First commercially platter transplant kit of its kind

[Dmitry Postrigan]

Introducing the Retrodata “System P. EX” (Platter Extraction System)

Retrodata, a UK data recovery company based in Lymington, Hampshire, has announced the arrival of a data recovery tool that is set to revolutionise a particularly difficult task involved in the recovery or repair of hard drives – that of platter transplants.

System P. EX is a precision – manufactured system that operates within parameters measured in microns.

Duncan Clarke, who heads up Retrodata, informs us that this is the world’s first commercially – available system of its kind. With laser-guided positioning, it weighs in at a hefty 75KG.

Mr Clarke informs us, “I’ve spent the last three years designing the P. EX. This system finally breaks down all the barriers that have defeated existing tools on sale anywhere. For example, many hard drives now have special inserts built into their design in order to reduce vibration and noise, amongst other reasons. These inserts, which extend from the inner wall of the drive to well into the regions beneath the platters, completely preclude the use of existing tools. The P. EX has absolutely no problems with the inserts, or with any current hard drive design anomalies. Moreover, it is expected to work with any 3.5” hard drive with up to five platters and most likely even more.”

“The beauty of this system is that at any point of the procedure, the technician can drop their hands to their sides; throughout, the donor and patient drives and platters are clamped and held in place by the system, and this entirely removes from the equation user error, subject to nothing other than common sense. Positioning of the Z axis, as well as the Y and Z axes is by means of hand-wheels and accurate to 25 microns.”

“Platter transplants with this tool will be quite within the realms of a novice technician – although the complexities of transplanting read/write head-stacks remain. However, we have already started addressing this issue. What we have in mind will change the face of hardware-related data recovery.”

As you would reasonably expect, System P. EX does not come cheap; these systems are designed and manufactured to perform flawlessly. The P. EX is expected to cost (in Mr Clarke’s words) “around £3,500 or so – we haven’t finalised this, but remind anyone interested in purchasing the system to allow for the additional cost of freight.”

Although the P. EX will come with a 10 year warranty, certain precision components will need occasional replacing – but Retrodata assures us that the cost of these “consumables” will not be at all prohibitive.

For reasons involving the patenting process, Retrodata are unable to provide photographs or further reasons. However, they do ask that anyone with an interest in this product makes contact with them via their website, which is at http://www.retrodata.co.uk.

The first systems will be ready to ship in April 2008.

[Starling]

Without pictures there's not much to discuss here.

[DataRecGuy]

Obsolete already.

[Odiferous]

Obsolete already.

I'm intrigued - obsolete already? Can you expand on this?


Thanks

[zebong]

Any news about this ?

[HDD Spaz]

yes, it doesn't exist.

[guru]

lol this product has the biggest time to market EVER

[dobrevjetser]

Well guys,

I just know that duncan does the best he can, but the release date has been postponed due to new disk models appearing that required a rebuild of the machine.
Better to wait and get something really universal than hurry and be stuck shortly afterwards.

Dobre

[scratchy]

Problem with that Dobre, is when version 2 is ready, there may be more new models with a different technology and there will be another delay.

Why not release version 1 , then offer an upgrade/modification at extra cost as they become available. Tools and adapters can be made so they are interchangeable if the design process is done carefully. I fear that this project will disappear if it is always playing catch-up.

So Duncan, any moves forward on this and what sort of pricing are we looking at ?

[HDD Spaz]

I fear this project is a great waste of time and money as most of the decent companies already have technology to swap platters from all current hard drives.

Theres also some other solutions available which don't require you to reinforce your floor to accomadate its 3 ton weight.

Maybe we will see Duncan on Dragan's Den seeking an investment for his System P.Ex

[Odiferous]

Problem with that Dobre, is when version 2 is ready, there may be more new models with a different technology and there will be another delay.

Why not release version 1 , then offer an upgrade/modification at extra cost as they become available. Tools and adapters can be made so they are interchangeable if the design process is done carefully. I fear that this project will disappear if it is always playing catch-up.

So Duncan, any moves forward on this and what sort of pricing are we looking at ?

Hello

There are definitely moves forward on this. As Dobre said, the main reason for the delay has been the emergence of new hard drives on the market which would have caused serious problems with the design of the original P.Ex.

The new version incorporates new features that were not present with the original, and a lot of future-proofing has been built into the current design.

Had we shipped the original version, there would be at least three drive models that would not have worked. Can you imagine the furore that would have erupted? That would probably have bankrupted the entire project.

I am not going to put my name to anything short of technical perfection; granted, I am currently receiving negative feedback from some, but over time that will have been worth it.

The precision engineering company - in their own words- are "finalizing and tidying up last-minute details" so that when I and some colleagues sit down and test the P.Ex, there won't be any flaws or anomalies. We've also taken the decision to allow the engineers time for this, as any problems following the final build will result in weeks' worth of alterations.

The price *will* be expensive - we anticipate quite a bit in excess of £5,000 per unit (we will keep charging in GBP, since we are not adversely affected by exchange rates, etc.) Not one, single component within P.Ex will have been manufactured in China.

Those who have already pre-ordered and pre-paid will not be subjected to any price changes.

I hope this tidies things up at least a little.


Duncan Clarke
Retrodata / Retrodata Scientific

[HDD Spaz]

Those who have already pre-ordered and pre-paid will not be subjected to any price changes.

People have actually ordered and prepaid for one of these System P.Ex R2D2's? can you name some companies who have ordered? Please give me some much needed confidence in the project.

£5 K for this device? How many seized motors will you need to fix to get a return on your investment? For £5 K I would expect more functions than just swapping platters. Maybe Head transplants and alignment should be included in the price.

For 5 K I would expect a demonstration on a 1 TB seagate 7200.11 proving it works.

5 K is a lot of money for something which can be done for a fraction of the cost.

[hddguy]

5 K is a lot of money for something which can be done for a fraction of the cost.

I agree. 5K is another PC3000, or the entire SD suite, or a nice storage server....

[HDD Spaz]

5 K is a lot of money for something which can be done for a fraction of the cost.

I agree. 5K is another PC3000, or the entire SD suite, or a nice storage server....

And a nice holiday in Vegas.

[Odiferous]

Those who have already pre-ordered and pre-paid will not be subjected to any price changes.

People have actually ordered and prepaid for one of these System P.Ex R2D2's? can you name some companies who have ordered? Please give me some much needed confidence in the project.

£5 K for this device? How many seized motors will you need to fix to get a return on your investment? For £5 K I would expect more functions than just swapping platters. Maybe Head transplants and alignment should be included in the price.

For 5 K I would expect a demonstration on a 1 TB seagate 7200.11 proving it works.

5 K is a lot of money for something which can be done for a fraction of the cost.

Firstly, despite your misgivings, I would not dream of shipping anything that had not been tested as guaranteed to work. Flawlessly. This isn't a cheap, nasty, Chinese, plastic tool - it is a precision instrument.

Second - if £5k is too much to pay - don't buy one. Actually - I will make that easy for you by refusing to sell you anything.


Good day.



I have also made a note barring you from purchasing anything from me;

[HDD Spaz]

Thanks you petty little man

When you going to stop blowing smoke up the data recovery community's ass and come clean and admit it don't exist?

[hddguy]

The problem with the tool is that it was initially a great prospect, with much potential, but in the 1 year that it has been delayed (ready to ship APR 2008!!) people have been left with no choice but to purchase alternative tools from HDRC and SD, and also develop in-house tools and procedures. What is then the purpose to purchase a 5K tool to provide a solution for problems already solved?

I am sure if this tool was released in APR 2008 it would have been recognised and welcomed, but now it is pretty much just an expensive alternative to an already existing method for platter transplantation.

Unless as spaz said it is able to do something else? Or is it just purely for platter swap alone?

[jono-ats]

Give the guy a break.

When marketing a new product, there is always tension between fulfilling a need (time to market) and putting out a bug-free product. Sure, there are other solutions for platter swaps (I haven't found one that I like yet) but I'd rather wait a bit and get something with a wider application. Some people would prefer to have a solution now, even if it's buggy.

I don't like to be on the bleeding edge of any technology. Competent R&D takes time.

Jono

[hddguy]

Give the guy a break.

Competent R&D takes time.

Jono

I agree, but the demand and requirement for the product is much less than it was, as there are alternatives, both commerical and non-commercial, that makes the need for a 5K, 75KG, commercial tool a convenience rather than a Necessity.

[HDD Spaz]

Give the guy a break.

Competent R&D takes time.

Jono

I agree, but the demand and requirement for the product is much less than it was, as there are alternatives, both commerical and non-commercial, that makes the need for a 5K, 75KG, commercial tool a convenience rather than a Necessity.

The last time I checked there isn't a demand for a 75 KG £5000 platter swap tool.