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Fujitsu Data Recovery

Since 2008 | No Data, No Fee | $100–$2,000 | Nationwide Mail-In

Fujitsu's hard drive business passed to Toshiba on October 1, 2009. ACE Lab's PC-3000 supported-drive list groups the Fujitsu ATA families under Fujitsu. PC-3000 is what we use for firmware work on the MHW, MHZ, and MHY laptop series and the MPG desktop series. We handle both consumer and enterprise SCSI/SAS mechanisms. No data recovered = no charge.

In-House Austin Lab

Single location, no outsourcing

No Data, No Charge

Free evaluation always

Fujitsu HDD Timeline

Fujitsu's hard drive business passed to Toshiba in October 2009. The transition drives (Toshiba MJA series) are still listed under Fujitsu on ACE Lab's PC-3000 supported-drive list.

ACE Lab's supported-drive list groups the Fujitsu ATA families under one manufacturer entry: MPA, MPB, MPC, MPD, MPF and MPG; MHD, MHK, MHM, MHN, MHR, MHS, MHT, MHV, MHW, MHX, MHY and MHZ; and the Toshiba-branded MJA2xxxBH.

Author
Louis Rossmann
Written by
Louis Rossmann
Founder & Chief Technician
Updated August 2026
11 min read
Fujitsu Recovery Cost

How Much Does Fujitsu Data Recovery Cost?

Fujitsu data recovery costs $100–$2,000, determined by the failure type, not the drive's age or model. Simple data copies from a functioning drive cost $100. File system recovery for corrupted partitions is from $250. Firmware repair for translator corruption or G-List overflow costs $600–$900. Head swaps for clicking Fujitsu drives cost $1,200–$1,500. Platter damage starts at $2,000. Free evaluation and a firm quote for every drive. If we cannot recover your data, you pay nothing.

Critical Warning

Do Not Swap the PCB

Fujitsu drives store unique adaptive calibration data (head positioning, servo parameters) in non-volatile memory on the PCB. That data has to move to the replacement board before the drive is powered, which is why that transfer is part of our PCB-swap procedure. Do not attempt a PCB swap on any Fujitsu drive. Send it for free evaluation instead.

Toshiba MJA Identification

Is Your Toshiba MJA Actually a Fujitsu?

Fujitsu launched the MJA2 BH series. After Fujitsu's hard drive business passed to Toshiba in 2009, the series carried on under the Toshiba name. ACE Lab's PC-3000 supported-drive list groups these models under Fujitsu rather than Toshiba, so send us the model number off the label with the drive. Drives that are Toshiba designs end to end are covered on our Toshiba data recovery page.

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What Hard Drive Recovery Customers Say

4.9 / 51,837 Google reviewsverify on Google Maps
“Sent my hdd for data recovery, process was simple and I was able to pre-authorize an amount. They worked on my drive within 2 days of receiving it and the total cost was literally 1/10th of the amount of another service I got a quote from. Professional, quick, affordable. Nothing to complain about.”

Andrew Hansen

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“My satisfaction with Rossmann Repair Group goes beyond just 5 stars. I had a hard drive die some time ago, but I had no idea where I could send it knowing it would be safe, or there being a chance I'd be ripped off.”

Kyle Hartley (crazybangles)

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“Had a raid 0 array (windows storage pool) (failed 2tb Seagate, and a working 1tb wd blue) recovered last year, it was much cheaper than the $1500 to $3500 Canadian dollars i was quoted by a Canadian data recovery service. the price while expensive was a comparatively reasonable $900USD (about $1100 CAD at the time).”

Christopolis

Seagate

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“Walked in with my wife's dead hard drive, walked out 20 minutes later with it fixed. They were friendly, professional, did the work in a snap, and saved me the hefty repair prices for other (mail in) hard drive recovery services!”

Patrick Dughi

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Pricing

Fujitsu Recovery Pricing

Five published tiers. Pricing is based on the failure type, not the drive model or age. We evaluate every Fujitsu drive for free.

  1. Low complexity

    Simple Copy

    Your drive works, you just need the data moved off it

    Functional drive; data transfer to new media

    Rush available: +$100

    $100

    3-5 business days

  2. Low complexity

    File System Recovery

    Your drive isn't recognized by your computer, but it's not making unusual sounds

    File system corruption. Accessible with professional recovery software but not by the OS

    Starting price; final depends on complexity

    From $250

    2-4 weeks

  3. Medium complexity

    Firmware Repair

    Your drive is completely inaccessible. It may be detected but shows the wrong size or won't respond

    Firmware corruption: ROM, modules, or translator tables corrupted; requires PC-3000 terminal access

    CMR drive: $600. SMR drive: $900.

    $600–$900

    3-6 weeks

  4. High complexity

    Head Swap

    Bench diagnosis found the read/write heads have to be replaced. Clicking can also come from firmware, the preamp, or the spindle

    Head stack assembly failure. Transplanting heads from a matching donor drive on a clean bench

    50% deposit required. CMR: $1,200-$1,500 + donor. SMR: $1,500 + donor.

    50% deposit required

    $1,200–$1,500

    4-8 weeks

  5. High complexity

    Surface / Platter Damage

    Your drive was dropped, has visible damage, or a head crash scraped the platters

    Platter scoring or contamination. Requires platter cleaning and head swap

    50% deposit required. Donor parts are consumed in the repair. Most difficult recovery type.

    50% deposit required

    $2,000

    4-8 weeks

Hardware Repair vs. Software Locks

Our "no data, no fee" policy applies to hardware recovery. We do not bill for unsuccessful physical repairs. If we replace a hard drive read/write head assembly or repair a liquid-damaged logic board to a bootable state, the hardware repair is complete and standard rates apply. If data remains inaccessible due to user-configured software locks, a forgotten passcode, or a remote wipe command, the physical repair is still billable. We cannot bypass user encryption or activation locks.

No data, no fee. Free evaluation and firm quote before any paid work. Full guarantee details. Head swap and surface damage require a 50% deposit because donor parts are consumed in the attempt.

Rush fee
+$100 rush fee to move to the front of the queue
Donor drives
Donor drives are matching drives used for parts. Typical donor cost: $50–$150 for common drives, $200–$400 for rare or high-capacity models. We source the cheapest compatible donor available.
Target drive
The destination drive we copy recovered data onto. You can supply your own, or we'll provide one. For larger capacities (8TB, 10TB, 16TB and above), target drives cost $400+ extra. All prices are plus applicable tax.

Data Recovery Standards & Verification

Our Austin lab operates on a transparency-first model. We use industry-standard recovery tools, including PC-3000 and DeepSpar, combined with strict environmental controls to maintain drive integrity. This approach allows us to serve clients nationwide with consistent technical standards.

Transparent History

Serving clients nationwide via mail-in service since 2008. Our lead engineer holds PC-3000 and HEX Akademia certifications for hard drive firmware repair and mechanical recovery.

Media Coverage

Our repair work has been covered by The Wall Street Journal and Business Insider, with CBC News reporting on our pricing transparency. Louis Rossmann has testified in Right to Repair hearings in multiple states and founded the Repair Preservation Group.

Aligned Incentives

Our "No Data, No Charge" policy means we assume the risk of the recovery attempt, not the client.

LR

Technical Oversight

Louis Rossmann

Our engineers review all lab protocols to maintain technical accuracy and honest service. Since 2008, his focus has been on clear technical communication and accurate diagnostics rather than sales-driven explanations.

We believe in showing the bench rather than just describing it. Open-drive work runs on a 0.02 micron ULPA-filtered laminar clean bench, and we filmed it.

See the particle counter test at the bench
Fujitsu Firmware Architecture

How Does Fujitsu Firmware Architecture Work?

Fujitsu hard drives keep a Service Area (SA) on the platters, outside the user data area. It contains the translator tables, the defect lists (P-List and G-List), and firmware modules. ACE Lab's PC-3000 supported-drive list covers the Fujitsu ATA families, and that is the bench our firmware work runs on.

When the translator becomes corrupt, the drive initializes but reports zero capacity or fails to present the user data area.

Fujitsu Firmware Recovery Sequence

  1. 1Connect via PC-3000. Select the Fujitsu family. Identify the drive by model prefix (MHT, MHV, MHW, MHZ, MHY, MPG, or MJA).
  2. 2Read Service Area. Identify which structures are corrupted: the translator, the defect lists, the head maps, or the adaptive parameters.
  3. 3Rebuild firmware. Regenerate the translator table. Clear or compact corrupted G-List entries. Patch any damaged microcode modules.
  4. 4Image the drive. Clone the drive sector-by-sector to a target disk using PC-3000 Data Extractor or DeepSpar Disk Imager. Work from the clone, never the original.
Common Failure Modes by Product Line

Recovery by Fujitsu Product Line

Fujitsu's production spanned desktop, laptop, and enterprise drives.

MHW / MHZ / MHY Laptop

These are Fujitsu's 2.5-inch SATA laptop drives. When the translator corrupts, the drive spins, identifies, and then reports zero capacity.

MHT / MHV Legacy Laptop

Earlier 2.5-inch drives from the MHT and MHV series.

MPG Desktop

Fujitsu's MP-prefix desktop drives. ACE Lab's supported list carries the MPA, MPB, MPC, MPD, MPF and MPG families.

MAP / MBA Enterprise

Fujitsu's enterprise line used SCSI and SAS interfaces for server and SAN deployments. When these drives are RAID members, we image each drive individually before reconstructing the array.

Translator Corruption Deep Dive

Translator Corruption in Fujitsu Firmware

The translator table maps logical block addresses (LBAs) to physical cylinder-head-sector (CHS) locations on the platters. When it becomes corrupt, the drive initializes and may even report its correct model number, but it shows zero capacity or an incorrect size. The operating system cannot access any data because the LBA-to-physical mapping is broken.

Recovery involves reading whatever fragments of the translator remain, then using the zone map definitions and head configuration data to reconstruct the mapping from scratch.

Translator corruption is not data loss. The user data sectors are physically intact on the platters. Only the mapping table that tells the controller where each LBA is located is damaged. Rebuilding the translator restores access without any physical intervention. This is a $600–$900 firmware-tier recovery.

Rebuilding the Translator on MHZ, MHY, and MHW Drives

On the 2.5-inch MHZ, MHY, and MHW laptop families we see translator failure present as a drive that spins, identifies its correct model string, then reports 0 LBA or a mismatched capacity.

We read what survives of the translator on the PC-3000, reconstruct the logical-to-physical map from those fragments, and image every sector through PC-3000 Data Extractor onto a target disk. All work happens on the clone. The original never writes again, so if the reconstruction proves imperfect we can iterate without risking further SA damage.

Motor Seizure

What Causes Motor Seizure in Stored Fujitsu Drives?

A Fujitsu drive pulled out of long storage can come back with a seized spindle motor or with heads stuck to the platters. Either way, we have to open it on a 0.02 micron ULPA-filtered clean bench.

If the spindle motor has seized, we move the platters into a donor chassis. That's the surface and platter tier ($2,000).

Stiction vs Spindle Seizure on MHT and MHV Drives

Bearing seizure is a motor problem: the spindle can't start. Head stiction is a surface bonding problem: the parked head-slider is stuck to the platter and can't break away on spin-up.

We distinguish the two on the bench before any power-on imaging attempt. For head stiction, we open the drive in the ULPA-filtered clean bench, free the stuck heads, and keep the originals. That's priced at the firmware tier ($600–$900). See our hard drive stiction breakdown for the broader mechanism across other manufacturers.

PCB Failures

What Causes PCB Failures on Early 2000s Fujitsu Drives?

When a Fujitsu PCB fails, the drive doesn't spin, doesn't respond to power, or makes a faint click without spinning up. PCB repair requires transferring the adaptive data from the original board's non-volatile memory to the donor board before applying power.

PCB repair on Fujitsu drives follows the same principle as any manufacturer: the adaptive data stored in non-volatile memory on the original PCB must be transferred to the replacement board. We desolder that chip from the original PCB and transfer it to a tested donor board.

PCB Faults on MAP and MBA Enterprise Drives

When a MAP or MBA refuses to spin, we test for shorted filter capacitors on the motor driver rail, examine the driver IC for pitting or burn discoloration, and verify continuity on the controller pre-regulator.

A clean donor board alone does not solve it. We transfer the adaptive data off the original board, rework the failed driver section, and only then apply power through a current-limited bench supply. When the drive belongs to a server or SAN array, we image each member drive individually before any array logic runs.

Donor Matching Methodology

Donor Matching for Fujitsu Head Swaps

A clicking MHW, MHZ, or MHY drive needs more than a same-model donor. We screen every donor before any head transplant happens on the 0.02 micron ULPA-filtered clean bench. The full breakdown of why each criterion matters across manufacturers is documented in our donor matching technical reference.

1. Model Family and Firmware Revision

We start with the model number on the label. Firmware revision narrows it further, because a head swap needs a donor whose firmware microcode matches the patient's, not just the same model string on the label.

2. Head Map

The head map records which physical heads are active and which were retired during factory test. Two drives that report the same capacity can carry different head maps. Reading the head map from PC-3000 against the patient's SA tells us whether the donor stack will track correctly on the patient's platters.

3. Preamp Revision

The preamp die sits on the head stack flex cable and conditions the analog signal before the read channel sees it. Preamp revisions change across production runs, so a donor stack has to carry the same preamplifier revision as the patient. Mismatch it and the drive fails to read its own service area and clicks.

4. Platter Count

Capacity points on Fujitsu drives were hit through different platter and head combinations across production runs. Two drives with the same capacity on the label can carry different platter counts, so the donor stack has to match the patient's head count.

Why this matters for Fujitsu specifically. Fujitsu's hard drive business passed to Toshiba in 2009, so the donor pool is finite and shrinks every year. Burning a viable donor on a mismatched swap removes that donor from the pool permanently.

FLIR Thermal Inspection Before Bench Power

Before applying bench power to a recovered or donor Fujitsu PCB, we image the board with a FLIR thermal camera under a current-limited supply.

A hot spot shows us a fault we'd miss by looking, such as a shorted decoupling capacitor under the motor driver. We cut power as soon as something on the board runs hotter than it should, rework the failed component, and re-image before the next power cycle. The full PC-3000 workflow once the board passes thermal QA is documented in our PC-3000 technical reference. The cross-manufacturer view of board-level diagnostics on legacy HDDs sits on our hard drive data recovery page.

Data Security

Data Security During Fujitsu Recovery

Your Fujitsu drive stays in our Austin lab from intake through return. Every drive is logged, serialized, and tracked. Recovery work happens on isolated, air-gapped systems. We securely erase every working copy once the case closes. The rest of our data security practices are published separately.

Legacy Fujitsu drives often contain irreplaceable business records, archived project data, personal collections from the early digital era, and enterprise data from decommissioned servers. These drives predate modern backup ecosystems; in many cases the data exists nowhere else.

Shipping

Shipping

Secure Mail-In from Anywhere in the US

Shipping

Mail-in

Transit time depends on the carrier and service you choose.

Security & Insurance

Fully Insured

Use FedEx Declared Value to cover hardware costs. We return your original drive and recovered data on new media.

Packaging Standards

  • ✓Use the box-in-box method: float a small box inside a larger box with 2 inches of bubble wrap.
  • ✓Wrap the bare drive in an anti-static bag to prevent electrical damage.
  • ✗Do not use packing peanuts. They compress during transit and allow heavy drives to strike the edge of the box.
FAQ

Fujitsu Recovery Questions

How much does Fujitsu data recovery cost?
Fujitsu data recovery costs $100–$2,000 depending on the failure type. Simple data copies from a functioning drive cost $100. File system recovery is from $250. Firmware repair for translator or G-List corruption runs $600–$900. Head swaps for clicking drives cost $1,200–$1,500, and we require a 50% deposit because the donor parts get used up. Surface damage starts at $2,000. Free evaluation; no data recovered, no charge.
Are donor drives still available for Fujitsu head swaps?
Fujitsu's hard drive business passed to Toshiba on October 1, 2009. That means the supply of Fujitsu donor drives is finite. We match donors by model number, head count, firmware revision, and manufacturing date to ensure mechanical compatibility.
My Fujitsu laptop drive is clicking. Can you recover it?
Clicking on a Fujitsu MHW, MHZ, or MHY laptop drive means the drive cannot lock onto its servo tracks. Damaged heads do that, and so does firmware the drive cannot read or a board carrying adaptive parameters from another unit. Power the drive off immediately; continued operation works the mechanism across the platter surface and causes scoring. Where the bench finds the head stack at fault, we replace it with a matched donor in our 0.02 micron ULPA-filtered clean bench and image the platters using PC-3000 or DeepSpar Disk Imager.
Can I swap the PCB on my old Fujitsu drive?
Not without transferring the adaptive data. Fujitsu drives store unique calibration parameters (head positioning, servo data) in the PCB's non-volatile memory. We desolder and transfer that memory chip to the replacement board before powering the drive.
Is my Toshiba MJA drive actually a Fujitsu?
Yes. Fujitsu launched the MJA2 BH series, and it kept going under the Toshiba name after Fujitsu's hard drive business passed to Toshiba in 2009. ACE Lab's PC-3000 supported-drive list still groups the MJA2xxxBH models under Fujitsu rather than Toshiba, so tell us the model number when you ship it.
Why does my old Fujitsu drive not spin after storage?
A drive that sat unpowered for years can come back with a seized spindle motor or with heads stuck to the platters. If the spindle motor has seized, we transplant the platters into a donor chassis on the clean bench. That's the surface and platter tier ($2,000). If the heads are stuck, we free them on the clean bench and keep them. That's priced at the firmware tier ($600–$900).
Can you recover data from Fujitsu enterprise SCSI/SAS drives?
We recover data from Fujitsu MAP and MBA enterprise drives that use SCSI and SAS interfaces. These drives appeared in server arrays, SAN storage, and legacy enterprise systems. When these drives are part of a RAID array, we image each drive individually before reconstructing the array offline.

As Featured In

Need Fujitsu Data Recovery?

We evaluate every Fujitsu model and every Toshiba MJA transitional drive for free. We identify the firmware architecture and failure pattern before quoting. No data, no charge.

(512) 212-9111Mon-Fri 10am-6pm CT
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No data, no fee
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