Hitachi Data Recovery

Hitachi Data Recovery

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Our experts have extensive experience recovering data from failed hard disks. With 15 years experience in the data recovery industry, we can help you through the minefield of recovering data that might otherwise be considered lost.
Hitachi Data Recovery
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The Myriad Reasons Why Hitachi Hard Drives Fail:

There are many reasons as to why your Hitachi hard drive may suddenly cease to function in the manner it normally would. Sometimes it may be simply because of general wear and tear on the device or it may be because of an outside force at work such as dropping the computer whilst in transit, spilling something into the mechanics, incorrect or outdated firmware…the list is not endless but certainly not without a far reaching limit. Indeed sometimes a device will just fail with no reason or explanation available and that is where we come in. Here at www.swanseadatarecovery.co.uk we will endeavour to diagnose the problem and recover your data so that you can continue with the important work you were doing before the unexpected crash. We might not always be able to give you an explanation as to why the drive has failed but we will most certainly be in a position to help retrieve your data in the most professional and cost effective manner possible.

Physical Hitachi Hard Drive Failings:

A physical fail occurs when a part(s) within the hard drive decide they can no longer function. This may be because of heavy duty usage, perhaps a fault in a batch of components used, or because of an extraneous force at work. We are all prone to accidents and accidents do happen around a computer. Drinks may be spilled, unforeseen knocks may occur, even just leaving a computer switched on for overly long periods of time may contribute to a hard drive’s untimely failure.

Loss Of Data Due To Accidental Formatting or Deletion:

It can happen to the best of us. Even the most experienced IT person can press the wrong button, execute the wrong command, or simply press DELETE too soon. And when this happens not only can you find yourself missing the work you tirelessly worked to produce but in some instances (if you are a business) find that your staff are not able to be as productive as they could be. The accidental loss of data, be it because of an inadvertent format or unplanned deletion, can throw things into disarray, which is where we come in. If you have mistakenly deleted files or formatted a Hitachi drive we can help you recover that data quickly and with minimal disruption to the data itself.

Power Surges And Outages And The Damage They Can Render To Your Hitachi Hard Drive:

So there you are working happily on your next project or assignment when the lights go out. Not only does the electricity fail but in doing so it can cause your computer’s hard drive to fail too. A sudden loss of power may cause the drive’s heads and platters to spin off course or similarly a sudden surge of power can cause the printed circuit board or motherboard to burn. Also a sudden stop can render your last save useless. This is where we come into our own by being able to help you recover that last save or indeed all the data on your drive.

Software Firmware Failures that cause your Hitachi Hard Drive not to get recognised:

Firmware is the internal program(s) that (a) make a piece of hardware work and (b) tell it how to work in conjunction with out pieces of hardware or software. And just like a program you might install from a CD or DVD these pieces of firmware can sometimes become corrupted or need updating in line with changes to the specifications of the device that operate. If a firmware program fails whilst operating a hard drive then the hard drive will become unresponsive and no matter how hard you try that drive will not allow any reading, writing or storage. Using the latest available firmware tools we can help replace the firmware or at best retrieve your data from a no longer functioning drive.

Sudden Stoppage To A Hitachi Hard Drive If Your Computer Becomes Unstable:

A hard drive may fail if there are bad sectors on the disk. This is just like when vinyl was king a record would become scratched and would jump and you wouldn’t be able to hear your favourite track. A hard drive works in a similar way and bad sectors allow for jumping and the missing of important information such as executable files and DLL files that make software and hardware compatible. The continual freezing or rebooting of a PC, Mac or other computer may be symptomatic of a hard drive problem, which is where we come in.

Featured Article

Case Study: Recovery from a Hitachi Deskstar 1TB SATA Drive with Progressive Media Degradation Leading to System POST Failure

Client Profile: User of a Windows Vista computer with a Hitachi Deskstar 1TB SATA hard drive.
Presenting Issue: The system automatically initiated CHKDSK on startup multiple times. The condition progressed until the computer would only power on and emit continuous beep codes, with no display output. A family friend diagnosed the beeps as a hard drive failure, rendering the data inaccessible.

The Fault Analysis

The client’s description reveals a classic profile of a hard drive in its final stages of physical degradation, with symptoms manifesting at both the software and firmware/hardware levels.

  1. Progressive Media Degradation: The automatic execution of CHKDSK indicates that Windows detected file system inconsistencies, likely caused by the drive’s inability to read sectors reliably. The NTFS “dirty bit” was being set due to I/O errors, forcing CHKDSK to run at boot. Each CHKDSK run placed immense stress on the failing drive as it attempted to read and relocate data from unstable sectors.

  2. Firmware-Level Failure and “Busy” State: The continuous beeping is not a direct diagnosis from the hard drive itself, but a POST (Power-On Self-Test) failure code from the motherboard’s BIOS/UEFI. The sequence of beeps (e.g., a series of short, continuous beeps often indicates a “no VGA” or memory error on some systems, but a drive failure can cause the system to hang before initializing the display) occurs because the failing drive enters a permanent BUSY state. The drive’s internal processor is stuck in a loop trying to recalibrate, read its firmware modules from the System Area (SA), or manage a massive number of pending sector reallocations. It fails to respond to the BIOS’s IDENTIFY DEVICE command within the timeout period, causing the entire boot process to halt.

  3. Potential Read/Write Head or Pre-amplifier Failure: In many Deskstar drives, the final failure is often a read/write head instability or a failure of the preamplifier IC on the head stack assembly. This prevents the drive from reading any data, including its own essential firmware, leading to the non-responsive state that hangs the host system.

The Professional Data Recovery Laboratory Process

The lab’s immediate goal is to stabilize the drive enough to bypass its internal “BUSY” state and establish communication to create a forensic image.

Phase 1: Physical Drive Stabilization and Firmware Interrogation

  1. Direct SATA Connection & Power Isolation: The Hitachi Deskstar drive is removed from the client’s computer and connected to our PC-3000 system with a stable, lab-grade power supply. This eliminates the motherboard and faulty PC PSU as variables.

  2. Terminal-Level Diagnostics: The PC-3000 system attempts to establish a terminal connection with the drive’s processor. We expect to see error codes such as:

    • LED:000000CC (Drive did not become ready)

    • ErrCode: 0xE0 (Servo/mechanical error)

    • Status: BSY (Busy flag stuck high)

  3. Service Area (SA) Recovery: If the drive is unresponsive, we use the PC-3000’s utility to put the drive into a technician mode or force a hard reset. We then attempt to read the critical firmware modules from the SA on the platters. We focus on repairing or temporarily replacing modules like the SMART log, G-List (Grown Defect List), and USAG (Utility Sector Address Generator) that are critical for user area access.

Phase 2: Cleanroom Intervention (If Required)

If the drive remains unresponsive or the terminal diagnostics indicate a head or preamplifier issue, we proceed to a cleanroom procedure.

  1. Head Stack Assembly (HSA) Replacement: In our cleanroom, we disassemble the HDA. We source an identical donor HSA from our inventory, ensuring compatibility with the Deskstar’s specific model family. A precise transplant is performed.

  2. Adaptive Parameter Regeneration: After the HSA transplant, the drive is reconnected to the PC-3000. We run utilities to regenerate the adaptive read/write parameters to ensure the new heads can communicate correctly with the drive’s electronics and the data on the platters.

Phase 3: Sector-Level Imaging and Data Extraction

  1. Hardware-Controlled Imaging: Once the drive is stabilized and can read data, it is connected to a DeepSpar Disk Imager. We initiate a sector-by-sector clone with a highly conservative profile:

    • Slow, Sequential Reads: To minimize actuator movement.

    • Aggressive Read Retry Logic: To perform dozens of retries on problematic sectors.

    • Software-Enabled ECC: To apply correction beyond the drive’s internal capabilities.

    • Bad Sector Map Generation: A log is created of every unrecoverable LBA.

  2. File System Reconstruction: The completed disk image is mounted in our software. We parse the NTFS file system, focusing on repairing the Master File Table ($MFT) which was likely damaged by the aborted CHKDSK runs. We use the $MFTMirr to repair any corruption.

  3. Data Integrity Verification: Checksums are verified on recovered files, with special attention paid to photos and videos (common “family memory” files) to ensure they were not stored on the physically degraded sectors.

Conclusion

The client’s Hitachi Deskstar drive suffered from progressive physical media degradation, which initially caused file system errors (triggering CHKDSK) and ultimately led to a complete firmware-level lock-up. The continuous beeping was the motherboard’s response to a non-initializing storage device, not a direct signal from the HDD. Our success was contingent on using professional hardware to break the drive out of its “BUSY” state, performing necessary physical repairs in the cleanroom, and then using gentle, controlled imaging to read past the degraded media and recover the data, bypassing the failed boot process entirely.

The recovery was successful. The drive was found to have extensive media degradation and a failing read head. Post-HSA replacement and stable imaging, we achieved a 94% recovery rate of the client’s family data.

Swansea Data Recovery – 25 Years of Technical Excellence
When your computer beeps and fails to boot due to a non-responsive hard drive, trust the UK’s No.1 HDD and SSD recovery specialists. Our ability to diagnose and resolve firmware-level lock-ups and physical media degradation ensures we can recover data from drives that have rendered the host computer inoperable. Contact us for a free diagnostic.

Client Testimonials

“ I had been using a Lacie hard drive for a number of years to backup all my work files, iTunes music collection and photographs of my children. One of my children accidently one day knocked over the hard drive while it was powered up. All I received was clicking noises. Swansea data recovery recovered all my data when PC World could not.   ”

Morris James Swansea

“ Apple Mac Air laptop would not boot up and I took it to Apple store in Grand Arcade, Cardiff. They said the SSD hard drive had stopped working and was beyond their expertise. The Apple store recommended Swansea data recovery so I sent them the SSD drive. The drive contained all my uni work so I was keen to get everything recovered. Swansea Data Recovery provided me a quick and professional service and I would have no hesitation in recommending them to any of my uni mates. ”

Mark Cuthbert Cardiff

“ We have a Q-Nap server which was a 16 disk raid 5 system. Three disks failed on us one weekend due to a power outrage. We contacted our local it service provider and they could not help and recommended Swansea Data Recovery. We removed all disks from server and sent them to yourselves. Data was fully recovered and system is now back up and running. 124 staff used the server so was critical for our business. Highly recommended. ”

Gareth Davies Newport Wales

“ I am a photographer and shoot portraits for a living. My main computer which I complete all my editing on would not recognise the HDD one day. I called HP support but they could not help me and said the HDD was the issue. I contacted Swansea Data Recovery and from the first point of contact they put my mind at ease and said they could get back 100% of my data. Swansea Data Recovery have been true to their word and recovered all data for me within 24 hours. ”

Iva Evans Cardiff

“ Thanks guys for recovering my valuable data, 1st rate service. ”

Don Davies Wrexham

“ I received all my data back today and just wanted to send you an email saying how grateful we both are for recovering our data for our failed iMac.   ”

Nicola Ball Cardiff

“ Swansea Data Recovery are a life saver 10 years at work was at the risk of disappearing forever until yourselves recovered all my data, 5 star service!!!!!   ”

Manny Baker Port Talbot Wales