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MHDR / Specialist cases / LaCie drive recovery

Specialist · LaCie drives

LaCie recovery in Maidenhead. The orange bumper survives; the heads seldom do.

LaCie designs the outer housing. Usually, the outer housing contains an internal drive produced by Seagate (the parent company), and that split accounts for the majority of what we receive from Maidenhead. For example, a Rugged's orange protective case allowed it to withstand a drop while the Rugged's heads crashed. Another example would be a d2 that has lost its bridge board but still has good health as far as the hard drive goes. A final example would be a 2big that has been using one of two bays since this past spring. Each product is worked on at the bench at length; there is no rush to complete this work.

Only pay if we recover your data, on most jobs Diagnosis free, then a fixed quote Get a quote, then post it in from Windsor, Slough or anywhere else

Describe the fault to an engineer
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What each LaCie symptom is telling you.

None of these? Run the triage →
The symptomThe likely causeStart here
A Rugged that continues clicking after being droppedThe protective bumper saved the casing on the Rugged, however, the Rugged's heads are damaged and will no longer operateDo not use it; each time you use it you will lose more data
A d2 that will illuminate but cannot mountThe enclosure's bridge board is dead and therefore cannot access your hard drive, yet the hard drive itself remains unharmedGood odds; we can simply read the data off of your hard drive
A 2big that has had one of its bays dark for monthsThe pair has been running degraded for months, and now the second disk has followedStop writing to it; get a quote first, then please send us the two drives separately, labelled for each bay, along with the casing
A desktop LaCie slowing down for monthsFailing sectors on a very large 3.5in platter and those that are shingled are worseGet a quote first. Then send it in while it can still read and you can save some data.
A unit locked with a password which will not unlockUnit uses hardware encryption with the key being stored on the controller (bridge) as opposed to the plattersSend us your password. Keep the unit intact.
An error message prompting you to initialise a previously used volume/drive which was fullThe damage occurred at the file system level (volume structure), rather than the file itselfRefuse it. Then disconnect the device.
Where to send it: first get a quote, by phone or with the form, then send it using a tracked, insured service to the Guildford intake laboratory, or drop it off there yourself (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, no appointment needed). We will cover the cost of the postage back to you. From a laptop, PC or Mac, we just require the drive out of your computer; storage soldered to the board (T2 and Apple silicon Macs, soldered laptop flash) is not taken on, and if you're unsure as to type, call us first. From a server or RAID set, just send the individual drives, all clearly labelled by bay. From a NAS, send the disks, each labelled by bay, if they come out; otherwise, send the entire NAS unit. A single external drive comes whole, with its cable and power supply. If you wish to review your packaging before posting, contact an engineer who will walk you through the process over the phone. All steps involved with the postage process are listed on the postage page.

Which LaCie you have, and what tends to give way.

RuggedThe orange model, brought to locations, sites and shoots, and dropped there. Although they appear identical on the exterior (spinning & SSD), both units represent two completely separate jobs internally. When dropped, on the spinning models the shock lands directly upon the heads, but the "bumpers" take all the credit, thus requiring a donor stack and a patient image process thereafter.
d2 desktop unitsOne that lives on a desk rather than in a bag. It's a single large 3.5-inch drive behind a bridge board, with its own power brick. When the lights are working but nothing mounts, that points to this board first, and the disk behind it is usually fine.
2big and 6big arraysMultiple bay enclosures used for editing and archival purposes. This type of equipment tends to fail due to the months spent running degraded, as opposed to the failure of individual disks. A member of a RAID configuration may have failed. The user may never notice a problem, however once another member fails, the entire enclosure ceases operation.
Porsche Design and the bridgeSlim aluminium USB-C, Thunderbolt and FireWire units. LaCie designs the casing and supplies the bridge and the power distribution system while Seagate manufactures the internal hard drive. Units designed for hardware encryption use a key stored in the same bridge board.

What happens to your LaCie between arrival and return.

01

Booked in, then assessed at no cost Free

Nothing is chargeable until you say yes. Every item gets a case number of its own immediately upon receipt, an engineer determines what has failed, and you get a clear picture of which files have a real possibility of being recovered. The single quote that follows is fixed, written down and does not cost anything.

Diagnosis at no costOne fixed quote, in writingNothing signed
02

Listened to, then taken apart

A device that makes noise is not switched on again just to prove it is dead. The external casing is removed at the bench, allowing us to connect the internal mechanism directly to our own equipment via a separate connection point. It takes mere minutes to determine if the issue lies with the internal mechanism (hard drive) or the interface (bridge board).

The board, or the disk?Settled before you are quoted
03

Donor parts, and the bridge's key

When performing mechanical repairs, we use a donor unit that matches the original's model number, series and batch number. If the unit is encrypted at the bridge level, we recover both the board and platters together, because when separated, the platters can produce only ciphertext.

Matched donor partsBridge and key kept together
04

Copied zone by zone, unhurried

Large 3.5-inch mechanisms found in LaCie d2 and 2big units are often "shingled", resulting in inconsistent reads where the data is read in fits and starts. Data recovery is performed in multiple passes, with the weakest areas delayed until all other data is safely recovered. This process can take days instead of hours.

Every sector that still answersYour folders as you left them
05

Opened, verified, and sent home

You don't get charged anything until you've confirmed and authorised that everything is fine after seeing the entire list of what was recovered. Any recovered items are returned via brand-new storage media and the postage costs for these are covered by us. We do not consider a project complete here until we receive confirmation that you have been able to successfully access and review every item you received back.

You approve the list firstReturned on fresh mediaThe return post is ours

What tends to show up first

  • Bumpers are not the drive, the orange rubber provides a cushioning effect in a fall, however when the platter is spinning at the time of impact, it will take the heads down with it. What may look unmarked outside does not tell you anything about what is inside.
  • Most 2big failures are already two failures, the first component fails quietly, the failure light remains hidden behind a monitor and the enclosure continues to operate until the second component also fails.
  • The configuration exists within the enclosure, a 2big or 6big maintains the configuration of an array within the enclosure instead of on the disks, therefore the enclosure must be sent in too.
  • Toolkit software cannot fix hardware, LaCie's Toolkit software provides utilities to synchronise data and mirror drives, and once you have executed a "repair" tool against a failing disk, it will have used up reads you will want later. Therefore do not execute either of these tools against a noisy enclosure.

The limit we will not mask: hardware encryption is real encryption. If the model encrypts data at the bridge level and no one possesses the password then the media remains encrypted and no laboratory can alter that. The same principle applies to a 2big whose long-dead member was physically damaged: the set waits on that particular disk. The file list arrives before any fees are due.

From the casebook, lately.

MH · MHD-2026-6834ON RECORD ✓

The 2big that had quietly been running on one disk

The amber light had been illuminated since spring and nobody looked at the rear of the desktop. Once the second disk began clicking, the volume became completely unavailable. Each member was imaged independently, the noisy one after donor heads had been installed and the enclosure came with them. This established how the pair were configured. Nearly all of it was recovered, including four years' worth of job files.

98% recoveredBoth members imaged

Before it comes to the lab.

Do these now

  • Don't touch anything else on the unit; turn the unit off and walk away
  • Let us know what you heard from the unit (beeping, clicking etc) or whether it did nothing at all
  • First get a quote, then send the entire unit, including the lead and the power supply
  • Tell us the model: is it a Rugged, a d2, a 2big or a 6big?

Things best not done

  • Freezer tricks, tapping it gently or shaking it carefully
  • Placing the device back into service to test for recovery
  • Using Toolkit or a repair tool on it
  • Taking apart the shell to access the hard drive

The questions that arise most often.

My 2big lost one disk months ago, and now the second. Is that it?

Not necessarily, but it is certainly the harder version of this job. If they were in a mirror set-up then the individual disk that continued as usual will have all data from when it was still working (up until it failed) and therefore it would be worthwhile doing the mechanical work on this disk. The disk that failed first will contain only an image of what its state was when it failed. Therefore you can use this as a "backup" if needed; however, it's always going to be your last resort. The two disks will each be duplicated, and the enclosure will travel with them, since the configuration information is stored inside the enclosure. No data will ever be written to the original devices.

The bumper survived the drop unmarked. Why won't the Rugged mount?

Because the bumper protects the casing, not the internal mechanisms. Within a Rugged 2.5in drive (spinning) there is an ordinary 2.5in disk with heads flying nanometres over the surface while it rotates, and at that time an impact places those heads on top of the platter instead of beside it. Rubber cushions the impact against the casing and does not affect the physical properties within. A case with no markings is not a guarantee that the device did not receive damage, so do not turn it on, and allow a professional to inspect it.

Do you need the whole unit sent in, or just the disk inside it?

The entire unit, including the cable and power supply: first, you need a quote for this item by either contacting us via telephone, or through our online quotation form, after which you post the item to the Guildford intake laboratory, using trackable delivery services, and insure it as well. We also accept personal visits at the Guildford intake laboratory (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm) where you may drop off your items, no appointment needed. On those units that use hardware-based encryption, the key is stored within the bridge board, rather than being located on the individual hard disk. Therefore, when recovering data, both components must be recovered simultaneously. However, by themselves, the disks do not provide any readable data. A 2big or 6big model provides a record of how all of the drives in the enclosure were arranged in the array. This information proves very useful when trying to determine the configuration of the array. If possible remove each drive individually, label each one with the bay number assigned during installation, and send the drives in along with the enclosure. Alternatively, if removing the drives is impossible, please feel free to send the unit as a single piece with the drives still installed. A single external drive should travel in its original case, as posting a separate hard drive (i.e., not enclosed in a protective case) does not prove as beneficial to our efforts.

My d2 has slowed to a crawl and copies keep stalling.

More than likely weak sectors of the hard drive have developed; they can be addressed now, prior to the entire mechanism shutting down. Many 3.5 inch drives used in d2 and 2big units are shingled. Therefore as the disk is read in marginal areas, it will take longer and longer until it ceases reading altogether. Each hour of normal operation uses up reads that the imaging pass will want. Remove from service and schedule a diagnostic at no cost to you, prior to the drive stopping.

More of the jobs we've closed.

Drives that travel with you → No drive detected → Noisy drives → Media we work with →

Switched off, it keeps every chance it has.

Every additional power-up asks for even more of a drive that is already starting to fail. First open a case with us, and let the free diagnosis tell you how much remains.

0800 6890668

Ask for a free diagnosis Posting it to us