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Hard Drive Recovery: Toshiba Laptop Failed Bearings

Toshiba laptop drives MK, GAS, or GAX most common reason for failure is due to the bearings seizing within the hard disk drive. The spindle motor and the bearings within the hard drive are getting stuck. This is one of the most common reasons for Toshiba laptop hard drive recovery.

When the motor seizes, the heads get parked, touching the platters, and this causes the drive to seem like it is not spinning, but if you listen close enough you will hear a faint sound of the motor sticking. This situation must resolved in a clean room . There is no way to recover the data without invasive hard drive recovery services.

If you are here you need Toshiba laptop data recovery, more than likely, internal hard disk repair. Call Toll Free: 1-866-438-6932 or fill out an online quote form.

Here are some facts about Toshiba’s newest laptop hard drives: The MK2035GSS, possesses the largest capacity of its class, 200GB, using only two platters which seems a little scary. While this drive has the capacity, it also gets hot! We all know what heat does to a hard drive, If you are unsure read this post: Speed Kills? With Hard Drives It’s Heat!

DTI Data has a lot of experience recovering Toshiba laptop hard drives. We have a very high success rate and charge a flat fee based upon the type of Toshiba laptop you have. Our services are no data no charge. If we can’t get your data back in a working condition, we don’t charge for hard drive recovery!

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52 Responses to “Hard Drive Recovery: Toshiba Laptop Failed Bearings”

  1. Davedata99 February 23, 2007 2:46 pm #

    I understand that heat is detrimental to any type of electronic components. However, I beleive Toshiba Satellite laptops are properly ventilated. Unless, the fans blowing exhaust are blocked I believe these machines will run fine. The need for data recovery for Toshiba Satllite laptops that I have sold have been few. Furthermore, the few that have been sent out for recovery were recovered by your company. So, I believe Toshibe is putting out a good product.

  2. DTI Data Recovery March 8, 2007 11:53 am #

    DjLizard, Thanks for the comment. We see just as many Toshiba drives as Hitachi, Fujitsu, or any others. Our success rate is in the 90% range. Feel free to contact us if you would like to partner with DTI, we have aggressive reseller plans.
    http://www.dtidata.com/partner_program.htm

  3. DjLizard March 8, 2007 8:56 am #

    I am constantly doing data recovery from Toshiba MK*GA* drives and I’m sick of them. Even nearly new drives are failing left and right. I hope Toshiba realizes that they are terrible at making hard drives and start using one of the main three (WD, Seagate, Hitachi) in their future laptops.

  4. Steve April 11, 2008 4:47 am #

    I’m on my second hard drive in my Toshiba Satellite A10, and it too has died due to bearings seizing from overheat. I guess I need a cooling pad, because this thing doesn’t ventilate well enough.

  5. DTI Data Recovery July 19, 2008 12:27 pm #

    Catherine,

    When a laptop hard drive is not recognized by the computer, that is about as bad as it can get. You will have to replace the hard drive and get your restore CD’s out so your system is back up and running.

    If you were to get a USB Laptop hard drive converter you would see if your old hard drive could be recovered with software. We have a video on how to do it here:

    Slave a Laptop Hard Drive To A USB Enclosure

  6. Catherine Kennedy July 19, 2008 11:10 am #

    I keep getting messages when I try to recover saying HDD not found. I have very little money and cannot afford to run out and pay huge bucks for repairs yet the laptop is partially my income for my family and those I help with a place to stay. It seems my life is like Murphy’s Law. Especially right now. I need to find out the problem and then see if someone will help me fix it. I dont know what to do or where to turn. I need this laptop to work for me. It is a Toshiba A135 S2246 Satalite. What can I do?????

  7. karen October 5, 2008 11:51 am #

    I have a Toshiba L100 and due to there being alot of clutter on my laptop i got out my original product recovery cd to restore the system to factory settings. The only problem is there has been a problem with my dvd drive and the resovery cd does not work. Now, i could have delieted drivers or something so i thought the product recovery was a good idea. cd’s do work but not dvd’s. Is there anyway to restore the system without using the cd? Thankyou for any advice. – Confused

  8. DTI Data Recovery October 6, 2008 10:22 am #

    Karen,

    What operating system are you using? There might be a couple of options for you that wouldn’t require you to use the DVD’s

  9. DTI Data Recovery November 14, 2008 1:20 pm #

    Marissa,

    That is usually a bad sign, it means that your hard drive is not being seen by the computer. The first thing you need to do is to see if another computer can access the hard drive. Do you have another computer around? Do you know how to remove your hard drive out of the laptop. What type of laptop is it? I can help you get the drive out with that information.

    We have videos that show you how to slave a laptop hard drive to a USB case. If the drive can be recognized, you can get your data off of it. If it can’t you will need hard drive recovery. Call me at 866-438-6932 if you need help, or reply below.

    Either way you will need to replace the hard drive if it isn’t seen by the computer. Is it still under warranty?

  10. DTI Data Recovery November 14, 2008 1:42 pm #

    Marissa,

    Depending on the amount of storage you want, you can get new laptop hard drive for anywhere from $50 to $200. They are always running deals at places like newegg and bestbuy

  11. DTI Data Recovery November 14, 2008 2:28 pm #

    NP, have your Dad call us if you need any help!

  12. Marissa November 14, 2008 1:12 pm #

    So I dropped my laptop maybe about a two feet of the ground … i turned it on and now it’s at a screen that says no bootable device, and to insert boot disk and press any key….. what should i do?

    • john January 23, 2011 9:06 pm #

      First see if the hard drive came unseated. Could be that simple.

  13. Marissa November 14, 2008 1:30 pm #

    Lets see, it’s a toshiba. I have no idea about doing anything with hard drive. And I won’t know about if it’s still under warranty until I speak with my dad. So basically I am looking at getting a new hard drive? How much do those run these days? :[

  14. Marissa November 14, 2008 1:45 pm #

    Alright, well thanks for the help. Hopefully that will fix the problem. I’m guessing there will be a repair fee and all of that as well…. bummer. But thank you!

  15. Sadia March 1, 2009 9:38 pm #

    I have a Toshiba 5205-S505. I have never had any problems with it, but when I tried to turn it on today, it got stuck at the Toshiba screen. The small console display in front says “HD1password=” and I have no idea what to do. From the research I have done online, it seems my hard disk has failed. Is there any way to fix this without replacing the hard drive??? Also, if I do have to replace it, is there any way to salvage/recover my files? Many of them are very important and I need them!! Please help!!!!
    Thanks!

    • Jacqui Best March 3, 2009 7:05 pm #

      Sadia,
      The fastest way to know how bad the situation is .. is to get your self an External Laptop Hard Drive chassis. They are sold at most major electronics retailers. I would then remove the hard drive from the laptop and use the USB chassis to connect it to you’re desktop machine. From here you should be able to gain access to the drive if it is not to far gone.

  16. Sadia March 3, 2009 10:24 pm #

    Actually, I tried that, connected as slave drive… i hear it trying to spin, but very weak, and spinning is not consistent. The computer I connected it to didn’t even recognize it as an inaccessible drive initially, after a while, it came up as an unformatted drive, then disappeared again after a short while. Last night I showed it to my computer guy and he says he thinks the arm is broken in the drive. This is a clean room repair from what I’ve been told, and could cost more than $700-800. 🙁

    • Jacqui Best March 4, 2009 11:16 am #

      Sadia,

      The slow spinning could be multiple problems, all of which are internal to the drive. So you computer guy is right it needs clean room time. You could give us a call and asked to talk with Dave he may be able to work something with you on price.. (not my area) I hope everything works out!

  17. Joseph Whitehead March 14, 2009 1:53 am #

    Most of the drive failures I’ve seen in laptops come down to two things when it’s not a software issue:
    1) Dropping the drive.
    2) Having a hot case.

    The first one is easy to avoid for most people, but the second one is a killer… It’s not the drive, but the laptop that has a design issue. I won’t mention models/brands (namely because most do it), but the desktop replacements are notorious for this ‘feature’ called a ‘lap warmer’. heh

  18. Joseph Whitehead March 14, 2009 1:55 am #

    Well, the drive might be more sensitive to the overheating, but I’m not so sure about that one… They all are very close in physical layout and tend to use the same type of ICs.

  19. julio April 7, 2009 10:36 pm #

    I have a toshiba satellite A135 and it has gone out of control. When logging on the password box automatically shoots to the right with an undermined key stroke, and if you happen to get pass that stage all other pages will drop straight to the bottom and its extremely hard to get back to the top. Plus in safe mode a very loud alarm sounds until the laptop is closed. p.s. Vista is installed?

  20. Jason April 16, 2009 10:58 am #

    I was really disappointed with my Toshiba Satellite. No doubt, it has a excellent AMD Turion processor, and even a very nice graphics card (not integrated); but, these high-grade components generate a lot of heat, but the laptop has a low-grade cooling system. . . I have no doubt that the drive failure is at least somewhat induced by the massive heat this thing generates. Additionally, and I noticed this on most low-grade and even high-grade laptops, the heat exhaust is on the side on the console, and the vents often only go up half the side of the laptop console. . . which means that if you put the laptop on any surface that is not flat and hard, there’s a good chance it will overheat, and you’ll lose your work. . . which means, in the end, the laptop is just a crappy desktop . . . .lol.

  21. Joe Whitehead April 19, 2009 4:09 pm #

    If your laptop starts making a loud beeping sound than it is likely getting WAAAAAAAY too hot or there is a key held down on your keyboard. If it takes 5 minutes after being on all night, and it beeps even when you’re not at the laptop… then you certainly have a heat-related problem. This is most likely if the laptop is at least 6 months old. If it’s over 2 years old and you’ve never cleaned the vents, then I know it to be 99% likely. Good luck

  22. Monique April 26, 2009 9:32 am #

    Hey.

    I am having a massive problem with my Toshiba L100. I can’t get it to turn on anymore, it will get to the windows screen and a box will pop up saying ‘the application failed to initialize (0xc0000005) Click OK to continue’ Then it is just a black screen. I have tried to boot in safe mode but it does the same thing. Now my goal is to restore it to factory settings, however, another problem arises, my CD/DVD drive doesn’t work so I cant use the Recovery CD. Hopefully someone can help before I go mental and throw it out of the window!

    Thanks

    • DTI Data Recovery April 27, 2009 4:04 pm #

      Monique,

      Do you have data on there you want to keep? If so do not run the restore. Feel free to call us at 727-345-9665 and we can help

  23. smiler July 2, 2009 2:52 pm #

    I have a toshiba hard disk which i took out of a toshiba laptop and fixed into an external hard disk case. After my first attempt to recover my data from the disk, it can be recognized as a usb mass storage disk but windows says it cannot be accessed.Please help me.

  24. A Bashari July 4, 2009 12:38 am #

    Hello,

    I have just restored my Toshiba L300 to its factory state after it failed to boot several times (even is safe mode- I tried everything but it would freeze on boot and go no further). All seems to be fine except that it is now very slow, seems to be getting stuck constantly, i.e. will type and letters will not appear 2 to 3 seconds later. In addition, watching vidoes on cnn, you tube etc for eg which used to be smooth with 0 glitches is now impossible as video keeps getting stuck etc. I can verify that this is not an internet issue.

    Any idea what the cause is and what I can do to fix it? I’ve had the laptop for about 5 months so was really not expecting problems so early on.

    Any help much appreciated.

    Thanks

  25. Happy Camper August 18, 2009 4:16 pm #

    I managed to recover my daughters data from a MK3021GAS drive that had failed. It was making some very funny groaning noises, but I connected it to an adapter to my main desktop machine and mounted it upside down.

    It must have taken the stress off the bearings as it recovered everything perectly.

    Just thought I’d share that with you.

  26. blogtek October 18, 2009 1:49 pm #

    Sounds like you know what to do to get a hard drive running? I have a questions. How would I get training to learn to repair and restore hard drives? I’ve worked as a deployment consultant and before that it was mainframes. i also worked as a domain admin. But I’m getting older now and looking for work I can do at home. It appears as though a clean room or clean cube can be set up right in a small space of a garage or something of the like.

    I would appreicate any tips on this matter.

  27. Chris October 30, 2009 9:58 pm #

    I have a Toshiba Satellite. I am getting a massage: Windows could not start b/c the following file is missing or corrupt: windowssystem32configsystem
    I am trying to load the recovery CD but it doesn’t do a thing! anything I try itgoes always to the same message above.
    Help!
    Thanks.
    Chris

  28. blogster March 24, 2010 5:29 pm #

    i need help my toshiba satellite is broken and every time i try recovering it says error pls help

  29. abudl March 29, 2010 3:43 pm #

    HDD not found
    when ever this message you found during recovery or installation windows means you need sata drivers- it does not mean ur hard disk is gone- try to find sata driver for your system or if you have OS with sata drivers – it wll auto install windows – HDD NOT found mean you are not using orignal disk for your laptop-
    try to find orignal recovery disk
    will solve the matter-
    or if you are trying from another OS disk then u need sata drivers for ur system
    thanks

  30. zusuka July 28, 2010 3:33 am #

    I like it! I have a 120 gigs laptop that I got for study in college. I still have my desktop hard drive that is also 120 gigs. My cousin used the other parts to build a computer for his friend .Anyway; I am running out of storage on my 120 laptop hard drive and want to use the 120 desktop hard drives as an external instead of backing everything up onto DVDs or CDs. Is it possible? If so please add a website where I can purchase one of these cables. http://laptop-hard-drive-enclosure.com/

    • DTI Data Recovery July 30, 2010 2:01 pm #

      zusuka, yes you can add the storage, but KNOW that you shouldn’t rely on only one form of backup! Backup your backup! Also try to not keep your external hard drive running all the time. Use it for backup, but not as storage.

    • Jacqui Best August 2, 2010 10:50 am #

      Zusuka,
      There are a ton of computer part sales websites. You can use any USB to SATA or IDE cable or Chassi and yes it should work just fine. Move all of the data you want off to it and you will be good to go.

  31. Then Must October 16, 2010 12:36 pm #

    My laptop toshiba satellite A10-S167 was error on HardDisk n i was remove it with new HD, but my toshiba won’t booting n I try to install with windows-7 but the problem is windows7 could not detect my HD, here still say “windows 7 could not be installed on this disk, access denide try to intall driver”
    second, please tell my how to boot from USB device on satellite A10-S167.
    Thank’s for your solve….

  32. chrictine March 3, 2011 5:22 pm #

    hey i have a tochiba satallite L500 and the hard drive is threatening to stop working. we took it into the shop and they said the hard drive needs replacing, warranty has just run out. is it possable to use a recovery cd and relode the standard hard drive ? what do you suggest? thanks

    • Jacqui Best March 4, 2011 11:28 am #

      Chrictine,

      I would suggest making a sector by sector to sector clone of the drive while you still can. You will NEED that “recovery” partition because it will contain an image of the machine when it left the factory. All the recovery cd is for is to allow access to that. It normally will have no windows files on it.

  33. Sharon Baird March 16, 2011 6:46 pm #

    I have a Toshiba satellite A200 and for the second time the hard drive has died. The first time was under warranty but it has run out. I have had it in to a shop to have the data recovered. I have since purchased a 250 gig hard drive to replace the old 160 hard drive as I was told the one I got is compatable to the computer. when i start up the computer it tells me that the boot manager is missing. I have the original toshiba recovery disc and when I load the disc it comes up with error-F3E1000001 harddisk not found. I have no idea how to fix this problem any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

    • Jacqui Best March 29, 2011 11:38 am #

      Sharon,

      It could be that the disc is looking for the 160? It could also be the computer is not seeing the hard drive. Did you check in the bios to see if the hard drive is recognized?

  34. Crumbz May 10, 2011 10:58 am #

    I have a Toshiba A665D-S6051, which is currently 5 months old. Iv hardly used it since purchasing it, however 2-3 months into having it, one day sent up the ‘blue screen’ and has done that many times after. It also keeps sending up a ‘ Hard Disk Failure’ message which keeps saying get it replaced or repaired.

    The laptop has crashed twice officially and had to be formatted back into factory default causing me to lose documents and everything not once but twice. i am truly bummed out about this, as this is a new laptop which has hardly been used, it also makes the grinding/strange noises. A common message sent is:
    Disk name reporting faillure: ‘ Toshiba MK5065GSX ATA Device’.
    Iv considered purchasing a new internal hard drive.

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated 🙁 Thanks! Crumbz

    • David Mohyla June 12, 2012 9:03 pm #

      I would say that the drive itself is the problem. I would purchase a new hard drive and make sure all the vents are clear off dust and the fans inside the laptop are functioning.

  35. Tom Grinley December 3, 2011 2:42 pm #

    Many, many years ago I told myself I would never buy another Toshiba. I didn’t heed my own advice and now I’m paying for it with my second HD failure in the past 5 months. NEVER AGAIN!

  36. john s. March 23, 2012 11:59 am #

    On my Toshiba I tried to use a product recovery and it shutdown in the middle of it and now I can work it

  37. Dan May 4, 2012 10:31 pm #

    Hey there,

    I have the same problem as Marissa above…

    I dropped the laptop from no more then 2 feet. It kept working until i turned it off. Then on restart it will no loner recognize the BIOS on the hard drive, it says that says no bootable device, and to insert boot disk and press any key.

    At the moment I am travelling around quite a bit and am in Australia, so thought I would try the internet before a shop.

    I have ordered a part to replace the hard drive. I will restore my laptop to working conditions when it arrives, that is no problem.

    I have been looking around, I am trying to recover the data myself, I know a bit about computers, but when it comes to this part, I am honestly clueless.

    I noticed Michael said earlier “If the drive can be recognized, you can get your data off of it. If it can’t you will need hard drive recovery.”

    Is there a chance it will not be recognized?
    If it cannot be recognized, how hard will it be to try data recovery for the first time by myself. Also what would i need for this?

    If the device is recognized, can it just be made a ‘slave’ ?

    As much as I want the data back, I will enjoy the challenge of doing it myself, as long as I can get it right 🙂

    Thanks in advance for your help!!

    Dan!

    • Jacqui Best February 27, 2014 3:57 pm #

      Dan,

      If it is not recolonized then it not going to work for you to do it, you would need a clean room to recover the data for you. If it is recognized you are correct you can now just use it as a slave, unless it is recognized but not assigning a drive letter then you would need software to recover the data.

  38. karrie June 10, 2013 8:38 pm #

    My Toshiba satelitte will not let me download anything it constantly keeps telling me “Failed-Disk Full” and I do not have any recovery disks . plus if I do recover my laptop then I will not have the network driver and I will not have the internet to download it again.. Help?!?!

  39. jenny October 9, 2015 11:13 pm #

    i removed to hard drive and then tried to put it back in the same way i took it out and now my laptop wont stop

    • secureadmin October 14, 2015 11:48 am #

      Jenny,
      Now your laptop will not stop doing what?

  40. stts June 28, 2017 5:22 pm #

    Here you go, I have one of those Toshiba MK4019GAX laptop drives. Its only used to store a system backup. It never really used so I bet its only got a few hundred hours on it. Probably been 4 or 5 years since it was last powered on from the backup label I have on it. So I went to use it for another backup. Holly smokes it is locked up solid. Power would not break it loose. I figured maybe the head got stuck on it. So I opened it up and head was parked and platters mirror shiney. Powered it up and used a screwdriver to help spin it up. It was hard and I had to spin and spin and spin before the motor had enough torque to keep it going. But it never got to full speed and then the bearings were god awefull grinding. The heads never did try to sweep the platters but its all moot. The grease must have become completely useless inside the bearing. What a disappointment for a drive that was great for backups. I have another Toshiba backup on the shelf the same length of time. MK3017GAP. This one spins up with no problem to give up its data. Its a shame that something like grease can be so disappointing. But I guess its always something. Used to be that capacitors were all a bunch of junk.

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    […] Hard Drive Recovery: Toshiba Laptop Failed Bearings | … – Catherine, When a laptop hard drive is not recognized by the computer, that is about as bad as it can get. You will have to replace the hard drive and get your …… […]

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