A hard drive that spins up but isn’t recognised by the computer can be frustrating, especially when it contains irreplaceable personal data. This case study details how we successfully recovered wedding photos from a Hitachi hard drive that was spinning but not being detected.
As Ireland’s oldest and most experienced data recovery specialists, we applied cleanroom diagnostics, firmware repair, and sector-level recovery techniques to retrieve the lost data.
The Challenge: Hitachi Hard Drive Spins but Is Not Recognised
The client contacted us after discovering their Hitachi hard drive was no longer accessible. The symptoms included:
- The drive powered on and spun normally but was not detected in BIOS or Disk Utility.
- No clicking or grinding sounds, but data remained inaccessible.
- The drive contained wedding photos and personal memories with no backup.
Since the drive wasn’t making abnormal noises, there was hope for recovery—but a professional approach was needed to avoid further data loss.
Diagnosis & Evaluation
When the Hitachi hard drive arrived at our cleanroom facility, we conducted a full hardware and software diagnostic. Our findings:
- Firmware corruption – The drive’s firmware was partially damaged, preventing normal operation.
- Translator module failure – The firmware’s Logical Block Addressing (LBA) translator had failed, making stored data inaccessible.
- Bad sectors in critical system areas – Some sectors containing boot records were unreadable.
These issues meant that standard recovery software would not work, and specialized firmware repair techniques were required.
The Recovery Process
1. Firmware Repair & Translator Fix
To regain access to the drive, we:
- Used specialised Hitachi firmware repair tools to rewrite the corrupted microcode.
- Fixed the translator module, allowing the drive to read stored data.
- Reinitialized the drive without affecting user data.
2. Imaging the Drive to Avoid Further Damage
Once the drive was partially operational, we:
- Created a sector-by-sector clone to preserve all data.
- Used specialized imaging tools to bypass bad sectors without causing further corruption.
3. Extracting & Verifying Wedding Photos
After successfully cloning the drive, we:
- Extracted all photos and videos, ensuring they were intact.
- Repaired any corrupted image files to restore missing parts.
- Transferred the recovered data to a secure external drive for the client.
The Results: 100% Data Recovery Success
Thanks to our firmware repair and imaging techniques, we successfully recovered 100% of the client’s wedding photos, including:
✅ High-resolution wedding pictures
✅ Videos and digital albums
✅ Personal memories and family images
The client was overjoyed to have their priceless memories restored.
Why Choose Us?
With 25 years of experience and tens of thousands of successful recoveries, we are the leading hard drive recovery experts in Ireland and the UK. Our expertise includes:
✔ Hitachi hard drive firmware repair & recovery
✔ Head replacement & cleanroom diagnostics
✔ Logical & physical data recovery for HDDs and SSDs
✔ Secure & confidential recovery for personal data
If your hard drive is spinning but not being recognized, showing errors, or failing to detect in BIOS, stop attempting DIY fixes and contact us immediately for professional recovery.