In-depth write-ups of real data recoveries we’ve carried out in Belfast — the fault, the diagnosis, the technique and the outcome, across hard drives, SSDs, RAID, NAS and more. Every job is diagnosed and recovered in-house. Names and identifying details are kept confidential.
HP ProLiant · 4-disk RAID 5 · Rebuilt to 100%, then unbootable
A four-disk array rebuilt to 100%, reported healthy, and then refused to POST into the operating system — taking two production virtual machines and the business's databases with it.
Dell PowerEdge 2600 · SCSI RAID 5 · Multiple disk failures
A Dell PowerEdge 2600 — an older server built on SCSI drives — lost its RAID 5 after a second disk failed, taking the company's shared files and accounts with it.
IBM server · SAS RAID 5 · Multiple disk failures
An IBM server's RAID 5, built on enterprise SAS drives, failed after a second disk dropped — taking the company's databases and file shares with it.
HPE ProLiant · RAID 10 · Three simultaneous disk failures
An HPE ProLiant running RAID 10 suffered three disk failures at once — the kind of event that layout is supposed to survive, right up until it doesn't.
QNAP NAS · RAID 0 (striped) · Member drive failure, no redundancy
A QNAP NAS ran two drives as RAID 0 for speed — a layout that keeps no redundancy at all — and went down when a member developed a fault.
WD My Book Duo · RAID 1 mirror · Member failure, volume dropped
A WD My Book Duo ran its two drives as a RAID 1 mirror — the safe option — yet still lost access when a member failed and the enclosure dropped the volume.
Netgear SC101 · RAID 1 mirror · Failed firmware update — offline
A Netgear SC101 storage unit running two disks as a RAID 1 mirror went offline during a firmware update and never came back.
Synology DiskStation · NAS · Volume crashed after firmware upgrade
A Synology DiskStation came up after a firmware upgrade reporting its volume as crashed and refusing to mount it.
D-Link ShareCenter · NAS · Mechanical drive failure
A D-Link ShareCenter dropped off the network and stopped serving files after the disk inside it failed mechanically.
Iomega StorCenter · NAS · Accidental deletion of a share
A shared folder on an Iomega StorCenter was deleted by mistake and, being network storage, went straight past any desktop recycle bin.
Hitachi 2.5" · SATA hard drive · Not recognised — service-area corruption
A Hitachi 2.5-inch drive spun up normally but identified to the computer as nonsense — present, but not recognised.
Seagate IronWolf · NAS hard drive · Not detected in BIOS — translator fault
A Seagate IronWolf pulled from a NAS spun normally but had vanished from the BIOS — detected one day, gone the next.
Maxtor · desktop hard drive · Mechanical — not spinning up
An old Maxtor drive — the sole home of years of family photographs and documents — had stopped spinning, giving only a faint noise on power.
Western Digital · desktop hard drive · Electronics failure — power surge
A Western Digital drive went completely silent after an electrical surge — no spin, no sound.
LaCie Porsche Design · external HDD · Head crash — clicking, not mounting
A LaCie Porsche Design drive started clicking and dropped out after a knock on a desk, taking a designer's working portfolio with it.
WD My Passport · portable USB HDD · Dropped — not detected
A WD My Passport stopped being detected after a fall, taking a student's coursework and photos with it.
LaCie d2 · external hard drive · Accidental quick format
A school's LaCie d2 held the only copy of student records, lesson plans and administrative files.
Seagate Expansion · external HDD · Accidental deletion
A Seagate Expansion drive held years of photographs and documents when a routine clear-out deleted the wrong folder — and then it was emptied from the recycle area too.
Buffalo MiniStation · portable HDD · Corrupted file system (RAW)
A Buffalo MiniStation portable drive stopped opening and began demanding a format, its contents showing as unreadable “RAW” space.
WD Elements · external HDD · Lost partition / corrupted structures
A WD Elements external drive suddenly asked to be initialised, its partition and all its contents apparently gone.
Samsung EVO · SSD · Sudden death — controller failure
A Samsung EVO went from working to invisible overnight, taking a student's nearly finished dissertation with it.
Asus laptop · M.2 SSD · Firmware protective state — not presenting
An Asus laptop stopped booting when its M.2 SSD suddenly shrank to a tiny capacity and refused to give up its data — a firmware protective state, not a dead drive.
Lenovo Yoga · NVMe SSD · Controller failure — not detected
A Lenovo Yoga's NVMe SSD simply disappeared — there one day, gone the next, with a professional's current client work on it.
Acer laptop · internal drive · File-system corruption after power loss
An Acer laptop wouldn't start after the mains dropped mid-use, hanging instead of loading Windows.
Sony VAIO laptop · internal HDD · Accidental deletion
A Sony VAIO lost an important set of documents to an accidental deletion that bypassed the recycle bin.
HP Pavilion · internal hard drive · One read-write head failed
An HP Pavilion started clicking intermittently and then wouldn't boot, one of its drive's read-write heads having failed.
Dell Alienware · NVMe SSD · File-system corruption after a crash
A Dell Alienware stopped booting after a hard crash left its NVMe SSD's file system inconsistent.
Corsair Vengeance gaming PC · storage drive · Bad sectors — degrading drive
A Corsair Vengeance gaming PC had grown slow and started freezing, then dropped its storage drive entirely — a drive full of bad sectors and, on it, years of streaming clips and creative projects.
MacBook · APFS SSD · Boot loop after failed macOS update
A MacBook began restarting endlessly partway through a macOS update, never reaching the desktop.
MacBook Air · removable SSD blade · Logic-board failure — dead device
A MacBook Air stopped powering on entirely — no chime, no light, nothing — after its logic board failed.
USB flash drive · Snapped connector, damaged PCB
A USB memory stick came in with its connector snapped clean off and the little circuit board cracked — unreadable in any port, with the only copy of a set of work documents on it.
Lexar microSD card · Physical damage — cracked / unreadable
A Lexar microSD came in cracked and unreadable, with the only copies of a family's photos and video on it.
Post or drop in your device for a free diagnostic, with a note on what happened — an engineer reviews it and confirms your exact quote in writing before any work begins.
First step: get the device onto our Belfast bench. Wrap it well, tuck your contact details in the box, and post it over — the diagnostic costs nothing, and you’ll have a firm written price to approve before we touch a single sector.
Posting it? A tracked, insured service is best. Dropping it off instead? You’re welcome Monday–Friday, 9am–5:30pm — please still pack the device as above.
Not ready to send anything yet? Use the form to describe the fault in your own words and one of the engineers will come back with a quote tailored to your situation.
We will get back to you soon. If it is urgent, call 028 9002 0144.