Drive not showing up:
If the drive is not showing up this is usually $375-$675 for the recovery. This can be a firmware corruption but you might be lucky and just have a bad partition table.
Bad sectors:
If your drive has a lot of bad sectors, this will stop from accessing your information just because the computer and hard drive are struggling to cope with the errors. This can run between $150-$375 depending on how bad it is.
Slow data transfer:
When hard drives are going faulty, they tend to run very slowly. It can be due to bad sectors, firmware corruption or bad heads. Recovery starts from $225 to $1,352 if important information is not accessible due to faulty heads.
Bad partition table: A partition table holds information on how your files are stored on the platters. This includes information about which sectors contain which files. This usually goes bad due to bad sectors or software corruption when the drive suddenly loses power.
An estimate cost for data recovery is $150-$450 for repairing the bad partition table but if the partition table damage is caused by bad heads, then a recovery could cost $1,051-$1,352 for replacement heads.
Heads parked/click noises/drive beeps:
Beeping noises can be caused by the heads that have clamped down on the platters due to a drop or loss of power. The beeping noise comes from the platter motor trying to turn but cannot since the clamped down heads are usually stronger than the motor. This can be fixed by unsticking the heads but may also need a heads replacement if they are damaged from being clamped down.
Clicking noises come from the heads bouncing back and forth trying to read the data on the platters and can be the result of a bad heads or firmware corruption after a drop.
Replacement heads could run from $1,051-$1,352 since this will require sourcing a donor drive and lab level tools. Its
Platter issues:
If the platter is stuck or has damage on it, pricing begins at $1,352 and up since this will require lab level tools. It is important to note that platter damage can yield no recovery.
Donor Drives:
Sourcing a compatible donor drive can cost anywhere between $400 to $600. Donor drive are not found in stores like Noel Leeming or Harvey Norman but are purchased from a data recovery donor hard drive company’s and are matched based on date code, size country of manufacturer and more.
Special Parts:
Some Western Digital external hard drives require a special circuit board in order to access its internal firmware. There a serval different models of this hard drive and all require a slightly different compatible circuit board. These special circuit boards are around $200-$400 but if we have one in stock then you won’t be charged for its use.
You will not be required to pay for an unsuccessful recovery. However, your quote may indicate specific parts required for the recovery operation. Should the operation prove unsuccessful, we may still need to invoice you for these parts, simply to cover costs. In the same way, should you need your device returned afterwards, we may need to charge for our assembly work and courier fees.