Small scratch on edge of platter - is it over?

[jon1962]

Dear friends, really need your advice. I have a 2TB barracuda internal HDD which is experiencing clicking problems. It clicks for about 10 seconds after boot up and then stops clicking. There are no grinding sounds. HDD is undetectable in Bios and windows does not boot up.

It happened a few days ago when my computer hung and I did a dirty restart by switching off and then on. After being unable to access my bios, I restarted it a few times and the HDD started to click. I tried booting it up a few times to try my best to fix it after which I left it alone and stopped using it. I am really worried about the platter scratching as I have very precious family memories inside. What are the chances of platter scratching and making any form of recovery? What % of data would be recoverable?

I sent it to a professional firm (one of the bigger DR companies in the world) and they said it was unrecoverable. They said there was media damage owing to a small scratch on the outer rims of the platter which destroyed a new head when they replaced it. They basically said there was no way they could bypass this issue and returned me my drive.

It was my fault for not backing up and I truly learnt my lesson this time around. If it helps, my HDD has about 300 GB empty. Around 3.5 years old - I did not drop the drive.

[labtech]

Did they provide a picture of the damage/scratch? And what company was that?

[jon1962]

No they didn't, and the explanation they gave was very brief. They basically said they couldn't recover and when pressed, said a replacement head was done but it was damaged by the platter.

The company in question is Kroll Ontrack, which was my first choice after i did my research and they seemed professional and capable enough (being able to recover data from columbia etc). So when they said they couldn't do it, it felt like my world crashed.

[northwind]

Before your world crashes, try with another lab.
We've recovered hundreds of drives others deemed unrecoverable. And in many cases, things weren't as bad as expected.

Especially when you're being told that there is media damage, it should be accompanied by pictures that prove this, as labtech says. If they didn't provide a picture, demand one. Or two.

If you're willing to ship out of Singapore, PM me and we can take a look if you want. Or I can suggest a proper pro near you who can make proper diagnostics on your drive. I'm not saying anything bad against Kroll or anyone else but often there is much hope.

[labtech]

When it comes to marketing image/perception, it is good to look behind the curtain, not just be impressed with the curtain.
It is possible the scratch is on the lower surfaces, so a pic may not help a whole lot.
With that in mind, sometimes some of us can recover what other could not.
It is really just how committed the customer is to invest in the process.

[jon1962]

Apparently the scratch is on the outer rim of the top-most platter, with the other 3 surfaces being scratch free. How will the imaging process work in this case and what % of the data can be recovered?

[northwind]

with the other 3 surfaces being scratch free.

How do you know this?

[jon1962]

kroll informed me of this.

[drHDD]

So they looked other surfaces? If yes - your case starts to be much more difficult. For your information - in other topic, they actually removed platters to look surfaces and putted them back. And for me personally - I don't like it.

[Leo]

You will see much of that stuff soon, like it or not

[drHDD]

Ты знал, ты знал ... (с)

[Martin]

If Ontrack didn't lie, and other surfaces are ok - case is recoverable with good result.

[drHDD]

They took out platters to see all surfaces and then putted them back. Do you still sure in good result?

[3pointGordon]

1/4 being scratched is fixable. Hopefully

[Martin]

They took out platters to see all surfaces and then putted them back. Do you still sure in good result?

Absolutely.

[jon1962]

after the hdd is imaged successfully, will there be any data corruption? Like files unable to load or pictures with bad resolution?

[Martin]

If drive has been imaged successfully, the data will have the same condition like before without any issues.

[rogfanther]

Well, minus the data whose sectors resided in the scratched places.;

[Martin]

Well, minus the data whose sectors resided in the scratched places.;

If data presents in those places.

[jon1962]

Currently the hdd is about 75% imaged and will likely take another week or so. I am also concerned about my video files, mostly around 1-2gb large. May I know if there is a chance that it is unrecoverable? Probably due to the scratch being on crucial system area?