pcimage wrote:
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.
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.