Case file · Desktop externals · BDR-2025-1124
I Tried DMDE, Then the Grinding Started.
Three terabytes, 95% filled with music
, showing as unallocated in Windows
— so the owner reached for tools, running DMDE for a few hours
. Results came back too many corrupt
, and then the drive found its own vocabulary: the disk makes grinding noises
— and, his words, time to ask a pro
.
Same symptoms on your desk?
01273 964902
The decode.
'Unallocated' was the opening symptom of a drive already in difficulty. What happened next is the expensive part: a full-surface scan asks a struggling mechanism to seek continuously for hours, and heads already degrading do not survive that kind of marathon. Grinding is a materially worse noise than clicking — it suggests contact between head and platter, which converts a data-recovery problem into a race against how much surface remains readable.
Equipment on this case.
How a case runs →| Platform | What it did here | Why this tool |
|---|---|---|
| DeepSpar Disk Imager 4 | Head map to establish which surfaces the scanning marathon had left readable | Head-map-aware imaging with per-head timeout, reset and power-cycle control |
| PC-3000 Data Extractor | Salvage-mode imaging, strongest zones first, minimal seeking | The imaging half of the PC-3000 platform, driven by the firmware half |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | Rebuilt the volume and recovered the library with folder structure | Stronger than most on the awkward filesystems — APFS, ReFS, XFS, ZFS, Btrfs |
On the bench.
Establish the damage the scan caused
The head stack showed wear consistent with prolonged operation in a degraded state, and the platters carried contact marks — light in most areas, more pronounced in the regions the scan had worked hardest. Stopping when he did was genuinely the right call; another few hours would have changed the outcome materially.
Repair the mechanism, then map before committing
Matched donor parts restored the drive's ability to read, and a head map established which surfaces had survived and which had not. The picture was mixed rather than catastrophic — a substantial majority readable, with defined zones lost.
Image in salvage mode, minimising movement
The read strategy prioritised sequential passes over seeking, because every actuator movement on a contact-damaged drive risks spreading debris. Strong zones were taken first and completely; the damaged regions were attempted last, at low speed, with realistic expectations.
The outcome.
The great majority of the music library recovered, with an honest count delivered against an honest situation and the shortfall mapped to the zones the grinding had claimed. Stopping when he did preserved the rest.
Related on the index.
More from Desktop externals.
Recognise your own drive in this story?
Same rule as every case above: power it down, and let the diagnosis be free before any decision has to be.