When a hard drive crashes, the data stored on it can often be recovered, but full recovery is not guaranteed. The chances of recovering the data depend on the nature and extent of the hard drive failure.
Quick answers
Can data be recovered from a crashed hard drive? In many cases, yes, at least partial recovery is possible using data recovery software or services. However, there are situations where data cannot be recovered.
What are the chances of recovering data from a crashed hard drive? For logical failures, the chances are good, around 85-90% for a professional data recovery service. For physical failures, chances are lower, around 50-70% depending on the damage.
How much does data recovery cost? For minor logical failures you can often recover data yourself using DIY software for under $100. For more complex recoveries, professional services typically charge $300 to $2,000 or more, depending on the failure type and amount of data.
Can crashed hard drives be repaired? In some cases yes, components like the PCB or heads can be replaced, allowing data recovery. But with severe physical damage, a drive cannot be repaired and needs specialized data recovery techniques.
Is data permanently deleted after a hard drive crash? No, even after a catastrophic failure the data still physically exists on the platters and can often be recovered by a professional lab with the right tools, unless the platters are completely destroyed.
Understanding hard drive failures
When a hard drive ‘crashes’ it means the drive has suffered some type of failure that prevents it from operating normally. Hard drive failures can be broadly divided into two categories:
Logical Failures
These are failures that prevent the drive from operating properly but do not physically damage it. Examples include:
- File system corruption
- Partition table corruption
- Virus or malware infection
- Accidental file deletion or format
- Hard drive not recognized
- Electromechanical failures like head stuck
With logical failures, the drive hardware is still functional and the data is still readable. The failure is on the software level rather than physical. Logical failures have high chances of recovery.
Physical Failures
These involve physical damage to the hard drive components that store and read data. Examples include:
- Hard drive platters scratched or damaged
- Read/write heads damaged
- Spindle motor failure
- Circuit board (PCB) burnt out
- Mechanical components worn out
Physical failures make recovery more difficult since the ability to access the platters and read data is impaired. But specialized tools and techniques can often still recover large amounts of data.
Recovering data from a logically failed drive
For drives with logical failures, recovery has a high success rate. Solutions include:
DIY data recovery software
Software like EaseUS, Stellar, R-Studio, Disk Drill and ReclaiMe can often recover data from drives with file system issues, accidental format, deleted or lost partitions, etc. They scan the drive and reconstruct files and folders. DIY software costs $30 to $100.
Send to a data recovery service
Services like DriveSavers, Gillware and others have advanced tools and Class 100 cleanrooms to safely recover data at the platter level from logically failed drives. This costs $300 to $2000 based on the storage capacity and failure type.
Repair the file system
For file system issues like corruption or accidental format, the drive can often be mounted by repairing the system structures using utilities like TestDisk and fsck. This may allow copying off accessible data.
As long as the physical components are intact, logical recoveries have around an 85-90% success rate. But if there is undetected physical damage, recovery may be more difficult.
Recovering data from a physically failed drive
With physical damage, recovery is more challenging but still possible in many cases. Methods include:
Drive repair
Some physical failures like seized spindles or failed PCBs can be repaired, allowing the drive to operate so data can be copied off. For stuck heads, specialized vendors clean and de-stick the heads.
Data recovery labs
Labs like DriveSavers and Ontrack use specialized tools and cleanrooms to manually disassemble drives and read platters at the bit level, reconstructing data. This can recover data even with severe physical damage.
Chip-off/IC swap
If the drive PCB is damaged, labs can physically remove the memory chip storing the system info and place it in a working PCB to access the data.
Success rates for physical recovery vary from 50-70% depending on the damage. The most difficult cases involve platter damage where data is unreadable.
Factors affecting physical data recovery chances
Several factors influence the changes of successfully recovering data from a physically failed hard drive:
Cause of failure
The reason the drive failed impacts recovery chances. Issues like firmware corruption or degraded heads are more recoverable than platter scratches or motor seizures.
Extent of damage
Minor head or PCB damage has better prognosis than complete spindle motor failure or burnt PCB traces. More damage equals lower recovery odds.
Drive model and firmware
Newer drives with revised firmware or special failure protections can be harder to recover from. Older models have better documented service methods.
Temperature and environment
Drives stored in a cool, dry place after failure have better recovery odds. High heat, moisture, or static discharge can degrade recoverability.
Even with physical failure, an experienced data recovery lab can often recover much or even most of the data as long as the platters remain relatively intact.
Why crashed drives can often be recovered
Even after serious failure, recovery is often possible because of how hard drives store data:
- The data is still physically stored magnetically on the platters.
- Data is distributed across the platter surfaces, not just in one area.
- Drives have built in error correction and fault tolerance.
- The low-level disks structures like sectors are still intact.
- Advanced lab tools can directly read platter data at the magnetic level.
As long as the platters remain relatively undamaged and intact, even a crashed drive with degraded components often allows extensive data recovery.
Challenges recovering data from badly damaged drives
While data is recoverable from most failures, some types of severe damage present challenges:
- Platter damage – Scratched, dented or warped platters cannot be reliably read even by lab tools.
- Mechanical damage – Heads crashing into platters or motor failure can render drives inoperable.
- Fire and water damage – Heat, soot and corrosion can make data unreadable.
- Firmware corruption – Low-level code issues may prevent access to drive functions.
- Encryption – Encrypted data is unreadable without the correct key or password.
In these cases, recovery success rates drop significantly. The extent of damage is a key factor.
Is deleted or lost data recoverable?
When files are deleted or lost due to format, corruption or OS errors, the data itself still remains on the drive. As long as it is not overwritten by new data, specialized recovery software can often locate and reconstruct lost or deleted files and folders.
Even if the file system is corrupted or reformatted, underlying tools can analyze disk structures to recover orphaned files and folders. Minor overwrites may cause partial data loss.
Can crashed SSDs or flash drives be recovered?
Recovering data from failed solid state drives (SSDs) and USB flash drives is also often possible, but challenges include:
- Proprietary controllers and algorithms used by each manufacturer.
- Lack of physical read/write heads – chips must be accessed electronically.
- Wear leveling mechanisms distribute data across memory cells.
- The fragile nature of NAND flash memory cells.
- Trim and garbage collection erasing free space data.
So SSD and USB drive recovery is more complex than HDDs. But many failures still allow data to be recovered by specialists.
Can smartphone data be recovered?
Recovering lost data from failed smartphones like Android and iPhone devices is also possible in many cases. Issues include:
- Very small, dense solid state NAND flash storage chips.
- Proprietary mobile operating systems.
- Hardware and software levels encryption.
- System areas may be overwritten when phone is used after failure.
Specialized tools from vendors like DriveSavers allow recovering contacts, messages, photos and other media in many cases by directly reading NAND memory.
Final Thoughts
While a hard drive crash results in data being temporarily inaccessible, in the majority of cases the data is still recoverable by leveraging specialized tools, techniques and cleanroom environments. Logical recoveries have very high success rates, while physical recoveries vary based on the device damage and failure conditions. With the right approach, companies like DriveSavers recover data for clients from even the most catastrophic drive failures.