to be honest, i never seen any Pro. in DR who says: AM A PRO. in DR
whoever thinks he is a Pro. in DR knows 100% that daily he is learning and discovers that being 100% sure
of what he is doing is never TRUE.

i`ve seen many people w/o DR experience go and buy SD tools or others expecting FEW CLICKS and ur done
found that it is (i call it) ART

and there are Secrets in DR, some are known for most, and MOST of those secrets remain SECRETS
because they paid their school fee`s (as one of my best friends told me)

EVERY BODY HAS TO PAY HIS SCHOOL FEE`S

And Agree on what been said here,

thank you

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Kuwait Data Recovery - UNIX GTC
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once. By: Albert Einstein

For me personally it's not about a quick buck. Being an ex mechanic I've always liked knowing how things work. Then I eventually got in to IT & got lots of Microsoft, HP & Fujitsu certifications & have done IT the last 10yrs. About 3yrs ago a friend had a hdd issue & all their business accounts & suppliers data needed to be recovered. I was smart I didn't try DIY & told them to go to a pro dr company. This left me courious about dr & now 3yrs on I still have this excitement & thurst for knowledge. I would love to get some work experience or a job but have had no luck yet. So I keep learning & practicing knowing that I will get their eventually.

Loki

I would say put an ad out looking to buy people's old or faulty drives in the local classifieds, then you'll have a load of drives in your possession that you could use for recovery practice. I know lots of people who have 'dead' hard drives lying around at home, I'm sure there are millions around the world lying in people's cupboards or drawers that they'd even be willing to give away. Once you have some knowledge and practice behind you, you'll surprise yourself as to how many old drives you can 'fix' with basic tools. As everyone keeps saying, knowledge is key here. Expensive professional tools definitely help - no doubt about it - and some cases you can't fix without them, but first and foremost you need knowledge which comes from experience. Everyone in DR learns the long and hard way. I'll always remember a quote I read on here, saying something along the lines of "Just because you have a scalpel it doesn't make you a surgeon." I think it's very appropriate here. When I started out I had a heat gun, a linux box with ddrescue on it and a USB-TTL serial adapter, that was all I had and was amazed as to what I could achieve knowing how to use them.

Good luck and keep reading the forum, there are lots of very clever people here who know an enormous amount on the topic.

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Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.
Data Recovery Cape Town

Hi Nick_CT,

Thanks for the reply.
I am currently buying cheap faulty drives off ebay to practice on for £3-£4. Had success doing Seagate LB0 & BSY firmware fixes, TVS doides, cleaned contact points on PCB, Stiction, drive asking to be formatted, deleted files etc.
Have got the basic tools ie hot air gun, SD Data Compass, hand tools, Multimeter etc & lots of software.
I am currenlty learning how to test PCB's. So far my process is check for burning smell, Remove PCB & check under microscope for damage, testing continuity on IDE SATA & power, testing TVS, Testing continuity from 12v 5v to spindle motor pins, then reconnecting PCB & testing voltage at TVS.
What I would like to learn now is how to test for shorts?

Loki.

If you can see below the knee, they are shorts.

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Luke
Recovery Force Donor Inventory: 5,000+ Fully Cataloged HDDs & Growing

Na I wouldnt frighten the public by showing my knees off

That is a sensible way to gain experience, and best of luck to you.

I am referring to cowboys working on "live" client drives, there are plenty about who do and leave a wave of botched attempts in their wake for true pros to try and salvage.

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PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

Maybe because the "common" guy is tired of or unable to pay $1500-2500 to get his photos back?

Anyway, InfoSec has a DR course that is VERY basic, but still gives you a place to at least start.

RecoverTex,

Out of curiosity, what is the teaching extent on flash and solid state drives technologies in he infosec course? Wanted to recommend to somebody to go there for training, but was never able to get a straight answer about their curriculum regarding this topic.

Thanks in advance.

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

All these DR Course, you have to understand, are a basic introduction. believe me you have to have some Technical insight. Some People have it other People don't. its like telling a Painter that is Awesome @ what they do. "hey read this medical book & you will be a top of the line Doctor." its not that easy. i was doing PC repair for about 17 years, intense repair, "Format Was Not an option" in my book. the User Data was the 1st Priority. so if you think like "im gonna get in to data recover because its the In thing now." Be Passionate about your Craft & then only then should you be willing to take a chance on somebody elses stuff. its really easy to Overwrite/Scratch A platter & totally loose the Data your Trying to Preserve. its like saying "I ran A Program & i Hacked this computer, so i'm a hacker" know the tools you are using to get the job done Correctly.
Run a Do all software is like Pouring a Chemical into your Cars Engine to Replace an Overhaul.