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Thanks for the review, @Blizzard. Yes, what about platter alignment?

You are right, Luke. Given that I'm likely never to see another Drobo, my price would have to cover the cost of the Pro upgrade plus the time to image 4-5 2TB drives and recover ~5TB of data. When the Drobo began going sideways, he managed to back up a lot of his critical data before it became...

They are still unreadable for me...

Thanks, @jol. Yeah, I never thought of that. I'll give that some thought. Cheers!

I'm an idiot! :oops: I have just ReclaiMe Ultimate, not Pro. I will therefor not be able to recover the data if cloning the unhealthy drives and re-installing them in the Drobo doesn't fix the problem. I'm not advocating doing so -- that's something the customer will have to decide to do...

The drive marked by the customer as the failed drive has 47680 sectors reallocated and 17496 pending reallocation. Another drive, not identified as problematic, has 348 sectors pending reallocation. I'm imaging the latter drive first, then we'll see what success I have with imaging the...

Just got a Drobo case in: 5 x 2TB Seagate DMs. The user tried to rebuild the array but it crapped out part way through. He has a Unix and technical background and connected a DIY terminal to the Drobo to watch what it was doing, and found it just seems to stall at some point during the...

It doesn't do that when I click Active Topics??? Perhaps @Jared has fixed it.

I wouldn't think a class-action suit would stand any chance. As far as I know, they don't warrant that the drive is repairable or the data recoverable and I'm not sure there is legislation that declares that it must be so. To be fit for use, I would think it just has to perform according to...

The link is at the bottom of the index to the forums, here. Looking at the list of members of that sub-forum, it appears the list is either out-of-date, of you are indeed not on it. :(

I believe he already did that, months ago.

Never mind, I found the correct link on HDDGuru forum: http://collegecafe.fr.yuku.com/topic/13 ... ices-exper

Colour me dumb but I'm having difficulty imagining how your tool/process works, Sam. :shock: From the picture, it's just not obvious how you separate the platters and maintain their angular alignment. (Perhaps this discussion should be out of the public domain?) Have you tried cleaning the...

Hello, @RollandJS. Your link is incomplete. It sends me to a Terms of Service page. Perhaps one needs to be registered on your forum to access the whitepaper?

Wow, congrats Sam! Truly awesome work!

Most text in videos by DFL have it, too, and I don't think Chinese is written right-to-left. You would think Google Translate would fix that if they were at the root of it.

That would probably catch @Amarbir, too. Although he has improved his typing immensely lately, he still often puts a space before commas and periods. I notice it a lot on the DFL forum by most non-English speakers.

:lol: :lol:

Your success with those old dogs is sure to attract more of the same. 8-)

Good start, very balanced and fair to MRT. Reviews of the various utilities and DE will be interesting to read, as they come out.

LOL. @jol beat me to it. He posted while I was still typing. :lol:

Wow, congrats! Go out and buy a lottery ticket today!

Thanks, Jared. The pictures I posted were taken with my LED flashlight but finding the right position/orientation took forever and results were still disappointing. I also tried one of those Ikea lamps but it wasn't any better. I considered one of those 144 LED ring lights but I've just...

Here's how to figure it out: 1. Take or find a high-res picture of the PCB, both sides 2. Locate the two paired traces that lead from the MCU to the HDA connector 3. Measure the voltage-to-ground (screw hole) of one trace from each pair (with PCB bare, of course). The pair that has 1.8v - 2.5v...

Thanks, Brian. The one from Amazon is the way to go, all other things being equal.

Thanks @300ddr (Brian). I wonder if the one on Amazon suffers from the same problem as mine, where the holder is not rigid in azimuth because of the design. There is a bit of angular backlash, so when one adjusts focusing, the tip of the microscope rotates slightly, throwing the image out of...

Great idea, Jared!

@betty, that's what I would have thought, too, but Sunny in this post is highly regarded (for flash work, at least) and reinforces Jared's suggestion that the ROM is actually IC2. Can you tell us the markings on IC2; perhaps we can look it up to verify that it is actually the flash. Or, you...

@betty, what happens if you transfer IC2 from the USB board to the SATA board instead instead of IC6?

According to this post, you are probably right, @Jared. Perhaps @betty could confirm which chip she swapped.

Her USB board doesn't have an IC602; I believe the ROM on her USB board is IC6, which is what she said she moved to the IC602 position on the SATA board with no joy.

Sorry @betty, I don't know. Some of the more experienced guys may be able to help.

Ah, okay. I don't have a PC3K so perhaps one of those who do can offer suggestions. When you tried the SATA board, you did transfer IC6 from the USB board to the IC601 position on the SATA board, I assume?

@betty, I'm surprised that the connections like in my post with the green and yellow arrows didn't work. Anyway, good luck!

Ha! After re-inventing the wheel, I found on HDD Guru images of Toshiba USB and matching SATA PCBs side-by-side that confirms my suggestion above. Here's the image made more convenient to view. It's not for the OPs PCB, but I have no doubt it's relevant.

Thanks, Jared. I use FastStone Image Viewer for many of the functions (draw, crop, arrows, resizing, etc.) but for creating a composite from two images as I did here, I use Magix Xtreme Photo Designer (freeware),which I link to from the "Use an external image editing program" menu in FastStone...

This would be my first guess, where the origins of the arrows are the vias you determined are actually connected to that side of the capacitors, which you have unsoldered.

I don't know off hand but I'll see if I can find out. What's the MCU part number?

I suggested it for power control by the DE program.

I'm just guessing, but I suspect the two paired traces leading from the MCU towards the IC that feeds the USB connector, are the Rx and Tx lines. I would unsolder one end of each of the capacitors circled in the crop below and find vias that connect to them, to which I would solder Rx/Tx lines...

Yeah, I've noticed it. Thanks for the tip re. disabling tips.

@pclab, thanks. I wonder if they are more reliable than WD Blues? It's too new to know, of course.

I don't have the links but I did see an Hitachi badged WD last week. If I can find the link, I'll post it. Nuno, how was the price compared to a WD Black 500GB drive? I've been buying Toshiba 2.5" drives for a great price, when I can get them. No complaints.

BTW, has anyone had much success cleaning the platters and heads in cases like Jared's and mine?

It's funny that he's wearing a "bunny suit" and face mask ... but no gloves. LOL

There's this discussion: seagate-st2000lm007-1-capacity-t1466.html#p5962

Congratulations, Bankole! Good job!

Weird. I'm baffled by the design of sliders and how it affects their aerodynamic performance, and how they came up with a particular design. It's anything but intuitive.

I see they have added the following since I bought mine from DFL for $195 USD. The only one I really miss is the SX2 3: for the Seagate Samsung ST2000LM003. Heat shrink tubing worked well enough in that case.

They look like the DFL Lever 2 Head Combs Suite, only more expensive. I didn't check whether there are any more/less.

They look a lot like head 1 of the Samsung ST2000LM003 I'm working on... Currently frustrated at trying to disable that head, as the others look fine. :(

Yeah, they show up when I click the poster's profile, but Jared said they show up beneath the avatar. I don't see any so thought perhaps something is blocking them. Hardly worth the bandwidth to discuss, except if people thought they were helpful but (like me) few readers ever see them. :)

That's strange; I see no contact icons under your profile picture in that post? Here's what I see...

Geez, Amarbir, is it necessary to be so insulting and condescending? Maximus has spent a lot of time and effort to develop tools to help computer techs and individuals (who are not data recovery professionals) to recover their or their customers' data from unstable drives. He is to be...

Welcome, Benedict. (Did you somehow embed your post in a green window entitled "Hidden Content (for members only)"? I haven't seen that before.

I guess @Sam is the only one who can clarify this. I assumed it was Ace Lab because DeepSpar made the referral and they are a AceLab partner, as we all know.

The thread is indeed about Ace Data Group in Texas but confusion was introduced when @Sam said ... There was no doubt in my mind that "ACE" in Sam's comment referred to Ace Laboratory, not Ace Data Group.

I use a "third hand," but it's not perfect. Rotating/tilting the heads and getting the lighting just right is a constant challenge, as is getting a clear view of the sliders when those above/below get in the way. 300 Euros for that HDDSurgery tool? That's what I would call gouging.

It was just a demo of the technique, done in a classroom setting I think. It would be more difficult to demo if done in a laminar flow bench, which I doubt he would have in a classroom setting. In any case, the method looks riskier compared to the other method; many more opportunities for...

That's a brand new video and I hadn't seen that technique. Thanks. I had seen this one, where he uses tape and lifts the platters and spacers straight out, without inverting them. It's the same as HDD Recovery Services uses in this video. When I tried it, I got tape stuck all over the...

Have you searched for reviews on what''s available? It's hard to know what reviews are honest/trustworthy but according to the Expert Reviews site, Corel Video Studio is not great (3 stars), whereas Adobe Premiere Elements 14 gets a decent score (5 stars) and costs less (79 UKP). I don't do...

If I can't justify the cost, I find something else that will meet the need at an acceptable cost, if there is anything. Violating EULAs is stealing, and no way to run a business. What goes around, comes around.

$399 USD for the Pro license (required for use on clients' drives) is a little steep! :o

I wish I had enough DR business to make a system necessary. :) There are many systems for computer repair shops, so perhaps browse technibble.com (a forum for computer repair businesses) and see what systems they discuss.

LOL. I wonder why?

I assume the beaker was used because of the volatility of the cleaning solution, 99.9% IPA, perhaps. The problem with IPA is that it absorbs water from the air so quickly that it quickly becomes diluted and will leave a scum on surfaces. Acetone is very risky to use in large, open quantities...

I have one you can borrow, Nuno. :) I've not tried it on head stacks though.

Jeez, that's enlightening! Thanks for that, Jared. What I mean is, I just discovered via a SERPS.com search for "sabo data recovery" that the WordPress site I was constructing but shelved (sabodatarecovery.ca) because I was tired of struggling with it, is actually live and open to the public...

It's # 3 when I search in a Private viewing window in Firefox, but that isn't bad. :) I used to fool myself into thinking my ranking was higher, when I didn't use a private viewing window and the browser was biased by earlier searches. According to PageRankerInfo, you rank 0/10???

:lol: :lol:

Mine were unlabelled, unfortunately. Perhaps Andrey can underscore the labels, to indicate a baseline. It's such a joy to find such affordable, excellent tools.

I'm more concerned about them deleting something or screwing up my system. I need to experiment with the AnyDesk settings, which let me disable the remote keyboard and mouse, so they can't do anything but watch as I go through the pictures on my system. AnyDesk can't yet do file transfers...

I just finished a job where I decided to buy this program and am very pleased with the job it did. The patient was formatted exFAT and the customer deleted a bunch of pictures and videos she now wanted back. At $50 USD for the Corporate version, it was a good buy. I have bought several of the...

Andrey kindly provided me sample of 2 sets but I haven't had a chance to try them out yet. Just like his unstuck tools, they are very well made. Prices for all his tools are excellent (although I don't know why the price for Set 1 is more than the total price of all individual pairs?!

+1 to what @pclab said. I've had heart murmurs all my life and my family doctor sent me for an ultrasound that measures blood flow through the heart, They found blood flow was more than adequate so nothing to be concerned about. The concern is that blood is not thoroughly vacated from one...

Thanks, Jared. That's what I figured and tried to contact the (prospective) customer to begin next steps, but he wasn't available and hasn't replied to the voice message I left.

I usually provide a SNAP2HTML-generated listing of recovered files, as part of the quoting process. SNAP2HTML includes a search function and it works very well. If they ask me where's such-and-such file, I just refer them to the file listing (which I e-mailed to them earlier). Sometimes, I...

LOL. I never even noticed that it had been changed from its normal name (the English word for merde). Let's see if your filters speak French. :) Edit: Nope! :lol:

This thread might help: http://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php? ... 67&start=0

I had a call today about recovering data from a Surface Pro 3 that prompts for the user's bitlocker key, which the customer has never been asked for before. He said he contacted MS to see if they could provide his private key, and provided them with the Key ID provided by the Surface. They...

There's some helpful reading here: http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=997 and here: http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=181&p=372

IPA stands for isopropyl alcohol. I suspect that most of the contamination came from the piece of foam tape stuck to the lid and that there was not much between the platters. What was between the platters could have been removed with swabs. Also, perhaps there was not much data to be...

The drive is contaminated so they have it on dialysis.

^^^ +1.

What works here (Canada) may not work in other markets, where haggling (negotiating) is to be expected. Almost all my East Indian customers for computer repairs want to haggle price, because I think that's the way it is back home. I just tell them I'm a lousy negotiator so have fixed prices. :)

I never negotiate price; it's take it or leave it. They usually take it because other places capable of recovering their data are much more expensive, plus they will tack on an opened-drive fee that boosts the cost even more.

Is it feasible to have the customer pay for the donor up front, and for it to be non-refundable--no matter the outcome of the recovery effort? That would give him/her an incentive to accept the quote, and would remove the risk of the job being rejected after it is done. Of course, the quote...

I switched to Hawiki to see if it displayed: didn't display. Disabled uBlock Origin: didn't display. Tried IE and Chrome: displayed in each, as well as the Hawiki theme, even though I reset it and Prosilver stil displays in Firefox???

I don't see it. I think my theme is Prosilver but am not sure. The only other option was Hawiki--don't know if that's the default or not. I wonder if Google sees it?

Oh, I see what you mean. Sometimes it's like they think it's your fault. A recent customer told me he was so disappointed I couldn't recover his data from a ST2000DM001 drive with extensive media damage. It made me feel like a failure or guilty.

Hi Nuno. Perhaps you are perfectly imaging files that are already corrupted?

It comes in handy when looking for lost sliders. :lol:

I used to use one all the time for repairing computer monitors, but sold it because I rarely used it after the monitor repair market became unprofitable. Swapping PCBs and ROM (contents) kind of makes repairing them pointless. Maybe the flash repair guys use them, but I'd be surprised.

Maybe because it's a bad-ass scope? :lol:

I would give Jono at DataSavers.llc a go at it, if possible.

Nice and clear, and sharp. By all means, show us what you used, and tell us how you hold/maneuver the head stack to get a clear shot. Here are a couple of shots taken with my 2MP AndonStart USB microscope. My major complaint, is that focusing at such close-up distances and getting the light...

Looks horrible, but is the drive okay? Sometimes it's just shorting at/within the connector, as you know. Good thing it didn't start a fire, which always worries me when I leave a recovery job running overnight.

I'm familiar with the design, and thought I had read a comment by the designer years ago about the effect of air passing through the fan but can't find the reference. I thought it was in this thread but didn't find it.

No, I don't have one but would be interested to know the real filtering efficiency. However, I can't justify spending that amount of money to find out. I know that looking at the top platter that it is pretty clean, but the eyes are unable to resolve the size particles that could cause...

I tend to do the same but am trying to stop. I actually lost one job because the customer became concerned that I didn't use a head-unstick tool to remedy stiction and the heads were damaged in the process (or before I even took on the case).

Those reviews by Jared Palmer seem to be helping. :lol:

That's what I've done. Why does the customer not find this satisfactory? What do they lose by not having the pictures recovered using iPhoto, a custom catalogue/index or something?

Starting with a complaint to eBay, to block any further ads for his plagiarized tools.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Of course; that's what I did (after unloading the heads using conventional means).

For the 7200.10, the best offset is about the width of the tool end (not the full width further away from the end). I will compile a table of best offsets as I practice with the tools but was suggesting earlier that it would be helpful if Andrei provided such a table with the tools, to save...

Hi Amarbir, I know you always have difficulty with these terms and I'm determined to help you to understand. :) You can see in the picture below, that I have marked the "gimbal" with an arrow (it goes from the end of the stub to the very end of the head assembly). The slider is the black...

Hi Amarbir, The gimbal is the thin metal extension onto which the slider is mounted, as shown in following picture from HDDScan site. When there is no top slider/gimbal, as shown in the picture, there is no way to know how far beyond the end of the "washer" one should position the tool. If I...

I just tried mine on a 7200.10 with no top-platter head/gimbal, just the stub with its "washer." It sure is tricky trying to guess the best place to position the tool when you can't see the sliders. :? I don't know if it's feasible (or even necessary for you experienced guys), but a table of...

That's good to hear. Thanks, Martin.

Alexander (@ER-Tools), if you could offer the same set for $200+$20 S/H, I think you would be flooded with orders. My impression is, you already have more business than production capacity can satisfy. Your tools are highly regarded and I'm sure many would rather have the tools in Acrylic than...

The tool close-up on their home page shows hard edges that look very risky. I discussed ER-Tools' combs with someone who bought them and he said E-R Tools did a very poor job of cleaning up manufacturing residue left on the combs. He cleaned them in an ultrasonic cleaner before using them...

It includes the following:

Amarbir, they do work on heads stuck to surfaces between the platters, according to Jared's feedback.

The new eBay listing says they are for both unsticking and replacing heads.

You could also try to push the sliders off the platters using a cleanroom swab. Jared has reported doing this successfully.

If it's salt or calcium, it might be interesting to try vinegar or diluted acetic acid. Kind of hard to try it without risk.

Andrey Alexander tells me he was limited to 2 sets by eBay, and is hoping they let him sell more next time. Says the $200 is his cost. :roll: Edit: I managed to snag the one and only set listed on eBay for October so far! :mrgreen:

Yeah, I ask him about that but haven't had a reply. He's not exactly trying hard to sell them, it seems.

Great! How did you manage that, @jol? I e-mailed the seller and he said they would be posting another sale on eBay in October. I asked to be put on a list but haven't heard back. It would be nice if you receive and test yours before I order a set,, in case they turn out to be unworthy. :)

Wow, good work, Sam!

My personal preference is for horizontal flow, because I find that most contamination comes into the chamber on the drives, especially from under the cover lid edges. These (and any particles on tools, hands, etc.) tend to fall down onto the top platter and my thought was that horizontal flow...

Have you checked out D3 Consulting: http://www.d3consultyou.com/

... or damaged media.

@Jol, unfortunately, I'm potentially interested in new posts in all forums. Just changing my Bookmarks toolbar shortcut to unread posts works well enough. Clicking the "Forums Home" link and then the "Mark all forums read" takes just an extra second. Thanks for the suggestions, nevertheless.

Oh, sure, rub it in, Jared. It wasn't all that long ago that the CAD was worth more than the USD. That's not going to happen again for along time, I suspect.

97% eBay satisfaction rating is way below my threshold for purchases (98%). However, the drive might be useful for recoveries if you have a drive with weak/defective H0, 1, or 3 but a good H2.

Did you open the drive outside of cleanroom conditions (as it appears you did), and run it with the cover off?

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

https://www.donordrives.com/blog/matching-guide#wd

Thanks, Brian. Just curious, does anyone use a small battery-operated screwdriver with appropriate Torx bit to rotate the platters when fixing stiction (or "spin cleaning" platters)? I hate when I have to do it in steps because I can only rotate the driver manually so far before I have to let...

Thanks for that test report, Blizzard.

Hahaha. :lol:

Hey, Sam, good to see you here. You will find a great bunch of guys here, for sure. It's also a place (in the Secrets section) you can share your creative techniques without exposing them to the world, e.g., that contamination case with debris on all heads and platters. (That should help get...

Acetone has worked really well for me. Just dampen part of a folded cleanroom wipe that has been folded to make a wedge shape and wipe from hub towards edge of the platter. It evaporates quickly so no need to wipe the platter afterwards, at least in my experience.

Okay, thanks. I thought they were already out of trees, given the volume of softwood lumber we export to them.

I've never heard the phrase, "we're out of wood" and am curious about its meaning and origin. The urban dictionary fails me on this one.

@Blizzard, here is the product whose data sheet i thought I was reading. But when I look at its data sheet, it doesn't mention the silicon lubricant so I must have read the wrong data sheet. Thanks for picking me up on that! I'm more hopeful now and am keen to read how it works for you.

Michael, that is foam tape with an adhesive coating on each surface, so I don't understand how that could possibly be used to clean platters. I'm looking forward to reading how @Blizzard's tests turn out, and where one can buy the stuff. I've found that Actetone and a clean room wipe does a...

Hahaha; thanks. We Canucks have to stick together and fight foreign take-overs.

:lol:

I have to agree. I don't see this bringing in enough money to compensate for the time it takes you away from concentrating on your business. They can set up their own business, web site, etc., so I think what they would value most is the training and your shared experience/wisdom. That's...

They do nothing for me.

I could be wrong, but I think it opens the image file in read-only mode.

I use it and it's superb, especially for data recovery as @pclab said. I use the Windows version and I suspect that's what the majority of DMDE users use, and what potential HDDSuperClone users would prefer to use.

Great! Let us know how it works out. I think it will work fine. Oh, yeah--I never thought about how they put the baby in there, so that's good that the side(s) lift up for easier access to the interior. At that price, it's a steal!

@abedalkareem, that looks like it could make a nice clean chamber. I don't understand the filtering and air flow design, and that's important for it to function effectively, IMO. Everything but the chamber itself seems to be superfluous, unless it's delivering filtered air to the chamber from...

@Jol, Awk! I just lost my perfectly composed, well-thought-out reply by accidentally hitting a wrong key! LOL. Anyway, it said no need to apologize, as I never took your comment personally, plus it was spot on. Thanks for your kindness, though. It also said, it's hard to make a go of the DR...

Okay, here's some more stuff to consider including: Computer Repair Technician · Never remove the cover of a drive except in a Class 100 or better clean room environment · Never physically impact (“percussive maintenance”) or aggressively twist a drive to remedy stiction · Never place a drive...

Thanks, Luke.

I'm too new/inexperienced at this to even know when I would run into ZFS, so it's not an issue for me, yet. Where is ZFS usually encountered?

I support the idea and am adamant about treating customers honestly, fairly and ethically. I'll give some thought about putting into words what I think could be added. In the meantime, with all due respect, I take exception to Jol's "a computer technician has nothing to do with data recovery."...

Works for me, too.

I bought the Pro version and the program paid for itself quickly. A little slow, but great for XFS NASes. Edit: ... and a lot cheaper than UFS Explorer Business.

Haven't tried it yet but ReclaiMe Pro does Drobo recovery: http://www.reclaime-pro.com/manual/drobo-recovery.aspx

I wish I had kept a copy of the assembly language program I wrote for IBM Canada's head office about 50 years ago. It ran in 28K and did row and column percentages for their hundred or so departments/cost centres. It was a race between the stalwarts using a punched card accounting/sorting...

Sounds a bit like DeepSpar's RapidSpar.

It's still not to late to wish Jared a happy birthday! so, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Jared, what's left of it. LOL

Lots of videos of DFL DDP imager in action at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjsl5C ... EEYFtDs-DA

Congrats! Perseverance pays off again!

It's a DR desert here.

He sounds like the kind of customer to be avoided at all costs. They think it should be an easy fix, for next to nothing, and they are totally unappreciative when you do manage to recover their data, and still gripe about your fees, however low.

See his post on HDDGuru for pictures of the kind of damage he is talking about. I don't know of any borescope small enough to fit between platters, and looking from the side, the depth of field at that magnification makes it virtually impossible without the lens inserted between the platters.

Wow, interesting! I wonder what DFL DDP file recovery would yield.

Good job, Jared. You mean they left the donor heads in the patient, or they spared you the need to do that because they tried it without success?

My account password doesn't work. I saved all the non-password-protected articles as PDFs, just in case the disease spreads.

Rats! I should have saved it as a PDF while I had the chance.

It's going to be a good week, Nuno!

I've had one like that (drive with no label) and, fortunately, it IDed and I was able to access modules to determine all I needed to know. I hope you are as lucky!

I agree with Nuno, except we also get immunity to physical impacts, which is one of the reasons SSDs are highly recommended in laptops and external drives (if their limited storage capacity/$$$ is not an issue).

Excellent video! Useful even if one is not using PC3k. Good job, Jared.

Hopefully not back and forth, like current DJs. :)

Did it come out of a MyPassport and is therefore encrypted, perhaps?

Here's one for a variety of drive brands, by Northwind: https://www.northwind.gr/data-recovery/ ... ds?lang=en

... or gardening.

Heavy Duty Duck (brand) tape works well enough, although I would like it to be stickier. That aluminum duct tape is tenacious and I worry abut making a mess of things trying to remove it. Looking forward to seeing your custom design. I should bring the need to the attention of Ottawa-based Lee...

Have you tried the tape method?

Yes, now that you mention it. My HP 110 mini netbook has Win7 Home Basic.

Yes, indeed, welcome Dai!

Only if you get the job. ;)

Yeah, that's about all it's good for, I figure. You'd go broke pursuing everybody who using a similar name.

Yes, I didn't think of that. It could be helpful in such cases.

I think it's well done but as Brian mentioned, the customer may know nothing about some of the variables, e.g., whether it's a hardware failure. The last two items in "How was the data was lost" are ambiguous when it comes to not recognized in the BIOS. Most of my customers are non-technical...

I can't imaging anyone using an anti-virus program on their recovery system but if they did, they should uninstall it before upgrading to Win10 then re-install it afterward. There have been a number of FUBARs in cases where that was not done.

Thanks, Miguel.

Thanks for that, Miguel. Interesting, the way he uses a stainless beaker to hold the HSA in IPA in the ultrasonic cleaner. I wouldn't have though the ultrasonic waves would pass through the beaker. Do you have a link to his site, please?

I have a piece of Lexan (approx. 3x8x100mm with notches at either end) that I sometimes use to hold foil-type combs to make them easier to install. Something similar might make a good Sheppard's hook or perhaps can be used to tap such sliders to dislodge them. I'm looking forward to trying it.

Welcome, Miguel!

Northwind and PCimage have bona fide clean rooms, I believe, as well as laminar flow benches within them. Neither strikes me as the type that would have them just for marketing purposes but I think one would have to do a lot of recoveries to make them worthwhile, aside from the BS-factor.

The dog picture caption reads "The technicians who work on logical data recovery don't have to deal with bunny suits and HEPA fans." so not in a "cleanroom." They not only abuse the public's trust and gullibility with misleading pictures/narrative like that--they give the industry a bad...

Same here.

Welcome, Dejan!

Yes, that's how I understood you, Nuno. My thought was, unless you get, say, 20% refusals of the difficult cases, you're perhaps not asking enough for them and therefore leaving money on the table. Regarding those who turn down the quotes on easy cases, that's where a minimum price or...

I'd say you're not quoting high enough on what you expect to be a tough case. My failing, is not clarifying at the outset how much the customer is willing to pay, i.e., what the data would be worth if recovered. I like to be able to offer a listing of "recoverable" files to entice the customer...

Wow, that's impressive, Jared! Let me know when you've automated the process and are offering it as a commercially available program (heavily discounted for current forum members, of course). :) Seriously, you could make some serious money with such a program.

I have some examples I can provide but I would need my customer's permission for them to be shared. They have streaks of missing data, shifted portions, etc. If you want them to use for testing, not to be shared/posted anywhere, I can provide a few privately. Photorec was superior to several...

Not sure the following actually works but it might... You can go to User Control Panel from your login name at the top-right. Under Managed subscriptions, it shows what forums you are subscribed to. Under Board preferences, Edit notification options, you can select Email for “Someone...

I return them to the donor, where I can get the adaptives and drive details when needed. I wonder if they are made of static-dissipation material? I always thought that letting heads contact each was likely to damage the heads? I have to wonder about the wall full of HSAs on the drivestar.biz...

Thanks, Nuno. What do you use for cleaning heads and platters (other than the occasional dry cleanroom wipe for platters)?

I just ordered some similar to the HUBY-340 CA-008 (which were out of stock) from drivestar.biz, 100 each of the BB-013 and BB-013, all for under $20 CAD delivered by a slow boat from China. I think I'll give these a try before following up on the "BCS 400 Nylon Tip Tupfer" until I see if...

Sorry, wasn't paying attention, again!

This is a bit dated but still potentially helpful: http://web.archive.org/web/201312170334 ... Q/204763en

Wow, thanks for that, William! I'll look for a supplier here in North America, or do you know of one?

That's very kind of you, Nuno. I'll gladly sign up for 2 batches.

You can buy 20 for 16.42 Euros here. Unfortunately, S/H is probably 164 Euros. Fischer Scientific in Ottawa list a number of cleanroom swabs available in smaller quantities; I must visit and have a look. if you can get them for $1 USD each, I'll take 50. Only 950 more takers required. LOL

Yeah, heating the platters doesn't sound like a good idea to me either, but somehow heating just the slider might make it break the adhesion to the platter, due to thermal expansion. I have a spatula tip for my soldering iron; maybe just touching the slider with it would do the trick. Then...

I guess I would try heating the sliders using an IR wand/heat lamp, then pulling them off with a plastic Sheppard's hook/hemostat of some sort. I don''t think using a SMT hot air tool would be wise as it would contaminate the interior with room dust. Freeze spay would likely be just as...

I know some drives you can remove platters and put them back without it affecting readability, but I'd want to try it on a donor first. When I tried it, it didn't work but a colleague has tried it (unintentionally) and was able to read the data without drama. If it works on your model, that...

This post by Infofaster in HDDGuru has some suggestion based on what he has used successfully. I've tried IPA 99.9% but it leaves streaks/smears on platters. Acetone left absolutely nothing, when used with fresh cleanroom wipes. I've tried cleaning sliders with ACE but the sliders end up...

A footnote on the original post indicating date last revised would be a good.

I salute your dedication, perseverance, determination in this project. I hope your considerable investment in time and effort is appropriately rewarded.

I provide and charge for the recovered data and return the patient, with the admonition that the drive is no longer trustworthy. I will also suggest 1) they keep it as a back-up, in case the new drive bites the dust, and 2) that if they would like it recycled, I may be able to use it for parts.

I've done that, once, when I cloned the donor to the patient on a Bandura. Fortunately, I had an image so no data lost.

I scavenge them from drives received for/from my recycler. Fzabkar's TVS Diode FAQ lists part numbers and suppliers, if you want new.

Weird. Funny how they align the labels exactly. Makes you wonder what happens when you restore your back-up; do you end up with an animation?

Hahahaha. :lol:

Seagate, of course. :)

On newer drives where the servo marks are recorded inline with the data, I understand that the platters need not be in perfect original alignment after removal and re-installation, so you should be able to remove the platters to inspect them for damage. However, the one drive I did that on as...

Good job! Must be a relief to have that successfully completed!

Thanks for the review, Jol! At $240 USD, they are not cheap. I would expect better quality for that price.

Yes, that's better. I'm not a fan of that font for contact info but at least it's consistent with your brand. Jol, the lower-case "e" is different from the upper case "E", which is evident if you enlarge the image. It's the font design.

They look the same to me? The light behind "are" of Jared is too bright, as is the background of the Data Recovery Services panel, IMO. Can you replace the Data Recovery Services panel with your name and title? Or use a gradient background for the left half to darken that area? Don't forget...

Thanks, Jared. If I bork the heads in this 4-platter 2.5" WD MyPassort, will they just bounce back to life? :D

You jest, I assume. :) I'd be interested in what you do use, as I find the foil combs tend to slip too easily, put too much pressure pushing the sliders apart, or are too think/thin for the platters at hand. <sigh>

Lucky guy--I'm envious! Thanks for the feedback on the tools. I know Jared said he likes them, too. If I did more DR, I'd order a set.

If you decide to DIY, practice on a healthy similar drive (preferably same model as your important drive) that you don't mind trashing while you learn. Scan the drive with HDDScan to get stats on how many slow/bad sectors it has before and after you remove then re-install the heads. Once you...

You could honestly say, "We know of no other free data recovery tools that can do this."

I believe my DFL-URE can do it, so HDDSuperTool is perhaps the only free tool that can do it. I'll check and verify that URE can also do it and report back later.

Ah, okay--thanks. I didn't know if it was to put it into a slower transfer speed mode, restrict size, or something else.

Which jumper, where? What was the purpose of it?

Good job figuring that out. Did that get the data back, or is that just the beginning?

We all love HDDGuru and certainly appreciate the work that goes into maintaining it. I don't know where we'd be without it. Perhaps a call for more moderators to help with administering it would reduce the personal frustration level. If you do it all yourself, you're a bear for punishment and...

Wow, nice job by DonorDrives! Thanks for the heads up.

I know about the sectors at the end of the drive not being accessible to the user, making the usable capacity less than the drive capacity. I thought you were suggesting that after the reset, there was still user data on the drive encrypted with the original key, plus another part that would...

Personally, I feel it is rather heavy handed, and for too long a period. I sympathize with the problem but don't agree with the assumption that the people who reply do so to spam. They have made many helpful posts that achieve what is suggested by their reply to the spam in question, yet were...

On HDDOracle there is a request and reply for converting a resource. Request: http://files.hddguru.com/index.php?acti ... y/Mercury& Reply: http://files.hddguru.com/viewer_top.php ... ty/Mercury I'm not positive they are PCR and RPM equivalent, but worth a look.

Thanks, Jol. I remember those discussions, but I think I saw it in the DFL forum. Searched there a number of times and couldn't find it, so either my memory is faulty or they've removed the link. I'll contact the author and see what he charges for the program, if he sells it yet.

Yes, but he will convert them only upon request. Too bad he won't release a program to make it possible for us all to benefit. I'd bet a lot of techs would pay for that, given the breadth of Ace's repository. You'd think DDL would write one. I swear I saw reference to one a year or so ago...

Interesting. So resetting the drive does not restore access to the entire capacity then? Not such a useful function in that case. Can the key from mod 25/38 be copied to the magic sector and the encrypted data be recovered that way? Probably not if the password is also required in...

Just verified it. Read 2 of the three threads that had unread posts, then closed that window. Clicked my Data-Medics Forum link to read unread posts again and the 3rd (unread) thread is listed. Theoretically, I didn't read it previously because I wasn't interested in the topic, but there it...

Thanks jol and HaQue. I usually make my links to the unread posts shortcut too, but don't know why I didn't have it for this forum. Edit: I see I have it set to search.php?search_id=newposts. I'll change it. Edit #2: Now I see why I used new posts rather than unread posts: I may not be...

Great! That's on the Technibble site, too, and is really handy.

Cool! One feature the AceLab and Technibble forums have that I really like when opening a thread, is going to the first post made after your last visit. Saves from having to scroll though all the posts one has already read or chose not to read.

I bought a Reveltronic programmer which I have used just a couple of times but I forget whether it auto-detects the chip. Here's the user manual so have a read: http://www.reveltronics.com/downloads/u ... manual.pdf On one chip where I had a question, I got a fast reply to my e-mail to...

I already have those,but thanks. The problem is, some flash modules are very low profile, as discussed here, and the clips can't get a grip on things (just like me some times. :) )

A couple of pogo pins, a piece of prototype board, a push-button switch and some epoxy and Bob's your uncle! I've been thinking of buying some pogo pins to make a ROM bed-of-nails so I don't have to unsolder the bloody ROM to write to it, so this would be a good use of the leftovers.

Yup. That's the only one I know of. I've come very close to pulling the trigger on buying one myself. Let us know how you like it.

That's what it sounds like to me, although it's hard to be sure with all that weird sound in the background. I can heart the spin-up start but not continue because of the garbled sound.

Welcome, datasolution!

ditto!

Spildit wrote up a tutorial on using the r and w commands to read and write Sys files without the need for firmware recovery tools.

That's really weird, and a mystery how it could happen.

Same to you, Nuno, and to our colleagues!

When I had the same problem, I contacted them and asked what the problem was. They were helpful and said things like privacy policy, et al, were helpful in getting the status changed. One of the moderators then took the trouble to re-classify my site. Most people don't want to be bothered to...

I've had just a few of them. I pushed down really hard as I torqued the screws and they eventually came out. On non-hard drives, I have tapped the back end of the screwdriver with a hammer to break the seal then turned the screw out but not sure I'd want to do that on a hard drive.

Done.

Yes, very strong, Nuno. You will be pleased with them, I am sure.

I have these Wiha torx drivers and am very satisfied with them. Really strong tips. Edit: You might find them too tiny for prolonged use. You can get Wihas with large handles and that's what I would suggest for T6 and higher.

+1 to what @jol said. That's what I was told in an e-mail from them.

Don't you need to unsolder the coupling capacitors that lead to the USB-SATA firmware IC?

Thanks, Jared. I was going to experiment with a few different drives and see if they worked but that saves me a lot of time.

What attributes must a clone drive match to be transparently recognized by the original enclosure PCB (USB/Ethernet bridge)? I'd like to avoid buying a matching drive if I have one that will do. I am not talking about the clone drive being used as a HSA donor. If I clone the patient SATA...

I highly recommend a no-slip liner for the bins, to reduce damage (or frayed nerves) when the drives slide and fall in partially-filled bins. Like this, bought here.

From the Ace forum (haven't tested it myself): 701675-001 ---- 701672-001 External ROM 88I9045-TJF2 701675-001---- 701609-004 No External ROM 88i8946-TJF2

Here's what I use: http://prntscr.com/8s1mud from here. http://prntscr.com/8s1mig from here. The shelves come in chrome finish--much nicer but more expensive. The rack comes in a much larger capacity and bins are available separately.

I get customer contact information when they fill out my work order, and make notes about what happened (history) to the drive, what files they especially need, etc. Drive details are entered into my case report as I work on the recovery. If I add the drive to my inventory, I may include...

I'll still try to test it on drives I know require soft/hard and power resets and let you know how it goes. Very good that it will run from a live CD.

I defer to Nuno (pclab)! :)

I'm a Linux retard but I'll give it a go. Haven't paid much attention to the tool so will go back and study up. Larry

My DFL DDP imager does, because the software forces and logs them after the specified time-out period.

Especially as the HSA is free-floating unless the lid is in place. I wonder if that has something to do with all the damage, i.e., HSA misalignment/sloppiness?

I was asked where the contamination on H0 came from. Here's the answer: H0 platter surface damage #1: http://prntscr.com/9830i7 H0 platter surface damage #2: http://prntscr.com/9830cm H0 platter surface damage #3: http://prntscr.com/9830ni The real question is, who/what caused this damage? The...

it's this one, by Andonstar. That stand is great! Clamping the HSA in a "third hand" and rotating it so the light reflects off the slider surface allows you to zoom right in almost perpendicular to the slider, which is good because depth of focus is minimal at that magnification. These shots...

Thanks, Nuno. Judging from the condition of H0, it's platter contamination in my case, which the customer said to abandon. I'm beginning the work at learning how to decontaminate heads/platters, and was doing fine with this case...until I damaged the lower head mount. :( I've found that...

It's also in mod 25 or mod 38 depending on the encryption IC used (or for Oxford chips, in the chip on the PCB), so I've heard.

Why not connect the clone to the patient's PCB and read the data unencrypted? Set the clone's Max LBA to match that of the patient first and transfer the clone's U12 to the patient's PCB. (Hope I got that right.)

26 sqm is just 5.1x5.1 meters (16.7x16.7 feet). Is that the approximate size?

Perhaps you meant 26 metres by 26 metres?

From what I read, one encounters more problems with Win10 is it's installed as an upgrade instead of as a fresh install. You need to install it as an upgrade to register the system as qualified for the upgrade but after having done so, you can do a fresh install of Win10 on that system without...

Hmmm, I thought I had posted a reply but I don't see it. Anyway, it said that I've found some ramps have a lot of rotational play. Perhaps if you gently put the heads back on the platter and reposition the ramp to it's furthest counter-clockwise position it will reduce the odds of it happening...

Nuno, how did you make out with this drive? I have an identical one with identical symptoms. Swapped heads and no joy. I suspect bad media but I'm curious why the "SPINUP FAILED" message. The drive spins up fine with HDA isolated, so it's not seized spindle. At $175-$200 per donor, I'm not...

Ah, yes. I forgot having read that.

I used to joke that for tough-to-diagnose computer repair problems, if you throw it against the wall a few times the problem will become obvious and you will have something obvious to repair. It was just a joke, but holy cow! I've never heard of anyone being so stupid! I hope you discretely...

I'd be happy to help, but that's a little difficult to do, given the distance between Ottawa, Canada, and Nigeria. If you have a cabinet maker nearby, or someone handy with word-working tools, perhaps they could make and assemble the cabinet for you. Someone in the UK wanted me to build and...

Excuse me for drooling all over the forum, but that's sweet! :)

:lol:

You don't keep drive images?

:lol:

Or use Active@ KillDisk under Windows to do multiple drives at once, rather than one at a time, which is all DBAN does. KillDisk is free and will print a certificate, if you like one.

Sorry, Jol, I'm a little slow. You will have to explain that one for me. :)

Halloween was last month, but you can scream now anyway. Good luck (I'm not religious so my prayers are not gonna help).

I get some of them from my eRecycler, and others form a DR "partner" at an on-campus computer repair shop. Some of the recyclers I approached belong to some organization whose code of conduct prohibits anything but total destruction of the drives they receive. It might help if you go with an...

Ugh, the style has changed again. The colours are awfully bland/muted/dull looking, for my tastes.

Sounds like bad spindle motor bearing to me. I assume all you can do is transplant the platters, HSA, magnets and PCB to a new HDA. I've never done it but will try, as a learning exercise, using the "tape method" and one of my spare drives.

That's funny. I just noticed today that on a laptop it looks fine, blue colour seem more saturated and the white space doesn't appear so prevalent. Now that I'm on my desktop PC, it looks the same (good), yet I didn't change my profile--tried to but couldn't find the option. In any case, it...

Welcome, Griff!

What I don't like is: 1. too much (vacant) white space 2. washed-out colours. I have the New Posts bookmarked so go directly to it, but even the main forum index suffers the criticism.

I really don't notice any difference. Maybe I browse too many similar phpBB forums to realize just what is different, have poor memory, or both. Edit: Oops! I sure see it now. When do we go back to the old style? This is horrible!

Gray Err is usually bad heads.

Yeah, I had mine on my site too, but removed it (and the Prices page) when I de-cluttered up the site recently. Business has been absolutely dead lately (down 33% Y-T-D), and I thought perhaps it discourages some people from inquiring. No change in business since then, so I may put it/them...

@pclab: Me? Every customer, whether for computer repair or data recovery is asked to sign my Work Order/Terms form.

Aside from the stuff that relates primarily to computer repairs, the only thing that relate to data recovery, is the following: Data Loss & Recovery We make every effort to maintain the integrity of your computer files. However, we are not responsible for any loss of data that may occur...

Over the last couple of days, I've been catching ~50 spams a day in my gmail filter. Normally over the past year, I've averaged 1-3 daily. (I forward mail sent to my domain address, to my gmail address, which is then forwarded to my personal mail address. Works great. No help here, but...

Home Premium includes previous versions. There's no previous versions in XP, of course. Don't think I've ever come across Home Basic.

Welcome to the forum, Serena.

That's the one I've been using, which I got from a colleague. I didn't realize he got it from HDDGuru (thanks to eignstein9).

I'd quit while you are ahead, Jared. :)

I've been using this one, but they are only different by 3 days.

Thanks for the info. $402 USD?!!! (That's $525 CAD!!!) 24-bay server? I feel like a pauper. :(

@Jared, do you have a dedicated rig for wiping, given that it takes forever? It would be nice to have something with 6-8 hot-swap bays so you could wipe that many simultaneously.

Thanks for the clarification, Luke.

I like Luke's (RecoveryForce's) method of asking for prepayment of his minimum charge. If they are unwilling to do that, they are not serious customers so are not worth wasting your time on. I'm still too new to do that and instead provide a listing of the files that are recoverable (were...

I just check for new messages directly, without going to the forum index, and that works fine for me.

I got these locations for the magic sector from a post on hddoracle. They may save you some time searching, except there is no mention of Oxford. Source: http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php? ... ctor#p6168 Re: WD "Magic sector" by mandr » Mon Apr 27, 2015 4:43 am Initio 500GB: 976769032...

I don't think it matters what the customer thinks about your HIPPA processes; it's what the compliance regulatory/enforecemnt body requires that really counts, I suspect.

I never get such cases, but your approach sounds good to me. What does the organization responsible for HIPPA enforcement have to say about DR processes (if anything). I might consider providing the clone to the customer rather than secure wiping it, to remove all doubt. However, if they...

Congrats, Bankole, and kudos to Jared for providing the personal guidance and support! So hard to find when it cones to data recovery.

Welcome, Miguel!

I see Brian's (300DDR) posts in Technibble about one customer who asked his assistance to recover his data from a crypto-variant. Customer paid the $1,000 IIRC; no idea what Brian charged for his help. Involved downloading a decrypting utility, which itself had viruses within, but worked.

I have yet to get one, to be honest. Had a couple of calls but I told them it's probably impossible to get their data back (with new variants). PS - Your topic title has a typo.

Yes, I am usually right. So is pclab (who replied above). :) PS - I'm the one with the geezer avatar.

The one on their site doesn't work for me, but this one on YouTube does.

Congrats on getting paid! I had that happen once; the customer thought he had the correct drive because that's what the PC repair shop returned to him after they said they couldn't recover his data. It had Linux file residuals but no sign of Windows files or user data. IIRC, he had two drives...

You scared me half to death! LOL. There are not many of us Sabos around, and I used to live in St. Catherines, so that's unsettling news. I'll have to watch my step! I turn 75 next month, so I'm doing better than my alter-ego; may he rest in peace. I'M NOT DEAD YET!

That's great! I chatted with Michael about why his CnW recovery program wouldn't work for me, and he was very helpful. At the time, the problem was just with drives with 4k sectors and I don't know if he has addressed that problem or not, but another DFLer raved about his forensic program and...

Cool! I've read about "Pixels" in HDDGuru doing something similar, here. I think he is very much into fabricating tools for the purpose, and has been successful at recovering his data from a seized drive. Would be fun to try it, even if it's not economically viable, but I've so much other...

I've watched many videos and read many PDFs from DFL, and they are very helpful in getting to know how to use their tools (and a little about data recovery in general). My only complaint with their videos, is sometimes the speed is too fast and the player doesn't have a feature to reduce the...

Works fine here, too, using Firefox.

Is the spindle spinning? Hard to tell from the recording.

This one any better: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/232 ... 14_256.zip

Faststone Image Viewer has been able to view and edit RAW Canon files for years. It's my go-to viewer/editor. I don't believe I had to install any special codec.

I had a need for your software a couple of days ago to pull pictures from a corrupted CD-RW disc. Works great! Thanks for a terrific product, and very fairly priced, too.

Fortunately, this time the remaining good drive was perfectly readable stand-alone. Last time I had a problem with my RAID, the corrupted drive mirrored to the healthy drive so I had to work to get my data back. The failed drive back then was a Seagate, and it is again==a recertified drive no...

We had a momentary power outage here night before last. While my PC was on UPS and carried on through it, my imager and RAID array were not, so I had to restart the job from where it left off. And today, my RAID array went offline, although I think that was more because of plugging in a vacuum...

I believe I've read that finding a compatible donor is especially problematic, that you can't just select a donor based on traditional label-printed parameters (plus head map). Is that true? Any insights to share?

Thanks for sharing these, Luke. Seems recovery from DM drives is not as hopeless as generally believed/claimed.

Those are staggering ROEs! The 6.88% I mentioned was not too far off the numbers in the chart. When you said "in 3 months they spent 3.2 billion and return was 220M" I think you meant to say their revenue was 3.2 billion. I find those ROEs incredibly high; how come our portfolio earnings...

Net income of .22 billion on revenues of 3.2 billion, is a 6.88% margin--not too shabby.

Yeah, that's good advice. Thanks.

I hate sites where that's the only login option, as it forces me to share my gmail or Facebook contacts with the site I'm logging into, if I'm not mistaken. Some sites offer a "normal" login as well, but it often is totally unresponsive.

I no longer have to log in each visit, since I fixed the link on my Favourites bar. However, I now have to log into some other sites that I never used to have to log into each visit, and I don't have Win 10 option reserved (because my Windows update is borked). I must say, clearing my cookies...

I suspect many users are still be running XP, have been too apprehensive to "reserve" their upgrade option, or Windows update will be borked on their PC and the option to reserve won't even be offered. At least that's what I see amongst my customers. Where they do upgrade, it's going to be...

Thanks for the quick review, Nuno. I see it's lacking the locking pin that's on HDDSurgery tools. Would be interesting to compare with ER-Tools Seagate combs. I think Jared has them and likes them, IIRC.

Easy money, but you pay your dues on other, for sure.

Edit: The problem seems to be cured. I usually use a link on my Bookmarks Toolbar that I created some time ago, that does a search for new posts, vs opens the forum directory. I just replaced that link with the link for new posts that appears in the "Quick links" shortcut at the top left of...

Thanks for the suggestion, Jared. No change. It's obviously something with my system/browser, so not worth anyone wasting more time on. Not a big deal, since LastPass logs me in automatically each visit. Weird thing is, it didn't always do this, so I thought perhaps it had something to do with...

The problem is obviously with my browser/system. I'll try to find it. Thanks for the feedback.

@Jared: Yes, it still does that, and cookies are allowed. @Luke: Hahaha!

Without knowing anything about these, I would agree about IC10. I see from HDDGuru that you solved this case--congrats! No idea how to build a virtual translator but would be interested to read more about it.