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Media degradation · Hard drives

Bad Sector Data Recovery for Failing Drives

A drive with bad sectors is still working, but it's wearing out. It gets slow, freezes, throws CRC or I/O errors, and every hour it runs can make things worse. We image the drive carefully, reading the healthy areas first, and recover your files for one flat price. You pay nothing if we can't recover them.

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$1,200 flat · pay on success
✓Free prepaid shipping
✓Cleanroom recovery by engineers
✓No diagnostic fee
✓$0 if we can’t recover your data

Signs of bad sectors & degrading media

  • •Drive is suddenly very slow or freezes while opening files
  • •Copying stops with "Data error (cyclic redundancy check)" or an I/O device error
  • •SMART tools show reallocated, pending, or uncorrectable sector warnings
  • •Some files or folders open fine while others hang or won't open
  • •Windows or macOS takes much longer to boot, or drops to a repair screen
  • •Drive clicks occasionally or retries during reads

What’s actually happening

A sector is the smallest block of data a hard drive reads and writes. When the drive can't read one cleanly, it retries again and again, which is why the computer freezes, and if it still fails it reports an error such as a CRC or I/O error. Drives quietly swap out some weak sectors on their own, and SMART counters like reallocated and pending sectors track that. A rising count means the surface or the read heads are degrading.

The trouble is that ordinary copying is hard on a failing drive. Copy tools and the operating system retry bad areas over and over, which keeps the heads working on damaged surface and can turn a small number of bad sectors into a much bigger problem, or a head failure. The goal is to get a full copy while the drive can still give one, without grinding on the worst spots.

Professional imaging reverses the usual order: read everything that comes off easily first, skip problem areas quickly, then go back with limited, controlled retries. Recovery happens from that image, never the original drive.

What not to do

  • ✕Don't keep copying files the normal way — repeated retries on bad areas wear the drive down faster.
  • ✕Don't run CHKDSK, First Aid, or a surface scan — they read the whole drive, including the damaged parts, and CHKDSK can change the file system.
  • ✕Don't defragment or run optimization tools — defragmenting moves data around on a surface that's already failing.
  • ✕Don't leave it running overnight to finish a copy — long runs on a degrading drive often end in a head failure.
  • ✕Don't run recovery software that scans the entire disk — a full scan puts the same strain on weak areas as copying.

How we recover it

1

Assess heads and media

Engineers check whether the problem is the surface, a weak head, or both, and whether the drive needs cleanroom work before it's safe to read.

2

Image the good areas first

We read the drive on hardware built for failing media, which controls timeouts and skips past slow areas instead of getting stuck on them.

3

Controlled passes on the bad areas

Problem sectors get later passes with limited, deliberate retries. Where the file system is known, we target the sectors that matter to your files first.

4

Recover from the image

Files are extracted from the copy, and we identify any that fall on sectors that couldn't be read.

5

Verify and return

Recovered files are checked so they open, then returned on a secure return drive.

Can the data be recovered?

Drives with bad sectors are often good candidates for recovery, especially when they come in early, before extended copying or scanning. How much comes back depends on how far the damage has spread and whether the heads are failing as well. Files that sit on sectors that can't be read may come back partially or not at all. We'll be honest about what's recoverable, and you pay nothing unless we recover your data.

Recovery by device

Hard drive recovery →External drive recovery →Laptop data recovery →Desktop & PC recovery →

Related guides

Diagnostics Reallocated Sector Count: What It Means and When to Worry Diagnostics Current Pending Sector Count: Why It's So Urgent Error Messages Data Error (Cyclic Redundancy Check): Causes and Fixes Error Messages I/O Device Error on an External Hard Drive: Causes and Fixes Diagnostics CrystalDiskInfo Guide: How to Read Your Drive's Health Status Hard Drive Hard Drive Clicking? Stop and Do These 5 Things First

Bad Sectors & Degrading Media — common questions

Can I fix bad sectors with software?+
Software can mark bad sectors so they aren't used again, but it can't recover the data that was in them, and the scanning involved puts extra wear on a failing drive. If the data matters, get it copied off first.
My SMART status says Caution. Should I back up right now?+
If the drive is still responding normally, copy your most important files first, to a different drive, and stop if it slows down or throws errors. If it's already freezing or erroring, stop and get it imaged professionally.
Will I get back every file?+
Not always. Most data on a degrading drive is usually still readable, but files sitting on sectors that can't be read may be incomplete. The earlier a drive comes in, the more there typically is to recover.
Can I send a NAS or RAID with a failing drive?+
Yes. Multi-drive RAID, NAS, and server cases get a custom quote after a free evaluation, and you still only pay if we recover your data.
How much does bad sectors & degrading media recovery cost?+
One flat $1,200 for a single device, quoted before you ship — no diagnostic fee, and $0 if we can't recover your data.

Other failures we recover from

Corrupted File SystemFormatted DriveDeleted FilesEncrypted Drive All failure types →

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