Hi @ll,

lately I was trying to recover some ore hopefully all the date from a friends hard drive. My first step was do copy the hole HDD (WD 10B8 2TB) to a Image. Sadly, this was really really slow (0,1-0,2 MB/s.). In the beginning there were lots of Read errors but after some days the error count was really low, so i had good hope to recover most files from the Image. Bad luck after 2 month of copy work we had a power failure and my server is not attached to an UPS. So the copy job reached a little more than 50% in 2 and a half months. I would like to resume at this point and not start all over again. Is there a way to do so? Or do you have another advice how to speed up the copy process? In the end it’s not really imported to get the files asap because the really important ones are emotional pictures but I’m not so happy to not restart the Server for 6 months and also power failure can always occur. I would be happy for advice.

Thanks Hangart

Hi. All is not lost!

I think I would use a different tool to complete the job. Probably Dmde as the free version would allow cloning.

First check your img file for the last lba to be written.
Then set Dmde to copy to a NEW img file with the starting lba as the first unread.

When the copying is completed you can then create a complete image file by merging the two.

Or you could write the first img file to a good drive and then write the second img file to the same good drive. Then carry out a data recovery as required.

Wow! That is a lot of time to be imaging a drive that would likely take a pro a day to image for under $500.

_________________
Luke
Recovery Force Data Recovery

Sorry I completely ignored the slow issue!

The drive most likely, at the very least, has a firmware issue. You can read about it on these forums. Use search terms such as 'wd slow fix' 'wd convert to sata pcb' etc.

Probably best to hand everything you have to a pro recovery company.

I would use HDDSuperTool to apply the "slow fix", then use HDDSuperclone to finish the job. Set the start LBA to 1981746560.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks for the helpful advices.
I'm trying Dmde right now and it's working till now, slow but working. My server is running 24/7 so the time (approximately 30 days) is not a big problem for me. That's one of the reason I'll not try to fix the slow issue before I got the first complete Image. The other is that I'm afraid of damaging the HDD/Data when applying the slow fix.
After the imaging Process with Dmde is complete I’ll give HDDSuperTool and HDDSuperclone a chance to get another complete Image.
I’ll keep you updated.
In the mean time I tried to recover some .jpg s from the “first” (aborted) Image with Dmde and it works fine. So I hope I’ll be able to recover most of the Files with a complete (merged) Image
Never the less I want to thank you again for your help I really appreciate this.

With an UPS, would you only gain 30-45 minutes more before the UPS battery goes "dry".

_________________
"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin revisited

Here is a hint on how to speed up imaging of a WD drive suffering from the “slow” issue, without actually fixing the firmware issue. Between reads the drive does something in the background which takes up the time. So the most effective way to speed it up is to increase the read size (commonly known as cluster size), so that there are fewer reads needed. The problem is that you can’t do that with most software only tools, as they use the standard read methods through the OS, so you don’t get the control (the OS driver controls how the data is read). For instance the max OS read size in Linux is normally 256 sectors, I am not sure about Windows. The passthrough modes of HDDSuperClone can directly control the cluster size, but is limited by the OS buffer (typically a max of 1024 sectors (512KB) for SATA, but only 240 sectors for USB). The direct modes of the paid pro version can have a bigger limit, up to 8192 sectors (4MB) for SATA, and if the USB bridge supports it correctly up to 65528 sectors for USB. Basically every time you double the cluster size, you cut the read time in half. You just need a tool that can actually directly control the cluster size.

_________________
http://www.hddsuperclone.com
Home of HDDSuperClone

I just realized you are now using DMDE to continue the imaging. If you are looking for something that is resumable, you need to look at either ddrescue or hddsuperclone. I think DMDE may have some limited resume capability with the paid version, but the capability does not seem very robust.

_________________
http://www.hddsuperclone.com
Home of HDDSuperClone

Just a short Update for you or someone who may have the same problem later.
After another power failure around charismas I managed to get 3 files using DMDE with hopefully all sectors included. The First one (~1,4 GB) was made with HDDRaw the two others with DMDE ( ~500 GB ~50 Gb ). I used DMDE to produce the same files again but with hopefully fitting Edges (last sector of file one is the sector before the first Sector of file two). In the first place I chose to overlap the files a little bit because i did not know what happens exactly when the power went down. After i have now 3 fitting .bin files I needed to merge them. I hoped the resume function from DMDE would work but it did not. So I used the copy function for binary from Windos. The command

in the windows command line worked. It took some time but in the end I got a file with about 2000GB which I could then open in DMDE to restore the files. Only 17 had some read errors but even those files were restored and I can’t find any Issus in the Pictures. So I think I managed to merge the files perfect otherwise there should have bin more Issues. just out of curiosity: Has someone an idea to verify this? To the fact that there is no cap or overlapping and the restored files are corrupt? Most of the files are pictures or films. I checked some files and they look good but I think there would only be a Problem with files having sectors located in the last 550 GB of the Disk.
Never the less I’ll now try to fix the WD slow Issu with HDDSuperTool just for “Fun” / learning.
Once again thanks a lot for your help. Without you I could not restore these files and my fried which is also my best man would have lost these souvenir photos.

Job well done!

I would fix the slow issue and then create a new single image. You should then be able to compare the 2 images. Or you could just carry out a recovery and compare the resulting recovered files.