HARD DRIVE RECOVERY SERVICE
at SALVAGEDATA

If you can hear your hard drive making clicking noise repeatedly, that is a sign of defective movement or failure of the read-and-write actuator. Basically, it results from your drive making continuous attempts to restart that are followed by an error.

The beeping sound comes from the struggles of the drive’s mechanical components and usually is caused by its electronics failing to supply enough power to the spindle motor, so the latter is unable to spin up at all. Being rather the sound of stuck parts inside the computer than a programmed “beep”, it indicates your hard drive cannot move as usual. You can learn more in our in-depth article about why your hard drive is beeping.

Buzzing is most likely to be related to something large obstructing the normal functioning of the fans that keep the hardware of your machine cool. This noise is usually not related to a hard drive failure, but if it continues it’s certainly worth getting it checked out by professionals. Claim your free in-lab evaluation here.

Scratching, whirring or grinding noises should be taken very seriously, and your hard drive is at risk of permanent data loss. This is past the point of the clicking sound, meaning that the spindle is actually scratching the platter surface, you should turn off your device to prevent further damage. Get in touch with our team and report the whirring sound so the engineers can examine what’s left to retrieve.

When a hard drive physically stops working, fails to boot, responds slowly, or does not power on at all, it means the HDD has crashed and there’s a risk for data loss. The safest course of action is to contact a data recovery service provider with the certifications and cleanroom to open the drive, diagnose the problem and recover your data.

The disk error “no bootable device” means that the computer cannot find the hardware with the required files for a computer start, aka bootable device. Damaged cables, incorrect BIOS settings, or a faulty hard drive are some ‌reasons behind a no bootable device.

If the “Disk Error: Operating system not found” error displays, it means that your computer is having trouble finding or loading the operating system. This can have several causes, including a corrupt boot file, a missing partition table, or a faulty disk drive.

The ”No bootable medium found” error found on Windows means that your computer is trying to boot from a source - aka boot media - that doesn’t have an operating system installed.
A boot media is removable digital storage that a computer uses to load and run the operating system (OS) or program. To run the content, a computer must have a compatible program built-in. Meaning that you can only install programs and OS that meet the computer’s standards.

When you see the “you need to format the disk in drive before you can use it” message means that the disk is ‌damaged or not formatted correctly. It can be your external hard drive, SD card, or USB flash disk.
Even though your external disk can have manufacturing issues, such as a bad sector, most of the time you can avoid errors. Don’t use your disk in computers you don’t trust. Always use an antivirus. And the easiest error prevention: securely remove the drive.

The “error loading operating system” happens when the user tries to boot the Windows PC, making it impossible to boot successfully the system. The main causes for this error are:

BIOS incompatibility with hard drive

Damaged hard drive’s system partition

Corrupted system files

When installing Windows onto a Solid State Drive (SSD) manually, you can receive the error message "invalid partition table". Its causes can be wrong boot sequence or outdated BIOS.

The “reboot and select proper boot device” error occurs when your computer’s basic input/output system or BIOS, cannot find the boot device with the operating system on it. The cause for this error can be incorrect boot order, software issue, or even a hard drive failure.

The "disk unknown not initialized" error occurs unexpectedly in all the Windows versions, (Windows 10, 8, 7). When it happens, you may not be able to open or access the disk in Disk Management and your external hard drive may show "unallocated space".

The blue screen, aka bug check error, is shown when a stop error happens. It contains the name of the faulty drive. The main cause for this error is a malfunction with third-party drives or other hardware.

The cost of hard drive data recovery varies according to the type and level of damage, as well as the urgency in the turnaround time. You can expect a cost of $300-$1000 for more minor fixes and $1100-$1900 for more major incidents such as disk crashes or water damage.

Yes, before any data is recovered we send a detailed quote for the recovery service. To best determine how much your data recovery will be, your device will need to be analyzed in the lab beforehand. Start a case in order to request an estimate.

No. The amount of data being recovered does not impact price. The price is reflected by the level of damage, parts needed, turnaround time selected, and labor needed to recover data.

SalvageData accepts all major credit cards, as well as direct payment methods like checks, Paypal, Zelle, etc. We also facilitate payment by offering options to pay in installments. Regardless of which payment method is selected, payment is only collected after the data recovery is complete, before shipping or pickup. We have a No Data, No Charge policy, and you don’t need to provide payment details to start the recovery process.

SalvageData has a No Data, No Charge policy, in the unlikely event that we can’t recover your data, we don’t charge you for the worked hours and equipment used.

A client may request to cancel the service project at any point before the recovery is accepted. If the customer has already approved service based on the quote provided by SalvageData Recovery and provided a credit card, a cancellation fee equal or the greater of either $200 or 20% of the quoted service fee will apply.

SalvageData offers three recovery options so you can choose between different turnaround times and economical options:

Emergency: time critical recovery with 24/7 assistance year-round, including weekends and holidays. We start the recovery process as soon as we receive the drive at our lab.

Standard: 5-7 business days. Fastest turnaround time during business hours, Monday through Friday.

Eco: 10-15 business days. Best value for when the data isn’t critical for every day-to-day operations, available Monday through Friday and completed during normal business hours.

Disclaimer: Recovery timeframes cannot be guaranteed and serve only as an estimate. Several factors may affect the time it takes for the complete data recovery process, including the service option selected, the complexity of the case, etc. Take advantage of SalvageData's advanced Case Tracker Portal to check your data recovery case in real-time.

Sending us your hard drive is a completely worry-free process. You can find a drop-off location near you, where our Fedex or IT partners take complete care of packaging & shipping.
If you prefer to package the drives yourself, simply print out your free shipping label we send you after you start a case. Then please follow our media packaging and shipping guidelines in order to safely send your device over without causing any further damage.
Once you start a case, you can ask any questions about the process to our data recovery advisor.

Depending on the capacity of the recovered data, we will either send it on a brand new external media or via download. SalvageData’s dual gigabit network technology allows for faster and secure download of the recovered data. Data downloads are limited to 50 GB for our Economy service option, 100 GB for Standard, and 500 GB for an Emergency.

SalvageData is located all across the country but our headquarters and laboratory are in Cleveland, Ohio. Find the nearestdrop-off location here.

Yes, our trained technicians can connect to your workstation or servers in order to retrieve files remotely, as long as your device is still powering up.

Our SSAE 16 SOC3 TYPE III certification is paired with a strict chain-of-command protocol for all data. This means your data is safe, secure and kept confidential. We are also a trusted data recovery provider for government agencies and healthcare providers since we are also GSA and HIPAA compliant.

SalvageData prides itself on maintaining a 96% successful recovery rate on hard drives.

Yes. When the recovery requires our technicians to physically open the hard drive, we use our certified ISO-5 cleanroom.

No. SalvageData is compliant to the standards of the data recovery industry and of all manufacturers. We’re a trusted partner for Microsoft and Apple. Our data recovery service does not void the original warranty of a device.
Since 2003, SalvageData has recovered data from any type of data storage device, of any brand. We can safely recover data from systems and brands like Apple, Asustor, Dell, Fujitsu, G-technology, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Intel, Kingston, Kioxia, Lenovo, Lexar, Maxtor, Microsoft, OCZ, PNY, Samsung, Sandisk, Seagate, Sony, Symantec, Toshiba, VMware, Western Digital, and more.