A Ring Engraved Into the Platter

That ring isn't a reflection. It's physically engraved into the platter. The read/write heads contacted the surface and carved deep scoring into the magnetic media — severe rotational damage.

We'd already done an initial platter cleaning when these photos were taken, with more work ahead: continue cleaning, stabilize the surface, and attempt to recover every readable sector. With damage this severe there are no guarantees — portions of the magnetic layer may be permanently destroyed.

This is where data recovery goes far beyond plugging in a drive and running software. Every step has to be controlled to avoid damaging the areas that might still hold recoverable data.