Model numbers: EFRX, EFAX, EFZX, EFPX, FFWX
WD Red drives are built for NAS units. In 2020 Western Digital confirmed that some 2TB to 6TB WD Red drives (model numbers ending EFAX) use SMR recording, which can make RAID rebuilds very slow or cause them to fail.
Which model do you have?
The model number is on the top label, for example WD40EFRX or WD40EFAX. EFRX, EFZX and EFPX are CMR Red and Red Plus drives; EFAX is the SMR version; FFWX is Red Pro.
Common faults we fix
- Rebuild failed or took days
- Drive dropped out of the array
- Clicking or not spinning
- Several drives failing at once
What we recover
- Clicking, beeping or not spinning drives (cleanroom head replacement)
- Drives not detected or showing the wrong size (firmware repair)
- Bad sectors and slow, failing drives (imaging)
- Deleted, formatted or corrupted partitions
Before you bring it in
Don't rebuild, re-initialise or swap disks around. Label each drive with its bay number, power the unit down and bring all the drives in. A rebuild onto a failing disk is the most common way RAID data is lost for good.
Hard drive data recovery prices
| Service | Price |
|---|---|
| Free initial consultation | Free |
| Cleanroom diagnostic | £79 + VAT (£94.80 inc. VAT) |
| Physical recovery, single drive | £450 + VAT (£540 inc. VAT) labour, plus a donor drive if needed |
| Deleted files on a standard hard drive (up to two hours of work) | £99 + VAT (£118.80 inc. VAT) |
| Logical recovery, 24 to 48 hours of work | £150 + VAT (£180 inc. VAT) for 1TB, up to £250 + VAT (£300 inc. VAT) for 4TB |
The free consultation tells you whether the fault is physical or logical and the best way to recover your data. It doesn't include opening the drive in the cleanroom or any recovery attempt.
If a physical recovery needs a donor drive for parts, we send you a link to buy the exact match from donordrives.com. If you'd rather we buy it for you, we add 30% plus any import charges and VAT.
We can supply an external drive to return your recovered data on. The price depends on the market rate at the time.
See our full data recovery price list.
Bring it in
Walk in to Unit 1, 80 Willow Walk, London SE1 5SY, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm, or call 020 7237 6805. We confirm the fault and quote before starting any work.