eading Data Recovery — UK No.1 Hard Disk & SSD Specialists (25+ years)

If you need a hard drive data recovery service Reading, our lab-grade workflow is designed to deliver the best hard drive data recovery service for failed HDDs and SSDs—consumer, enterprise, NAS and external drives. We stabilise media, acquire forensic, read-only images, virtually reconstruct partitions/volume managers, and repair file systems (NTFS, HFS+, APFS, EXT, XFS, ReFS, exFAT). Whether you’re comparing hard drive data recovery service providers or surveying hard drive data recovery services for complex cases, we operate at the electronic, mechanical and software layers to maximise your outcome while protecting evidence integrity.

Top manufacturers we recover (examples of popular models)

1. Seagate — BarraCuda, IronWolf/IronWolf Pro, SkyHawk, FireCuda, Exos

2. Western Digital (WD) — Blue/Black/Red/Red Plus/Red Pro, Purple, Gold, My Passport, Elements

3. Toshiba — P300/X300, N300, Canvio, MG Series (Enterprise)

4. Samsung — 870 EVO/QVO, 980/990 PRO, T7/T9 Portable

5. Hitachi/HGST (legacy → WD) — Ultrastar 7K/He series, Deskstar NAS

6. Intel (legacy SSD) — 660p/670p, 750, DC P3520/P4510

7. SanDisk — Ultra 3D, Extreme, Extreme Portable/PRO

8. Kingston — A400, A2000, NV2, KC2500/KC3000

9. Crucial (Micron) — MX500, P3/P3 Plus, P5/P5 Plus, T700

10. ADATA — SX8200 Pro, S70 Blade, SU800, SE900G

11. Corsair — MP510/MP600/MP600 Pro/XT

12. Sabrent — Rocket, Rocket Q, Rocket 4/4 Plus

13. TeamGroup (T-Force) — MP34, MP44, Cardea A440

14. LaCie (Seagate) — Rugged, d2, 2big/5big

15. Transcend — 230S, 110S/220S NVMe, StoreJet

16. Silicon Power — A55, P34A80/XPower XS70

17. Patriot — P300, Viper VP4300

18. PNY — CS900, CS1030, CS2140

19. Mushkin — Pilot-E, Gamma, Delta

20. SK hynix — Gold P31, Platinum P41

21. Kioxia (Toshiba Memory) — Exceria/Pro, XG6/XG8 (OEM NVMe)

22. Micron Enterprise — 7300/7400 NVMe, 5200/5300 SATA

23. G-Technology / SanDisk Professional — G-Drive, G-RAID (single-disk cases)

24. Fujitsu (legacy HDD) — MHZ/MBH series

25. Maxtor (legacy → Seagate) — DiamondMax, OneTouch

26. Quantum (legacy) — Fireball, Bigfoot

27. OWC — Aura NVMe, Envoy enclosures

28. Intenso/Verbatim (rebadged) — Portable 2.5″/3.5″ lines

29. Apple OEM — Apple/Samsung/Toshiba NVMe (blade) & Fusion components

30. Lenovo/Dell/HP OEM — Branded WD/Seagate/Toshiba/Micron enterprise SKUs

Interfaces we handle (current & legacy)

SATA (1.5/3/6 Gb/s), PATA/IDE (40/44-pin), SAS (3/6/12 Gb/s), Parallel SCSI (Ultra/Ultra320), PCIe/NVMe (Gen3/4/5), M.2 (B/M/M+Key), U.2 (SFF-8639), U.3, mSATA, MicroSATA (1.8″), eSATA, USB 2.0/3.x/USB-C, Thunderbolt (1–4), FireWire 400/800 (IEEE-1394), Fibre Channel/FC-AL (legacy), OCuLink, SATA Express (legacy), ZIF/LIF micro-IDE, proprietary OEM blade NVMe (Apple/HP/Dell).

Professional recovery process (overview)

1. Stabilise & protect originals — Current-limited power-up, thermal control, read-blocking; capture SMART/firmware state and physical head maps.

2. Hardware imaging — PC-3000/Atola/DeepSpar with head-select, zone strategies, adaptive timeouts, multi-pass short-block cloning; NVMe admin-command imaging; chip-off for NAND when FTL is lost.

3. Electro-mechanical repair (as needed) — ROM/PCB swap with adaptive transfer; preamp/HSA (head stack) swaps; spindle/motor/platter remount/alignment; SA (service area) module patching.

4. Logical rebuild — Partition map, volume manager (MBR/GPT, LVM, mdadm, Storage Spaces, CoreStorage/Fusion, APFS containers), filesystem repair (NTFS, XFS, EXT4, ReFS, HFS+, APFS, exFAT), iSCSI/VMFS/VHDX/VMDK carving.

5. Verification — SHA-256 manifests, targeted file open tests (VMs/DBs first), and structured delivery.

75 hard drive/SSD errors we recover — with technical resolution

Format: Problem summary — How we resolve it (technical)

Mechanical / media (HDD)

1. Head crash (clicking, UNC sectors) — Donor HSA matched by micro-jog and preamp rev; SA health check; per-head imaging with escalating ECC, shortest LBA passes; logical rebuild from the composite image.

2. Stiction (heads parked on platters) — Lubricate/unstick with controlled torque; verify servo; immediate cold-image per-zone; no re-writes to source.

3. Spindle seizure / bearing lock — Platter transplant to matched base; clock track alignment by servo bursts; clone using reduced RPM profile.

4. Off-track servo drift — Calibrate adaptives; lock to tolerant read-channel; narrow head map; image in safe windows.

5. Media flaking / particulate contamination — Clean room handling for platter surface remediation; exclude damaged bands; salvage via head-map and adaptive skip logic.

6. Bad sector avalanche — Multi-pass: fast-skip → targeted short-block re-reads → thermal assists; majority vote across retries; fill gaps from FS redundancy.

7. Warped platters (thermal event) — Thermally stabilise; low-RPM clone with tight timeout; accept partial bands; reconstruct missing extents from metadata.

8. Damaged ramp/park area — Mechanically re-home heads; avoid full unload cycles; continuous clone to reduce park/unpark wear.

9. Preamp failure (silent spin, no ID) — Donor HSA with matching preamp; load SA adaptives; image per-head with conservative currents.

10. Micro-scratches causing repetitive ECC — Angle-select reads, adjust read channel; synthesise sectors via NTFS fixups/journal when possible.

Electronics / firmware

11. PCB short / TVS diode blown — Replace TVS or donor PCB + ROM transfer; calibrate NV-cache; clone with current limiters.

12. Corrupted ROM/adaptives — Rebuild ROM from SA/system area modules; write to donor PCB; unlock ID; image.

13. Service Area (SA) module damage — Patch modules (translator/defect lists) with vendor commands; restore logical access; clone across zones.

14. Translator corruption (0 LBA / 3.86 GB bug) — Regen translator from P/G-lists; remap defects; resume normal LBA addressing.

15. Firmware “slow issue” (e.g., Seagate BSY/LED:CC) — Clear pending logs, patch sysfiles, reset G-lists; image before further deterioration.

16. Power-loss NVRAM inconsistency — Re-init caches; flush/disable write cache; clone in stable state.

17. USB-SATA bridge encryption (ASMedia/JMicron) — Bypass bridge; if on-the-fly AES, transplant original bridge or extract key from MCU; expose raw SATA for imaging.

18. SAS/SCSI mode page corruption — Reset to defaults; disable write cache; re-negotiate link; image via HBA with error counters.

NVMe/SSD (controller/FTL/NAND)

19. FTL mapping loss (sudden power-off) — Vendor-mode access to rebuild L2P; otherwise chip-off: dump NAND, correct ECC/XOR/Interleave, regenerate logical map.

20. Read-disturb/retention decay (TLC/QLC) — Temperature-assisted reads + soft-decoding and majority voting; stabilise critical system areas first.

21. Controller SAFE mode / no namespace — Admin commands to expose hidden firmware area; reconstruct namespace; image raw.

22. Bad bootloader / firmware image — Reflash controller with matched microcode; restore adaptive tables; lock drive RO to image.

23. Write amp exhaustion / worn-out NAND — Reduce queue depth; long timeouts; prioritise metadata pages; assemble FS from partials.

24. PCIe surprise removal history (metadata tear) — Rebuild FTL checkpoint; roll back to last consistent snapshot; image.

25. AES-SED locked (no PSID) — If keys provided, unlock and image; otherwise only plaintext carving is feasible (limitations documented).

Partition/volume/filesystem

26. Lost partition table (MBR/GPT overwrite) — Scan for secondary GPT/boot sectors/superblocks; rebuild map; mount read-only for copy-out.

27. APFS container damage (OMAP/object store) — Reassemble container; rebuild snapshots/object map; mount most coherent volume group.

28. HFS+ catalog/extent B-tree corruption — Rebuild from alternate nodes; verify extents by sample opens; recover orphan files.

29. NTFS MFT/$LogFile damage — Replay transaction log; rebuild indexes/security descriptors; graft orphans into a recovery root.

30. ReFS epoch mismatch — Mount earlier consistent epoch; extract data; avoid write mounts entirely.

31. EXT4 journal dirty/orphans — Journal replay on image; rebuild directory trees from inodes; carve unreferenced extents.

32. XFS AG B-tree/log faults — Metadata log replay; rebuild AG trees from secondaries; extract from read-only mount.

33. exFAT FAT/bitmap loss — Recompute allocation from directory entries; carve contiguous clusters; reconstruct chains.

34. Windows Storage Spaces virtual disk down — Parse NB metadata; materialise virtual LUN; repair NTFS inside the LUN.

35. LVM PV/VG header loss — Carve PV signatures; reconstruct VG; activate LVs ro; fix inner FS.

36. CoreStorage/Fusion LVG broken — Re-link SSD/HDD tiers; recover APFS/HFS+ from reconstructed LVG; copy out.

37. BitLocker header damage (with key) — Use recovery key/BEK to mount image; salvage from decrypted view; if both headers gone: limited plaintext carving.

38. LUKS header corruption — Use backup header; if absent, attempt keyslot repair; otherwise plaintext carve only (limits disclosed).

Boot/OS/device-level

39. Drive not recognised in BIOS/UEFI — Check power/ID lines; swap PCB/ROM as needed; recover SA; force PIO mode for imaging.

40. Slow enumeration / hangs OS — Isolate on hardware imager; throttle reads; profile head/zone health; staged passes.

41. SMART trip with pending reallocation — Image hottest LBAs first; disable background processing; cool-down cycles between passes.

42. I/O CRC errors (cable/backplane) — Rehost to known-good HBA/backplane; log link errors; discard suspect reads; clone cleanly.

43. 4Kn/512e mismatch — Normalise sector size in the virtual layer; realign partitions; proceed with logical repair.

44. USB bus power limits — Use powered dock or native SATA; stabilise 5 V rail; image with current limiters.

45. Thunderbolt enclosure controller fault — Bypass to raw SATA/NVMe; transplant logic board if AES bridge is present to retain keys.

46. FAT32/exFAT marked clean but empty — Analyse directory entries and free cluster chains; rebuild directory tree from remnants.

47. macOS won’t mount APFS snapshot — Select snapshot by transaction ID; export via low-level reader; rebuild Spotlight caches offline.

48. Windows “RAW” volume prompt — Do not format; locate FS headers by signature; rebuild NTFS boot sector and mount image ro.

Human error / software

49. Accidental deletion — Journal-first recovery; MFT/inode parsing; carve slack/unallocated; avoid activity on original media.

50. Quick format — Recover prior FS superblocks/boot sectors; reconstruct allocation from metadata remnants; deep carve for large files.

51. OS reinstall over existing data — Identify new FS start; salvage below new boundary; carve old volume records.

52. Partition resize gone wrong — Replay tool logs if available; rebuild from secondary GPT; reconstruct FS geometry.

53. Chkdsk/fsck made it worse — Roll back to pre-repair image (earlier snapshot); ignore modified regions; rebuild indexes from logs.

54. Encryption enabled after corruption — Decrypt only after stabilised image; mount decrypted view; logical repair inside.

55. Malware/crypto-locker hit — Isolate; snapshot image; recover shadow copies/offline backups; use strain-specific decryptors if available; otherwise salvage originals via snapshots and partial carving.

56. File system case-folding conflicts (APFS) — Export without altering case; rebuild directories respecting normalization tables.

57. Sparse file or thin LUN confusion — Rehydrate by allocation map; reconstruct file extents from metadata rather than naive carving.

Environmental / power / thermal

58. Power surge (multiple devices) — PCB/ROM repairs; stabilise rails; clone with current limits; prioritise SA regions.

59. Brown-out during writes (torn sectors) — Detect partial-write fingerprints (e.g., NTFS fixup mismatch); use journaling to reconcile; multiple-read majority vote.

60. Overheating throttles / thermal asperities — Cool chain; limit duty cycle; image in short windows; adjust read channel for thermal drift.

61. Moisture ingress / liquid damage — Decontaminate PCB, check preamp; if platter affected: surface remediation; clone immediately after stabilisation.

62. Shock/drop (portable drives) — Inspect ramp/load path; HSA swap if needed; per-head imaging with limited load/unload cycles.

63. Vibration-induced servo issues (datacenter) — Stabilise mount; lower RPM imaging; compensate with adaptive servo settings.

External/NAS/DVR specifics

64. Bridge-level AES on external — Move original bridge PCB with MCU/flash; if dead, extract key/firmware from dump where feasible; image raw platter.

65. WD SmartWare/SES quirks — Disable SES stack; bypass to SATA; clone; mount NTFS on image.

66. LaCie rugged USB-C logic failure — Board swap or native SATA breakout; preserve on-board key if encryption present.

67. NAS single-disk (EXT4/Btrfs/XFS) — Assemble md/LVM if used; mount FS from the image; export shares.

68. CCTV/DVR proprietary FS — Parser for vendor FS (e.g., HIK/DAHUA); timeline reassembly; overwritten areas unrecoverable by definition.

69. Time-lapse/loop overwrite — Recover only non-overwritten extents; present timeline gaps clearly; hash-verify playable segments.

Integrity / evidence / delivery

70. Hash mismatch concerns — Per-file SHA-256 manifest; re-read verification from image; supply chain-of-custody log.

71. Partial recoveries with holes — Sparse export; placeholder map for missing extents; document sector-level reasons (UNC, AMNF, etc.).

72. VM/DB consistency — Replay ESE/SQL/redo logs on mounted image; export consistent checkpoints; test-open VMs.

73. Email stores (PST/OST/EDB) — Structural repair after FS recovery; logical export with item-level checks.

74. Photo/video large-file carving — Header/footer and intra-file structure validation (JPEG Huffman, MP4/MOV moov atoms); rebuild fragmented clusters via entropy alignment.

75. Forensic requirements — Immutable source, read-only imaging, audit trail; analysis/reporting on request; deliverables signed/hashed.

Why choose Reading Data Recovery

• 25+ years of successful outcomes across consumer, enterprise and creative workloads.

• Full-stack skillset: mechanical (heads/motors/platters), electronics (PCB/ROM/firmware), logical (volumes, filesystems, VMs, databases).

• Forensically sound, read-only workflow with comprehensive verification.

• Deep donor-parts and tooling inventory to maximise readable surface and success rate.

If you’re comparing hard drive data recovery services, speak to the team that performs the work end-to-end in-house. Free diagnostics with clear recovery options before main work begins.