One thing to know first
Not an emergency, but don't let anything try to fix it yet.
A device that is silent and cool is not degrading while it sits there, so there is no clock running on the hardware. The risk here is the next action rather than the passage of time: initialising the disk when prompted, letting a repair tool write a new partition table, or reformatting to make it usable will each overwrite the map to your files. Decline every offer to fix, repair or initialise until you know which fault you have.
Often fixable yourself
Desktop hard drive not showing up
A desktop hard drive in this state is very often something you can resolve yourself, at no cost, and this page tells you how before it tells you anything about us. Where that doesn't work, the rest explains what the fault usually is and what recovery involves.
What this usually turns out to be
With no enclosure and no bridge board in the way, the chain comes down to the SATA data cable, the port on the motherboard, the power lead, and the drive. SATA data cables are thin, unlatched on cheaper boards, and work loose from vibration, which makes them a genuine first suspect rather than a formality. A drive that spins up audibly but never appears in the BIOS is usually a data-path fault, not a dead disk.
A bare SATA drive from a desktop. No enclosure to fail means a fault here is usually the drive itself rather than the thing it was plugged into.
Cable, port or enclosure faultbetter news
The single commonest cause, and entirely benign. The device behind the failed connection is untouched.
Partition table or boot sector damagebetter news
The drive is healthy and the files are all present, but the index that points to them is corrupt, so the operating system sees unallocated space.
Filesystem the operating system doesn't recognisebetter news
A drive formatted on a Mac, a Linux box, or a NAS will often appear unreadable or empty on Windows while being perfectly intact.
Controller or translation-layer failure
On flash media, the controller that maps files onto the memory has failed. The memory is intact but nothing can reach it without specialist work.
Degrading or failing media
The device is present but cannot complete the reads needed to identify itself. This is the case where time and power do matter.
What to check first on a desktop hard drive
- Reseat both cables at both ends, and move the data cable to a different SATA port on the board.
- Check the BIOS or UEFI drive list rather than only Windows. A drive the BIOS can see by model number is alive and talking, and the problem is above it in the operating system.
- Listen and feel for spin-up. A silent, still drive that also does not appear is a different fault from a healthy-sounding one that does not appear.
What not to do
Do not initialise it if Windows offers, and do not let a partitioning tool write a new table to make it usable. A drive that reads as unallocated has almost always kept every file, and the only thing standing between you and them is the small structure those tools are about to overwrite.
Try this before you pay anyone
Work through these before assuming the worst. Most cases end here
- Change the cable first. USB cables fail far more often than drives do, and a charge-only cable carries no data at all.
- Try every port, then a different computer. A drive that appears on another machine has a driver or port fault, not a data fault.
- Check whether the operating system can see the device even though the files aren't visible: Disk Management on Windows, Disk Utility on macOS, `lsblk` on Linux. A device listed there with no drive letter or mount point is intact and simply not mounted.
- If it is listed but shows as RAW or unallocated, stop and read the next line carefully.
If Windows offers to initialise the disk, or macOS offers to repair or erase it, say no every time. Those actions write to the very structures that describe where your files are. A drive showing as RAW usually still has everything on it, and that stays true only for as long as nothing writes to it.
How recoverable this is
The most optimistic group on this page taken as a whole. A large share are connection or filesystem faults where the data was never in danger, and a good number of those the reader resolves themselves in ten minutes at no cost. The cases that are genuinely media or controller failures are a different job, and the checks below separate them without risk.
What moves it, for your device specifically:
- Whether the device is detected at any level: BIOS, Disk Management, or not at all
- Whether anything has already written to it, including an initialise or a repair
- Whether the underlying media is healthy or degrading
We will not give you a percentage for your device, and you should be wary of anyone who does. Nobody can know what is recoverable until the media has been imaged and read. What is above describes this class of failure; your drive gets its own answer after an assessment, in writing, at no cost.
What it costs
from $249
Deleted, formatted or corrupt (drive healthy)
Files deleted, a drive reformatted, a partition lost, a filesystem that won't mount. The media itself is fine; the map to the data isn't.
What moves a job within its band: capacity, how much of the media is unstable, whether the filesystem is encrypted, and how much of the drive has to be read before the files you need are reachable. You get one fixed figure after the assessment and it does not move afterwards. If we can’t recover what matters to you, there is no recovery fee.
Other faults on a desktop hard drive
Next step
Tell us what failed.
Free assessment. Fixed quote before recovery starts. No recovery, no fee. Sydney drop-off or Australia-wide by tracked post.