Here are some interesting cases of damaged hard drives that we have dealt with in our labs:

Damaged Hard Drive – Case 277510

We received a Toshiba hard drive, model DT01ACA050 for data recovery.

The owner of the drive reported that he had it in an external enclosure, in his bag.

Unfortunately, the bag was stolen, and he found the drive thrown several meters away, in bad condition.

We examined the hard drive in the Clean Room of Northwind Data Recovery and found that the heads were deformed.

In fact, the slider (part of the head) from one head was missing, and we didn’t find it “wandering” inside the drive as it usually happens.

This automatically meant that the slider had stuck to the surface of the disk and had to be found and removed.

We removed the platter (!! #dont try this at home!) and indeed, we found the slider stuck to the bottom side.
We carefully removed it using a special technique and placed the platter back in position.
Now we were ready to proceed.
We replaced the hard drive heads and started cloning the drive, after modifying its firmware to make the drive “understand” the new parts.

Result: 97.8% successful data recovery!

Damaged Hard Drive – Case 272407

We surprisingly had this drive arrive for data recovery, which belongs to another era :)
It is a WD model with a production date of July 27, 2000 and a capacity of 7.5GB.
Unfortunately, upon our initial inspection, the drive heads were completely destroyed, and there were also damages to the surface.

In a modern hard drive, this image would be disheartening, but the drives of that era had very low data recording density, so we kept our hopes up for a good outcome.

Indeed, we replaced the WD hard drive heads and were surprised to see the drive cloning at high speeds.
We avoided the problematic areas and managed to recover an impressive 83%! :)

Damaged Hard Drive Flood – Case 124501

We had a case for data recovery with two drives that came from Samothraki, after the catastrophic floods that the island experienced in September 2017.

The drives were part of a RAID array with two drives, and its condition before we received it for data recovery is shown in the photo on the left.

The computers were submerged in mud, and accordingly, the hard drives were similarly affected.

We received the damaged RAID drives and, after cleaning both their exterior and electronic parts (which were in a tragic condition due to the flood), we examined the drives in the Clean Room of Northwind Data Recovery in Thessaloniki to ascertain the condition inside.

Having extensive experience with similar situations, we were confident about what we would encounter, and we were proven correct:

Mud everywhere and solidified parts of it even on the hard drive’s platter
Moisture particles across the entire surface of the disk and its individual internal parts.

We initiated a special process for decontaminating the disk and cleaning its interior. We then replaced the burned electronic board of the

disk and set up the disk for cloning.

We recovered data with a 99.9% success rate! :)

Damaged Laptop Hard Drive – Case 141304

This is a 2.5″ hard drive from a laptop.

The damaged hard drive that was inside a Dell laptop is manufactured by WD, with a capacity of 500GB.

The laptop was in a car involved in a serious accident (fortunately no injuries).

From the collision, the laptop received multiple strong impacts and was completely destroyed.

Upon visual inspection of the disk, the distortion of the chassis of the disk was evident, as can be seen in the images.

Of course, even a simple drop of the laptop is enough to damage the hard drive from the fall. Even more so now, with a collision and physical destruction of the disk.

Please avoid laptop drops :(

In our case, it was deemed necessary to transfer the platters to another chassis, simultaneously replacing the problematic mechanical parts of the disk (heads, etc.).

Next, the disk was set up for cloning:

SUCCESS! Data recovery rate: 96.8%.

Damaged Seagate Hard Drive – Case 1499

Seagate 1.5TB hard drive, model ST31500341AS.

Symptoms: Beeping Noise, the hard drive is not recognized.

Causes: Hard drive drop.

History: The hard drive fell while idle. From the fall, the platters got stuck.

Solution: The platters were unstuck using a special tool, and the data was recovered.

Data recovery rate: 97%.

Damaged Seagate Hard Drive – Case 1402

At 100x magnification, you can see the microscopic scratches caused by dust particles from the wear of the disk surface.

Seagate 80GB SATA hard drive model ST380815AS.

Symptoms: Clicking Noises, the hard drive is not recognized.

Causes: Hard drive drop.

History: When the hard drive was opened, dust particles were observed on the platters. This dust is created by the heads scraping the surfaces of the disks. The disk was examined under a microscope and microscopic scratches were observed on all surfaces, created by these dust particles. The heads in the hard drive were replaced, but due to the surface damage, they were immediately destroyed.

Solution: There was no resolution to the problem. The data recovery from the damaged Seagate drive was not possible. The drive is non-recoverable.

Data recovery rate: 0%

Damaged Seagate Hard Drive – Case 1612

The upper platter under the microscope: White dots are visible, which are foreign particles, the result of the owner’s attempt to repair the hard drive by opening its lid in an uncontrolled environment.

Seagate 1000GB SATA hard drive model ST31000333AS 3.5″

Symptoms: Hard drive drop

Causes: The drive fell while in use

History: After the fall, the owner attempted to fix the problem (stuck motor) himself by opening the lid. Fortunately, he did not proceed further and reclosed the lid.

Solution: The reason the lid should not be opened in an uncontrolled environment is evident in the image on the left. Dust and moisture particles from the atmospheric air settle on the platter surface and can cause irreparable damage. Fortunately, the customer did not attempt any further repairs himself and brought the hard drive to us for data recovery. The platters were cleaned and the drive was set up for cloning.

Data recovery rate: 93%.

Damaged Western Digital Hard Drive – Case 1661

WD 400GB SATA hard drive model WD4000YR 3.5″

Symptoms: Hard drive drop

Causes: The hard drive fell from the owner’s hands while in use

History: After the fall, the owner sent the hard drive to another “data recovery lab”, which in turn outsourced it to England, to one of the so-called “top” companies in the field. This company deemed the drive “100% non-recoverable” due to “surface issues of the hard drive.”

Solution: The hard drive had issues with heads h0 & h4. Compatible replacement heads were installed, which the drive “rejected” almost immediately. A new examination with a special setup that maintains platter alignment showed the last platter had scratches, explaining the rejection of the new heads. We applied a special technique with multiple replacements and patience ;-)

Data recovery rate: 94.6%. We recovered 330GB of data with complete success. The process lasted 36 days.