Blown up HDDs, data recovery possible?

Bear · 27 Sep 2024 at 19:14

A while back my old PCs PSU blew up in a puff of smoke so I bought a new one (different make) and fitted it but stupidly left the old power cables on, plugged it all in and turned it on and quickly realised I’ve blown up 4 drives.

Since then, I’ve built a new PC and tested the drives and confirmed they are all dead. I presume the power boards have died. Has anyone used a data recovery service before and if so, how much does it cost? Most of it I don’t care about but one drive I have loads of holiday photo’s throughout my life which I would like to recover if possible.

Cheers

darael · 27 Sep 2024 at 23:58

You might just need to change a couple of blown components on the PCB, but that depends on your skill of soldering. If it's a blown fuse for example, you might get away with shorting it out so you can pull the data off the drive.

Have a look on YouTube and Google for repairs on the make and model of drives, you might find a repair tutorial. I admire the soldering skills shown by HDD Recovery Services, as they make it look effortless.

Bear · 28 Sep 2024 at 14:45

darael said:
You might just need to change a couple of blown components on the PCB, but that depends on your skill of soldering. If it's a blown fuse for example, you might get away with shorting it out so you can pull the data off the drive.

Have a look on YouTube and Google for repairs on the make and model of drives, you might find a repair tutorial. I admire the soldering skills shown by HDD Recovery Services, as they make it look effortless.

Thanks for the heads up. Much appreciated

Mcnumpty2323 · 28 Sep 2024 at 15:22

Not used hdd in years
So may not be possible with newer hdd
But in the past I have bought identical drives off ebay
And swapped the pcb which worked a few times

Too late now obviously
But important stuff should be stored in
Multiple places
With at very least 1 of those isolated from the pc
External drive/cloud backup etc

There are places that can remove platters
And recover data
Never used them but probably not cheap
Would imagine some may offer a no data recovered
No fee charged option