A clicking hard drive has a mechanical failure. The read/write heads inside every hard drive use magnetic servo tracks etched on the platter surface to navigate. When heads are physically damaged, they cannot find these tracks. The drive arm sweeps out, finds nothing, resets, and slams into the stop. That repeating click is the arm hitting its limit thousands of times.
No software can fix this. Recovery software requires functional heads to read data from the platters. If the heads are broken, every read attempt drags damaged components across the magnetic coating that stores your files. Each pass destroys more data.
The only fix is a head swap: transplanting a working head stack assembly from an exact-match donor drive. This procedure must be performed on a laminar flow clean bench with ULPA filtration; a single airborne particle is larger than the gap between the heads and the platter surface. At Rossmann Group, clicking drive recovery costs $1,200–$1,500. No data, no charge.
No Data, No Charge. Head swap: $1,200–$1,500. 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.
“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.”
“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.”
“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).”
“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!”
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. In many cases, SMART errors like rising pending sector counts (SMART 197) show up before clicking starts, giving you a window to back up.
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.
Often sounds like grinding or scratching, not just clicking. These drives are notorious for head failures. The heads often crumple and lathe grooves into the platter surface. If you hear grinding, the platters may already be damaged. Stop immediately.
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.
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.
Different symptoms point to different problems. If your drive is not clicking but has other issues:
Here is what recovering a clicking drive actually looks like. This is a Western Digital head swap performed on our clean bench.
The equipment is real. The process is real. We document our work so you can see exactly what you are paying for.
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 | $1,200–$1,500 | $2,000-$7,000+ |
| Beeping Drive / Stuck Heads | $1,200–$1,500 | $1,500-$2,700 |
| Not Detected / Firmware | $600-$900 | $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.
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 ULPA-filtered laminar-flow bench, validated to 0.02 µm particle count, verified using TSI P-Trak instrumentation.
Serving clients nationwide via mail-in service since 2008.
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.
Our "No Data, No Charge" policy means we assume the risk of the recovery attempt, not the client.
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 videoAsk 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Every power cycle risks more damage. Free evaluation. No data, no charge. Mail-in from anywhere in the U.S.
