Product review:
GetDataBack Recovery Software

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Importance

It has been said before: recovery software is absolutely crucial in the recovery process. All of your efforts in the clean room can be wasted if you do not have efficient software that can properly extract files from damaged file systems. For this reason, recovery software is of the highest importance.

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Value

The value of recovery software has always been high. You typically invest less than $100 to get the software, and it will definitely pay for itself in only one or two jobs. To make things even better, most software companies offer free updates for their software, which adds to the long term value of your investment.

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Reliability

Throughout the time I’ve used the Getdataback software, I have not had it crash once. The same cannot be said for R-studio which occasionally crashes, especially when performing large operations such as recovery on over 250GB of data. Getdataback for FAT is simple and to the point. It gets the job done, and gets it done with few hiccups.

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Usability

The software works in a 3 step process, making it very user friendly. Just select the device you would like to recover and click next, and the software will tell you what to do next. It’s simple and easy to use.

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Performance

Getdataback’s speed is roughly equal to R-Studio. You would be hard pressed to notice any difference in the speed of sector scanning and file recovery. That being said, Getdataback for FAT has consistently had better results then R-studio. I have had cases where there are only about 100 bad sectors and R-studio claims there are huge numbers of broken files. Running that same drive through Getdataback yields ALL of the data.

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Overall

I really can’t say enough about this software. The simple fact is that this is a program that every recovery technician should have in their arsenal. It is quick, efficient, and to the point. A technician doesn’t want to waste time during the logical recovery process, and it is software like this that helps you get the job done quickly and well.

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Informative Article:
Hitachi Travelstar Recovery Basics

As you become a more seasoned technician in the clean room, you begin to develop special techniques for certain types of drives. You begin to know what to expect from certain manufacturers, and how to deal with various scenarios. You become familiar with the common failures of a certain manufacturer, and you can almost guess what type of failure a drive has without even having it in your hands.

Types of Failures to Expect
Hitachi Travelstar drives are fairly common in recovery labs. This isn’t because they are a bad manufacturer, but because notebook drives are becoming increasingly common as more computer users move to portable notebook computers. As with any notebook drive, you can expect mechanical failures to the number one problem. Users tend to move their notebooks around while they are powered on and the drive is spinning, which obviously leads to damage. Common failures you will see in Hitachi Travelstar drives are head stack failure, stiction (when the heads stick to the platters), and in some rare cases, complete motor failure. This only normally occurs only if a notebook or drive has been dropped. In a few rare cases I have seen heads unable to unload from the ramp because of a ramp malfunction. In this case, the ramp has a gash in it that prevents the heads from unloading and therefore causing head damage.

Travelstars in the Lab
Hitachi Travelstars are notorious in the lab as being difficult because they have a rather unique and somewhat irritating design. This can cause complications during clean room procedures if the technician does not develop a technique that works well with these specific drives. The design issue that I speak of has to do with the magnetic head assembly (MHA) of these drives. There are two magnets that the voice coil is arranged between. In these Travelstar drives, the bottom magnet is not secured by any screws. This means when the top magnet is removed the bottom magnetic flies up into the VCM, sticking to it. This causes all kinds of problems when you are trying to replace the head stack. The technique that works to work around this issue is to move the magnets and head stack as a whole unit. Basically, instead of replacing just the head stack, you replace the whole MHA with the new one from your donor HDD.

Industry News:
Rectangular HDD with 64 Heads to Replace Traditional Head Style?

 A company by the name of DataSlide has released a prototype storage device that they claim may one day replace SSD and traditional HDD. It’s apparently capable of achieving 160,000 IOPS (Input/output operates per second) and 500MB/sec performance levels while consuming no more then 4 watts of power at any time.
This all sounds well and great until you hear how it manages this level of performance. The device uses a piezo electric actuator to keep the media in a precise motion, and a diamond solid lubricant protecting the surfaces (Which are in direct contact with each other.) It then utilizes a massive 2D array of heads (up to 64) to perform read/write operations.
It remains to be seen how this technology will develop, but from my experience I have enough problems with magnetic media that is utilizing only 1-8 heads right now; I can’t imagine how a device that uses 64 heads could be reliable.

Upcoming Event: Data Recovery Training

The next Data Recovery Training will be held on July 16-17, 2009. The small class size enables participants to ask questions of our HDD Doctor (the lecturer).

For more infomation, download Data Recovery Training Brochure.