IVGH Introduction

[ivgh]

Hello all, my name is Jason and I work for VGH Computer Services in Moscow, ID. I have worked here for about 7.5 yrs and over that time have become pretty familiar with software recovery tools such as R-Studio and Stellar Phoenix, etc. but I found that we had to turn away a large number of drive recoveries due to more damage than simple deletion and bad physical areas. I started attempting to replace PCB's to remedy this but finding them became problematic. I was successful with a few but more often than not, F/W issues prevented me from recovery. Recently we decided to move into data recovery a bit deeper and I agreed to learn to use the Deepspar Recovery device, we purchased one and I have been working with it for a month and a half now. I have learned a lot since starting with it and have been very successful in these past couple months. I am still learning obviously but am excited in to delve further into data recovery as a whole. I am under the financial restraints of the business but as we progress, I am confident that I can talk my boss into more advanced techniques. I just need to make sure I can make them valuable to him. Anyway, hope being a n00b doesn't exclude me but I can assure you, I can keep up with any conversations in here. Thanks for having me.

Jason

 

[Jared]

Thanks for accepting my invite to join our forum. I think you'll find the level of expertise here to be well above what you'll find on most forums. These guys are pretty much all professionals.

Do you have any tools for working on hard drive firmware such as PC-3000 or MRT PRO?

 

[ivgh]

No, unfortunately, im limited to just the DDI device and PCB swap right now. My boss isn't too keen on dumping a large amount of money into this if it isn't going to increase the margins but as far as I'm concerned, I've already been able to recover a good amount of drives that I wasn't able to recover before and Im learning to use the device fairly quickly. I am confident that in the future i will have the capabilities.

 

[pclab]

Welcome!

 

[HaQue]

HI Jason, welcome!

Actually you probably are not a n00b, and everyone is always learning. The points you made about the business side of it are often forgotten - making Data Recovery a part of your business comes with many challenges, not just the technical ones.

cheers, heres to the Best of successes!

 

[LarrySabo]

Welcome, IVGH!

I can relate to the need to make a business case for DR investments, as I'm in the same boat as your boss. For significant success in DR, I believe you need to go after medium-to-large businesses because they are able and willing to pay the big bucks needed to justify the investment in expensive equipment and facilities. Computer shops like ours can only hope to nibble at the edges. Our customers don't have or are unwilling to pay what it would take to justify investing in a DDI4, PC3K and laminar flow bench right from the start. Given that the majority of problems are logical and/or bad sectors, data recovery software and a hardware imager are the most logical purchases to start with. Once they bring in sufficient additional revenue and your DR capabilities become better known, you can add firmware tools and lastly, a laminar flow bench and head change tools.

I chose DFL tools because they appeal to those just starting out in DR, and I have been very pleased with their excellent support and helpful tutorial videos and documents. Their products have been undergoing continuous development and improvement.

 

[Jared]

Our customers don't have or are unwilling to pay what it would take to justify investing in a DDI4, PC3K and laminar flow bench right from the start.

I think to a large extent it comes down to identifying yourself as a specialty service and getting away from the PC repair shop image. Only then will you actually be able to get enough data recovery work to make the investment worthwhile. If your main business is fixing computers and you just dabble in data recovery, it'll never be worth it and you're unlikely to become proficient at it.

However if your willing to make a $30,000 investment and specialize you'll find the work is there. In my office it's just my wife and I, and data recovery is all we do. We have a dozen or so computer shops sending in jobs and a fair amount of work from the website too. But I highly doubt any of these computer shops would be using us if we were a competitor in the computer repair realm.

My PC-3000 paid for itself in the first few months I had it. If you stick to just data recovery it'll be worth it.

 

[greatwindowsss]

newbie here


I'm also new here and I'm looking forward to learn from you guys.