When computers fail, the screen will be your first clue to what happened. If it was a complete blank screen; if it had a company's logo stuck in an endless loop; if it was a blue screen with a frowning face; or if the machine appeared to be "alive" but "grinding", it would likely point you toward one possible suspect, and only some of those suspects were the hard drive. The good news in all four cases: the data almost always outlives the computer.
Nothing at all has to do with the power supply or the motherboard. The drive (hard or solid state) is usually a bystander and will be removed from the computer so it does not interfere with reading its data. A logo loop happens when the computer recognises the drive and is able to find it in order to start booting up Windows or macOS. However, it cannot complete the boot process, often due to some form of corruption. This could be a bad sector that contains part of the operating system, thus preventing it from completing the boot process. A blue screen is indicative that there was a problem caught by the operating system while running. We immediately test for a healthy drive as this could have caused the issue. An alive, but grinding/freezing drive indicates that it's telling us something, and it should be turned off immediately.
Triage is important because the incorrect assumption will lead to an incorrect solution. The classic incorrect solution is described below.
As you cycle back and forth through the boot loop and panic mode, someone will normally suggest you start all over with an installation of Windows. Although this method seems to work as it does allow the machine to boot again, it also destroys the files on the exact areas of the hard drive that once contained your documents, desktop, pictures and other important folder locations. This type of job is among the most common jobs we receive from various computer shops located throughout Glasgow, and it turns clean recoveries into partial ones.
Recover your data first then reinstall your operating system if your files matter more than the machine. It's really as easy to do as we've said, but no one ever says it loudly enough.
Liquid goes to the keyboard and the board first. The drive should be okay if the power is shut off quickly and there is no "test" while it is still wet. Drops are dependent upon whether the drive was spinning at the time of the drop: SSDs will survive drops and most mechanical (hard) drives will not. And then there is the latest problem: thin laptops with the storage directly soldered onto the motherboard so as to require board-level recovery on the machine itself. Here's one practical rule before shipping your laptop anywhere: we work on the drive, not the body. Get the drive out (or get any local computer shop to pull the drive for you in minutes) and once you get a quote from us, ship the drive.
If the laptop/PC will stop when displaying "no bootable device found", the blog post on what this error message really is explains, in about one minute, how you can find out whether your computer's boot order setting is the cause or if there are other issues with your hard disk before any repair tool has written anything to your hard drive.
A single drive (either internal, external, laptop or desktop) will cost a fixed £300 + VAT, whatever the fault turns out to be. A chip-level exception would occur very rarely and will always be quoted in writing first. All jobs start with a free diagnostic. On all jobs you get what we quote: the price that you were told at the beginning of the process remains the price you pay. That price goes in writing before a single sector is read, and on most jobs there is nothing to pay unless your data comes back. There are no hourly rates applied and no "evaluation fee" as a surprise addition. We do not charge based on the value of the data.
Most likely. Machines that will not start are generally just bad boards or charge circuits. Most of the time it's the board and/or charger circuitry that goes bad, not the storage. We pull the drive and image it directly. For laptops with solid-state drives (soldered), we have to go to board-level to be able to access the memory chips. Laptops with good data but a dead motherboard make up the largest number of jobs in this industry.
Turn it off: press and hold the button until it turns off, unplug the cable and then remove the battery if possible. Do NOT power up to test. Liquid and an electrical source are the killers of circuit boards; lack of power for time will be the saviour. Bring it to us damp, instead of dry and tested; we'll handle it from here.
Not everything is gone: some areas will still be intact after a reinstall because that will write over those other locations. So, the most honest answer is "some", and we'll tell you which parts. Quit using the device now; each time it boots, it writes more. The complimentary diagnostic will map out exactly what was intact prior to your making any decisions.
Yes: towers, all-in-one PCs, mini PCs, home-built PCs, with any combination of NVMe, SATA SSDs & hard drives. Send just the hard drive/SSD. Label the drives if there is more than one. If you're unsure which hard drive/SSD contains what information, a local shop can pull the entire set in one visit and label the individual drives per bay. Then send them.
Before posting or dropping off your item please obtain a quote using either the form on this site or by calling us. There are then two genuine options. No vans will be used. To hand over your item, go to Tay House, 300 Bath Street (only two minutes from the M8) at Charing Cross, Monday to Friday, 9am–5:30pm. We do not require appointments. Or wrap your item securely and send it to us by insured, tracked post from Paisley, Ayrshire, the Highlands or anywhere else in the UK. Either way, the work is done in-house by our own engineers, with a documented chain of custody, and your data never leaves the UK.
There is one golden rule when shipping: the drive(s) travel and the computer remains at home. Remove (or have a local shop remove in minutes) the hard drive/SSD. Label the hard drive/SSD if there is more than one. Then ship the individual hard drive/SSD.
Quit restarting, quit reinstalling, and let our complimentary diagnostic tell you the real cause of failure. Laptop data recovery in Glasgow: once you receive your quote, simply drop off the hard drive/SSD in person at Tay House or ship via insured post.