hard drive recovery Archives - Memofix's Data Recovery Blog

Who Makes the Most Reliable Hard Drives?

May 25, 2026

After losing data, our customers tend be very dissatisfied with their present hard drive and they want to know what we think is the most reliable hard drive. As we diagnose every type of hard drive failure that exists and on a regular basis, we get to know the problem drives on a much deeper level then your average computer user. This month we give you our opinion on 3.5″ desktop internal hard drives. So what would we buy?

The Most Reliable Desktop Hard Drive

There was a time when there were over a hundred hard drive manufactures. These days, the herd has been thinned considerably and there remains only 3 desktop hard drive manufactures. Seagate, Toshiba and Western Digital. All three manufactures have made some very good hard drives during their history. And all three have also made some pretty terrible drives at times as well.

Back in 2012 Western Digital bought Hitachi’s hard drive business. This would have left only WD and Seagate selling desktop drives, as Toshiba at the time was strictly a laptop drive manufacture. The global anti-competition rules would not allow the resulting two company monopoly. Consequently, WD was forced to sell the Hitachi desktop hard drive division to Toshiba in order to have a 3rd competitor. WD retained the Hitachi name. Toshiba used the forced sale to jump into the desktop HDD market and began selling Hitachi desktop drives re-labelled as Toshiba drives. Toshiba has now weened itself off Hitachi’s technologies and makes it’s own unique desktop drives. WD continues to sell both Hitachi branded drives as well as WD branded drives. The two drive brands are quite different in design and it appears the Hitachi drives are continuing to use the original Hitachi designs.

#1 HITACHI - In our opinion WD’s Hitachi brand hard drives are the most reliable desktop hard drive at this time. Hitachi was the 1st manufacture to introduce helium filled drives and the reliability of these drives continues their tradition of making quality long lasting storage devices.

#2 WESTERN DIGITAL - In our opinion, the Western Digital brand makes the 2nd most reliable desktop hard drives. So in fact, WD makes the top two hard drive brands. Additionally, when it come to “recoverabilty”, we feel WD makes the most recoverable hard drives at this time. This is due to the drive’s high level of acceptance of “donor” head assemblies, and the layout of the drive’s own internal operating system.

#3 TOSHIBA - In our opinion third place would go to the new Toshiba desktop drives. We have seen a lot of these but what we have seen appear rock solid. Toshiba’s ranking may climb as we see more of them. Our opinion may also be influenced by our positive experiences with their laptop drives.

#4 SEAGATE - And in our opinion, stumbling along in last place is Seagate. Seagate has had some exceptionally bad hard drives in the last few years. 1.5TB Seagates of any model are very prone to failing. Additionally there have been high failure rates reported for the 3TB Seagate ST3000DM001 and the 4TB Seagate ST4000DX000. On the positive side, the latest Seagate 6TB and larger drives appear to be very reliable!

Please don’t place to much trust in our opinions. We tend to mostly see the bad apples, while the good drives continue to hum along, almost unnoticed by folks like us.

In our next blog post we’ll offer our opinion on laptop hard drives and who we think makes the most reliable hard drive for this purpose. In the meantime, don’t forget to backup you data to a second hard drive as nothing beats having a backup. A backup a day keeps the DR away. ( Data Recovery)

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Canada’s Astronaut Chooses Memofix!

May 22, 2026

Last month we received a crashed 2.5″ 2TB Western Digital hard drive for recovery. We see a lot of these drives but this one was special as it came from one of Canada’s most famous explorers of space .. Chris Hadfield … Canada’s Astronaut!

Chris has a team of support people who help him make decisions and complete his various obligations. When Chris’ hard drive died, his team began reviewing and researching where to send it for data recovery. They contacted a number of their top choices but ultimately chose Memofix Data Recovery Services.

We think they made a wise decision and considering the great 5 star review he gave us, he must have too.

Thanks Chris, your praise and recommendation are very much appreciated.

WARNING - WARNING - WARNING

February 2, 2026

In my last blog I recounted how we managed to recover the data from a multiple hard drive RAID array AFTER two different European data recovery companies had failed. In that situation, we were the white knight, coming in to save the data where others had failed. But recently, we were painted as the villain for performing similar data recovery magic right here in Toronto. In fact, the title of this blog came from our 1^st ever negative Google review as a result of this recent case.

To summarize, we received a 2.5” Western Digital WD hard drive for data recovery. The particular model drive sent in, has a USB3 interface built onto its PCB (printed circuit board) and it does not have typical SATA connections. From experience, we have found that data recovery imaging utilities (both in-house written and commercial) work terribly with USB interfaced hard drives. As a result, we don’t attempt to access or image USB3 type WD drives using their native USB PCB. Instead, we have learned how to convert a particular standard WD SATA PCB to work with these native USB drives.

So when we received this case, we immediately converted one of SATA PCBs to work with this drive. The conversion process required us to remove one small 8 pin programmable chip from the client’s original USB3 PCB and transfer it onto our SATA PCB. Once we did this, we were able to evaluate the drive fully and concluded that the drive had bad heads and likely minor disk damage. We contacted the client and quoted them $1300, which they declined. We transferred the client’s 8 pin chip back to their original PCB and returned the drive to the client.

The client then took it to another data recovery company who claimed it was unrecoverable because we had damaged the PCB and furthermore we left solder paste around the 8 pin chip and were thus “VERY AMATEURISH”. Ok we forgot some totally inconsequential solder paste on the PCB. But we never once applied power to the PCB so the claim we damaged it seemed unfounded. Of course there was a chance we damaged the small 8 pin chip so we suggested the client bring it back to us. They did; we removed the chip and verified it’s functionality using a chip reader. While it was here, we re-established the fact that we could still recover the data, but again the client did not want to pay us anything and left with their drive intact but with no solder paste residue to complain about.

Apparently, the client then went to KROLL ONTRACK, “the industry leader and the largest data recovery provider in Canada and in the world”. The client claims they also declared the drive unrecoverable due to the same “damaged” PCB.

The client then came back to us, and we again re-iterated that we had not damaged anything, and we could still recover the data for him. In fact, just to keep our good guy image alive, we offered to reduce the cost by $300. At 1^st the client accepted thinking we offered the recovery at $300. But when he realized we weren’t giving it away and still required $1000 to complete the recovery he declined and created his mean spirited Google complaint.

Whether this client was trying to get a free recovery or not, I don’t know, or care, but in the end I am aghast that 2 other professional data recovery companies in Toronto cannot recover the data from a situation where we regularly do.

It helps to realize, that the world wide data recovery industry has no standards, no way of knowing a company’s competency, or a company’s integrity. There are lots of bad guys waiting to take your money for very little in return and many posers issuing inaccurate statements about what is recoverable and what is not. The damage they can cause is inexcusable. I have heard it said that something like 70% of small companies that lose their data permanently are out of business within 6 months. Don’t be one of them!

If your data is important, don’t believe the 1^st “It’s UNRECOVERABLE” that you hear. Data recovery companies and technicians are not created equal. Please seek a 2^nd or 3^rd or 4^th opinion, or maybe you should just come to Memofix Data Recovery Services first.

Deleted SSD Files … Gone Forever?

July 10, 2026

It wasn’t long after the introduction of the PC that computer enthusiasts figured out that if you deleted a file on your hard drive, it could generally still be recovered. This was possible because deleting a file only deleted its index entry while the file itself remained intact and undamaged. Armed with this knowledge, many IT professionals rescued deleted files and won the accolades of their panicked customers in the process. But the rules have changed with the modern SSD or Solid State Drive and in most cases, if a file is deleted from an SSD, the file is deleted forever!

To understand why, it helps to understand a little more about SSDs.

Unlike a hard drive which can simply write over existing data, an SSD must 1^st erase existing data before it can write new data. The process of erasing a data block is very slow in comparison to writing or reading a data block, and as a result 1^st generation SSDs became considerably slower over time. To address this concern, newer SSDs started preemptively erasing recently freed blocks during their idle time. This process is referred to as garbage collection and is found in all current SSDs.

However, initially SSDs did not understand or communicate with operating systems like Windows, consequently when Windows deleted a file and marked the space as free for re-use, the SSD knew nothing about it. As far as the SSD was concerned, this space was written to and was thus in-use. To overcome this build-up of unknown and thus unavailable space, SSD manufacturers introduced a feature called TRIM. TRIM allows the operating system to communicate and inform the SSD of free data blocks as they become available. The SSD will then add these blocks to its list of blocks to be preemptively erased. Unfortunately in the real world, these blocks are erased and prepared for re-use almost immediately. Consequently, a deleted file is now totally unrecoverable within moments of being deleted.

Even if you do a quick format on an SSD, the data will be gone almost instantaneously and forever! Previously with hard drives, it was still possible to recover the original data files even if you formatted your hard drive. See our Recovering Data After a Format blog post for more information on that topic.

There are exceptions where deleted SSD data can still be recovered. This is usually because the SSD, operating system or storage configuration does not support TRIM. Below are some examples where TRIM is not supported and hence, deleted files may still be recoverable:

Using an older 1^st generation SSD or Solid State Drive
Running Windows versions before Vista and MAC OSX versions prior to 10.6.8
Using an SSDs inside an external USB or Firewire enclosures, and most NAS boxes.
File system has become corrupted and the volume is no longer recognized or accessible.
SSD formatted with FAT16 or FAT32
PCI Express SSDs generally do not support TRIM
Encrypted volumes do not usually support TRIM
SSD RAID arrays do not typically support TRIM.

Solid Sate Drives are becoming much more common as the prices comes down and their benefits become apparent, but as always, there are tradeoffs, and understanding the implications is always important. If we can help resolve your data loss situation or if you just want a second opinion, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 1-800-MEMOFIX or [email protected].

CryptoLocker holding your Data hostage?

April 25, 2026

If you haven’t heard of the CryptoLocker virus then you really should read on. This rather nasty virus is usually acquired by opening an email attachment which then embeds it’s secret code deep inside your computer. It then starts to silently encrypt ALL your data files including but not limitied to pictures, word documents, spreadsheets, pdf, emails etc. The virus encrypts your files using a virtually unbreakable RSA encryption algorithm and then demands a ransom of $100 to $500 USD in exchange for decrypting your files. Furthermore, if you don’t pay by a strict time limit, they permanently throw away the decryption key.

After the initial data encryption on your system hard drive, the virus searches out and encrypts data files on ANY online storage device, whether that is a powered on external hard drive, a USB stick, a NAS or network attached storage device, or heaven forbidden every shared folder on a network.

The first indication you are infected, is when you are greeted with a popup ransom note similar to the one displayed below. To do the most damage, the ransom note doesn’t appear until the encryption has completed, which can be anywhere from a few hours to a few days depending on how much data the virus has access to.

This particular virus has been around for a few years and appears to becoming even more rampant, to the point that copycat viruses are now popping up. We have received numerous enquiries for assistance in recovering the data, but I’m sorry to say we can’t help other than to offer advice.

The good news is that the virus can be kept at bay by any user who is very vigilant about not opening any email attachments unless they are known to be 100% safe and from a trusted source. The best advice we can give is to suggest everyone keep a backup of your data on an offline or powered off external hard drive. That way nothing can touch it.

The bad news is that once you are infected, there is NO way to decrypt the data without the decryption key. Even with present computing speeds, brute force methods would take over 1000 years to crack it.

Unfortunately, and against any moral compass, we would recommend that you pay the ransom and hope the kidnappers will be honorable enough to decrypt your data. We have heard and read stories on the web of people paying the ransom and getting their data decrypted successfully. But unfortunately, we have also heard stories of people paying the ransom and getting nothing.

If you have had any experience with this virus, please comment and share your knowledge with all our readers.

MacBook Air SSD Failures

March 19, 2026

MAC Air SSD — SSD removed from a MacBook Air

Over the last 5-6 months we’ve received an influx of inaccessible Solid State Drives (SSD) from MacBook Air laptops. Apparently Apple is aware of this problem and they are replacing them under warranty. The laptops effected were sold between June 2012 and June 2013.

Once removed, these SSDs are easily identified by the large “Toshiba” controller chip residing on the left side of the SSD as shown in the picture below. However Apple considers the removal as something not do-able in the field.

As for data recovery from these units, you had better get your wallet out. Typical costs for us to recover your data range from $2000-2500. Costs could be even higher depending on the nature of the data required, and due to the complexity of these recoveries we typically require 3 weeks or even more. We are getting faster but the rebuilding of SSD devices is very labor intensive.

If you have one of these Solid State Drives in your system, we suggest you keep all your important data backed up to at least one additional storage device or hard drive.

Tape Backup Gets Squeezed by The Cloud and SSDs

July 25, 2026

For the past couple of years we have been telling our customers and social media followers that Tape Is Not Dead. But the past 12 months has put increasing pressure on a backup technology that business has relied on for decades. Memofix is one of the few repair facilities in North America that repairs hard drives and we continue to support customers of HP, IBM and Quantum tape drives, among others. However we see the signs that tape is quickly being pushed out of IT operations by Cloud and Solid State Drives (SSDs).

In our conversations with storage OEMs, customers and industry contacts there’s no surprise that Cloud backup is becoming the backup and data recovery option that many companies are moving to. Local storage is not going away and the move to disk-to-disk backup has been underway for years. But the Cloud is quickly replacing tape as the guarantee for business continuity. It provides offsite security while eliminating the majority of administration associated with tape backup processes, and there’s no need for expensive equipment purchases or upgrades. It was a logical move for Memofix to offer Cloud Backup solutions in order to continue serving the thousands of customers who have relied on us for storage technology and services for 25+ years.

How are SSDs affecting the use of tape for data backups? SSD Manufacturers and systems integrators are selling flash technology with the emphasis on savings. The primary saving comes from a reduction in power consumption and reduced impact on IT cooling systems. But we are also hearing more pitches that tout the speed of SSDs and the productivity gains that companies can achieve, particularly when dealing with large data sets and industries where response is critical. As SSDs grow in capacity and come down in price, they are starting to push traditional HDD storage into a Disk-to-Disk backup role. This means the tape drive infrastructure is rendered obsolete or its role is greatly reduced.

In a backup market that has plenty of new sexy technologies, tape continues to be the solid low-cost performer, albeit less exciting. It’s a little bit like shopping for a new car. IT managers and business owners can either afford to drive out of the showroom with the leading solutions in Cloud, SSD and disk-to-disk, or they have to settle for the economy model that everyone thinks is already obsolete. Whatever you’re driving, we can help you tune up your backup strategy.

Need a Data Recovery Expert?

March 22, 2026

Please allow me to introduce you to MemofixMan, the creation of our own Rob Armstrong. Not only is Rob a talented artist, he also has an incredible flare for recovering data. Rob can be found most days recovering data in the Memofix data recovery lab. We hope you enjoy his drawings and we hope to publish more of his creations soon.