Hey guys, I have a client crying about recovering data from external toshiba 2TB. he is musician, loads of work etc....
DT01ABA200
The top plate is scratched , see the jpg .
Can you tell me if there is anything to be done with this hdd?

Its Game over.

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Hello everyone, sorry for my poor english, because i using google translator.

Nothing to be done. Both the damage and having been opened out of a clean room make the recovery, if possible, very expensive, the kind of expensive the client would refuse anyway.

Maybe possible for partial recovery from other platter surfaces.

But generally speaking a partial recovery like that will involve an upfront parts fee, a high recovery cost and clients whinging about the quality of the partial recovery afterwards despite being made very aware of the likely outcome.

So we tend to avoid offering this service as a rule.

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PC Image Data Recovery
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Totally agree with PCimage, we get similar cases, i.e, its been dropped or opened by client, we tell them the HDD is in a poor state, it will require $$$ in donor heads alone, then any recovery fee would high, we try and explain that if one surface is out, the recovery will be very patchy, so when looking for video, music and large image files they will usually be damaged because large areas are unrecoverable, and that the data probably will be lost or RAW because file tables probably will be lost...

What makes cases like this more challenging is the constant downward drive of clients regarding DR costs, due in part to false advertising, i.e. data recovery from £79!, (Here in UK) yeah right, lets see how many cases so called DR companies have completed for £79!, also the plethora of DIY videos with platters swaps, head swaps, and firmware tools, surely if a client was diagnosed with a heart condition they would not find the cheapest operation? Clients need to understand that DR is complex (and increasing) the tools are expensive, the learning curve is high, donor parts are expensive, and that some manufacturers are encrypting / locking the SA.

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You are an imperfect hard drive...Finding your weakness is only a matter of time

Just wondering :
– How did you (those who replied to the OP) determine that this HDD had not been opened in a clean room ? (OP didn't say that the client opened it, it's his first post here, he or she could be a DR professional who just happens to never have seen a case so severe yet.)
– Is just one large / deep scratch like that enough to make the recovery of that platter surface completely impossible ? Couldn't it be cloned forward up to a safe distance from the scratch, then cloned in reverse as far as possible, then again forward if the heads haven't been damaged, or with another set if they have, and so on until only the damaged area remains unread ?

Re : "The Opening" : gut feeling here, and I believe that reflection in the platter to be of some light fixture in the ceiling, so , not inside a clean room.

As for the scratch/recovering : it probably IS, technically, possibly to recover something from the areas not damaged. Something similar to what you describe. But that will cost a LOT, take a lot of work/time, and will probably not recover big files, as people already explained. Then, customer would complain that he paid a lot of money and the files he needs were not recoverd. So, I would say that weighing the customer profile in the problem, the result is data unrecoverable.

Or, to explain in another way : I like to get these complicated jobs, they are fun. And it is nice to get something difficult, and see you conquered it. But , even if you explain to customer that it will probably recover just a little, and take a long time, he will call you in a couple days wanting to know if it is already done, keep calling every two days and crying that he needs the files, then complain a lot , threaten you, etc, when after a lot of time , the files he receives are not the ones he wants, even if you decide you will not charge him ( and tell others that he had a bad hdd and you/your shop ) couldn´t recover his files.

So, to abbreviate things, better to cut things short and use the time better. Charging an upfront extra when the customer has already opened the drive works wonders here.