Failed 1TB Western Digital Hard Drive

[supernerdjovan]

Hello all,

I am posting here to get some feedback about a recent catastrophic situation regarding a hard drive. Basically my 1TB Western Digital Hard Drive was banged accidentally hit against a hard service, and of course it failed. The hard drive, initially, would mount and show up on my desktop, but then failed to mount even though it showed up in Disk Utility. It also made a kind of electronic beeping noise, but the noise was not repetitive and would only occur every now and then. A company attempted to retrieve the files using a non-invasive file recovery procedure, and the files would start to copy, but then stop. There was no scratching or scraping noises or clicking noises whatsoever, and I googled around and listened to the several noises a hard drive can make, and the beeping doesn't really match ANY of the noises.

I am already aware that this is beyond do-it-yourself fixes. I have already sent it to a data recovery specialist. They sent me these notes:

"Engineering Notes:
Failed Motor Spindle, Possible Media Damage –

Media in question has multiple mechanical failures. Most severe at this point is a failed HDD Spindle motor as well as physical media damage within your drive’s magnetic media/platter surface. Our engineers will need to obtain access to this damaged HDD and extract from your media fully and remedy any corruption caused by the damaged magnetic media."

However, it should be noted that they have NOT yet opened up the drive in the clean room environment, so they are still technically guessing (correct), but they are still quoting me at 1060.00 (I was able to swing a student discount). I am just wondering if it's possible that it is a lesser issue? Could this simply be striction and not require the replacement of parts which drives the price up? Additionally, what is the likelihood of footage being recovered at all?

Thank you!

[jono-ats]

I don't understand why some data recovery firms offer these jargon-filled and misleading boiler plate "diagnoses," without even looking inside of the sealed enclosure. We have several similar "engineering reports" from different firms, and they all appear to be written by the same technically and verbally challenged person.

For example, if you were able to get some files off of the drive, then at one time the spindle motor worked after the original failure. The heads may NOW be hung up and preventing the drive from spinning, but even so, that's not the same as a failed motor.

They say "possible media damage" and then "severe media damage." Which is it? Also, damage doesn't occur "within" the surface -- it occurs on or upon it.

To " . . . extract from your media FULLY and remedy any corruption" is a non-sequitur if there is media damage! If data resides in the damaged area, you cannot get a full recovery and you will have corrupted files.

In other words, this is complete nonsense.

My hunch was that the odds of you getting back good data were good right after the initial failure, but went steadily downhill as you and the firm that you hired ran the drive extensively to attempt to get the data. Media damage usually causes a cascading failure situation when you run the drive without fixing the underlying issues, like the media damage and head contamination or damage.

Video footage generates large files; the chances of a satisfactory recovery are much less likely with large files and media damage in this particular scenario.

This week 25-30% of the drives we received were physically opened outside of a clean room. This has reached epidemic proportions -- we've never seen anything like it previously. Those who open drives outside of a clean room environment and without proper knowledge and equipment put data at risk, and often make a good recovery prospect into a hopeless case.

Maybe this article will help . . . https://eforensicsmag.com/data-recovery ... providers/

[thatdellguy]

"Engineering Notes:
Failed Motor Spindle, Possible Media Damage –

Media in question has multiple mechanical failures. Most severe at this point is a failed HDD Spindle motor as well as physical media damage within your drive’s magnetic media/platter surface. Our engineers will need to obtain access to this damaged HDD and extract from your media fully and remedy any corruption caused by the damaged magnetic media."

Doesn't make any sense. Choose another company.

[supernerdjovan]

Thank you for both of your replies. This (http://www.yelp.com/biz/intellirecovery ... -francisco) is the company I sent it to and they seem reputable and have a lot of good reviews (I wanted to use someone local instead of shipping the drive out). The other option I had was to send it to Drive Savers, but they're more expensive, and unfortunately I am on a budget.

Yes, I was told that attempts to retrieve the media might further damage my chances at recovery, but I hadn't realized the possible severity of the issue. It's interesting because there were no mechanical noises, except for the beeping. I don't know if it helps that my drive wasn't full, only about 300 GBs used. It would spin up fine and copy like I mentioned before, but at an extremely and impossibly slow rate. I haven't yet decided to move forward with the procedure. Can you tell me more about what makes the diagnosis nonsense?

I definitely thought there was something extremely fishy about the fact that they don't open it up in the clean room before making a diagnosis.

Do you have any recommendations for San Francisco Bay Area based data recovery?

Thanks.

[fzabkar]

I don't understand why some data recovery firms offer these jargon-filled and misleading boiler plate "diagnoses," without even looking inside of the sealed enclosure.

ISTR that one forum member refers to them as "email templates".

[thatdellguy]

"Engineering Notes: ---> Should be "Engineer Notes" or maybe even "Technician Notes"

Failed Motor Spindle, Possible Media Damage –--> Spindle issues are not common on WD drives. What kind of media damage?

Media in question has multiple mechanical failures. ---> What type of failures?

Most severe at this point is a failed HDD Spindle motor ---> Uncommon. A motor is not a serious issue as it can be changed out. Platter/Media damage is more important than a motor.

as well as physical media damage within your drive’s magnetic media/platter surface. ---> What type of damage?

Our engineers will need to obtain access to this damaged HDD ---> They don't have the drive?

and extract from your media fully ---> Sounds like a bad translation.

and remedy any corruption caused by the damaged magnetic media." ---> Sounds like a bunch of garbage.

This diagnosis sounds like it was written by a three year old.

[supernerdjovan]

Okay. Is it common practice to open the sealed drive up in a clean room environment before making a diagnosis? Should I look for a firm that does that?

I realize that data recovery has a lot of overhead and costs for parts and that it takes skill, but is 1000 a fair price, or is it kind of preying on a person's desperation?

[jono-ats]

For comparison, our success fee is $749 for that size drive.

Some Passport donor drives cost > $100. More than one may be required to complete the job.

[thatdellguy]

Is it common practice to open the sealed drive up in a clean room environment before making a diagnosis? ---> A DR facility will only open the drive if its needed to perform a complete diagnosis. If the drive did have a motor issue someone would have opened it and verified. Other failures can cause the motor not to turn.

Should I look for a firm that does that? ---> Yes. +1 for jono-ats.

I realize that data recovery has a lot of overhead and costs for parts and that it takes skill, but is 1000 a fair price, or is it kind of preying on a person's desperation? ---> You need a proper diagnosis to start with. Without a concrete diagnosis your nowhere with a recovery. $1000 is not out of the question but it depends on whats wrong with the drive and how many donors/hours/days/months it will take to recover.