SilverPuppy":2265d9ey said:[post]8951[/post] Basically I'm referring to the type of rig the FBI uses to scrounge data straight off the platters without the drive firmware being involved at all. I have no idea what it would cost to build/buy such a rig.
What you're talking about is a fictitious machine that only exists in Hollywood movies. The FBI has no such capabilities. In fact, for a case like this, they'd be contracting it out to a commercial data recovery lab, who would have to tell them exactly what I just told you.
The FBI or other large government agency might have some pull we don't have that could perhaps have some benefit. For example, they could sopeana Toshiba to see if they retain records of the adaptive information of drives they manufacture, or if they could provide details/source code relating to how the adaptives specifically work. With that sort of information, it might become possible, and perhaps if the location of Osama Bin Laden had been on there they'd have pulled it off. But, generally speaking, they have no real capabilities we don't.