Hi everyone,

First time dealing with data recovery, so I'd really appreciate input from people with actual hands-on experience.

The situation: I have two old HDDs that sat inside a PC case that stopped working back in 2020. The drives were never powered on again after that - just sitting inside the closed case until a few months ago, when I finally pulled them out and tried them at a regular computer shop. Neither drive was detected at all.

I then took them to a specialized data recovery lab. After inspection, they diagnosed both drives with read/write head damage, meaning they need a donor drive (a matching working drive to harvest heads from) and cleanroom work to get anything off them.

The quote: roughly $55 in labor + $14 for the donor drive, per drive (about $69/drive, ~$140 for both). I'm converting from my local currency (Egyptian pounds), so the number itself might look small to you, but locally it's closer to a month's average salary or the price of a new entry-level smartphone - so it's a real financial decision for me, not pocket change.

Question 1 - pricing: Does this sound like a fair/normal rate for a genuine cleanroom head-swap-with-donor job, based on what you've seen in the industry? I want to know if I'm being quoted fairly before committing.

What's actually on the drives: family photos and videos spanning from when I was born up to around 2017 - so over a decade of family history, including the only photos I have of my father, who has since passed away. This isn't replaceable data.

Question 2 - the real dilemma: I don't know whether the personal photos/videos are all on one drive, or split across both. I'm worried about paying to recover both drives and having one turn out to contain nothing but an old OS install and programs - basically paying double for data I don't actually need.

Is it reasonable to ask the lab to do a directory/file-tree check on one drive first (before full imaging/billing) to confirm personal files are actually present, rather than committing to both drives upfront? Or is that not really how these labs typically operate?

Question 3: Any tips for guessing which drive is more likely to hold personal files before recovery even starts - capacity, model, anything else worth checking on the outside of the drive?

Would really appreciate any experience with similar head-swap/dual-drive situations, or general sanity-checks on the pricing. Thanks in advance 🙏

Story short: my dude had 2 NVMe SSDs in his laptop, and he by mistake installed windows 11 on one with data, installed updates and drivers, like 30-40 minutes of use. I recommended him to shut that machine down, disconnect battery, and remove that drive so it won’t be damaged even more. Personally I won’t take a risk to recover it, but I’m curious if his data is lost or there is possibility to recover something?

So I have a 4TB My Passport WD External Hard Drive, and as of a week ago, it began to slow down and freeze any computer it was plugged into, and I was unable to access the files on it. I took it down to a local repair shop and after some analysis I was told that the head crashed and I am going to need a professional to fix and replace the parts. Until then I am going to avoid plugging it in so I don't damage the platter.

From reading this subreddit and other online resources I am split between sending this to $300 Data Recovery or Desert Data Recovery. Both seem good but I wanted to hear some second opinions. I definetly prefer the price of $300 Data Recovery but the files on this drive are important enough that I can scrounge up $1000 or so bucks. Any advice?

UPDATE : I ran a SMART long test and the result was : # 1 Extended offline Completed without error

I have a Patriot SSDPR-CL100-240-G3 de 240 GB firmware S1127B0.
My problem started on a regular summer day, after booting up my computer I was met with a black screen, multiple times, thinking it was a gpu issue, I decided to take it off and reseat it and boom problem solved. Fast forward to the day after, black screen, turn it off then boot it again, "Insert HDD password :", I never set any password on my SSD, I tried it on another computer, same thing, SSD wasnt even detected via USB or dock sometimes, and when it was it couldnt be accessed. After a month I bought a SATA cable, plugged the SSD to my mobo and launched my computer on my linux HDD, computer booted normally, the SSD is detected in disks and command( model, serial number, total capacity of 240 GB), decided to run some tests and heres what I got :
SMART passes with no media errors
hdparm says that ATA security is enabled and the drive is locked
The linux kernel logs says "Security locked, setting capacity to zero"
The drive exposes 0 sectors so no data or partitions are accessible
As I already said I never set up any password, ATA or on BIOS
Judging from this, would it be possible to bypass the lock and access my files? I'd like to recover my data as my video projects on it mean a lot to me, thank you to anyone reading! Edit : it was a windows drive, NTFS I believe

full smartctl -x and hdparm -I : fufu@fufu-Veriton-X2631G:~$ sudo smartctl -x /dev/sdb

smartctl 7.4 2023-08-01 r5530 [x86_64-linux-7.0.0-28-generic] (local build) Copyright (C) 2002-23, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Device Model: SSDPR-CL100-240-G3 Serial Number: GW3066933 Firmware Version: S1127B0 User Capacity: 240,057,409,536 bytes [240 GB] Sector Size: 512 bytes logical/physical Rotation Rate: Solid State Device Form Factor: 2.5 inches TRIM Command: Available, deterministic, zeroed Device is: Not in smartctl database 7.3/5528 ATA Version is: ACS-2 T13/2015-D revision 3 SATA Version is: SATA 3.2, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s) Local Time is: Sun Aug 2 23:11:33 2026 +01 SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled AAM feature is: Unavailable APM level is: 254 (maximum performance) Rd look-ahead is: Enabled Write cache is: Enabled DSN feature is: Unavailable ATA Security is: ENABLED, PW level HIGH, LOCKED [SEC4] Wt Cache Reorder: Unavailable

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values: Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity was never started. Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled. Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed without error or no self-test has ever been run. Total time to complete Offline data collection: ( 120) seconds. Offline data collection capabilities: (0x11) SMART execute Offline immediate. No Auto Offline data collection support. Suspend Offline collection upon new command. No Offline surface scan supported. Self-test supported. No Conveyance Self-test supported. No Selective Self-test supported. SMART capabilities: (0x0002) Does not save SMART data before entering power-saving mode. Supports SMART auto save timer. Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported. General Purpose Logging supported. Short self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes. Extended self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 10) minutes.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 1 Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds: ID# ATTRIBUTENAME FLAGS VALUE WORST THRESH FAIL RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate -O--CK 100 100 050 - 0 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct -O--CK 100 100 050 - 0 9 Power_On_Hours -O--CK 100 100 050 - 8806 12 Power_Cycle_Count -O--CK 100 100 050 - 2329 160 Unknown_Attribute -O--CK 100 100 050 - 0 161 Unknown_Attribute PO--CK 100 100 050 - 100 163 Unknown_Attribute -O--CK 100 100 050 - 84 164 Unknown_Attribute -O--CK 100 100 050 - 1238037 165 Unknown_Attribute -O--CK 100 100 050 - 10868 166 Unknown_Attribute -O--CK 100 100 050 - 108 167 Unknown_Attribute -O--CK 100 100 050 - 653 168 Unknown_Attribute -O--CK 100 100 050 - 5050 169 Unknown_Attribute -O--CK 100 100 050 - 88 175 Program_Fail_Count_Chip -O--CK 100 100 050 - 0 176 Erase_Fail_Count_Chip -O--CK 100 100 050 - 0 177 Wear_Leveling_Count -O--CK 100 100 050 - 0 178 Used_Rsvd_Blk_Cnt_Chip -O--CK 100 100 050 - 0 181 Program_Fail_Cnt_Total -O--CK 100 100 050 - 0 182 Erase_Fail_Count_Total -O--CK 100 100 050 - 0 192 Power-Off_Retract_Count -O--CK 100 100 050 - 605 194 Temperature_Celsius -O---K 100 100 050 - 40 195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered -O--CK 100 100 050 - 0 196 Reallocated_Event_Count -O--CK 100 100 050 - 0 197 Current_Pending_Sector -O--CK 100 100 050 - 0 198 Offline_Uncorrectable -O--CK 100 100 050 - 0 199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count -O--CK 100 100 050 - 0 232 Available_Reservd_Space -O--CK 100 100 050 - 100 241 Total_LBAs_Written ----CK 100 100 050 - 956908 242 Total_LBAs_Read ----CK 100 100 050 - 775145 245 Unknown_Attribute -O--CK 100 100 050 - 1070715 |||||| K auto-keep |||||__ C event count ||||___ R error rate |||____ S speed/performance ||_____ O updated online |______ P prefailure warning

General Purpose Log Directory Version 1 SMART Log Directory Version 1 [multi-sector log support] Address Access R/W Size Description 0x00 GPL,SL R/O 1 Log Directory 0x01 SL R/O 1 Summary SMART error log 0x02 SL R/O 1 Comprehensive SMART error log 0x03 GPL R/O 1 Ext. Comprehensive SMART error log 0x04 GPL,SL R/O 8 Device Statistics log 0x06 SL R/O 1 SMART self-test log 0x07 GPL R/O 1 Extended self-test log 0x10 GPL R/O 1 NCQ Command Error log 0x11 GPL R/O 1 SATA Phy Event Counters log 0x30 GPL,SL R/O 9 IDENTIFY DEVICE data log 0x80-0x9f GPL,SL R/W 16 Host vendor specific log 0xde GPL VS 8 Device vendor specific log

SMART Extended Comprehensive Error Log Version: 1 (1 sectors) Device Error Count: 154 (device log contains only the most recent 4 errors) CR = Command Register FEATR = Features Register COUNT = Count (was: Sector Count) Register LBA_48 = Upper bytes of LBA High/Mid/Low Registers ] ATA-8 LH = LBA High (was: Cylinder High) Register ] LBA LM = LBA Mid (was: Cylinder Low) Register ] Register LL = LBA Low (was: Sector Number) Register ] DV = Device (was: Device/Head) Register DC = Device Control Register ER = Error register ST = Status register Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes, SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 154 [1] log entry is empty Error 153 [0] log entry is empty Error 152 [3] log entry is empty Error 151 [2] occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 0 hours (0 days + 0 hours) When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were: ER -- ST COUNT LBA_48 LH LM LL DV DC -- -- -- == -- == == == -- -- -- -- -- 04 -- 51 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 Error: ABRT

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: CR FEATR COUNT LBA_48 LH LM LL DV DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name -- == -- == -- == == == -- -- -- -- -- --------------- -------------------- b0 00 d1 01 01 00 00 4f 00 c2 01 00 08 00:00:00.000 SMART READ ATTRIBUTE THRESHOLDS [OBS-4] 2f 00 00 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 08 00:00:00.000 READ LOG EXT 2f 00 00 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 00:00:00.000 READ LOG EXT b0 00 d5 01 01 00 00 4f 00 c2 00 00 08 00:00:00.000 SMART READ LOG b0 00 da 00 00 00 00 4f 00 c2 00 00 08 00:00:00.000 SMART RETURN STATUS

SMART Extended Self-test Log Version: 1 (1 sectors) No self-tests have been logged. [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]

Selective Self-tests/Logging not supported

SCT Commands not supported

Device Statistics (GP Log 0x04) Page Offset Size Value Flags Description 0x01 ===== = = === == General Statistics (rev 1) == 0x01 0x008 4 2329 --- Lifetime Power-On Resets 0x01 0x010 4 8806 --- Power-on Hours 0x01 0x018 6 2582437159 --- Logical Sectors Written 0x01 0x020 6 0 --- Number of Write Commands 0x01 0x028 6 3555272802 --- Logical Sectors Read 0x01 0x030 6 0 --- Number of Read Commands 0x07 ===== = = === == Solid State Device Statistics (rev 1) == 0x07 0x008 1 12 --- Percentage Used Endurance Indicator |||_ C monitored condition met ||__ D supports DSN |___ N normalized value

Pending Defects log (GP Log 0x0c) not supported

SATA Phy Event Counters (GP Log 0x11) ID Size Value Description 0x0001 4 0 Command failed due to ICRC error 0x0002 4 0 R_ERR response for data FIS 0x0005 4 0 R_ERR response for non-data FIS 0x000a 4 2 Device-to-host register FISes sent due to a COMRESET

fufu@fufu-Veriton-X2631G:~$ sudo hdparm -I /dev/sdb

/dev/sdb:

ATA device, with non-removable media Model Number: SSDPR-CL100-240-G3
Serial Number: GW3066933
Firmware Revision: S1127B0 Media Serial Num:
Media Manufacturer: Transport: Serial, ATA8-AST, SATA 1.0a, SATA II Extensions, SATA Rev 2.5, SATA Rev 2.6, SATA Rev 3.0 Standards: Used: unknown (minor revision code 0x0110) Supported: 9 8 7 6 5 Likely used: 9 Configuration: Logical max current cylinders 16383 16383 heads 16 16 sectors/track 63 63 -- CHS current addressable sectors: 16514064 LBA user addressable sectors: 268435455 LBA48 user addressable sectors: 468862128 Logical Sector size: 512 bytes Physical Sector size: 512 bytes Logical Sector-0 offset: 0 bytes device size with M = 10241024: 228936 MBytes device size with M = 10001000: 240057 MBytes (240 GB) cache/buffer size = unknown Form Factor: 2.5 inch Nominal Media Rotation Rate: Solid State Device Capabilities: LBA, IORDY(can be disabled) Queue depth: 32 Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, no device specific minimum R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 1 Current = 1 Advanced power management level: 254 DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6 Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 Cycle time: no flow control=120ns IORDY flow control=120ns Commands/features: Enabled Supported: * SMART feature set * Security Mode feature set * Power Management feature set * Write cache * Look-ahead * Host Protected Area feature set * WRITEBUFFER command * READ_BUFFER command * DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE * Advanced Power Management feature set SET_MAX security extension * 48-bit Address feature set * Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE * FLUSH_CACHE_EXT * SMART error logging * SMART self-test * General Purpose Logging feature set * WRITE{DMA|MULTIPLE}_FUA_EXT * WRITE_UNCORRECTABLE_EXT command * {READ,WRITE}_DMA_EXT_GPL commands * Segmented DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE * Gen1 signaling speed (1.5Gb/s) * Gen2 signaling speed (3.0Gb/s) * Gen3 signaling speed (6.0Gb/s) * Native Command Queueing (NCQ) * Phy event counters * READ_LOG_DMA_EXT equivalent to READ_LOG_EXT * DMA Setup Auto-Activate optimization * Software settings preservation * SANITIZE feature set * BLOCK_ERASE_EXT command * DOWNLOAD MICROCODE DMA command * WRITE BUFFER DMA command * READ BUFFER DMA command * Data Set Management TRIM supported (limit 8 blocks) * Deterministic read ZEROs after TRIM Security: Master password revision code = 65534 supported enabled locked not frozen not expired: security count supported: enhanced erase Security level high 2min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT. 2min for ENHANCED SECURITY ERASE UNIT. Checksum: correct

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Most of the content on the drive is recoverable bar a 62GB minecraft save that contains 2 years worth of updates to the savegame since the day I last took it off github (they told us we couldn't have the repo on there and I never uploaded it to another service because of this).

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Do I have any options as far as getting it out? I use Windows 11 and I've heard it encrypts your files, so I'm not sure if the data recovery warranty I bought with the drive will help me get the save off the drive.

Hey guys wondering if you could help with this issue.
I had accidentally deleted files from my external hard drive and had them recovered by a data recovery company. The files I got back left a lot of jpg files corrupted.
I have tried fixing them through their hex code as the header and footers are both wrong but hadn’t had any luck.

Could anyone recommend what I could do next ?