When a hard drive stops responding, some people assume their data is gone for good, or some assume it was just a minor software glitch. In many cases, recovery is still possible, even when the symptoms look severe. This recent case involved a Seagate Backup Plus HDD.

A client brought in a Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive that still loaded in Disk Manager but was not showing in “My PC” and was completely inaccessible.

During our diagnostic assessment, we discovered that a mechanical component failure is causing this problem.

This kind of problem often stops the drive’s read/write heads from reaching the platters. That is why the drive could be seen by the computer but not actually read.

Mechanical failures are serious if they are not handled properly. But with the right tools and controlled environment, they can often be stabilized long enough for safe extraction.

After performing the recovery process, we created an image of the drive. This allowed us to bypass the failing areas and safely extract the client’s files. We were able to recover all the client's data.

Many people worry when a drive cannot be read, especially if Disk Manager shows the device but will not load the data. However, as this case shows, just seeing the drive without being able to open it does not mean the data is lost. With the right assessment and professional recovery methods, even drives with mechanical damage can often be saved.