He arrives with a diagnosis already written, and it is worth reading carefully. A repair shop reported that on his Seagate 1TB external, "the main issue is lying on the defective board and the read/write head"; they tested it "with another board however, due to the broken read/write head, the data was not accessible". He asks, sensibly, whether we can still recover it. The shop's own report describes a case that is squarely recoverable — it simply requires head replacement they were not equipped to do: a board swap alone was never going to fix broken heads, and heads are replaceable.
| Media | Seagate 1TB external hard drive assessed by a repair shop as having both a defective controller board and broken read/write heads — a donor board tried, data still inaccessible due to the heads |
| Reported situation | Repair shop diagnosis of a defective board and broken heads · a replacement board tested by the shop · data still inaccessible, attributed to the heads · shop unable to proceed further · owner seeking recovery despite the report |
| Fault class | Head failure, possibly alongside board damage — a mechanical fault requiring clean-air head replacement, beyond a board swap, with platter condition the determinant of the outcome |
| Equipment used | Drive assessed independently on PC-3000 UDMA, the shop's report treated as a starting point rather than the last word · mechanism opened in clean air under laminar flow, heads and platters inspected under stereo microscope for damage and surface marking · a matched donor head assembly of the correct family fitted, alignment set on the bench · calibration ROM handled correctly if the board is also replaced · imaged on DeepSpar Disk Imager, data extracted and validated. |
The shop's report is credible and points at exactly the work a laboratory does. A defective board and broken heads is a coherent diagnosis, and their testing with another board was a reasonable step — it isolated that the board was not the whole problem. What their report actually establishes is that this is a head-replacement case, which is standard clean-air recovery work. Their conclusion of "not accessible" reflects the limits of their equipment, not the limits of recovery.
A board swap was never going to fix broken heads, which is the crux. The controller board and the read/write heads are entirely different components — the board is external electronics, the heads are mechanical parts inside the sealed drive that fly over the platters to read data. Replacing the board addresses electronic faults; it does nothing for damaged heads. So the shop trying a donor board and finding the data still inaccessible is expected: the head problem remained because a board swap cannot touch it. The two faults need two different fixes.
Broken heads are replaceable, which is the whole reason the case is still open. Head replacement means opening the drive in clean air, removing the failed head assembly, and fitting a matched donor set from a compatible drive — precise work under controlled conditions, but established and routine. That the shop could not do it is a matter of facilities, not feasibility: a laboratory with clean-air conditions and head-replacement tooling does exactly this.
The report leaves one thing unverified — the platters — and that is what the assessment checks first. Broken heads sometimes fail cleanly, over undamaged platters, and sometimes fail after scoring the surface. The shop's report does not distinguish these, and it is the platters' condition, not the heads' failure, that sets the ceiling on recovery. So the first laboratory step is inspecting the platters under magnification to establish which case this is.
The honest prognosis follows the platters, and is stated before the work. If the heads failed over intact platters, a donor head set restores reading and the data comes back. If prior operation — including the shop's board-swap testing with broken heads — marked the platters, recovery narrows to the intact regions. Which applies is determined at assessment, not assumed from the report, and the outcome stated plainly before anything is charged.
The drive was assessed independently on PC-3000 UDMA, the shop's report treated as a starting point. The mechanism was opened in clean air under laminar flow and the heads and platters inspected under stereo microscope for damage and surface marking. A matched donor head assembly of the correct family was fitted with alignment set on the bench, the calibration ROM handled correctly where the board was also replaced, and the drive imaged on DeepSpar Disk Imager and the data extracted and validated.
Head failure addressed with a matched donor set in clean air, board handled correctly where involved, and the data imaged and validated. The assessment is free and the quote is a single fixed figure inclusive of VAT; where a drive has to be opened, half of the parts and labour is payable up front and the balance falls due only on success — otherwise it is no recovery, no fee. The decode: the shop's own report describes a recoverable case — a board swap was never going to fix broken heads, and heads are replaceable. Done properly in clean air, with the platters intact, your data comes back.
Take the report as a starting point, not a dead end — a board swap can't fix broken heads, so "still not accessible after a new board" simply means it needs head replacement, which is standard laboratory work. Stop letting anyone power the drive to keep testing it; with broken heads, each attempt risks scoring the platters. The platters' condition, not the heads' failure, decides the outcome. Have the drive assessed by a laboratory with clean-air head-replacement facilities before concluding it's unrecoverable.
Our case files are written up from genuine enquiries our lab has handled for customers across Staines, Surrey and the surrounding area, anonymised to protect client confidentiality. Each one describes the diagnostic and recovery approach our engineers apply to that fault, using the equipment listed.
Free diagnostic, fixed quote, no fix no fee — start now or call the freephone.