A drive that’s stopped showing up in Windows or on a Mac feels final, but in most cases the data is still there. What you do in the next ten minutes matters more than almost anything else.
The one thing never to do
Do not run “repair,” “check disk,” or formatting tools on a drive that has suddenly stopped mounting. These tools write to the drive while trying to fix it, and on a drive with real damage, that write can be the difference between a full recovery and a partial one.
1. Stop using the drive
Power down the device, or safely unplug the drive if it’s external. Every additional read or write attempt on a genuinely failing drive reduces the chance of a clean recovery.
2. Listen for unusual sounds
A clicking, grinding, or repeated spin-up-and-down sound from a mechanical hard drive means a physical fault. Don’t keep power-cycling it hoping it’ll “catch” — each attempt on damaged mechanics makes things worse.
3. Check if it’s a cable or connection issue first
For external drives, try a different USB cable and a different port before assuming the worst — a faulty cable is a common and easily fixed cause of a drive “disappearing.”
4. Note what happened right before
Did the laptop get dropped, did the power cut out mid-write, or did nothing obvious happen at all? This detail helps us choose the right recovery approach immediately, rather than working it out from scratch.
What we do differently
Our recovery process images the drive first, then works from that image — meaning we never risk further damage to your original by attempting a live recovery from the failing hardware itself.
See our Data Recovery page for pricing, or book a free evaluation and bring the drive in as-is.