons for such a failure: due to a voltage drop, the TVS diode burned out or one of the main components of the board failed. For protection against voltage surges hard board The disk is usually equipped with two TVS diodes: 5 and 12 Volts. If the problem is only a burnt-out diode, replacing it will bring the device back to life. This is easy to check with a multimeter - if the resistance is near zero Ohm, the diode is burnt out. Remember that after removing the TVS diode, the hard drive remains defenseless against voltage surges!

PCB: TVS diodes marked
If the multimeter shows the correct resistance, the problem is in the printed circuit board and needs to be replaced. A ROM block with a unique microcode is soldered onto the board; to restore the device, it must be unsoldered and transferred to new board. Some hard drives, for example, Western Digitals, do not have a ROM block, and the firmware is contained in the main controller, which is almost impossible to replace. You should also check the head connectors on the board. Sometimes they become corroded over time, which can be easily removed with an eraser.


Contact corrosion can cause drive failure.

The disc starts up and a clicking sound is heard

This is serious damage to one or more magnetic heads, and may also indicate damage to the magnetic disk. In this case, you should contact specialists. The HDD will be opened in a clean room (no dust), the head will be replaced and the data will be recovered. The clicking disk should be turned off; turning it on again may permanently damage it.

Hard drive after damage to the magnetic heads that scratched the disk.

The hard drive starts and is detected by the computer, but freezes when trying to access it.

This usually means damage to the surface of the magnetic disk. The disk is trying to read bad sectors, of which there are too many, and hangs. If SMART monitoring shows a large number of reassigned sectors, the diagnosis will be confirmed. This is a common problem that can be solved by using professional disk imaging equipment.

If you want to fix this problem yourself (at the risk of worsening the situation or losing all the information at once), you can use software to take a disk image. The Linux application dd_rescue is best suited for this purpose. However, the effectiveness of such programs is limited, since the commands still go through the BIOS.

The hard drive beeps when turned on

The beeping sounds mean that the motor is trying to move the disk and cannot. This may be a “sticking” of the magnetic head. If the heads are not parked correctly and are left above the surface of the drive after it has stopped, they may become stuck to the surface of the drive. To fix this failure, you need to open the disk in a clean room, remove and replace the heads. Definitely a job for professionals.

Parked heads after the disk has stopped. When they stick, they get stuck on the surface of the magnetic disk.

Another reason for beeping sounds when turning on the disk may be a spindle lock. This is the axis of rotation of magnetic disks. The spindle may become jammed due to a fall or impact. HDD . There are two solutions to this problem, both requiring professional intervention: replacing the spindle or swapping the magnetic disks into a new donor hard drive.

The hard drive starts normally, but is not detected or the disk size is detected incorrectly

Typically, this indicates problems with the firmware. It is not read correctly, possibly by a faulty head, or is not written correctly for the same reason. Modern HDDs in this case require professional intervention.

To summarize, in several cases you can try to resuscitate your hard drive yourself. However, remember that any such attempts are very risky and, if the lost data is very important, it is worth seeking professional help.

The phrase “hard drive has fallen” has two meanings in computer geek slang. In one case, this refers to the restoration of functions, as well as data that are in the hard drive, when it actually fell from a certain height and the consequences of this fall are mechanical damage.

And in the second case - when it is meant that it is impossible to remove data from the disk due to not understanding it computer system(the computer “does not see” the disk) or when the disk’s own operating system shows its capacity as zero.

How to recover a hard drive after a shock?

Therefore, the consequences of an actual or conditional “fall” of the hard drive may include:

— hardware nature (mechanical damage), which accounts for 59% of all hard drive failures;

— logical nature (when the disk is infected with a virus), which accounts for 33% of malfunctions;

— software problems(due to a program failure) make up 8% of the number possible reasons"fall" of the hard drive.

Consequences of mechanical damage resulting from an impact or falling hard drive

The situation is this: there is a hard drive that has been dropped or received a blow. The task is how to restore a hard drive after a fall, which means restoring the information that is on the disk after the damaged hard drive has been repaired.

As a rule, in order to overcome problems resulting from damage to a disk drive, it is necessary to eliminate violations in its mechanics. The consequences of these violations may be:

— chips of the body and dents from impact. When an external drive or an internal drive located in the case falls system unit of the hard drive, there are violations of the integrity and displacement of its mechanical parts and minimal displacements are sufficient for the disk heads to touch its surface;

— the inability of magnetic disks to spin up to the required speed. Which may be a consequence of the motor jamming or the reading heads sticking to the magnetized surfaces of the disks, thereby preventing their normal rotation;

- knocking of the read heads. Which means the heads can't read the data because the disks have become misaligned. With this type of damage, it is necessary to change the entire block of magnetic heads using a purchased donor. Where the donor is a block of magnetic heads completely identical to the damaged block;

- noise when rotating disks. This is evidence that the heads are touching the surface of the disks, scratching it. In this case, the data on the disk most likely cannot be saved.

— the disk cannot spin up, but sounds are heard from the hard drive case. This may indicate that the heads are stuck to the magnetic disks. The motor cannot overcome the resistance of the stuck read heads.

Therefore, if an external storage drive or operating unit computers with a hard drive inside have been dropped without being turned on; under no circumstances should they be turned on after that to check their operation. You must immediately contact a service center in order to restore both the disk and the information stored on it;

We tell you how to do this in Russian and in as much detail as possible. However, when deciding how to restore a hard drive after an impact, when replacing damaged magnetic read heads, it is necessary to take into account their full compatibility.

Replacement must be done in a perfectly clean workplace and using perfectly clean working tools. Otherwise, dust particles trapped in the sealed casing of the disk drive can ruin all the work of replacing the magnetic head unit. Since dust can scratch the magnetic surface of disks, thereby destroying the information stored on them.

When selecting a donor to repair a hard drive to replace a block of magnetic heads, you also need to take into account that the heads match in user zones or, as computer scientists also call them, parking types, which are divided into internal (when the heads are between the disks) and external (when the head is located outside drive) parking.

After a donor hard drive with heads has been selected and all other parameters of the hard drive are completely identical, you can begin the process of disassembling the damaged drive. The screws that are located on the cover of the hard drive housing that secure the axis of the magnetic head unit are unscrewed from the very beginning. After this, unscrew the screws that connect the cover to the main body of the hard drive. The cover is removed with extreme care so as not to damage the seal.

Only after removing the cover will there be access to the engine and the head positioning system, the magnet of which must be removed to get to the heads. After removing the magnet, having first unscrewed the screws securing it, you should disconnect the head control connector, which is attached to the hard drive case. Only after this do they begin to remove the parking system with limiters that limit the free exit of the heads from user zone.

If the design of the hard drive is such that it has only an external parking system, then the heads are brought out of the user zones, and at the same time take them out of magnetic disks, being careful not to damage the surface, rotating them until the heads extend beyond the user zones.

At the same time, to prevent the heads from sticking together, you need to insert strips of insulating material between them. This, of course, is the case if the hard drive has more than one read head.

After the heads are moved beyond the disk, unscrew the screw or nut securing the magnetic head block and remove them from the axis. This operation must be carried out in rubber gloves, to isolate the heads from static electricity that can accumulate on unprotected hand skin. In addition, the block of magnetic heads must be removed using tweezers so as not to damage the conductors connecting the heads to the switching device.

After removing the heads of the damaged hard drive, we carry out the same operations with the donor hard drive, removing the heads in the same way.

Installation of the heads is carried out in the reverse order of their removal, starting with installing the donor heads on the axis of the damaged hard drive using, again, tweezers, and securing them with a screw after they are placed above the surface of the magnetic disks.

They are installed by rotating the magnetic disks and moving the heads into the parking area. To say that it was carried out successfully only when rotating the disks will not be heard extraneous sounds, or the disks will not feel jammed. Otherwise, you need to once again carefully check that the magnetic heads of the disks are installed correctly.

Otherwise, if the heads touch the surface of the disks, this may damage them, with the loss of all data accumulated on the disks.

If the heads are successfully inserted into the user zones, we install all other elements of the head positioning system in place - we put the positioning magnet in place, connect the terminals, screw in all the fasteners and turn on the hard drive.

Repairing a damaged disk is only necessary to recover data

At correct installation, the hard drive should be visible to the computer, and we can copy all the data from it. However, it is still not recommended to use this disk in the future. Before you repair a hard drive after a fall, you need to clearly understand that repairing this drive is necessary in order to remove necessary information. And nothing more. Even a repaired disk will no longer work reliably after a fall. Therefore, such disks are repaired only to remove important data.

Having familiarized yourself with the hard drive repair procedure, you can determine that these operations still require professional skills and abilities. Therefore, if you need to recover data from a damaged hard drive, it is best to contact special service companies that have the appropriate conditions, tools, software for reading information from damaged drives and, of course, qualified specialists.

If a sad situation occurs when the hard drive receives physical damage, be it damage from a fall or just being hit, then you do not rush to worry about the loss of data, because... We strive to talk about computers in Russian and as much as possible accessible language, prepared for you this article, from which you will learn how to restore external hard disk after falling.

In this article we focus on methods and devices that can be used to eliminate mechanical problems, because it is precisely because of them that violations occur that do not allow hard drive read the information.

How to recover a hard drive after a fall?

Even small ones falling hard The disk can produce displacements of the mechanical internals, which, even with minimal deviations, will be enough for the heads to scratch the magnetic surface.

This often happens when the heads stick to the magnetic surface of the disk and are subsequently unable to unwind.

Occurs due to the fact that as a result of the fall, the magnetic disks are displaced and the heads cannot find access to the servo information. This is a critical case when the magnetic head unit needs to be replaced; a special “donor” is purchased for this procedure.

In this case, this is due to the heads scratching the magnetic surface, which leads to irreversible data loss without the possibility of recovery. It is under no circumstances recommended to use such a disk and immediately take it to a service center.

The disk does not spin up, but produces strange noises when trying to work.

This happens due to the sticking of the hard drive heads to the magnetic surfaces, the motor tries to spin up, but it doesn’t work, which is why squeaks occur.

• Traces of impacts and dents.
• Engine bearing wedge.
• Scratches on the disc surface.
• Damage to the magnetic head unit.

1. Most frequent problems The non-functioning of the HDD is physical, which we similarly discussed above. Physical damage occupy 59% of all cases when the hard drive becomes faulty. That is why in this article we will pay special attention to how to repair a hard drive after an impact.
2. Logical problems. They occur in cases where the hard drive was infected with a virus or was carelessly formatted. Among all cases of requests to service centers, logic problems account for 33 percent.
3. Software problems. Occurs when disruptions occur in personal operating system, on which the drive is running. Hard drive uses great amount profile information: lists, placement zones, tables. From time to time, as in any other system, failures are also possible here. However, compared to other problems, software problems are still quite rare and occupy only 8% of all cases.

Since various damage to the magnetic head unit is the most common among physical problems, with which they contact the service, then let’s focus on this problem. We will need a donor, that is, a model identical to the one we will be repairing, and special professional tools, since we will be replacing magnetic heads. Also, experience in these technical operations will also be very welcome, so if you are not confident in your abilities, then give this work to specialists.

Before starting work, properly prepare your workplace, completely remove all dust from it; the specialized instrument must also be sterile and free of dust as much as possible.

1. Keep the work area sterile.
2. Don't rush, work carefully.
3. Select a compatible BMG donor.

Donor. What is it and how not to make a mistake when choosing it

A donor is a drive identical to the one you are going to replace in a damaged HDD. In order not to make a mistake when choosing it, choose one that has the same model, record reading type and HDA.

After we have selected the right donor, we get down to work:

Often the BMG axle on the HDA cover is bolted, we unscrew it first. Next, unscrew the bolts that secure the HDA to the frame. Next action the cover will be removed, but do this carefully, there is a sealing gasket underneath it, which in no case should even be scratched. After removing the cover and protective film we see all the mechanisms that make up the HDA. Since we need to replace faulty heads, some of these mechanisms will have to be disassembled.

First, remove the main magnet in the positioning system located on top. We unscrew all the bolts securing it and carefully take it out and press it with wire cutters, but hold it firmly, the magnets in the HDD are very strong, they easily attract each other and also easily fail if damaged.

Under the magnet you can see the positioning system along with the VCM coil. The head control connector is tightly screwed to the frame; we unscrew the screws holding it in place. Next, in order to remove the heads from the user area, we remove the limiters and the parking system.

Now comes the most difficult stage. If your HDD uses external system parking, then first you need to remove the heads from it. This is done like this: we continuously rotate the plates so that the heads do not stick to the surfaces, and remove the heads from the user area along with removing the parking system.

To remove the heads from the plates, make sure that they do not stick together. In this case, it will be impossible to do without a container from HDRC, specialized for these purposes, in which we place one of the heads.

If everything was done correctly, the heads will be packed and removed without damage. The time has come to remove the BMG. However, remember that it is very vulnerable to static voltage, so we advise you to properly ground the tools and work with gloves made of dielectric material. Well, unscrew the screw holding the BMG and pull the top and remove it from the axle. It is best to pull it with pliers so as not to damage the conductors.

Now we perform exactly the same operations for our donor and we have at our disposal big set from good heads, which we use to replace faulty heads in our damaged HDD. Now we carry out all the same operations that we performed above, but only in reverse order. If you managed it before, you can do it now. However, it is especially worth paying attention to getting the heads on the surface. In order to move the heads apart, we will again use special tools from HDRC or tools from other specialized companies.

The next special point installation in progress parking element, special attention should be paid to ensure that it is installed without any noise, otherwise in the future during operation this will certainly lead to internal damage to the drive. Well, this is the most difficult stage.

We assemble the entire HDD together and close it with the lid. Now we turn it on to the network and if all the steps were carried out correctly and carefully, then reconnection will occur and the data will be restored.

1. If the BIOS does not see the hard drive, this does not mean that it is faulty or that its repair was unsuccessful. In this case, this is a purely software problem and can be treated by cleaning the bads or replacing software the disk itself.
2. A hard drive can last five hundred thousand hours, or about 50 years, without breaking down. In fact, this is not true. This just shows how much this model can theoretically hold out, but in practice we have the fact that half a ten percent of disks fail in the first year, so don’t rely too much on this number.
3. Don’t be fooled by the talk that professional data recovery from a hard drive after a fall is a very expensive procedure. This is not true, but only within one and a half thousand rubles, and diagnostics should be carried out completely free of charge.