A Specialist Found Surface Damage

The decode

The prior specialist's finding is sound. That a specialist found head and surface damage is a sound reading of the fault, because a drive not recognised with a scored surface does have exactly that — failed heads and a platter marked where they touched. The diagnosis is not in doubt; the question is what remains recoverable given it, addressed by reading the intact surface. The prior specialist's finding is sound.

Surface damage is a band, not the whole platter. That the surface is damaged does not mean all of it is, because surface damage is typically a confined band — the track or region where a head touched — while the rest of the platter, away from that band, is untouched and still holds its data. So the damage sets a limit on part of the surface, not a verdict over the whole: the scored band is the loss, and the intact regions around it remain readable. So the data on the undamaged surface is reachable, which is why the specialist said it could be recoverable. His data is reached from those intact regions. Surface damage is a band, not the whole platter.

The intact regions are imaged, an honest partial. Because the damage is confined, the recovery reads around it — fresh matched heads fitted, the scored band mapped and avoided, and the intact regions imaged in careful passes, so the data away from the damage is recovered while the scored band may be lost. It is an honest partial, as the prior assessment allowed: the surface damage limits part of the drive, and the rest can still read. The free diagnostic maps the damage and the recoverable extent before you commit to anything.

The honest prognosis is a partial, set by the band. If the scored band is confined and the rest of the surface intact — common where the heads touched a limited region — imaging the good regions recovers much of the data, sometimes most of it, with the files on the damaged band the likely loss. If the damage is more extensive, the recoverable portion is smaller. Which applies is determined by inspection under magnification, with the recoverable extent confirmed before anything is asked of you — the intact surface reads, the scored band the limit.

On the bench

The drive was opened in clean air under laminar flow, the heads and platter surfaces inspected under stereo microscope, the scored band mapped. Fresh matched heads were fitted and alignment set, the damaged zone avoided. It was imaged in careful passes on DeepSpar behind PC-3000 UDMA, reading the intact regions and skipping the scored band, the recovered data validated in R-Studio.

The outcome

The intact regions imaged in clean air, the scored band avoided, and the recoverable data validated onto fresh media. The diagnostic stage is free and reports back within two working days of the media arriving; after it you hold one written quote, fixed with VAT included. Opening a drive commits donor stock and clean-air bench time, so half the quoted figure is payable before that stage begins, and the remaining half falls due only once the recovery has succeeded — if it fails, the rest is never billed. The decode: surface damage is a limit on part of the platter, not a verdict of nothing — the intact regions are imaged. Read around the damage, much of your data comes back.

Our case files are written up from genuine enquiries our lab has handled for customers across Swindon and Wiltshire, anonymised to protect client confidentiality. Each one describes the diagnostic and recovery approach our engineers apply to that fault, using the equipment listed.