1. Summary:I am evaluating whether I will be able to perform hard drive repair on a larger scale with the aid of some hardware/software solutions (free and/or commercial); or whether I should outsource this endeavour to an external specialised company. I am not interested in data recovery, only HDD repair. My decision will mainly depend on the fact whether logical errors are frequent and whether these errors can be repaired through software/hardware solutions.
2. Clarification of my goals / terminology: Right away you will understand how new I am to this field, when I state my confusion about the terms “logical repair”, “logical bad sectors”, “soft bad sectors”. I am still not sure if these terms are correct or indeed exist among the realms of HDD repair. Either way, for my purposes I want to focus on software repair of HDDs. Before I even start to dig into physical HDD repair, I want to approach this matter through software repair. If I master the one, I want to proceed to the next. For the time being, I would like to sort out physically damaged HDDs and concentrate merely on HDDs that show no signs of physical defect. I want to repair those kind of HDDs with logical errors that can definitely be repaired through software fixes. Whatever these errors might be, e.g. bad sectors, password lock, firmware issues. I am, however, not interested in superficial cosmetic fix that will not guarantee full functionality. If a HDD does not pass testing --> recycle bin! There is no intention of cheating the customer. My customers do know about the origin and status of the HDDs.
3. Background:I work for a small electronic component and computer parts refurbishing and re-marketing company. While we have already successfully established some areas, we think that HDD repair might be a new promising area. So far this process has been outsourced to a specialised company - which by the way does a good job. As already mentioned, I am a newbie, but I am currently putting a lot of efforts into my professional education in this area. I am not a programmer, but I am quite versed in computers and electronic components in general. If I see a new challenge, I am willing to invest my time and energy to find a solution. I have no problem to pay someone else who is better at the job. But why shouldn’t I be able to do the same.
4. What do I know about HDD repair so far : There is quite a large amount of articles, forum entries, guides and the like that deal with this topic. Thanks to some highly dedicated members of this forum (and other forums) I have been able to get an introduction into HDD repair. Bottom line of my research is (please correct me if I’m wrong): HDD repair (and data recovery) is a very delicate and dynamic matter. There is no convenient software/hardware solution that will enable its user a simple one-button solution. One will become an expert in this field only through years of hard work, education, learning-by-doing and sleepless nights; I get that. I have studied forum posts / articles designated for less-experienced members; here is a short excerpt of many:
“newbie info, from and for newbies
About firmware, SA, etc”
“New to Data Recovery ? Where to Start ?”
“testing hard disks with some confidence.”
“Executing a "Cosmetic Fix" on drives with Bad Sectors :
“Translator, Defect Lists and Bad Sectors :”
“Testing hard disks with some confidence :”
“Assigning slow sectors to the P-List :”
I had a look at some programs that are often mentioned, such as MHDD, Spinrite, Victoria etc. Also, as I am sure most of the members know too well, there are a couple of companies that provide a hardware/software solution for HDD repair, such as MRT, PC-3000. For me, purchasing one of these products could be an option, too, if the prospects are promising.
5. Questions:Given my situation above, the following questions arise:
A) Do you have any estimated empirical value on how high the rate of “only- logical” errors is?
B) If I seriously want to step into this field, would you say that there is no way to evade physical repair? As in: you can’t fix software symptoms before you haven’t fixed the anatomy. Why do I ask this question? Given that I want to focus on logical repair in the beginning, it would be useful to know whether physical errors are by far more common or logical errors?
C) As a small business my budget is limited. With respect to the answers to questions A) & B), is it worth it purchasing products like PC-3000?
D) Are products like this able to help me fix logical errors?
E) In general, what am I to expect as a typical amateur?
F) From the short overview I have given, do you see a crucial point that I, as a debutant, am totally missing?
6. Concluding remarks:I think I can say with confidence that I am not naïve about the work and effort that has to be put into this. Moreover I do realise that many people before have asked questions like mine. However, what I think has been missing, is some information about the statistics on the nature of HDD errors, and whether HDDs with logical-errors-only can be fixed to an extent that they could be re-sold with good conscience. Accordingly, these information would help me evaluate whether it makes sense to establish a repair service that focuses on logical repair only.
I would be very thankful for any comments and opinions. As I am new to this forum (although long-time lurker), I hope to have to posted this topic in accordance with all board rules. If not, I am happy for any feedback.