Case Study
Dropped, clicking, undetected. Over 99% came back.
A Western Digital Caviar Green 1.5TB drive was posted to our Belfast laboratory from Germany after being dropped — clicking, and not recognised at all. Here is how it was recovered.
The case
A drop, a click, and a drive that wouldn't appear.
The drive: a Western Digital 1.5TB Caviar Green, posted to us from Germany after being dropped shortly before it stopped working.
The customer reported the drive had been dropped, then clicked and would not be recognised by any computer. As soon as it was connected to our DeepSpar DDI4 imager, the clicking was audible immediately — and we stopped power to it right away. Every extra second a clicking drive stays powered risks turning a recoverable head fault into scratched platters and a genuine data loss.
With the drive powered down, it went straight to the cleanroom for a physical inspection rather than another attempt at spinning it up.
The recovery
Inspect, replace the heads, image, complete.
- 01
Cleanroom inspection
The drive was opened under class 10 laminar flow conditions to establish how bad the heads were and whether the drop had scratched the platters. Under the microscope, the platter surface showed no damage — the single biggest factor in whether a case like this is recoverable at all.
- 02
Donor head swap
The original heads looked fair, but a head swap from a donor drive is the only way to know for certain. Western Digital drives are common enough that we hold a large stock of donors, and the replacement heads worked cleanly on the first attempt.
- 03
Imaging on DDI4
With working heads fitted, the drive was imaged sector by sector on the DeepSpar DDI4. A number of bad sectors from the impact of the drop were encountered along the way, but nothing outside what our tools are built to handle.
The result
Well over 99% recovered.
The recovery came in at well over 99%, with no data loss the customer would notice in practical terms. Undamaged platters and a clean donor head swap made this a straightforward outcome once the drive was handled correctly from the first click onward.
For anything similar, see how we approach hard drive data recovery generally, or get a straight assessment of your own drive.
Power it down and stop using it. Tell us what happened and an engineer will give you an honest view of what's recoverable and a fixed quote before any work starts.