Hello everyone,

I hope you're all doing well. I've come across a significant problem with my Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB hard drive and could really use some guidance and advice from the community.

Here's what happened:

I was using this drive as an external storage solution for a Linux ext2/ext3 filesystem, which contained a substantial amount of important data, including pictures, movies, music, text documents, zip/rar archives, and Microsoft Office files. The drive had approximately 200-300GB of data stored on it.

The problem started when the drive began making clicking sounds and subsequently went into standby mode. I attempted to connect it via an external USB enclosure, but unfortunately, the clicking sounds persisted, and the USB connection failed to recognize the drive.

Here are the drive details:

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200 1.5TB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s 32MB Cache 3.5 Inch Internal Hard Drive ST31500341AS-Bare
Serial Number (S/N): 9VS20LJJ
Part Number (P/N): 9JU138-302
I decided to seek professional assistance and sent the drive to a data recovery service. Their response was not very encouraging as they informed me that the drive had scratches on the top platter. They even provided pictures showing a circle scratch and a dusted air filter.

Given these circumstances, I am now wondering if there's any chance at all of recovering the data from this drive. I understand that the scratches on the platter might have caused damage, but I am hoping that some of the data can still be retrieved.

Has anyone encountered a similar situation or can offer advice on whether there might be a way to salvage the data from this drive despite the scratches? I would greatly appreciate any insights, suggestions, or recommendations that the community can provide.

Thank you all in advance for your help and support.

Best regards,

It should be recoverable at least partially. Done many similar cases.

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Adatmentés - Data recovery