Client asked me to recover data from a drive that was literally on fire

Walked into a house fire restoration job two months ago. Drive was sitting in a melted plastic bin, smelled like smoke and burnt wiring. Guy said he needed his wedding photos off it. I told him 90% chance it's dead. Took it home, hooked it up outside first because I didn't want that smell in my workshop. Drive spun up somehow, made grinding noises for about 30 seconds, then went silent. Ended up using a donor PCB from the same model I had in a parts bin. Got about 40% of the files off before the heads crashed for good. Has anyone else gotten lucky with fire damaged drives or did I just waste a weekend?

3 comments

3 Comments

emma_wells8311d ago

Smell alone can kill platters even if it spins.

casey81810d ago

Funny how that smell isn't just gross, it's like a warning sign that the whole mechanical side might be toast. Once shit gets into bearing grease, it's game over for precision parts.

shanec6111d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah my buddy in Chicago had a 1990s Pioneer PL-518 that got ruined by cigarette smoke. The plastic bits absorbed the smell and it never left, but more importantly the smoke residue built up on the tonearm bearings and the cueing mechanism over time. The motor still spun the platter fine but the cueing started dropping the arm way too fast and the bearings got gritty. He tried cleaning it with alcohol and compressed air but the damage was already done to the internal parts. So yeah the platter can spin but if the mechanics are gunked up from that smell residue then it's basically a dead player anyway.