Plymouth Computer Desktop Hard Drive Data Recovery

Plymouth’s No.1 Desktop HDD & SSD Specialists — 25+ years’ experience

Plymouth Data Recovery delivers professional, engineering-led recovery for all desktop drives (HDD, SATA SSD, NVMe M.2/U.2) and every fault type—from head crashes and PCB failures to complex filesystem and RAID issues. We work forensically: stabilise → acquire a read-only clone → rebuild on the clone (never on your original). Free diagnostics and clear options before any paid work begins.

Top 25 desktop manufacturers & popular models we see most

(Examples—if yours isn’t listed, we still support it.)

1. Dell — OptiPlex, XPS Tower, Precision Tower, Alienware Aurora

2. HP — EliteDesk/ProDesk, OMEN, Z2/Z4/Z6 Workstations

3. Lenovo — ThinkCentre M series, Legion T series, ThinkStation P series

4. Acer — Aspire TC, Predator Orion, Veriton

5. ASUS — ROG Strix/ROG G series, ProArt Station, ExpertCenter

6. Apple — iMac (Intel/Apple silicon), Mac mini, Mac Pro

7. MSI — MAG Infinite/Trident, MEG/MPG Aegis, Creator P series

8. Gigabyte — AORUS gaming towers, BRIX Pro (mini)

9. Intel (legacy) — NUC/NUC Extreme

10. Fujitsu — ESPRIMO, CELSIUS workstations

11. Corsair — ONE i/ONE a series compact workstations

12. Razer — Tomahawk (modular SFF)

13. Supermicro — Workstation towers (X11/X12)

14. Zotac — ZBOX MAGNUS (SFF)

15. Shuttle — XPC barebones/workstations

16. ASRock — DeskMini/DeskMeet SFF, Creator towers

17. Medion — Akoya, Erazer gaming

18. CyberPower — Ultra/Infinity custom desktops

19. PCSpecialist — Vortex/Apollo custom towers

20. Chillblast — Fusion/Next Day series

21. Scan 3XS — Workstations (ProViz), gaming towers

22. Box/Cube — Strix/Workstation series

23. Zoostorm — Delta/Elite towers

24. Beelink/Minisforum — Mini PCs (UM/Mini-ITX)

25. iBUYPOWER — Slate/Trace towers

All desktop storage interfaces we recover

SATA I/II/III (3.5″/2.5″), PATA/IDE 40-pin (legacy), mSATA, microSATA 1.8″ (legacy), NVMe/PCIe (M.2 M-key, B/B+M for SATA, AIC HHHL/FLHL), U.2/U.3 (SFF-8639), SAS 3/6/12Gb, Parallel SCSI (Ultra/160/320), Fibre Channel (legacy DAS), mini-SAS (SFF-8087/8643/8654), eSATA, USB 2.0/3.x/USB-C/UASP bridges, Thunderbolt 1/2/3/4 DAS, Apple PCIe AHCI/NVMe blades (2013–2017), SATA DOM.

Filesystems & volumes: NTFS, ReFS, exFAT, FAT32, HFS+, APFS, ext2/3/4, XFS, Btrfs, ZFS, Windows Dynamic Disks, Storage Spaces, LVM/mdadm, Apple Fusion, BitLocker, FileVault, LUKS/dm-crypt.

Professional recovery process (what happens in our lab)

1. Intake & free diagnostics — Identify interface, drive family, symptoms, encryption; capture SMART/logs; evidence chain on request.

2. Forensic imaging first — Hardware imagers with head-maps, per-head zoning, timeout/ECC controls (HDD); read-retry/voltage stepping + thermal control (SSD/NVMe). No writes to originals.

3. Targeted repairs (only if needed) — ROM/adaptives transfers, firmware patching, donor PCB/head-stack/motor swaps, or board-level power work; chip-off + FTL reconstruction where viable (SSD).

4. Logical/data recovery — Filesystem reconstruction (NTFS, HFS+, APFS, ext, XFS, ReFS, exFAT, etc.), journal replay, metadata repair on the clone.

5. Verification & delivery — Per-file hash verification (MD5/SHA-256), sample file testing, and secure hand-off (encrypted return drive or secure transfer).

Limits: Truly overwritten blocks are unrecoverable. For encrypted volumes (BitLocker/FileVault/LUKS/SED Opal), valid keys/passwords are required.

Top 100 desktop drive faults we recover — with technical approach

Format: Issue → Diagnosis → Lab recovery (always on clones/virtual models).

A. Mechanical HDD (1–20)

1. Head crash/clicking → Head current & SA tests → Matched donor HSA, ROM adaptives verified; per-head imaging with short retries.

2. Heads stuck (stiction) → Acoustic/spin profile → Free HGA; if contaminated, replace heads; cold low-speed imaging.

3. Spindle/motor seizure → Current ramp; free-spin test → Motor/chassis transplant with servo alignment; zoned imaging.

4. Media scratches/rings → Error heatmap by head/zone → Skip-range multi-pass; partial file carving.

5. Off-track after shock → PES drift → Micro-alignment; burst imaging with cool-down.

6. Preamp failure → Abnormal head bias → HSA swap; conservative imaging.

7. Service-Area (SA) module damage → Alt SA copy checks → Patch modules/CRC; restore translator; image.

8. Translator corruption (0 LBA/slow) → Vendor terminal → Rebuild translator; image by head/zone.

9. ROM/adaptives loss → SPI dump/port → Re-flash ROM; validate head map/micro-jog; image.

10. G-list explosion “slow issue” → Vendor scripts → Disable BG ops; head-zoned imaging.

11. Bearing wear/resonance → Thermal/vibration mapping → Short passes around resonance windows.

12. Helium pressure loss → Thermal sweet-spot short passes; isolate weak head.

13. Parking ramp damage → HSA + ramp swap; recalibrate; image.

14. Contamination/ingress → Decontaminate; new HSA; cold imaging.

15. Platter imbalance → Motor transplant; servo tune; cautious imaging.

16. Head slap (impact) → HSA replacement; adaptive gain re-tune; image.

17. Warped platters (overheat) → Tight temp window imaging; carve.

18. Latch failure → Mechanical release; HSA swap; image.

19. SA mirror copy failure → Use surviving SA; patch directory; image.

20. Head map mis-reported → Patch head map in ROM; isolate failing head; image rest.

B. Electronics/Power/Backplane (21–35)

21. PCB failure / TVS diode short → Rail checks → Replace TVS/regulators; ROM transfer; regain SA; image.

22. ATX PSU surge/ESD → Component-level repair; ripple verify → image.

23. 3.3 V pin-3 inhibit (WD in desktop) → Isolate pin/apply correct PSU; image.

24. Burned motor driver → Donor PCB + ROM; verify preamp; image.

25. SATA power/data connector damage → Connector rework; force lower link speed; image.

26. Backplane CRC storms → New cable/HBA; QD=1 small-block imaging.

27. Oxidised contacts → Clean/reseat; stable host; image.

28. Front-panel USB/SATA short → Isolate chassis path; image on bench.

29. Undervoltage brownouts → Bench PSU; soft-start; image.

30. ESD arrays blown (USB bridges) → Replace arrays; BOT fallback; image.

31. Thermal cut-outs → Directed airflow/heatsinks; staged imaging.

32. Wrong modular PSU cable → Replaced protection; assess downstream; image.

33. Faulty HBA/RAID card → Bypass to stable host; image raw members.

34. NVMe riser instability → Bypass riser; motherboard M.2; staged imaging.

35. eSATA/USB hub under-power → Direct host port/powered hub; image.

C. Firmware/Service-Area (36–45)

36. 0 MB/0 LBA capacity → Clear firmware flags; translator regen; image.

37. SMART log overflow slow-down → Disable background ops; zoned imaging.

38. P-list/G-list corruption → Rebuild lists; synthetic translator; image by physical address.

39. Self-test hang → Abort vendor tests; conservative timeouts; image.

40. Loader mismatch (donor PCB) → Load compatible microcode; image.

41. Password/ATA lock → Authorised unlock (proof of ownership); image.

42. Hidden defects masked by firmware → Expand read look-ahead; per-head imaging; carve.

43. Background media scan interference → Disable BMS; steady imaging.

44. Mis-reported geometry → Force native geometry; image; rebuild FS.

45. SA checksum/dir corruption → Patch modules; re-index SA; image.

D. SSD/NVMe (46–65)

46. Controller failure (Phison/SMI/Maxio/WD etc.) → No enumerate/0 B → Try vendor loader; if dead → chip-off per-die dumps (many are self-encrypting; keys needed) → FTL rebuild (BCH/LDPC, XOR/scrambler, interleave) → raw image.

47. PMIC/LDO burnout → Rail collapse → Replace power ICs; if controller remains dead → chip-off.

48. DRAM/cache failure → Inconsistent mapping → Emulate cache (if supported) or chip-off + offline mapping.

49. NAND retention loss → Unstable reads → Cold imaging, voltage stepping, read-retry matrices; majority-vote merge.

50. Read-disturb (TLC/QLC) → ECC spikes → Lower thresholds; idle cycles; prioritise weak dies; merge passes.

51. Firmware safe-mode → Limited admin path → Load recovery microcode; export namespaces; treat as raw image.

52. Namespace/metadata loss → Rebuild GPT from FS signatures; image full logical space.

53. Thermal throttling/link flaps → PCIe resets → Clamp link (Gen3 x2/x1), active cooling; staged imaging.

54. USB-NVMe bridge bug → Random disconnects → Bypass to motherboard M.2; image direct.

55. M.2 pad/connector damage → Microsolder re-pad/wire to test pads; image via adapter.

56. SATA SSD RO mode → Controller locks RO → Image within RO constraints; logical repair on clone.

57. Hidden OP/maintenance ranges → Incomplete dump → Include reserved ranges; rebuild address space first.

58. Opal/SED encryption → Ciphertext at rest → Full image; valid keys required; decrypt clone.

59. Interrupted firmware update → Half-flashed → Attempt rollback loader; else chip-off + FTL.

60. TRIM after deletion → Physically erased pages → Journal-aware recovery + carving; set expectations.

61. Metadata journal loss (FTL) → Orphaned pages → Temporal ordering via OOB; rebuild map.

62. Unknown XOR/scrambler → Garbled pages → XOR discovery from cribs (NTFS boot/APFS headers); apply across planes.

63. Interleave/channel mis-detect → Wrong die order → Force ONFI/Toggle timings; re-dump per channel.

64. Apple-silicon soldered NVMe → Keys SEP-bound → Board-level stabilisation + credentialed imaging; decrypt with user creds.

65. Apple PCIe “blade” SSD 2013–2017 fail → Try donor host/adapter; else chip-off + FTL (model-dependent).

E. Logical/Partition/Filesystem (66–88)

66. Accidental deletion → Dir entries unlinked → Journal-aware undelete; carve unallocated/slack.

67. Quick/full format → Boot/GPT overwritten → Rebuild GPT/boot; use $MFTMirr/backup superblocks; deep carve large media (PST/VM/MP4).

68. GPT/MBR wiped (“disk not initialised”) → Build synthetic GPT from FS headers; mount RO.

69. NTFS $MFT/$LogFile damage → Dirty shutdown → Replay log; rebuild MFT; relink orphans.

70. ReFS object table/integrity stream → CoW artefacts → Export checksum-valid objects; ignore poisoned blocks.

71. APFS container/omap corruption → Walk checkpoints; rebuild omap; mount Data RO.

72. HFS+ catalog/extent B-trees → Tree rebuild; allocator-pattern carving.

73. ext4 superblock/inode loss → Backup superblocks; offline fsck-like repair on clone.

74. XFS journal corruption → Manual log replay; directory rebuild.

75. Btrfs checksum/subvolume errors → Select best superblock pair; tree-search roots; export snapshots.

76. Time Machine sparsebundle damage → Repair band files; export snapshots; carve band payloads.

77. BitLocker volume → Key required → Image; decrypt clone; export RO.

78. FileVault (APFS/HFS+) → Credentials required → Unlock keybag on image; export.

79. LUKS/dm-crypt → Header intact? → Image; luksOpen with pass/keyfile; export.

80. Windows Dynamic Disks (spanned/striped) → LDM DB loss → Recover from backups; infer from FS runlists.

81. Storage Spaces parity/mirror → Slab map damaged → Rebuild column/stripe map; export virtual disk RO; repair guest FS.

82. ZFS pool on desktop → Import with rewind/readonly; scrub; export datasets.

83. Btrfs RAID on desktop → Chunk map; checksum voting → Assemble; export subvols.

84. VMFS/VHDX/VMDK on workstation → Descriptor/chain repair; mount and export.

85. iSCSI LUN (desktop target) → LUN sparse file damaged → Carve from underlying FS; rebuild guest FS.

86. Dual-boot bootloader overwrite → BCD/GRUB conflicts → Repair only on clone; export data.

87. Disk signature collision → Mount confusion → New signature on clone; safe attach.

88. CCTV overwritten data on repurposed disk → Overwrites final → Recover pre-overwrite extents/indices; set limits.

F. OS/BIOS/Platform/RAID (89–96)

89. “Drive not recognised” / BIOS errors → Link-layer diagnostics; safe PIO-like imaging; FS repair.

90. Overheating/throttling → Directed airflow; priority passes over weak regions.

91. Intel RST/AMD RAIDXpert arrays → Member loss/reorder → Image all members; virtual array; FS repair.

92. Wrong disk order after service → Entropy/order solver; reassemble; export.

93. Failed rebuild contamination → Use pre-rebuild clones; ignore late writes; reconstruct.

94. UEFI/CSM/driver conflicts → Avoid in-place repair; export from image.

95. Malware/ransomware → Forensic image; decrypt with keys/known tools where possible; recover from snapshots/caches.

96. Windows update rollback loop → Export user data; optional offline component store salvage from clone.

G. Environmental/Handling (97–100)

97. Fresh water ingress → Neutralise; dry; do not power; electronics/mech triage; image.

98. Salt water ingress → Immediate neutralisation; accelerated imaging window.

99. Fire/heat exposure → PCB rebuild; potential platter transfer; cautious imaging.

100. Severe shock/static → Replace blown protection/heads; stabilise; image.

Firmware & electronics repair

• ROM/adaptives transfer, translator rebuild, module patching, donor PCB swaps, component-level power repairs (TVS/LDO/PMIC/driver). Goal: restore stable, read-only access for imaging.

Mechanical interventions

• Head-stack replacements, platter/motor swaps with servo alignment, ramp repairs—performed strictly under controlled lab conditions to enable safe imaging.

Logical/data recovery

• Filesystem reconstruction (NTFS, HFS+, APFS, ext, XFS, ReFS, exFAT, ZFS/Btrfs), journal replay, metadata repair, and signature-guided carving—only on the clone.

Verification & delivery

• Hash verification (MD5/SHA-256), sample file testing, directory spot checks; delivery on encrypted media or secure transfer.

Why choose Plymouth Data Recovery

• 25 years in business with thousands of successful recoveries

• Multi-vendor expertise — consumer, workstation and SSD/NVMe technologies

• Advanced tools & donor inventory to maximise recovery success

• Free diagnostics with clear recovery options before work begins