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Salvage is a private demonstration page, not a data-recovery service, and is not affiliated with any lab or company.
Stop — read this first
If the drive is still running, these three things matter more than anything else on this page
- Power it off now. A drive that is failing mechanically damages itself further every minute it spins.
- Do not write anything to it. Deleted files still exist until something overwrites them. Installing recovery software onto the same drive is the classic way to lose them.
- Do not reformat or run repair tools. Disk-repair utilities are built to make a volume mountable again, not to preserve what is on it. They can overwrite the structures a recovery needs.
Most of what determines the outcome happens before anyone touches the drive
Recovery is a physical process with a clock on it. What matters is whether the device stopped early, whether anything was written afterwards, and whether the failure is mechanical or logical — because those need completely different answers, and only one of them is expensive.
Work out which one this is
Five failures, and which of them you can handle yourself
The difference between a free afternoon and a four-figure invoice is almost always this distinction, and it is usually possible to tell from the symptoms.
Logical
Deleted by mistake, drive otherwise healthy
Often recoverable yourself
The file is still on the disk until something overwrites it. Recovery software run from a different drive, writing its output to a third location, has a genuine chance here — provided the disk has not been used since. This is the case most people are actually in.
Logical
Corrupt file system, drive spins and is detected
Sometimes recoverable yourself
The volume will not mount but the hardware is fine. Read-only recovery tools can often rebuild a directory without touching the original. The mistake to avoid is accepting the operating system's offer to repair the disk, which writes to it.
Mechanical
Clicking, grinding or repeated spin-up
Stop. Professional only
Those noises are heads contacting platters. Every additional power-on removes recoverable surface. Nothing you can install will help, and a lab opening it in a clean environment is the only route that does not make it worse.
Electrical or liquid
No power, burning smell, water damage
Stop. Professional only
Do not attempt to dry it out and power it on to test — that is when the short does its damage. Leave it off, and if it is wet, keep it wet or sealed rather than letting corrosion set as it dries unevenly.
Ransomware
Files renamed, a note demanding payment
Report it before anything else
A different problem wearing the same clothes. Disconnect the machine from the network, do not pay before taking advice, and check whether a free decryptor exists for that family — several do. Report it to the FBI's IC3 either way.
The triage sheet
How to tell a logical failure from a mechanical one, what to try safely yourself, and what to ask a lab before you send anything.
We ask because it is the one thing on this page with a deadline. If it is still running, stop and come back — the sheet will keep.
What it costs
Three honest ranges, without a number
Any page quoting you a firm price before seeing the device is guessing. What is predictable is the shape of the bill.
Free
You do it yourself
Logical failures on a healthy drive, using read-only tools and a separate destination disk. The cost is your time and the risk that you make it worse by writing to the wrong place.
Moderate
A logical recovery done for you
A shop or remote service running the same class of tools with more experience. Reasonable when the data matters and you would rather not be the one making the decisions.
Substantial
Clean-room mechanical recovery
Opening the drive, replacing heads, imaging platters. This is skilled work with real equipment behind it, and the price reflects that. Ask for a no-recovery-no-fee arrangement and a written quote before you authorise anything.
Two questions worth asking any lab before you post a drive: what happens if they cannot recover it, and whether the initial evaluation is free. Both should have a plain answer.
Straight answers
Questions people actually ask
- Is recovery software worth trying?
- For a logical failure on a healthy drive, yes — with two rules. Install and run it from a different drive, and write recovered files to a third location. Breaking either rule is how a recoverable case becomes an unrecoverable one.
- The drive is clicking. Can I freeze it?
- No. That advice circulates widely and belongs to drive designs from decades ago; on a modern drive condensation and thermal stress make things worse. Clicking means stop.
- How long do I have?
- For a mechanical failure, the clock runs while it is powered. For a deletion, the clock runs while the drive is in use. In both cases the answer is the same: stop using it now, decide slowly afterwards.
- Are SSDs different?
- Yes, and generally worse for recovery. Deleted data on an SSD is often cleared in the background by the drive itself, so a deletion may be unrecoverable within hours regardless of what you do. Mechanical failure does not apply, but controller failure is harder to work around than a failed head.
- Should I pay a ransomware demand?
- Take advice before deciding, and check for a free decryptor first — several families have one. Paying does not guarantee a working key, it funds the next attack, and depending on who is behind it, payment can carry its own legal exposure.
- How do I avoid needing this again?
- Keep a copy that is not attached to the machine it protects, and restore something from it once in a while. A backup that has never been restored from is an assumption, not a backup.
Go straight to the source
Independent references, none of them a lab
- No More RansomFree decryptors, run by Europol and industry partners.
- FBI IC3Where to report ransomware and extortion.
- CISA — StopRansomwareThe federal guide, including what not to do first.
- CISA — backup guidanceThe baseline that stops this being an emergency next time.
- FTC — ransomware for businessPlain guidance for organisations rather than individuals.
- Backblaze drive statisticsPublished failure statistics, if you want to know how drives actually die.
One email, then we leave you alone
Take the triage sheet before you try anything
How to tell the two kinds of failure apart, what is safe to attempt yourself, and the two questions to ask a lab before you post anything to it.
The triage sheet
How to tell a logical failure from a mechanical one, what to try safely yourself, and what to ask a lab before you send anything.
We ask because it is the one thing on this page with a deadline. If it is still running, stop and come back — the sheet will keep.