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Fix or replace · Photos and files stuck on a dead drive

Photos and files stuck on a dead drive

This is the one verdict page where "replace the machine" was never on the table. The computer is hardware. The photos aren't.

Verdict

Fix it — rescue the data

— whatever you decide about the computer afterward. Deleted files, corrupt drives, and machines that won't boot still usually have their data sitting intact inside. The drive failing is not the same as the data being gone.

What's usually recoverable, and for what

Data rescue is $149 flat for the everyday cases: deleted files, corrupt file systems, drives that no longer boot, and most "my computer is completely dead" situations where the drive itself still spins. Photos, documents, and files come back onto a drive you can read.

Severe physical failure is quoted case-by-case. That means a drive that clicks, was dropped while running, or got wet — the failures where opening it in the wrong place loses data forever. We tell you which case you're in before you commit to anything.

The one mistake that makes recovery harder

  • Don't keep powering it on. Every boot attempt on a dying drive can turn "mostly readable" into "gone."
  • Don't run recovery software on a physically failing drive. On a drive with failing hardware, forcing reads wears it toward the cliff edge.
  • Don't reformat "to fix it." That's the classic one — the prompt says "the disk needs to be formatted, format now?" and the wrong click makes everything harder.
The honest boundary: we tell you straight what's recoverable and what isn't — before you spend anything beyond the diagnosis. If the data matters more than the machine, say that when you book; it changes how we handle the job from the first minute.

Once the data is safe is the right time to ask whether the machine itself is worth fixing — see also the data recovery guide and the real math on fix vs replace.

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