Mechanical issues are not easy to fix.

Mechanical components are complex and usually require expensive tools and donor parts to fix.

Without working mechanical components, hard drives cannot read information from the magnetic surface of the platters. In order to repair mechanical failures the responsible failed part must be identified and then replaced from a compatible donor.

Heads inside a hard drive can be compared to the needle of a record player. If the needle is bent or broken, the record will not play. The same can be said for the head(s) of a hard drive.

Software cannot fix mechanical components (despite many claims found on the Internet).

A mechanical failure can be very complex. Be wary of anyone or any company advertising low prices. It is not possible to recover data from a mechanically failed hard drive for "cheap". The average cost of a mechanically failed drive which requires donor parts ranges between $800 - $1400. Consider getting a free hard drive evaluation before you try to make repairs yourself.

iCube Development uses a fast recovery process to recover data from mechanical failures.

Typical Failure Types:

• Head or head stack failure.
• Surface damage or magnetic failure.
• Spindle or bearing seizures.
• Head parking ramp assembly failure.
• Landing zone failure.

If you suspect your drive has a mechanical failure, do not power on your hard drive. Mechanical failures do not self-repair. Instead, they often get worse.

Typical Failure Reasons:

• Sudden physical impacts (resulting in the heads breaking, bending, or becoming misaligned).
• Sustained exposure to high temperatures (resulting in the warping of metal components).
• Sudden power failures (resulting in the heads not parking correctly).
• Age (magnets will lose their magnetic properties over time).
• Manufacture defects and / or poor design.