Your Hard Drive Is Clicking.
Turn It Off. Now.
That clicking noise is the sound of your read/write heads failing. They are smacking into the parking ramp because they cannot find the data tracks. No software can fix broken heads. Every second it runs, the heads are scraping the platters. That is your data being destroyed. We recover clicking drives via our nationwide mail-in service.
No Data, No Charge. Head swap: $1,000-$2,000. Mail-in from all 50 states.
Important: Do not run any software on a clicking drive. Recuva, DiskDrill, CHKDSK; these tools force the drive to read. If the heads are broken, "reading" means scraping the platters. You are destroying your data with every attempt. Do not put it in the freezer. Do not open the drive. Just turn it off.
Why Hard Drives Click
Think of it like a record player. The arm needs to follow invisible grooves to know where it is on the platter. These grooves are called servo tracks.
When the read/write heads are damaged, the drive becomes blind. It moves the arm out to find the tracks, sees nothing, panics, and pulls the arm back to reset. The click you hear is the arm hitting the stop at high speed. Over and over.
You cannot fix a blind arm with software. You have to give it new eyes. That is what a head swap is; we transplant working heads from a donor drive.
This has to be done in a particle-free environment. One dust speck is bigger than the gap between heads and platters.
Typical timeline: Head swaps take 1-3 weeks. The time depends on finding an exact-match donor drive; heads are not interchangeable between models or even firmware versions. Once we have the donor, the actual work takes 1-3 days depending on platter condition.
Types of Clicking Failures We Handle
Seagate Rosewood / LaCie
Backup Plus Slim, Mobile HDD
Often sounds like grinding or scratching, not just clicking. These drives are notorious for head failures. The heads often crumple and literally lathe grooves into the platter surface. If you hear grinding, the platters may already be damaged. Stop immediately.
Western Digital
Passport, Elements, Blue, Black
Usually a rhythmic click-click-pause pattern. The heads are trying to find servo tracks, failing, and resetting. Sometimes it is actually a firmware bug, not physical damage. These are usually recoverable if you stop now.
Toshiba / HGST
Canvio, Laptop drives, NAS drives
Can sound like rapid woodpecker clicking or a buzzing noise. Toshiba drives sometimes have motor bearing issues that sound different from head failures. Requires clean bench diagnosis; the sound alone does not tell the whole story.
Not Sure What You Have?
Different symptoms point to different problems. If your drive is not clicking but has other issues:
Watch a Head Swap
Here is what recovering a clicking drive actually looks like. This is a Western Digital head swap performed on our clean bench.
What you are seeing
- • Drive opened inside laminar flow bench with ULPA filtration
- • Damaged head assembly removed from patient drive
- • Donor heads transplanted from exact-match drive
- • Drive imaged immediately before heads degrade further
The equipment is real. The process is real. We document our work so you can see exactly what you are paying for.
What This Costs
Most data recovery companies hide their prices behind call-for-quote forms so they can size up your wallet. We do not do that. Here is what things cost.
| Problem | Rossmann | DriveSavers / Big Labs |
|---|---|---|
| Clicking Drive / Head Swap | $1,000-$2,000 | $2,000-$3,500+ |
| Beeping Drive / Stuck Heads | $1,000-$2,000 | $1,500-$2,700 |
| Not Detected / Firmware | $300-$1,200 | $1,000-$2,500 |
| Logical Recovery | $100-$500 | $500-$1,500 |
| Evaluation Fee | None | Free evaluation, but common fees elsewhere |
Why the difference? We do not bankroll PPC ads, affiliate kickbacks, or vanity certificates. Your invoice reflects engineering time, donor parts, and imaging hours; not marketing overhead. Read our DriveSavers pricing analysis.
Professional Oversight and Verified Standards
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 make sure your hard drive is handled safely and properly. This approach allows us to serve clients nationwide with consistent technical standards.
Open-drive work is performed in a laminar-flow bench filtered to 0.02 µm, verified using TSI P-Trak instrumentation.
Transparent History
Serving clients nationwide via mail-in service since 2008.
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.
Technical Oversight
Louis Rossmann
Louis Rossmann's well trained staff review our lab protocols to ensure 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 proving standards rather than just stating them. We use TSI P-Trak instrumentation to verify that clean-air benchmarks are met before any drive is opened.
See our clean bench validation data and particle test videoCommon Questions
My local computer shop said they can fix it for $100. Should I let them?
Ask them one question: do you have a PC-3000 and a clean bench? If they say they will try running a scan or see if the software can find it, take your drive and leave. Running software on a clicking drive destroys data.
Why is head swap recovery so expensive?
The equipment costs money; a PC-3000 system runs around $10k. The donor drives cost money; we have to destroy a working drive to save yours, and it has to be an exact match. The labor is skilled and time-intensive. But we do not have a marketing department, we do not pay for Google Ads, and we do not have salespeople trying to upsell you. That is why we are about half the price of the big labs for the same work.
Do I pay if you cannot recover my data?
No. No Data, No Charge means exactly that. If the platters are too damaged and we cannot get your files, you pay nothing for the attempt. You only pay return shipping if you want the original drive back.
What are the chances you can recover my clicking drive?
It depends on platter condition. If you turned it off immediately and the platters are not scratched, the odds are good. If someone ran software on it first, tried to open it, or kept powering it on hoping it would work, the odds drop. The sooner you stop, the better your chances.
Can I just buy a new head assembly online?
The heads have to be an exact match; same model, same revision, often same firmware version. You cannot just order generic heads. And even if you find the right donor, you need a clean environment to do the swap. One dust particle is enough to cause a head crash.
Why are DriveSavers and other big labs more expensive?
They spend a lot on marketing. DriveSavers is an Apple partner, Ontrack does enterprise contracts; they have big sales teams and advertising budgets. That overhead gets passed to you. We use the same class of equipment; PC-3000, laminar flow benches, donor inventory. The work is identical. The price is not.
The clicking will not fix itself.
Every power cycle risks more damage. Free evaluation. No data, no charge. Mail-in from anywhere in the U.S.