The Best Disk Cloning Hardware/Software

[HDD Spaz]

Unless you make your own disk cloning software/hardware, us data recovery guru's seem to have a good choice of commercial solutions. Theres Deepspar, Data Extractor, Data Compass, HDD Duplicator, YEC NINJA, Mediatools, DIY Diskpatch to name a few.

I would like to hear your thoughts on whichever tools you use to recover from those disks was failing heads and degraded media. A few comparisions would be nice if your fortunate to own several of the above.

[HDD_MASTER]

Deepspar - I own one and personally I think its terrible, especially for the money paid

Data Extractor - I own several and think they are very very good. Can be a bit slow sometimes but I have had infinatley more success with this than most

Data Compass - Never used but willing to give a go if it gets better (possible interest of purchase with more positive reads)

HDD Duplicator - Never used

YEC NINJA - Never used but heard some good things about it

Mediatools - Fantastic bit of software for DOS level, You can leave it run for weeks and months and get some great results

DIY Diskpatch - Never used

[shahij]

I will vote for specially 2 products. Deepspar n Data Compass, Yet Ninja is a good product also, I heard.

Disk Degradation is the complex issue for DR, you all know better.
Though Deepspar n Data Compass both developed for same purpose, but there are difference exist.
Deepspar = IMAGER
Data Compass = IMAGER + Shadow Disk Technology (Specially developed for reducing Disk Degrade during imaging, cos, in shadow disk technology you don't need to image, just extract your required data, it maps the all sector where the head don't read again the weak sectors), complete IMAGING option is exist still at data compass, but as its new in the market still now could not say more about upcoming defective drives what happens.
Deepspar is already proved it as a great Imager.

But for professional, Both should be exist to work.

DISK DEGRADATION IS NOT POSSIBLE TO STOP, BUT COULD BE REDUCED. BUT YOU HAVE TO DO IT YOURSELF WITH SELF EXPERIENCE, GO AHEAD.

NO TECHNOLOGY IS PERFECT IN THE WORLD.
P.S. YOU ARE THE DRIVER OF TECHNOLOGY, TECHNOLOGY JUST ENABLES.

[HDD Spaz]

" it maps the all sector where the head don't read again the weak sectors), "
How does this work?

[shahij]

" it maps the all sector where the head don't read again the weak sectors), "
How does this work?

Shadow disk is created after reading all sectors at once where its an Virtual IMAGE, no need additional IMAGING.
SA Bypass for Hitachi is additional feature - not mandatory for an Imager. But its a great feature where no fw tool can fix, then DC can acquire files by accessing virtually.

[hddguy]

Exactly the same process as recovering on DE with the 'Make Data Copy' option selected?

[teesmar]

help me.....my hdd seagete ST316021 5A barracuda track 0!please need solutions bro....

[gizzy]

I like Mediatools, I paid for it long time ago but I wish they would update it more often. there are some limitations but other than that it works great. if you know of an updated version that I don't let me know

[CK]

If you've got 6 months to image a drive, MediaTools is ok, but personally I don't rate it at all as there is no power control to the drive and has killed more drives than it has imaged.

I have multiple Data Extractors and they are good but the PCI versions are far too slow for commercial DR purposes on large drives.

My preference is the Deepspar. I've got a couple of them and they are the best unit I've found. Also have various hardware imagers for forensic purposes such as Fastblocs, Imagemassters & Tableau's. The DS units are very reasonably priced and pay for themselves in no time.

No unit is perfect, so you need various tools in your armor to handle all situations.

Given the uncertainty and mixed reviews with other units currently on the market, i'll be investing in more Deepspars before anything else.

[Money fan]

PCI is indeed a bit slow for imaging. I prefer Data Extractor UDMA.

[cgallery]

Nobody ever mentions HDDUP, from copyrsoft.com.

It works very well for me. Kinda like Media Tools on steroids.

[z007]

where are those good tool to download ? free or shareware?

[Jinx]

Data Extractor - best tool for this type of work, but extremely expensive.

Deepspar - close 2nd. Great for the money. Can't wait until they add imaging by heads.

Ninja - only works on light problems, freezes on heavier ones. Not bad for the money.

HDD Duplicator - mixed feelings about this, but it is very cheap in comparison to the above and it is definitely worth the money.

Media Tools - never use it anymore... hardly even remember the tool, it has been a long time.

I have not tried any of the other ones listed in the original post.

[alw75]

I Like to know more about the good Cloning programs....
I am currently using Acronis, but I always have to run other programs to clean up the messes..
Like HDAT2 and Partion Majic.

[thatdellguy]

CopyR HDDuP works great but I wish it would mark CRC read sectors like DE does with a dark green color. Using the color red for CRC and not read sectors is a major bummer. It seems like an easy fix. When using it I miss the scrolling sector display and live statistics like that on DE. A scrolling display would be ideal. For those reasons we are forced to only use it on good drives for high speed copies.

[lcoughey]

I Like to know more about the good Cloning programs....
I am currently using Acronis, but I always have to run other programs to clean up the messes..
Like HDAT2 and Partion Majic.

You are comparing Apples with Oranges. When we discuss cloning tools on this site, we are discussing true sector by sector (forensic quality) duplication of a drive. Programs like Acronis simply copy the file system and files on the drive. In the word of data recovery and computer forensics, it is imperative that every sector possible be copied from the source drive to the destination drive. From there, any software recovery tools can be run against the destination drive without fear of a final crash or fighting with bad sectors.

Now, as to my preferences to tools:

#1 - Deepspar - With the addition of the head mapping, I almost never need DE
#2 - DE - This is now only used when I need to head map a Seagate drive, mirror a drive that needs to be manually mounted by loaders in PC3000 or a drive that is very unstable and I want to simply target specific files and folders (aka Shadow Copy)

I cannot really comment on the other tools, as I haven't had the chance to play with them.

[hddrescue]

Hi All,

I have been researching clone software for some time now, and have found a number of great programs. This forum has been a great help in my research for "The Best Disk Cloning Hardware/Software". I just spent the 4th of July weekend working on a Seagate ST31000340AS 1TB SATA drive. After trying ddrescue, SpeedClone (Reverse Clone Option), Diskpatch, Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery, Media Tools Pro (Reverse Clone Option), Copyrsoft HD Duplicator, PCInspector's Clonemaxx, Copyr.dma, R-Drive Image, Disk Recoup, HDClone 3.7 and Easeus Disk Copy v2.3 I hit a wall. Out of all the above programs I have had a very good track record with ddrescue using Parted Magic or Ubuntu Rescue Remix to run this clone utility. It's ability to skip the bad sectors, stop and start the process and change the hard drive parameters is fantastic for a free utility. On the above drive ddrescue would only clone the first 55 MB of data and then would show 980GB error. So I tried each of the above and the only one that was able to get some of the data off was Media Tools Pro. It hit the bad sectors at about 41% in a reverse clone and froze. I changed the Time Outs to zero, the Read Paramaters Read Retries = 1, and turned off the Last Read Error Control Disabled. The clone process continued at a aprox. 10 kbps. Too slow for my clients needs. Turns out the only option that was working was a reverse clone. The final solution that worked was Roadkil's RawCopy Version 1.2 !!! The best part is this is a free program and will do a reverse clone of the drive.

Jim
HDDRescue

[thatdellguy]

Rawcopy for dos with some timeout/error options would be ideal...

[xtrchessreal]

anyone try Unstoppable copier? A new version just released V4.2

I am currently working with Copyr.dma. I am happy to have something that is working. I won't know what I have until its finished. If I need to I will then use Unstoppable copier and or rawcopy.

[thatdellguy]

These are really really good free programs but I wish Unstoppable Copier and RawCopy worked in dos.