I am currently imaging a drive that would no longer boot and couldn't be imaged by software because it kept freezing up. Finally saved up enough for a DeepSpar, so I am letting that have a go at it.

I successfully read almost exactly 50% of LBA on the Primary Fast Pass (forward, by block, 300ms timeout). The rest were timeouts (I haven't seen any read errors at all, just timeouts). Now it is on the Secondary pass (reverse, PIO, 1000ms timeout) and I am successfully reading maybe 20% of the remaining LBA. The rest are timing out. The time estimate to finish this pass is currently at about 23 days!!

A couple of questions for the experts out there:

1. How would you diagnose this problem? Bad head? Media? Other?

2. Anything I can do to get the maximum amount of data off the drive? Should I build a head map and try imaging by heads if one is bad? Should I let it run the second pass and data recovery pass for as long as it takes?

Any other tips or tricks?

Thanks!

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http://www.ancilesecurity.com

I would make a Head Map. You may have a weak or bad head.

What drive is it?

I agree with Cleanroom, build a head map and image using 1 head at a time, it will help you to determine exactly where the fault lies. From there, if you see a specific issue with 1 head, try to read all of the other data from other heads, then carry out a headswap and image only the head that was faulty.

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Data Recovery Ireland

Yep...you guys were right on....did the headmap and media test with DDI. All the timeouts were on Head 1. Head 0 was fine. Currently getting everything from Head 0. After that, i will swap the heads and try and image Head 1.

Thanks!

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http://www.ancilesecurity.com