I would like to start a discussion regarding the data compass from salvation. I am experiencing many problems with this tool and simply trying to figure out if it is me, the tool, or lack of manual.
Apparently there is a different version of software coming out soon, but until then what are you guys using?

Any input is welcome

Which problems? Although its nearly impossible to reproduce the same error as no
other user has your hdd - we / I could try.... when you give us the information
about the problems...

I had an immediate reaction / help from Selina plus online guidance from a technician
when I reported a problem. Have you contacted SalvationData yet?

You should also get a (beta) version of the manual (or perhaps its finished now?)
and ask Selina / Laura about the new software.

We are looking into purchasing Data Compass, but am getting mixed reviews on it. Some say it is a great tool, others say it is not. It has limited support for many disks, with some disks not being added until 2009, as it is a salvation product I expect it will be a fairly buggy interface, there are numerous reports of bad technical support (though I have absolutely no problems in contacting selina, she is proving to be very helpful). Anyone able to offer an unbiased honest review of Data Compass that will actually help the rest of us decide if it is worth the purchase?

There needs to be an independent unbiased review otherwise confusion will reign and the sales of the unit will stagnate. SD will need to loan a copy to someone they know is a good DR engineer. No professional would give a biased (+ or -) review as their credibility is at stake, if it is any good the reviewer will buy it.

<itch>'s two bobs worth

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If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, you probably don't fully understand the situation. ... Mr Kipling

https://www.mjm.co.uk/

Totally agree. But SD loan a copy, I do not think this will happen. But if SD were confident in their own product, there should be no problem in doing this as potentially a positive unbiased view could generate so much business.

Unless they are worried about a negative view......

Hi,

Yes we are looking at buying this tool and have been unsure as there seem to feww well known guys within this forum who have purchased it.

All the comments appear to be from SD? Unless off course i am being very cynical

What we need is say 3-4 disks from different manufactures with different issues on each, i.e 1 with multiple bad sectors, 1 with HSA issues etc, then compare PC3k, DDI, DC, and NINJA in a like for like comparison with the results shown such as how long the clone took, success of recovery ( or not).

Also what bugs (if any) with what tools and media occurred, of course this takes time and money as all 4 tools must be purchased

Perhaps the manufacturers could offer some examples of this type of data?

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You are an imperfect hard drive...Finding your weakness is only a matter of time

Would be great for business if results were good, and reviews positive.

Can anyone give a number or percentage of recoveries gained with the data compass, this helps provide an un-biased view. I have the DeepSpar imager and I think its rubbish.

I have tried with it but found that it works best on drives that have nothing wrong with them. Long live the UDMA DE

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The last I heard of God he was worshiping me

i have the data compass but are having a few technical issues, these may or may not be my own fault. I hope these will be sorted by the end of the week via some remote support. i can post a fair unbias review once the thing is working as it should.

i will say one thing, it comes in a nice case.

But does it come with a manual. If not then I think that is poor PR on their behalf.

Data extractors come with manuals, granted some of the writing is Russian but its still a manual

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The last I heard of God he was worshiping me

i didnt have a manual but if you have used other products then it's fairly simple.

SD products hav always seemed so cheap and buggy. This has put me off buying SD products, so would not using their products before prevent me from using data compass properley and effectively?

They were phoning me daya after day and sending articles to me in the mail, really felt like they were pushing too hard for a sell. Are they confident themselves?????

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The last I heard of God he was worshiping me

hi guys, i'm an owner of DC, PC3K and Deepspar, i think there's a big problem on reviewing anyone of these as belongs to your own experience.

I'm totally angry with acelab as i don't like their policies and support ... and it's not true pc3k never hangs, i have reinstalled the software of my pc3k pci and i can't have the xp mount utility working anymore (even asking support)! So i think that someone can think i prefer SD and my review will be not useful.

i think you can't compare deepspar and DC as i see deepspar is the best tool for cloning i have, i tried to copy using DC but DDI is faster and have many options; i use DC more like acelab dataextractor, you can use a drive as shadowdisk in order to have less access to the bad drive.
Normally if i need to clone, first of all i use deepspar.

some cases:
a toshiba drive with many bad sector, deepspar wasn't able to clone it in a reasonable time, so i tried to directly access the datas from DC software and i recovered the needed files and was fast

On a N40P which r-studio, winhex and DE were not able to rebuild folder structure with DC i recovered the datas with partial folder structure.

On a hitachi drive vla3 i wasn't able to retrieve data with any of may tools DC included trying to boot from resources

i recevered deleted data from a seagate was nothing more than normal r-studio task but faster

what's good:
very fast in copying datas and able to retrieve datas were other tools can't (very useful the "skip" button on the consolle)

support, i tried their remote support and was very good support!!!!

i like their DR software but this is my own opinion

what's bad:
i had problems connecting at the same pc at the same time usb doctor console and DC

their software can access datas that other software can but you have to check the files as there's not a good error

check, even if you check the "skip file when read error" (or something like that) option you will have many nonfunctional files.

i hope this can help
p.s. i had the manual in pdf file

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Data Recovery pro in Italy
www.ultrarecovery.com

the data compass software is glitch free from my experience. If they can sort out my problem, then i am confident it is the most effective imaging solution available. its a big if though.

DataCompass
I am not aware, that this unit does not support specific hdd? Do you really mean
DataCompass or do you mean the HD Doctor?

I had succsess with drives, where other units didnt get access to the drive and
could copy just the files needed.

Deepspar Drive Imager
Saved data of several drives nearly completely - depending on the damages it
takes its time .....

Choosing one of the tools depends on the case:
- exact defined data / files: DataCompass
- a complete clone with maximum of recovered data: Deepspar DI

Before its release, I had the impression that Data Compass would be an all in one solution combining all the SD products, and adding an imaging/cloning & recovery feature.

It is starting to become a little difficult getting a worthwhile review!!

eventually i think it will. i've heard rumours that the next update will include seagate, hopefully data extraction can be completed without the need to repair firmware.

Why not simply release a finished product?

i think you will have to pay for the upgrades.