What do you think happened here?
This is the way it looked when I opened the top.
It was not opened before.
It will not rub off with a Q-tip.
Do you think this is a freezer drive?

Q-tip?
Are you serious?

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www.datarecoveryne.com

I did the Q-tip just to see if it was light dust or burnt on.
It will not rub off.
I had no plans to recover it after I took a look at it.
Anybody want to give it a try?

Wow! I had one similar to that look a few months ago... Client said he researched it on the internet and put the drive in the freezer for an overnight. He told me the first 20 minutes of quick freeze didn't work, so he figured freezing the drive overnight would help...

Perhaps it would make a nice gallery shot of what can happen when you freeze your drive.

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If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, you probably don't fully understand the situation. ... Mr Kipling

https://www.mjm.co.uk/

DRNJ, may i use that picture to put on my website ?

Thanks,

Dobre

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Murphy was an optimist

Datarecovery in Belgium, Holland, France and Germany
Datarecoverytools http://www.drtools.eu

I really don't think that was the result of being left in a freezer.

Looks like lubricant or some other type of contamination. I assume the PCB was perfect?

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http://www.datasaversllc.com

What did the client say? Did they put it in the freezer or did the drive get submerged?

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Luke
Recovery Force Data Recovery

The pic is unclear but if it was a samsung recent drive, it can be the reaction of the platter lubrication coating to freezing and moisture (Samsung clearly states it). Of course, it is a partial game over.

It looks like regular massive media damage. There is some alive media left close to the spindle hub

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SAN, NAS, RAID, Server, and HDD Data Recovery.

yes, somebody can recover the last some LBA.
This is useful usually, at lest will get the boot sector copy.

BTW:
I have this case in my gallery.
This is a hitachi drive.

http://adatmentes24.hu/hun/galeria_kepek/P1030195.JPG
http://adatmentes24.hu/hun/galeria_kepek/P1030197.JPG

If somebody interested about the entire series:
http://adatmentes24.hu/hun/?modul=kepgaleria-s2
All series:
http://adatmentes24.hu/hun/?modul=kepgaleria

Ps: Sorry, the translation is still in progress, maybe i will have time to finish it in this year...

Janos

This one came through a local PC repair shop. I did not talk directly to the customer. The customer was upset and wanted his drive back to send someplace else. There has been no contact since. Maybe one of you will see the drive soon. There were no signs of water damage. The PCB looked OK. No signs of water, grease or oil inside the drive. Just a fine coat of crash dust and platter damage which you can see. It was a Hitachi DeathStar IC35L120AVV207-0.
BLACKST’S Comment sounds interesting:
“it can be the reaction of the platter lubrication coating to freezing and moisture (Samsung clearly states it).”
Maybe Hitachi has a similar problem?

Uhm... the crash dust could go away with Q-tip (from inside HDA chamber), what I don't get is that kind of damage on the platter.
At this point, if it is not a samsung, I think it can have been BAKED rather than freezed (exposed to extreme temperature).
You can try yourself with a broken DeskStar... remove one platter and expose to heat to see if the behaviour is the same.
DO NOT put on microwave or you will have homemade fireworks-in-a-box

P.S. I can't see the picture clearly beacuse I am using my mobile... permanent vacation

Drives freeze all the time in shipping. They can be in trucks/trains for days at sub-zero temperatures and work fine once they warm up.

Sub zero maybe, but a 3 *** or 4 **** common freezer can be -20 , -25 deg. C. , there's a limit....

Plus there's a difference between gradually changing temperatures as in when it gets cold at night and abruptly warming up something from below freezing in terms of causing condensation.

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

Ah, I was talking F, not C. -20 or -25 deg. C (about -5 to -13 F) won't cause any sort of problem.

Edit: Woops, see my comment below. I thought we were talking about storage, not operation.

Woops, apologizes to you and BlackST.

I thought we were discussing storage temps, not operating temps.

Don't run hard drives below 5C (about 40F).