Data Recovery Case File · Trust, Practice & Honest Limits · Pricing Against Uncertainty
Two Head Faults That Sound Different Are the Same Job Once the Lid Is Off
His enquiry is careful in a way that deserves a careful answer. An external drive he believes has "almost certainly a stuck head, from power loss or a fall", which he is not equipped to open himself — and he adds, correctly, "I'm aware my diagnosis could be wrong and it could escalate." The concern is reasonable and the branching is smaller than he expects, because a stuck head and a damaged one are addressed the same way.
| Media | External hard drive with suspected head adhesion — owner declining to open the unit; family photographic content held |
| Reported situation | External drive no longer working · owner suspecting head adhesion following power loss or impact · owner technically capable but declining to open the drive · family photographic content spanning many years held · quotation sought against the suspected fault · owner acknowledging the diagnosis may be incorrect |
| Fault class | Head-related failure with specific mechanism undetermined — adhesion and damage addressed by the same procedure; cost governed by whether donor parts are consumed |
| Equipment used | Fault class rather than specific mechanism used to determine scope and terms · laminar flow bench inspection with head and platter assessment before any spin attempt · heads freed or matched donor assembly fitted as the inspection indicated · imaging under capped timeouts in one supervised session |
The decode: what branches, what does not, and why his restraint mattered
What head adhesion actually is: heads resting on a platter surface and bonding to it. It happens when a drive stops without parking properly, and the two surfaces are smooth enough to adhere over time — which is exactly what a power loss can produce.
Why his suspicion is plausible: a drive that will not spin after an abrupt power removal fits that pattern. The motor is trying to turn platters the heads are stuck to, and it cannot.
Why the diagnosis matters less than he assumes: freeing adhered heads requires the drive to be opened under filtered air, with the heads lifted clear using tools made for it. That is the same operation performed when heads must be replaced — the lid comes off either way.
Where the cost genuinely branches: whether donor parts are consumed. Heads freed successfully and found undamaged need no replacement; heads damaged in the adhesion or by the original event do — and a matched donor assembly is the expensive element.
Why that branch cannot be predicted from outside: adhesion frequently damages the heads it involves. Lifting a head bonded to a surface can tear its coating or leave material behind, so the answer is not known until the inspection.
Why the honest position is a scoped quotation rather than a single figure: assessment establishes which case applies, and the figure follows. Quoting for adhesion alone and revising later would be the thing he is right to fear.
Why his decision not to open it was the important one: the drive is intact and uncontaminated. Opening a drive in ordinary air admits particles that damage surfaces the moment the platters turn, and a capable person attempting it is the commonest way a recoverable drive becomes a partial one.
Why capability is not the relevant qualification: the obstacle is the environment rather than the manual skill. Filtered air and the right tooling are what make the operation survivable, and neither is available on a kitchen table.
What the other possibility is, and it is worth mentioning: the drive may not have a head fault at all. A supply-stage board failure prevents spin-up identically, and that is a considerably cheaper repair with no donor parts.
Why that possibility should be excluded first: it is established by measurement without opening anything. Current draw across the start-up cycle distinguishes a board that cannot deliver power from a mechanism that cannot turn — and it costs nothing to check.
On the bench
Fault class rather than specific mechanism was used to determine scope and terms — head adhesion arising where a drive stops without parking and heads bond to a platter surface, with freeing them requiring the drive to be opened under filtered air using dedicated tooling, which is the same operation performed for replacement. Cost branches on whether donor parts are consumed, adhesion frequently damaging the heads involved. Inspection ran under the laminar flow bench before any spin attempt.
The outcome
Fault class used to determine scope and terms, the drive inspected under filtered air, and heads freed or a matched donor assembly fitted as the inspection indicated. Free assessment, one fixed written figure including VAT, 50% of parts and labour upfront with the balance only on successful recovery. The decode: the branching is smaller than you fear. A stuck head and a damaged one are the same operation once the lid is off — what changes the cost is whether donor parts are consumed, which the inspection establishes.
When you have diagnosed it yourself and might be wrong
Ask for the quotation to be scoped by fault class rather than by your guess, and have a board fault excluded first — that costs nothing, since current draw across the start-up cycle distinguishes a board that can't deliver power from a mechanism that can't turn. Take comfort that the branching is narrower than it appears: freeing adhered heads and replacing damaged ones are the same operation under filtered air, so the lid comes off either way and only the donor parts change the figure. Not opening it yourself was the decision that mattered, since ordinary air admits particles.
Ask for it scoped by fault class — call Manchester Data Recovery on 0161 871 0788; board faults excluded by measurement first, inspected under filtered air, donor parts only where the inspection indicates.
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Our case files are drawn from genuine enquiries received by our laboratory over the past ten years, anonymised to protect client confidentiality. Each one describes the diagnostic and recovery procedure our engineers apply to that fault, using the equipment listed.