All,

I am looking to purchase 2 modules of the HD Doctor suite. Would the forum community like to make recommendations on which of the 2 (Seagate, WD, Maxtor, IBM/Hitachi) would be most 'profitable' as a starting off point?

It depends on what Make drive you want to deal.
first and foremost part goes about your knowledge of HDD, tools will give you access to SA, but how to deal and work successfully, it depends how you can utilize it.

Profitability is the far word to be considered.

_________________
__________
There is no substitute for education and experience
THANK YOU
SHAHI
shahi.mahbub@gmail.com

If you don't have a specific reason for purchasing them then there's not going to be a lot of point. Owning the Salvation stuff does not make you magically able to recover data.

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

Correct....you have to know how to use the tools. Lets assume I know quite a bit about hard drives (which I do). My question is what SD products everyone recommends based on failure rates of drive make/model. If you can't answer a straight forward question then there is no reason to reply.

I wouldn't recommend them at all, but if you insist then I'll just go ahead and say all of them.


If you were in a position to be using them, you wouldn't need to be asking this question.

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

If you know the HDD business, then you know which tools to buy... The one that start out at about $10,000 if you really want to recover data and make profit.

Do what others have done. SD is offering in Novermber a world wide training class at the company. Contact and get invited. Then make your decision on what you see and if you like it or not and it is what you want or not.

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Iorana Haraharaini

Hey guys,
You sure can rephrase pointing out the same without humiliating and offensive language and avoiding disrespect. Money is very sensitive, it very much likes
Respect and looks.
Needless to say that being a pro is mainly about your business income rather than your technical knowledge.
This question while might lack technical knowledge (which is already admitted within) but its simple straightforward and surely didn’t miss the point which is profit. Should be at least respected Because of that. Also Since real life effective factors are most likely beyond our imagination so
His question might even be a wise start in his place so either help him out of your pro ethics or just leave it.
I’m just passing and not even a DR pro. Only I can help rephrasing his question here hoping for better answers:
What are most cost effective essential tools to start a very limited DR having small income, while I'm learning enough to be able to make farther decisions on myself?
Considering….
500$/mo is still counts as more profitable than nothing and simple cases like pcb changing simple cloning and partion recovery and having access to a firmware donor db(my own case lol ) is still can make money where value of data is less and may justify
Cheaper solutions like refrigerator ) , which actually have a reasonably good success rate., However you might be kind enough to direct him to a more civilized stuff equally cheap and way more effective like -50c freezer spray for rapid repair work) this is your decission.
He is also saying that his max target price is as much as 2 module of SD worth of money.
It should be at least challenging to some of you .because if target price was $20,000 then you where not one of the few with years of experiences which can help with an answer.
Thanks
And yet all of this might be effected by my short sight and lack of knowlage.
sorry if thats the case.

The only one who should know about his biz is sknopp.
Asking the way he did proves that he is not working in DR (yet).

If I work in (at least) computer / laptop repair - I would know -
1. what hdd brands are the most I see coming in defect
2. what hdd brands are the most sold in my local area where i work

And thats the logical answer for his question.

Would suggest to go on with poeheres advice - and on any
further question about sd products to send her a pm - she knows
these tools in and out.

+++

Thank you falther, Persia2500 and poeheres for your constructive advice. To date, most of my data recovery business has been associated with my computer forensics business, which I have operated for the last 3-4 years. However, more and more of my requests have been for data recovery work only and not true forensic analysis. Consequently I have added to my service offerings in the past 6 months to include data recovery from failed hard drives.

In searching through the topics and posts on this board I have noticed that several members are quite hostile in their replies to 'newbie' type questions. I can only assume that to mean that these people are either a.) not nice or b.) afraid of competition. In the computer forensics community we share information and offer suggestions easily and often. These message boards can be a wonderful place to learn and share knowledge with others and advance the art and science of technology. I intend to visit this board frequently in the future and look forward to reading 'helpful and constructive' posts.

Sknopp; read thru my pervious posts, that should give you a good idea of SD's products and support.

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Buy your friends Toshiba\Hitachi and your enemies Seagate.

I have for sale SD WD, Seagate, Maxtor.

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ZeBong
" что случилось в России - останется в России "
" Россия еще раз"

you will see more disks will bad sectors than firmware issues. You are better off buying Data Compass.

If you really want 2 modules, i would choose the WD util and the Seagate (7200.11 fix!). The Hitachi tool is ok but you wont see many Hitachi disks with SA problems. The Maxtor tool in my experience is total shit.

It pays to invest, save your money and get pc3000/data extractor udma.

Give you 100 Euro for all ;o)

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All went well until I plugged the drive in.

Give you 150 euros for all

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www.datasave.ro

I think you are giving money away .... for have them i the draw ...

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ZeBong
" что случилось в России - останется в России "
" Россия еще раз"

now is start interesting ....

who gives more

LOL

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ZeBong
" что случилось в России - останется в России "
" Россия еще раз"

151 Euro's !!!

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All went well until I plugged the drive in.

151.5 Euro's

sknopp,

Data Recovery is somewhat different then computer forensics. At least when it goes beyond simple logical recoveries. What most people don't understand is that data recovery is a difficult skill to master. I am not saying that computer forensic is easy, but I will give you an example.


Things needed for Computer Forensics:
- Some Training ( lots of it available)
- Usually some certifications CCE, CFCE, etc..
- Server, Workstation
- Write Blocker
- Forensic Software (EnCase, FTK, etc..)

Things needed for Data Recovery:
- Some Training, generally not available (at least no serious training )
- Knowledge in electronics
- Excellent soldering skills
- Still hands
- Knowledge of hard drive and magnetic storage
- Proprietary information, not available
- Software tools
- Hardware tools
- Lot's of time in R&D

Unfortunately some vendors will market and sell their products giving people the impression
that If they just buy the super cool tools from SD or who ever, they can start a profitable data recovery business.

The reality differs quite a bit:
You buy the tools, then you find out that the manuals only tell you what some of the function are, but not how to use them. Then you have the great support!!! Ohhh. well that is in chines time zone So you will have to try and get some answers for your questions around 2:00AM in the morning and maybe you will get some good answers or maybe not. Ok, now you are set... Then you find out that in most cases the tools are not useful, because the drive has some other problem. Then you are back to square one having spend money for nothing and having angry customers because they expect to have the data recovered.

My advise to you is the following:
Partner with a data recovery center, and you can still make some profit without all the hassle.

If you still insist in performing your own recoveries expect to have at least a
two year learning curve, in order to get started, this meas two years of learning in which you are going to have to neglect your studies and advancements in Computer Forensics. This is not something you can pickup on the side. Don't be fooled by internet videos and stories told.
The people here tell it like it is. Also expect to invest at least $20.000 - $30.000 to get things going. Then for advancements maybe another $20.000 - $30.000

Good luck!