Question for the professionals

[iDan]

Currently studying Forensic Computing at University and just wanted to read up and get some inside information on some of the techniques employed in DR.

I am curious to know how recovery professionals take the arm off the platter without damaging the head and then keep them separated so the actuator can be removed?

I am aware that you can buy expensive kit to do this (Forgotten the name of the company) but i wondering if there are any other techniques I can adopt?

I understand that some companies will want to keep their techniques to themselves, but any suggestions will be most appreciated.

iD

[Nick_CT]

I completed my honours degree in computer forensics last year and, to be honest, the technicalities of data recovery are not really of much relevance - not that I found anyway. For interests' sake you can have a look at this article, it's great for explaining the inner workings of a HDD. http://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html

Good luck with your studies!

[DataWreck]

Hey iDan,

Just removing the heads is a fairly simple process that can be done with tools like you said (http://www.hddsurgery.com/) Check them out, not too pricy for stuff, but there are "custom" things that can be done for cheaper that follow the same principle. However you have to think about the other important stuff in a task like this too, such as a clean room and ESD precautions.

But as Nick said, forensics and DR are different disciplines of the trade.
In DF you generally get a working suspect drive and an issue to analysis and report on. In DR you get half the story of something that’s broken and clients that don’t want to spend a penny more than they have too.

Good luck with your Uni stuff, I know they can pad them forensic courses out with a fair amount of BS ,but it will all be useful one day.
Stick with uni.

Rick.