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Not bad pricing actually. That's a whole lot more affordable than that crazy 3M Novec solution.

I've seen this happen when R-Studio was having all their issues relating to symbolic links. It would recover data to a "documents and settings" folder which we all know was really just a symbolic link to the Users folder. However, the data would appear nowhere. But, then if you manually type...

OK, here's the LDR. Ace TS managed to extract it from the drive. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be helping any, but we'll see.

While I do agree it's likely to be a heads issue, I'd probably still convert it to be a SATA PCB first. USB tends to go unresponsive much more easily. You might get lucky and it'll work with a SATA board. Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

I'm looking for a loader for Big BearH family with consolidated ROM version 0003002J if anyone has it would be much appreciated. Full resources would be nice if you have that too. :D

In that case the only tool I know of is PC-3000 for SAS (I'm assuming it can clear the glist) but it's a lot of money to dish out for a system you'll rarely ever use. It'd still make a great imaging tool I suppose, I think it's even faster than the Express card is.

Have you physically inspected inside the drive to see the heads/platters? Often SAS drives will sound normal but in fact are catastrophically destroyed inside.

Thank you, very informative! :D Just a quick question. Assuming you do back up the NRG before translator regeneration, what is your method to restore it back afterward? Do you write back system file 35, or do you manually add in the defects to another defect list?

Sorry, but you're basing your project on a flawed theory. What you are purposing is based on a white paper written by Peter Gutmann who purposed that weak and strong traces of overwritten data could be read back using MFM technology. His theory was quickly debunked and proven completely wrong...

Well, you can start by actually being active on this forum. The firmware resources are for forum users. One-off posts requesting access get declined until we see some meaningful activity. Unless of course, you're someone I know from another forum.

You reuse gloves?!?!?! I throw away several pairs whenever I'm doing any clean room work. As soon as I touch anything I don't consider "clean" they get tossed. Maybe I should box up and mail you my used up ones as a way of recycling them.

Nice to see some official representation from DFL here. I've changed your status to "official representative" so no one bothers you if you want to promote your products on here. SPAM isn't prohibited here as long as it's data recovery related and all honest. Just don't be surprised if you...

Yep, can't underestimate the importance of backing up resources. Has saved me many times when something went wrong.

I've seen it done both ways. Some guys rip one off another unnecessary hard drive PCB and use that as well. All a matter of personal preference. Personally, I prefer to just reprogram a SATA PCB. But, then, I guess I'm privileged to have them all just sitting here on a rack.

I'm just posting this picture here for someone, but I might as well make it public in case someone else needs it. Here are the capacitors to remove and solder onto for SATA connection for My Passport PCB 2060-771961: Be sure you solder in your wires to the pad closer to the main IC after...

There, I added a special rank for moderators that won't change.

While you are right about that, I've got SEO reasons why I want the "data recovery" keyword on every page of this site. That way Google knows how to properly categorize it as a "data recovery forum".

Haha, you've been too busy trying to develop your own forum and not posting on mine lately. Serves you right :lol:

There, I adjusted the ranks to be more accurate. :D

So seeing as how the forum is much older now compared with when I first added the ranks, I've decided to adjust the number of posts to reach certain rankings. Here are the current rankings: 0-50 posts - Data Recovery Noob 50-199 - Data Recovery Novice 200-399 - Experienced DR Tech 400-699 -...

You're right, I haven't visited the ranking for a while now. I'll need to update the number of posts required to reach those levels now that the forum has been around longer. Definitely some who've made it to ranks they don't need to have. :lol:

What do you think this is...Canada? Here in the USA it's always mm/dd/yyyy just like how you speak it. September 11, 2017

Thanks! Been waiting to hear if that one worked.

If there is bad sectors in the file system or the bitmap doesn't match the full file size of all files, I do too. But everything seemed to add up. After speaking with the client it sounds like they tried some DIY recovery and may have even run chkdisk. So it's possible that data was erased...

So this is an odd one that I still haven't had the chance to get to the bottom of yet. Drive was a Hitachi desktop drive that had a fair amount of bad sectors but nothing major wrong with it otherwise. Partition table shows just a single partition starting at sector 63 and going to the end of...

It seems to me that the PC-3000 ROM utility is mis-designating the logical and physical head maps. For example, I've got a ST1000DL002 drive where the actual physical head map is 01 03 05 (all top side heads). The physical head map in the utility shows the head map as 00 01 02, but the logical...

You're right. My brain saw "this is" instead of "is this" when I read it. Probably the lack of a proper question mark threw me off. Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

Thanks for the confirmation. I'll move it to the confirmed list.

Yeah, putting that pivot screw back in is a good idea to help stabilize it. But, I think I'd still prefer a nub that rests on the bottom to keep it exactly positioned.

So today I had my first opportunity to test out the new Seagate Slim head combs from ApexToolLab (formerly known as AceToolLab). I must say, they work great as always. Here's a picture I snapped of it in place: (Ignore the scratched platters, it was just a test drive) It slides in nice and...

Well, if you can play 5 minutes of video, it's safe to say that your RAID settings are correct in the recovery. So fragmentation is likely to be the issue. Stitching the files back together would probably take a lifetime and bankrupt you long before it's done. Maybe some better software like...

An image or clone is every bit as good to work from for data recovery as the original is. There's no magic that data recovery software performs which can recover overwritten data, it's just finding lost files no longer referenced by a working file system. Cloning is always the first thing a...

I think you'll need the help of someone with a lot of experience recovering badly damaged RAID arrays. It's going to have to be done manually since autodetection will inevitably fail in a case like this. Our price for such a RAID is a flat $750 (barring any severe undisclosed hardware issues)...

Who are you? Usually, people have at least introduced themselves before they start asking for this sort of access.

Perhaps instead of a time restricted limited use version you could cap the amount it can image. Have it just counting down the number of GB it's imaged until it reaches the specified amount and then it stops until a new license is installed. Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

If you're going to go with option 1, you'll need to be sure you've got redundant activation servers on different hosting. Data Rescue 4 does this, and I've had entire days where I couldn't use the software because their one activation server was down all day. It's happened multiple times to...

Are you saying the G3959A ----------> G3918A pairing didn't work for you? I must assume you're reading via a soldered in SATA connection then...

I know with the NAS I looked at, PC-3000 wasn't finding any encryption keys in the SA. But given that I knew mine had be secure reset, I didn't spend a lot of time digging into it. My fear with these is that the key may be stored in the NAS board rather than on the drives. But I really don't...

I think it only works in Win 98 and XP. Maybe it works in 32 bit Windows 7 if you emulate XP mode. I remember getting it to run once, but it also doesn't work on newer ROMs as the CP sizes are different. I think it's pretty much a dead project. But, it's not that hard to carve them out...

Aren't most of these larger companies run on opportunistic sales pitches? The typical DriveSavers customer is flat out told that there's no other company in the world who can recover their data. Yet, we routinely recover cases that they previously quoted and we do it for 1/3 the price...

Given that they are in different industries and different parts of the world, I doubt they'll care much. It's far less likely to be confused than Ace Tool Lab was.

Yes, that's the one. I had misplaced it URL.

Actually I see they say this: And then they say this: So by the time anyone even realizes they've lost data, the "free" recovery period will already be over. Perhaps I'll post a reasonable discount with a reasonable time frame and actually off it. Not just a stupid PR stunt offer like this.

Well, I was thinking about offering a good discount on data recovery services for the flood victims of Hurricane Harvey. But, then I saw this: That's a pretty hard price to compete with. I've got friends in San Antonio. Maybe I'll have them submit a couple of my nightmare cases for me...

I think the number of failures is just what failed that quarter. The failure rate I suspect is the total percentage that have failed since they went into service.

Yeah, it was a simple case using R-Explorer. Just was unexpected.

Looks like the 4Tb DM001's aren't faring much better than the 3Tb ones did. Albeit a smaller pool and all. But, as expected Toshiba and HGST the normal reliability winners. Exactly matches what I'm seeing here for failures. I expect we'll be seeing DM's come in for the next decade or so (if...

Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Clone the latter section of the drive first, before beating it up trimming the beginning again.

If you lost your log file, I'm afraid there's not much you can do beside to just restart it. That log is how it keeps track of what sectors were/weren't read successfully. The only other thing you could do is to just start the imaging at an offset approximately where you think it was. But...

Backup what you can of the resources, then try just doing read by utility in DE along with solving G-List damage. It may well just work out for you.

I did. In fact, even when I use tweezers I usually fill the points with a bit of 60/40 solder. Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

I know it sounds terrible, but if you let it thrash around long enough I may eventually come to a ready state. I've seen drives take a long as 5 minutes to come ready in some cases.

So what is the requirements to become a partner? Also, what are the benefits to becoming one?

Are you actually timing it, or just going by the speed the software is reporting itself? Because I'm not sure how accurate that really is. I've found hddsuperclone to be quite fast.

So I just saw this today: https://www.wdc.com/products/external-s ... 00JBK-NESN 20TB of encrypted. data in RAID 0. What could ever go wrong? Lol

I tried the foil trick from this video a few times and never had much success with it. I've still found my tweezers to work best, but maybe because I'm just used to doing it that way. Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

It's tempting....if there's actually anything useful it could pay for itself in just a few cases. But, I suspect it provides far less info than I already know... I suppose one of us will eventually have to just bite the bullet and buy it to see.

I'm running it mostly on a computer with an i5 and 32Gb of RAM. Haven't had much of any crashing issues. Make sure you're running it in a 64-Bit OS though. If you're running it in 32 bit Windows, the program will be capped at how much RAM it can use and it'll keep crashing. Here's the full...

Just a warning to anyone who's using a recent version of PC-3000, the ARM ROM programming doesn't work right. I used it to attempt programming a Toshiba branded 7210DLE6 ARM family drive, and it just bricked the PCB. ROM transfer confirmed that the original ROM code wasn't the issue. I...

So how is that $300 video? Anything really novel to learn from it, or pretty much what you expect? I know I've heard of some guys bouncing a Lazer off the platter to see how much wobble it has when the beam hits the wall after reflecting off. I always just assumed this by video was about...

So how is that $300 video? Anything really novel to learn from it, or pretty much what you expect? I know I've heard of some guys bouncing a Lazer off the platter to see how much wobble it has when the beam hits the wall after reflecting off. I always just assumed this by video was about...

I used the tape method. But it was an easier one that didn't have the spacers between the platters. So I was able to get tape almost all the way around it. Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

Yes, and with certain drives (namely Grenadas like ST3000DM001) you need to very carefully time when you short it during initialization. Too early, and it won't load part of the firmware needed to get terminal, too late and the drive gets stuck busy.

And the consolidated ROM version? Perhaps you should visit this page: firmware-request-guidelines-t157.html If you follow those guidelines you'll usually have your LDR within an hour of posting the request. But, we're not going to interrogate you each time to find out what you need.

You'll need to provide more information than that. For example, what is the consolidated ROM version?

I can't wait to try them out. Could have used the 7200.11 one just the other day.

Has anyone else been watching the TV show Containment? It's pretty funny that they've got people hiding out from a virus outbreak inside a supposed data recovery company clean room. What's funny is that they've apparently got couches and apple laptops inside this clean room, but not a hard...

One last thing to try. Did you set to do a recalibration on any read error? I've seen some cases where that was the magic bullet that got it to read much faster.

I suspect from that R-Studio result that the file system is just too badly wiped out to get a meaningful recovery with file names and folder structure. Most likely RAW is the best you're going to get in this case. Too much has been overwritten.

Have you tried just imaging in reverse? I've seen drives behave funny like that, but PIO in reverse, with a relatively small block read size, usually did the trick.

Just an update to this thread, I think we all missed the fact that this is a double SSD in RAID 0 built into a single PCB. That's why the OP is only seeing half the capacity and can't recover any files. I wrote an article about this: https://www.data-medics.com/data-recove ... -recovery/ Do...

Thanks for trying to SPAM this forum. Just FYI SPAM isn't totally prohibited on this forum if it's data recovery related. All you have to do is introduce yourself as a representative of a certain brand and request official representative status on your account. Then you'll be able to freely...

Just to be clear. Are you doing this secure erase using a utility from Seagate, or using some method in PC-3000? I would assume you're using Seatools.

Got this lead emailed to me by thumbtack and had a good laugh: I think I'll pass on it. :lol:

Even if it's not readable you can still attempt to write a zero filled module over it. Sometime it'll take. Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

+1 for zero fill. Just make sure it's the same size file, and fill with zeros.

I'll let someone else buy it and let me know if it's worth the $300.

Sweet! I'm glad to see these finally arrive. Been expecting these to appear soon.

Yeah, my bad. :lol: His comment just confirmed something I'd become suspicious of for a while now.

You don't need to short anything to get that model into boot ROM code. Just set your terminal baud rate to 921000.

So then how are you possibly affording a second PC-3000? I haven't been able to buy a second unit and I'm able to charge 5x those prices here.

Well, this is a new first for me. In all the hundreds of data recovery cases I've handled, I've yet to see a single BTRFS formatted drive show up for recovery....until today. It threw me for a loop at first. The drive had bad sectors at the beginning so I couldn't read the MBR to see the...

Fact: I've helped you dozens of times Fact: You cry broke each time I've ever mentioned you contributing a fair amount of what you are billing the customer to cover the time I've spent providing you tech support. Fact: You just admitted that you're buying a second very expensive PC-3000 system...

Yeah, you get lucky when someone with real expertise does it for you expecting you'll give them a percentage of what you're charging the client. Eventually, you're going to burn all your bridges and run out of people willing to provide free help to you all the time.

Wow! You've already made enough money to buy a second system. Yet, somehow when you receive help (because you don't know what you're doing) you're always too poor to give the person helping anything for their time. Makes me glad I stopped responding to you on Skype. Obviously, you're just...

I just happened to see this in a search: https://www.walmart.com/ip/WD40NMZW-11G ... /660788378 I know it's really Donor Drives selling through Walmart's website, but it's pretty stinking funny to see this on Walmart regardless.

The one that really killed me was when I killed a brand new $350 4Tb Toshiba drive. My issue wasn't from failure to remove the PCB though. Rather, it was when I was trying to remove the super strong magnet. It finally popped free and snagged the ribbon cable on the way up. Tore it completely...

Here's another one I did just today:

There may not be much you can do. You can try changing heads, in case the issue is a failed head. Or try just waiting for a long time to see if it comes ready eventually. Is it clicking at all?

Wow! Thanks for the tips. I hadn't seen that, but then they still haven't sent me the quote for my upgrade either. I bet we'll be seeing a lot of cases where guys didn't see these warnings and will botch them up doing these operations. I hope the software at least prompts with a clear...

I'm pretty sure these last three posts are all SPAM, but since they are on topic I guess I'll allow it.

Here you go:

I'm using Chrome and it works just fine. I have noticed that the first time opening it on Chrome took a while to load, but then it was almost instant subsequent times. I'd guess Microsoft Office online has to install something into Chrome for it to open. Try reloading the page a couple times...

Perhaps later on, If I have time, I'll add the feature of pulling up a list of other models from that family. Make for some easy ebay'ing.

Here's a new tool I've created so you can find a drive family just by typing the model into a box. Enjoy! :D

Yeah, I saw that update post at 6AM this morning when I woke up. Definitely worth the upgrade price now.

Tornado 2R. It's on the list.

I used to, but it's just so many files and nothing anyone ever cares about, that I've stopped recovering that folder. I've seen up to 4 million files in there before, and it was so much it kept crashing data recovery software before it would finish the folder. Since I've been excluding that...

Perhaps it's because a module is larger than the program expected and thus exceeded the buffer (scratchpad) size.

I'm planning to do some extensive RAID card meta data research in the near future (been buying up common cards to research) and I'm looking for a way to hot swap PCIe controllers without always needing to restart. I know normally you'll always have to reboot to add in a new PCIe card as they're...

A feature that'd really make it worth paying for the pro version of hddsuperclone, is the ability to work with non-standard sector sizes. You know those 520 byte EMC drives. If it could read those drives and migrate to 512-byte sectors on the destination, that'd really make it a miracle tool...

Yeah, you have to let us know the "consolidated ROM version" Please see the posting guidelines for firmware requests: firmware-request-guidelines-t157.html Also, there is a section for firmware requests, which I'll be moving this topic to later.

Forget all the programs you're trying. Scan the drive from beginning to end with R-Studio and see what results it gets.

This forum is about data recovery, not spoofing bad drives to look good so you can sell them on eBay. Sometimes SMART gets corrupted and needs to be cleared to regenerate a corrupted firmware module and get the drive working, so it has data recovery applications. We're not going to help you...

I agree. I think the SSD replacement in new computers is coming soon, but old spinners will still be around and failing for years to come. The real question is, how quickly will the number of cases coming in start to drop. It might start to get really competitive for customers quick. Sent...

Here it is all set up holding a set of junk heads for scale:

So he may have succeeded, stiffed you, and stole your equipment. Next, he'll be starting a competing data recovery service down the road from you. Then using your equipment to steal your customers :shock: .

+1 to this. The fact that you've done the research and know how to do it is ultimately what you're getting paid for in this business. While I'm open to give out a ton of information on forums and whatnot, that's only for the benefit of those who are reading up online doing the research...

I'm probably not the only one who's been annoyed by how ahrefs basically killed all free accounts (unless you give cc info and sign up for a $99 paid plan temporarily). I've found that this site is a pretty good alternative for running site comparison, keyword analysis, etc.: serpstat.com

It's rare that a Win 10 update would erase your files. Unless you did a fresh install using boot media. Check the size of data on the drive. Perhaps it just moved your data to a "Windows.old" folder.

I'm not questioning that it only has one head, that's blatantly obvious. But, it shows two different things for the headmap based on ROM/RAM As you can see here:

Why does your RAM show headmap of 1 and ROM shows headmap of 0 ?

RIght, I've got all the equipment for chip off recovery of pretty much any eMMC or NAND. I'm more wondering about if JTAG is any easier for data recovery than chip off. Or, if it can be used to extract data from phones that are still functional, but have some sort of glitch preventing access...

For those of you who can't justify spending 300 € on hddsurgery's overpriced head holder tool :lol: (which I assume is pretty much everyone) Here's an alternative that costs $36 and works every bit as well: https://www.amazon.com/Panavise-D08001- ... 000SX1ZN0/ Best part is, you can even...

Here's a better picture:

So just a few questions. What JTAG boxes have you found to be most effective? (Medusa Pro, Riff box, Easy-Jtag, other) How often are you able to actually read the memory via jtag? When you dump memory via jtag, is it in a liner format or is it like dumping a NAND? I usually have avoided...

So I notice this in my email this morning: Looks like a Hitachi/HGST to me. So I guess WD is selling their laptop drives as HGST now, and selling HGST drives as their "enterprise" drives. The brand name confusion continues.

I'm just curious if anyone on here is an expert when it comes to using JTAG for reading memory from phones, tablets, etc. I've got a few questions as I'm looking at possibly getting into this more.

I do have VNR, but I've mostly just used it for getting dumps. It's quite good for that I've found. Given that I'm not a flash guy, I ususally just end up uploading the dumps to have someone else descramble them. It seems it'd be a powerful tool in the right hands, I know Arviaka can work...

For NTFS your best bet is going to be to use R-Studio and be sure to scan the full drive image. Usually raw images such as CR2 are found just fine. Just be sure to check for other raw image file types in the extra found files that the program returns. Sometimes the extension the camera saves...

First off, welcome to the forum. :D What was the original filesystem type? NTFS, HFS+? Also, what software have you already tried? How full was the SSD? It may be that the files are fragmented. Or it could be some other strange anomaly.

Agreed, I've seen this too. Obviously, you have to carefully judge how hard to force it before you're likely to detach the sliders. But, I haven't seen this really with newer drives such as Grenadas or ST1000LM024 like Amarbir was talking about. I've always been able to spin those free...

I don't know guys, I have near perfect success rates just doing the old spin trick. The other day I had one get head stuck twice (first when it came in, then again after it was power cycled) and it was a 100% recovery w/o replacing heads. I think it's mostly just about technique.

Thanks! Added that to the list.

Hey, SPAM isn't actually prohibited here as long as it's data recovery related. SPAM away, just keep it honest spam.

I don't think Arvika ever quotes more than around $650 USD. But, he can take a long time for monolith cases like that which are complex. So be sure to tell your customer it'll take a long time or just refer them out directly to him. If he can get a dump of the NAND, he'll probably reconstruct...

SPAMMER!!! :lol:

Send it to Arvika: http://www.odzyskiwanie-danych.com.pl/ He's the only one I know crazy enough to even attempt that sort of thing, and he's brilliant enough he might just succeed.

We'll find out :D . Only reason I suspect not is that it acts differently depending on what ROM version I'm using. I really think it'd click no matter what ROM if the heads were totally bad. Perhaps it's only partially failed heads, hard to say. For now, I've just quoted assuming the likely...

Tried all that, no matter what, the second I do LDR upload it's instantly stuck busy. I've ordered a second PCB just in case there is an issue with this one. I also ordered a drive which is the same model and made the same day. Hoping I'll get lucky and the ROM will be close enough to come ready.

So here's what I'm finding now. ROM codes that are pretty far off on the serial, will click and then the drive will enter kernel mode and come ready as expected. When I use any close ROM codes the drive will not click but will get stuck busy when powered. So I think it's safe to assume it's...

Thanks! The more ROMs I can get my hands on the better. Here's a picture of the label: https://goo.gl/photos/62hf1qYCd4Nm6XCW7 I've tried a number of very close serial number ROMs but so far can't get it to go ready or get SA access. If I don't get lucky soon I'll have to resort to moving...

Either way I don't really care. The data is 100% recovered already. I just had to be sure it didn't get power cycled during imaging. Case closed.

Really?!?! I though all models that didn't have external ROM had a copy in the SA. I hope I don't have to move the main IC over to another PCB, but I suppose I will if I have to.

So this is something I haven't seen before. This ST500LM000 drive arrived head stuck. After freeing up the heads I powered it on, it ID'd just fine. I started to backup resources and during the process PC-3000 automatically power cycled it. As soon as it powered down, it got head stuck...

I only tried blocking SA access in ROM because I've seen some times where the drive will try to partially load the SA after LDR upload and get stuck busy. In such cases blocking SA access in ROM will prevent this. I know full well how to do LDR upload and get SA access, it's just that this PCB...

I see him on this group quite a bit: https://www.facebook.com/groups/246054249087366/

I'm finding something odd here that I've never experienced before. Perhaps it's just an issue with my only PCB of this family. I've got a Mars family drive here I'm working on, original PCB is completely cooked, and is one that stores the ROM code in the main IC rather than the U12. I've got...

I'll allow this post, but for the future, we prefer that posts be in English, even if it's just by using Google translate. Also, if you represent Grau-GmbH software, you're required to disclose that. SPAM isn't prohibited as long as it's somehow related to data recovery. But, deception like...

I've heard about the fishing line trick a few different places, including Facebook, Google groups, etc. I think it's a pretty well-known trick nowadays.

Amarbir, I think this is the most useful thing you've posted on here yet :D . I've yet to need to replace a failed PCB on a Seagate SSHD, and I keep hearing people on forums suggest "erasing the NAND", but you're the first person to actually describe how it's done. Kudos, and thanks!

Yeah, that's been my fear with MRT. They're making all their money on sales, not charging for support and upgrades. Eventually, when the initial sales cool down there won't be any profit in continued development. Dolphin data too. As much as we all dislike having to pay for ongoing updates...

100€/year for 4Tb seems pretty good to me. I'd guess that to get anything cheaper you'd have to sacrifice something.

And in case anyone from Stellar is reading this, this is the type of crap I'm talking about: https://www.recoveryforce.com/forums/vi ... ellar#p330 Most their comments have been deleted or modified beyond recognition on this forum, but there's plenty more examples around the web.

Looks like modifying their posts has finally gotten back to the company. I got a nasty email from them about my "unethical activities" on the forum for calling their software "junk". haha. They're the filthy spammers who relentlessly hound this forum with fake posts and dropping affiliate...

I think losing a day of posts spooked everyone. Forum has been dead quite today.

Seems that the issue of the forum hanging has gone away on its own. Perhaps it was just a temporary glitch.

Darn it, that hang is back again.

jol actually had shared some good info with me via PM that I'd barely had time to look at. Too bad I guess.

Hey, no hang that time. Maybe they fixed the issue.

HAHA, I love it. :D

Unfortunately this still hasn't fixed the issue with the forum hanging on posts. I suspect it's a server side issue.

Well, it seems that we had a total fumble of an attempt to update/upgrade the forum today. Things just kept going further and further sideways the more I tried to fix it. I finally had to just do a rollback of the forum to yesterday. So anything you posted in the last 24 hours is gone. :(

No, it's just a software feature they unlock. You have to have a compatible NIC as well. My motherboard one wasn't supported, so I had to add in a cheap PCI card.

There, I've added a basic like button on the Prosilver theme only. It won't do anything though for the users who are using the default Hawiki theme. Maybe in the coming weeks, I'll get around to modifying it to work in the other theme.

Tough part is, that I'm running a custom theme so addons like that require quite a bit of modification to add. I've looked into it in the past and it was going to be a lot of work, so I shelved the idea for now.

You can use it without the Newwork Addon, but you have to physically move the target disk over to the Windows computer, configure it, then move it back to the DDI. Plus you can't do things like monitor it remotely unless you have the Network addon.

I agree that he's annoying. Drives me crazy. My response to him on the thread with Bankole was mostly in response to his comments about me here: http://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php? ... 2&start=20 I hope it doesn't come down to needing to totally ban him. I suspect if we do he'll just...

Congrats on the new purchase. I've honestly found I don't use the DDI much now that I've got an Express card. But there are still the occasional case where it can read faster. Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

First off, there isn't even a lot of content in the secrets section. Also I don't decide the membership, I leave that up to the collective. Only if there is unanimous agreement that a person is trustworthy not to reshare and experienced enough to contribute are they allowed access. So if you...

Interesting. So I guess it's a password to be sure you're erasing the correct drive using the SED.

No, I mostly use Sparky Linux here. I actually just tried installing it while remotely helping someone who had booted from a Knoppix live USB. It was a pretty much healthy drive (one bad sector) and I ended up using ddrescue. Just wanted to give the new GUI a real world trial :D

So I just saw this amazing piece of technology drop: http://www.acelaboratory.com/news/newsi ... itemid=206 Looks like Ace is moving into the realm of mobile device recovery. If they live up to their normal reputation they'll have a well documented / updated / supported solution. Glad I...

I notice that when I tried to install the 32 bit Debian version the package install fails with a message about an invalid character in a file name. That's using Knoppix live USB. However, the 64-bit version seems to be working marvelously in Sparky Linux.

>hddsuperclone --gui

Amarbir, on hddguru you say I'm the one known to go off without cause, yet you continue to drop useless derogatory posts like this. It was crap like this which motivated me to give you a warning the first time. If you have something meaningful to say, say it. But just dropping comments...

I am super excited to try it out.

You did transfer the ROM correct?

I would bet anything that all you recovered is junk data. Most likely the maximum size allowed for your VSS was too small so it would delete and create new ones as soon as it was full. In all likelihood, it just overwrote the data. That's been my experience with VSS anyway.

Both FBLite family, but quite a stretch on the date and different countries too. Just shows that the date doesn't always matter. I find that the Passports/Elements are usually quite forgiving of the date gap. I don't think they're revised as often as other models.

If it's zeroed out due to TRIM as suggested by someone else, then yes, I'd say it's game over. However, it's also possible that the software isn't properly translating the file location and is reading in the totally wrong location. Hard to say without more details. I'd say you should give...

It's possible the file is fragmented with other data. Or could be that the phone writes in a non standard format that the software isn't recognizing. Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

I've really never used the tools for unsticking heads. For that, I much prefer to use the method of spinning the platters until they free up, as it has a much better success rate. I really only use them for swapping heads in drives that don't have ramps, and they work quite well for that. As...

Good timing too, I just asked for a quote to upgrade my support period.

Hi Amrev12. I've removed the link you posted for now. SPAM isn't strictly prohibited on this forum, and I normally will allow this sort of post. However, you need to first come and acknowledge that you represent the particular company and request "official rep" status on your account. After...

Given that your issue related to the partition being lost, I'd say it's safe to assume those files were all deleted prior to the issue. Some may just be junk, others even files found in RAW within other files, etc. If it looks like your data is all there in the non-deleted files you're...

I don't recall mentioning any Chinese site. :?

Pretty much. Just count off that it's 12 zeros after the 1 to make it 1TB. I can see from the hex values in that screenshot that it's already read nominally more than 1Tb, so limiting it like that should resolve the destination size issue.

So only about 20Mb unread and it appears to be isolated to two locations on the disk. Since it's closing out on you due to the size difference of the destination you should try re-running it with limiting the size using the -s trigger such as: ddrescue -s 1000000000000 /dev/sda /dev/sdb...

The demo of R-Studio will allow you to scan and preview what can be recovered. You only have to pay when you want to actually start saving data out. I'd pay more attention to the error size, than the number of errors. If it's only a few Kb, it probably won't affect much of anything. If it's...

So perhaps they are just trying to use this as their budget version of the software. I just find it odd that it's a higher version number than R-Studio is.

R-Studio is definitely the better option, as it'll find the partition and then rebuild the folder structure. But, Testdisk is a decent free option that can restore the partition if nothing has been overwritten.

It gets more interesting... seems $300 DDR has been blogging about her, so it's probably Brian who was searching for that phrase: http://www.300dollardatarecovery.com/30 ... m-pill-ad/ Brian, you naughty boy. :lol: Are you hoping to get her HDD in your lab?

If you got to 99.99% I wouldn't worry too much about it. Unless, it's got a lot of untrimmed area left to read. Most likely the destination drive is slightly bigger than the original. A lot of external drives especially WDs have an HPA set at the end of the drive which makes them slightly...

So I'm looking through my google search console to see where I'm ranking for some keywords and I find this hilarious entry: Why would someone be searching for "RAID recovery services Kim Kardashian", and why would google think that applies to my site. :lol: There's not one reference to her...

I haven't used it, just installed the demo to look at it. I first notice it because I stumbled on some of their documentation while doing some research online. I noticed that it looked exactly like some of R-TT's documentation which prompted me to check it out.

So I just stumbled upon this software: http://www.restorer-ultimate.com/download.shtml It looks frighteningly close to R-Studio, like an older but more Java looking version. Interestingly though the version is 9.1.8 whereas R-Studio is only at version 8.3.16. I even notice that the companies...

I'm not exactly sure what you are asking here, but suffice to say you'll need someone with a lot more knowledge than you have to even take the proper dumps. It's almost a certainty that the dumps you're taking are using the wrong page size, block size, etc. and that all needs to be read...

Welcome Sudheer! I don't know that you need any "pro tips" here. There's a fair number of guys who use this forum who are quite new to the business and so far most everyone has been quite forgiving of their amateur questions. I think most everyone who uses this forum feels that we are all...

It's unlikely you'll find any simple "reconstruction program" like you're thinking. The software to do this costs thousands and is always bundled with equipment for reading the NANDs. Systems to do this include PC-3000 for Flash, Visual NAND Reconstructor from RuSolut, SoftCenter's Flash...

I've been considering a Formlabs Form 2, but haven't totally made up my mind. There are some newer DLP printers that are showing a lot of promise as well. Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

I don't know. If it actually contains useful, new, information that might help with cross matching donors of different models, information which isn't already publically known, it could be worth it. I know I save hundreds of dollars each week by just knowing wich WD SATA drives can be used as...

I see that HDD Head Tools (AKA DFL) has posted an E-Book about hard drive donor sourcing. Anyone actually read this and know if it contains any useful information beyond what's already been posted on donor drives and other public places? http://www.hddheadtools.com/product/don ... head-swap/

Once you do, please report back so I can add it to the confirmed list. :D

As this post was not related to WD families, I've split it off to be a new topic. In the future when you want to ask for help with a specific case, please start a new thread rather than asking on one of the sticky topics. Thanks! As to your case, if it's clicking or "crushing", I'd start by...

I'd give it 90% odds, but I've never tried it.

I just updated the list to include a lot of other compatible replacements as suggested on another Chinese site. I've left them as "unconfirmed" until someone I trust confirms that the combination works. :D

Looks like Ace has just updated the express card to add some new features: http://forum.acelaboratory.com/viewtopi ... 35&t=9287f Seems they've added some power monitoring, a speaker, and some "power supply modification" to increase reading speeds.

To answer your question, no, upgrading to Windows 10 should not erase all your files. However, things often go wrong during the upgrade process so you should have a complete backup before you start the process to be safe. Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

Someone just tried to drop a post requesting to trade child porn on this forum. I've obviously banned them by username, IP, email address, etc. However, they might come back. Moderators, please keep an eye out in case they try to return using a proxy and a new account.

Well that gives me some hope then. I've been long considering investing in a good SLA 3d printer to make my own tools. If these can be made with a plastic extrusion printer, then SLA should produce 10x better tools.

I could be wrong, but it very much looks like that head comb was 3d printed. And, not even using an SLA printer but an extrusion one.

Crossing models within the same WD family generally always works as long as the relevant part of the DCM is correct and the date is close. So this is no surprise to me. I seem to remember once or twice crossing 7200RPM Hitachi's with 5400 counterparts as well. It surprised me the first time...

I'm working on a rush case, and just had to share what this MFT looks like. It's got a perfectly defined scratch pattern. You can clearly see how it does each full rotation before hitting the next few bad sectors.

Yes, I generally always use a SATA donor for USB drives. In my option those are the same model with just a different PCB. In fact, you can get the same hardware revision code between the two. Nice tip about checking if the donor will spin with patient PCB, I've rarely tried that but it could...

Has anyone done a lot of testing with crossing drive revisions with a totally different code after the / ? I'm assuming the format of the revision code is (hardware) / (firmware) so it may not matter what's after the slash for matching heads. Anyone take the time to really figure this one out...

So I actually downloaded this software and it not only has no RAID features (though the site says it does) but it also can't even populate the list of drives. Seems it's not even up to beta stage yet despite being available to download. I'm removing the links until the OP actually has a...

Hi Roman, SPAM isn't prohibited here as long as it's data recovery related, but you must disclose that you represent the software and get "official software rep" status to post this sort of content. If you represent the software (I'm assuming you do) please send me an email from any email...

OK, thanks for being upfront and honest. You can feel free to post about your software, it's features, what makes it better than other software, updates, etc. As well you can request feedback and reviews from forum members, it's why we allow data recovery software reps to post here. Just keep...

I agree about cloning first if you're going to DIY. However, if you're willing to pay for professional service it's not worth the extra risk of DIY cloning. Leave it to the pros to do that, as it should be the first thing any professional lab does. You just have to be careful where you send...

What exactly are you working on Roland?

So I just saw this posted on R-TT forum: New features: + Support for mdadm RAIDs + Support for Apple CoreStorage/File Vault/Fusion Drive That right there just about doubled R-Studio's value in my mind. :D

And here comes another spam drop. He'll be back in a week trying to change this post to include a link. If these idiots would just take 5 minutes to read anything they'd discover they can link drop without needing to be lying deceptive idiots.

For software the best tools are actually free, such as ddrescue and hddsupertool. Using a hardware imager will often get much better results than a software tool only. Unlike software tools, hardware imagers are more aware of what's going on with the drive. So if it goes unresponsive on a...

Keep in mind that SMART values (not the RAW values) are a countdown to failure. So if it's showing 1, it probably counted down from 100 or some other number they started at. So, it's likely that it's exceeded the maximum amount they suspect should ever develop during normal operation and is...

Hi JakeTse, you are allowed to talk about your products here. Spam isn't strictly prohibited as long as it's data recovery related. However, you must disclose that your represent the software and request "official representative" status. Please let me know if you represent this program and I...

Just want to let you all know that I've adjusted the color scheme of the code boxes (for those of you using the default theme, not prosilver) to make it easier to read. Hopefully you can read this easier than the old green on tan color scheme

OK, I know this isn't exactly "data recovery" but it's something you may wish to do in your data recovery work. For example, let's say you've got a below average intelligence customer who's data is buried deep into their folder structure and you know that simply giving them a folder location is...

I've created a few new sub reddits on reddit.com where you can post links to blog posts and videos you create. Blog Posts http://www.reddit.com/r/DataRecoveryBlog Videos http://www.reddit.com/r/DataRecoveryVideos Please feel free to post there. I will block anything that's just outright...

Perhaps since you never posted an update answering what the closing signature was they felt it was still an open matter. :lol: Seriously though, did you find a clear ending signature?

Speaking of SD, I can't believe they actually did build one of these stupid desks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tOF8-aSnRM I bet it's just a cheap Compaq computer and a data compass shoved inside that fancy looking box :lol:

Both Dolphin and recoveryrus.com host with GoDaddy, whereas Salvation hosts their sites using Bluehost. However, I'm still not convinced that Dolphin and Salvation Data are totally separate. I'm guessing there's a reason they use domain privacy and you can't find a real address on any of...

So what's your interest / experience with data recovery? "I love to watch movies" sounds more like a personal ad than a professional introduction :lol:

In my experience, 95% of the time those Seagate drives have the scratches in the middle or the inner edge not the outer. Looks like it's a just an extended parking ramp to lift the head before it reaches the outer tracks. So I can't see why it wouldn't work in cases where the heads crashed at...

Stellar Phoenix software has been banned from advertising on this forum, even though we allow SPAM here. They relentlessly try to fool people into buying their junk software so they've been banned, thus the adjusted post above this one. :D

So I just finished up creating a new way for customers to submit cases online: https://www.data-medics.com/data-recove ... orization/ Tell me what you think of the new system. (feel free to submit a fake entry, just be sure I can tell it's fake :D )

Yes, and this is why we all spend 3/4 of our days just doing experiments that have probably been done 20x before. I really hope one day we can all get away from this "exclusivist" mentality and start to really pool our knowledge. I bet if we did we could all churn out 5x as many cases because...

It's SATA, just a different form factor. You can buy an adapter like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SNANSHI-WD5000- ... Sw-0xYllMW

This is odd. I've replaced these pictures and somehow they keep getting corrupted. I wonder if there's some sort of database compression being used on my hosting that's corrupting them.

Time to bust out that Reclaime Pro and see if it can work some magic.

That's exactly what I'm assuming.

I would agree with this, except for the fact that they are offering data recovery services themselves. So they are forcing a monopoly upon themselves for the repair of HDDs they manufacture.

Welcome Andrew, love the avatar. :D

Yeah, I suppose the only advantage of it would be if you're desperately waiting for a response to something. For example if you post a request for a LDR you could follow the thread and get a notification the second someone responds. That's what I was thinking. Anyway, it looks like the...

Building mass numbers of backlinks with spammy looking keywords in the anchor text will make a site appear to be a potential spam site trying to manipulate serps. The only defense is to have a really solid backlink profile already before it happens. Google is well aware of these tactics and...

Nope, still waiting to see if the customer approves. I've learned to stop wasting my time on jobs that haven't been approved yet. Nothing worse than spending all day on a project only to have the customer decline a totally reasonable quote.

So I'm considering setting up Google Chrome push notifications on this forum. That way if you're following a topic you'll get that little pop-up box in the corner of your desktop when a reply is posted. Anyone think this is a good idea? Anyone who would actually use it? Does anyone hate the...

HAHA, I was leaving this one to see if anyone else really wanted it. :D Assuming that we need to do a chip off recovery, you're probably looking at $450 for us to do the recovery here in RI.

Now I'm no fan of DriveSavers myself, but it looks like someone is really out to get them. I happened to be comparing some site metrics (comparing my site to theirs) and I noticed a huge jump in the number of new domains linking to them. Then I see this: Looks like someone is building...

Well, technically speaking you typed two extra sentences in this thread describing what you were linking too. It only takes a few keystrokes to copy/paste a post. But, I understand you're trying to drive the traffic back to your site. Who wouldn't want that? I often do the same thing when I...

Good to know that. When it came in there was a blob of solder jumpering the two pads, so I assumed there'd been something there and it fell off when the customer was doing his own soldering on it. Perhaps it was always empty and he was just trying stuff. Thanks!

Nice stealing their link and throwing one to your own site, haha. :lol:

When it comes to imaging there are some real differences between data recovery and forensics. In data recovery the goal is always to read out as many sectors as possible from media which is often failing. Even if the hardware is perfectly fine, an image or clone is usually still created to...

Right now I've shelved the project until my quote is approved. I'm just going to plan for a chip off, and only waste my time trying to repair the PCB if it's approved. It'll be a pain either way, so I'm just planning for that. I don't have the outer shell either. Was never provided by the...

Yeah, it seems it was some sort of server error that suddenly popped up. I contacted my hosting company and they fixed it in about 20 minutes. I'm not sure exactly when it started happening. Please do let me know if you keep having the issue.

Oh, so they'll basically just mail you a tool that barely works and then drop support for it when people start complaining. Lol. Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

Can anyone explain how that "platter extractor" is supposed to grab the platter when it's on the spindle? That thing would have to be thinner than a human hair to even have a chance of squeezing through that microscopic gap.

That might be a native Toshiba drive, not a rebranded HGST. Can we see a picture of the PCB? I've yet to actually see one of this model. Edit: I take that back. Looks like there are DT01ACA200 drives that share that same HDD code. So Hitachi family 7210DLE6 should work with it.

Who said anything about it being encrypted? I thought he was just showing that that USB model was being read in the utility using the SATA board he mentioned.

I'm pretty sure this one was already on the list. But, if you know any others please do post them :D

R-Studio can do quite a number of things that little or no other software can actually do. GDB is fine, but I can do far more with R-Studio. I've seen tons of cases where GDB didn't files that R-Studio could, or where R-Studio could rebuild folder structure where no other software could...

Just Rusolut. I mostly just use it to take dumps that I have someone else rebuild for me. I haven't really ventured much into flash yet, I just don't find it very profitable.

In my opinion Seagate's lock on the terminal is nothing more than a way to monopolize the recovery of their own drives to their own lab. It's no different than if a car company was to put a lock on the hood of a car so only their service centers could work on the engine. I'm considering...

Does anyone else feel this merits a class action lawsuit? Seagate puts a lock code on their drives so only their data recovery lab can work on them. It's the equivalent of Ford putting a lock on the hood of a car so only their service centers can work on the engine. I think I'll start a poll...

Disregard most of this. If data was lost on the computer you're on, shut it off by physically unplugging it (don't shut down as that will perform logging which creates new data) and make a clone of the drive using another computer. Every second the computer is on it's creating new data that...

Go for it.

I see a thread on Flash Extractor forum discussing a few cases of this one, so it must be possible to chip off. I'm going to quote for that, I'm nervous to attempt anything that'll potentially send too much power to the NAND and cook it if I've got the wrong value resistor.

The first step in any case where important data is lost, should always be duplication of the original sectors. That way if anything is ever to go wrong during the data recovery process you've got a fallback copy. Only after a complete clone is made should logical operations such as scanning...

Sorry Sam, you were voted in a long time ago. I must have just forgotten to add your ID to the group. It should be open to you now.

Thanks! List updated. :D

Just a couple questions for you flash experts on here. I've got a thumbdrive that was previously soldered on and it's missing at least one component, which I'm assuming was a resistor. Though, it's possible that it's just a bridge (but I can't see why that would be necessary if it was)...

I think it's kindof fun modifying their spam posts to make them look foolish. Someday somebody at one of these companies is going to notice it.

Well, right off I see that you cloned a partition (logical volume) to a physical device. So it's not going to mount because no partition table exists on the destination now. The file system starts now right at sector 0 where the table should be. Your input/source device should have been...

I'd love to see a picture of what you rigged up for this. Interestingly enough this post gave me a concept idea for a tool to do just that. I just need to order a good 3d printer so I can prototype up one.

It's not exactly based on ddrescue. It is using it's own imaging algorithms completely. The guy who's making it is someone who helped to develop the algorithm that ddrescue actually used. I'm not surprised it's a bit slower, the program is more advanced and takes more control of the IO to the...

I'm pretty certain the issue is that there's metadata fragmenting the files. Michael Cotgrove is the guy you want to talk to, he's the master of removing foreign metadata. It's the same issue that goPro cameras have.

If you made a clone of a bootable drive, it should just boot. Unless something got messed up with your changing the mount options.

So it looks like SecureCRT can do everything I want it to do and even a lot more. I just wrote a python script to plug into it that will automatically do all the pressing of ctrl + z to get T> prompt then instantly sends signals to put the drive to sleep afterward. It's faster at getting...

I don't think Chinese uses commas or periods at all either. So maybe you're right and it's just lack of understanding how to use them.

Well, they burned their bridges in the data recovery market, now it's time for them to find some new bridges to burn. :lol:

I'm afraid I don't know, perhaps someone else does. Does anyone happen to know which one replaces 100760718 as well? I think it's 100720903, but I've never verified it. Update: Nevermind, I found one of these here and confirmed it does work. One more we can add to the list. :D

Yeah, I think most often it's the result of google translating a language such as Arabic which is written right to left into English which is written left to right.

So I'm adding this sticky to keep track of known Samsung terminal commands and their function. I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to working in Samsung terminal, so please feel free to correct me if anything I post is inaccurate. BT - switches from ENG> to BOOT> level for ROM downloading Esc...

Poor Amarbir, he'll be blocked because he's geographically too close to the SPAM farms. :( I've personally considered setting up a filter that'd block any post from users who can't properly use punctuation such as a period. I just spam boxed a new user post talking about his good experience...

I'm looking for some alternative programs to HyperTerminal, since it's no longer included with windows 10. I've used Putty and it's variant Kitty, but they are both lacking a key function. Neither one can download/upload a file over serial connection like HyperTerminal could. So while you can...

Not sure if you guys saw this yet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeUCvlCKmCI Seems pretty cool and much easier than soldering a million wires under a microscope. I guess I just wonder how well it'll work if you need to re-arrange and overlap the pins. Are they all a slightly different...

Yeah, did a RAID array, this five platter swap, plus one other case I had low expectations for. All were quoted pretty high and surprisingly turned out to be quick success stories. This is far from being typical results for me. Usually, on a typical day, I'll work on one or two easy low...

It's not at all a no hope situation. Probably would have been an easy in and out recovery for a professional had you gone there first. But the more you mess around the more complicated and less chance it has. Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

Because the number of cases we see that are utter nightmares can make you feel cursed sometimes. :lol: I really just didn't want to ruin my good mood. I closed out ~$3,500 in successful cases yesterday, last thing I wanted to do is take on one last one that'd ruin my day. As an update to...

Finished imaging 1.3Tb of targeted sectors by bitmap with just a little over 2K bad sectors. Doing another pass now to see if I can clean up a few more. Fortunately they seem to be concentrated in just three or four spots, so it's unlikely to affect a large number of files.

What! and ruin my stroke of good fortune.... no way. I'm not even attempting any more cases today after this. I don't want to ruin a perfect streak today.

This one really surprised me. Got a 5 platter 10 head 4Tb HDS724040ALE640 that came in totally seized after a good drop. Heads were stuck to platters, bearing totally seized. With enough force I managed to get the bearing to spin so I could safely remove the heads. However the spindle had an...

I just use a little LED flashlight that I move around until I find just the right angle to see the contrast. I also have a light like this which is handy at times: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/produ ... #/50310203

They look like they both use the same main IC, so it probably doesn't matter whether you go with B or C.

They look like they both use the same main IC, so it probably doesn't matter whether you go with B or C.

You need SATA board G003138A. It's listed on the sticky thread here: toshiba-usb-to-sata-guide-t1305.html

Maybe...I don't know. I was thinking that it could have been just a tweak related to the firmware or controller that allowed the extra bit of density rather than actually changing the physical part. But, I suppose it could also relate to the preamp chip used which might work as you say.

What makes you say that? In my experience if the part is the same it's the same. So which direction you're swapping shouldn't matter. Unless it has to do with the number of platters or something like that.

OK, here's a mystery for you all. I've got a drive here: WD5000AAVS-00ZTB0 PC-3000 Detects it as Spider Family Module C5 says Hulk And I see some drives with this after the dash code saved as Dragonfly 4 (I'm quite certain it's not). So what's the consensus?

Have they responded yet? :lol: I'm OK with a lack of one on one support, as long as they continue to update the product. Ace will always be my primary tool, but I wouldn't mind picking up an MRT or two just as extra stations for the easy cases. But, if they pull a Salvation Data maneuver and...

It's not outdated info, just depends on what repositories your Linux distro is using. Most debian variants that I've tried do have it. Also don't forget you need to do "sudo apt-get update" first or you won't have the full package lists downloaded.

Hey, what are you trying to steal my forum members? ;) :lol:

I'm only keeping two of each number (can fit two per jewel case), and the rest are going back into their chaotic bins of loosely matched by shape sorting. I just figure it'll save me a ton of time searching through them to find the specific one I need each time. If I ever need more than two at...

Did you ever figure out if Shrek and Shrek LT were cross compatible?

I'm guessing some Wondershare phone recovery SPAM is about to get dropped on this thread. Probably should just ban Lmacter now, but I prefer to turn their SPAM into advertisements against their company.

True, but that would have to run after the fact which will mean sitting for another hour or two while it re-reads all the data to calculate it. I was thinking more of it having the ability to do it on the fly much like how software like FTK Imager does.

Anyone know if Diablo 3D & Diablo 3S are cross compatible? Seems there's a lot more 3S drives available than 3D...

While I don't actually do any forensics work, occasionally I've been asked to acquire a drive image along with an MD5 or SHA-1 checksum. Perhaps adding in a --forensic trigger (even if it's in the paid version) would be really awesome. Even if it just created a log file at the end with the...

Testdisk is fine if you're OK with only getting back nameless / folderless files. But, it'll be a ton of work sorting through it later. You'd have better success with something like R-Studio which can do a lot more analysis of the file system structures and indexing to hopefully get you back...

I guess you have to decide for yourself what the data is worth, and how much time/money you're willing to invest. Ebay is usually a great place to find a cheap PCB. If you type a search for your model & firmware you can save the search and get notification emails from ebay whenever one gets...

For SCSI and SAS, I'd say it's definitely better. I had one SAS drive come in as part of a RAID array that would immediately start clicking if any attempt was made to access it. Couldn't even attempt ddrescue. Yet, somehow HDDSuperclone was able to read 99.9997% from the drive. It'd...

So, I've finally come up with a good way to store HDD PCBs that doesn't take up a ton of space and is really easy to find the one you need: That's right, CD jewel cases w/o the actual CD trays inside. Now it's just a matter of time before my wife gets them all organized and on the racks.

I think that you are mistaken. Don't let the fact that it's a different brand chip and isn't marked the same fool you. From the look of the layout, it's definitely IC2 you want to transfer. Toshiba always puts the ROM chip near the main IC and generally always in a place where it's easy to...

Let us know how it works out. I've been pretty impressed at how well it's handled some SAS drives that came in which we don't have hardware imaging tools for. Seems it's really well suited for the SCSI/SAS drives. I haven't tried it much with SATA drives though, as I've got hardware for that.

Nice work.

You're right, I didn't see that it's not labeled IC602. However, I'm not totally sure it's the IC6 either. While that looks like the right type of chip, the position on the PCB seems wrong. Usually, the IC602 is located closer to the main IC. I'm thinking that IC2 is actually the one to...

Are you sure you soldered the IC602 on the right way? If it's upside down it won't be able to read the ROM code. Also, it was the IC602 you moved over and not the IC606 right? The 602 is the magic number.

Looks like a combination of both to me. I think there is some media damage, which you can see manifest as the blocks of 8 bad sectors in a row forming a perfect diagonal line. The other bad sectors speckled in around that likely is just unread due to the heads being weak/contaminated. If you...

Your best course of action here would be to seek out professional recovery from someone who has professional imaging tools like DDI 4 or PC-3000. Typically this type of recovery isn't going to cost a ton of money, I know we charge $450 flat for such cases here. If your data definitely isn't...

I don't think you're understanding, I'm not just saying it's not going to boot if you image a whole drive to a partition, I'm saying the OS (any OS) isn't going to even recognize what the heck it is. You won't be able to browse the file system or anything. The problem will be that it's...

I would agree that a dongle is a much better option than a continual online activation process. I've had just about enough of Data Rescue 4's unreliable servers that sometimes prevents the program from working. Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

You could clone a drive to a partition if you really want to. Ddrescue will certainly do it. But, no OS is going to recognize it, and even most data recovery software will be confused by it. I suppose if you really wanted to do that you could then use R-Studio and create a custom region of...

None that are built within a year of this that I can find though. So they're very unlikely to have the correct ROM version.

Yes, that's what I'm planning to try. It's actually easy enough to do this manually by just looking for the opening two characters of each CP. Most are only one sector in length anyway. I have Frank's tool, but the format it extracts the pages out in isn't exactly PC-3000 friendly. So I'll...

If you're going to clone to an image file rather than to a drive, you can certainly use just one drive for the destination data and the log file. There wouldn't even be any need to create two partitions. However, if you want to make a full clone drive, then your plan is somewhat flawed. Your...

My thoughts exactly Larry. You just did a better job explaining it with pictures. :D By the way Larry, what program do you use to draw arrows on pictures? I like the way yours come out.

You could say that :lol: While I normally welcome any company that makes data recovery products to advertise them on here, I've just had enough of the insults. If you can't take feedback about your products and pricing you shouldn't be advertising on forums. I'd been ignoring some insulting...

You can always just trial and error figure this one out. Two pairs, each with a 50/50 shot of getting the right order. There's only 8 possible combinations. Just use some wire nuts and try it every which way until you get it right. I don't think you can cause any harm doing this as they are...

Here's the drive: If someone has one that is a close match, I'd be willing to buy it from you. I can't find anything this family even built around the correct time period.

Yes, as long as you're using the correct SATA replacement PCB number and you transfer the IC602 it'll work. What model HDD the PCB came from is irrelevant.

It's interesting that the USB PCB did read the ROM revision but the SATA one didn't. Glad to hear the case worked out.

Bump!!! I still need this one, only one I found didn't have module 04 which is actually the one I really need.

Just so you all know the vendor HddSurgery has been banned from this forum as they seem intent on personal attacks toward myself and others whenever someone questions the price of their products. I've had a bit more of them than I'm willing to tolerate. I've removed all links to their...

Just for all to know, this user has been banned along with HDDSurgery. The reasons are my own personal business with him.

I'd say the easier solution for that is to just cut the USB cable and shove the correct wires into the molex coming from the PC-3000 card. :lol:

Please do share :D You've finally got something you can teach all the more experienced guys.

I don't think he needs to worry about the SATA power connector at all. Once you remove the resistors the USB cable won't be doing much more than to power the drive, so you can continue to use that for power.

You beat me to it Larry. I was just about to post this picture when I saw your post:

I've got an odd case here doing something I've never seen before. It's a Toshiba MK8032GAX that sounds to be spinning up normally, but all status indicators are solid as you can see here: I can get terminal, and can do things like read MP RAM, even read the ROM code. My first thought was...

He said above that he did, and it was the same result. That's why I'm leaning toward just needing a different revision PCB.

It's interesting there are some differences from the one you read from the SATA board and the one you read from the USB board. Only a few bytes, but still very strange. Unfortunately, this family doesn't store a copy of ROM in the SA either. Might have to try using a similar ROM from a...

OK, looks like Spildit has a tool that can extract the CPs from the ROM: http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1724 So I suppose that you can use that to extract them and then write them to the SATA board. You'll just have to find a computer running an old version of Windows to run it.

OK, so here's the terminal connection: Seems you just need to open up the correct family utility (ignoring all error messages since there's no SATA drive connected). Make sure to select "ATA/COM" as the access method. Open up a terminal window and press enter to verify that you get the ">"...

Thanks, added it to the list. Keep em coming. :D

I actually already took a look remotely and it is indeed a mystery. ROM on USB board shows correct ROM revision, but on a SATA board it's like it's only loading half the ROM modules. ROM revision does indeed show NOT_Init instead of the version. My initial thought was that it wasn't a good...

I think it is possible, but I've yet to ever look into and figure out how to do it. I've always just transferred the IC602 chip. Though it would be nice to just digitally transfer and completely eliminate the risk of ever overheating the chip.

Perhaps you should also post the ROM code so we can look at it or try it on a PCB ourselves.

Well, Shrek uses aerial density of 1437 and Shrek LT uses 1480 so that is different. Not very far off, so I suppose it's possible that it could still work. I've never tried it personally.

Right, just like Internet Explorer was so much better than Netscape Navigator. :lol: I'll admit, Edge does seem pretty fast and streamlined. But, we all know it's only a matter of time before M$ will bork it all up with bloatware.

Ah, I just discovered you can actually disable this in Settings > System > Notifications & Actions > then uncheck "Get tips, tricks, and suggestions as you use Windows". I think that off should be the default setting personally.

Is anyone else now getting an annoying popup in their Windows 10 taskbar advertising that Microsoft Edge is faster than Chrome? This is very annoying. If M$ keeps up this forced advertising on all computers I think business are going to start strongly wishing there was an alternative...

The whole drive was full of platter dust, that's not what I'm debating. This thing doesn't look like it ever had any topography. It's just totally smooth, and while it's hard to see in the pictures, it's a visibly different looking piece than the other sliders. There's no way it's just sanded...

According to this customer he was actually setting up a second NAS, and for some reason the WD utility created a new volume set on both NASes not just the new one. I suppose it's possible, I've seen crazier things happen.

Yes, I'm going off how PC-3000 categorizes the families. A few families though, such as Venus and Viking actually have a different name in C5 than what all the tools seem to refer to them as. I don't know why.

I think everywhere you go there's going to be different levels of service/quality/price. And it's up to the consumers to figure out who is who. At one time data recovery work here was limited to just a few companies with almost no competition and the average recovery was the price of a new...

After watching some other videos posted on Facebook and reading the comments / discussion on the videos, it seems most are using pure virgin isopropyl alcohol in the cleaner.

I've seen plenty of scratched platter cases and the sliders are usually full of grime. This thing is actually a smooth polished surface, almost mirror finish. Even the color appears a bit different than the other sliders. I really think it was just an empty placeholder for an unused platter...

How do you keep track of what heads are what? Are you matching just by appearance and hoping to get lucky?

I suppose it's possible, but given that through the NAS it shows a clean empty volume there isn't much else to try anyway. I know that it was mistakenly reset, so I suspect if there was encryption happening on that end it's a new key now.

When did I ever say it does? All I said was. I guess I was just confused my Michael's comment about the terminal connections also working for MRT.