Atola Bandura, new high speed disk duplicator

[Alan2]

I agree with Falther. The lowest priced product shouldn't have all the same features as the higher end Atola imager or Atola Insight. The advantage of the Bandura imager over the Atola imager is portability and it is very easy to use and requires no setup or computer. Adding too many features and menu's to the Bandura will lose its ease of use. If you want all the features of the Atola imager, buy the Atola imager. I saw a live demo of the unit and the small color screen is very well laid out, but a small screen has its limitations. I my opinion each prioduct has it's own purpose. The Bandura is best suited for light imaging jobs and the Atola imager is better suited for tougher imaging jobs where more complex settings may be required to extact the needed data. The Bandura should be kept simple and easy to use.

[SquaL]

Hi, I was not asking for it to be included, question more a technical curiosity. ATA spec list read long as obsolete (unless I am missing something). Ninja, a lesser unit in my opinion, has that capability, which also contibuted to question.

[Alan2]

Hi Squal,
I own a Ninja Kaze and it has the ability to do long reads for drives with bad sectors and recovers data in 3 forward or 3 reverse settings. It does very well recovering data on drives with a moderate amount of bad sectors. On drives with an extensive amount of bad sectors, it fails to make a complete image and times out. Because of that, I started looking for a better imaging solution. I looked at the Atola Bandura and saw a live demo of it. It appears to be a very well made unit, but since it does not currently handle long reads on bad sectors, I chose to purchase the Atola imager instead. If the long read capabilty is added to the Bandura, it would be a better data recovery imaging device than the Ninja Kaze. Since the Bandura includes free lifetime updates, it would probably be wise to purchase one now before the price increases.

[SquaL]

Hi Alan2, thanks for the feedback. I am working towards getting the Bandura. I have a strong feeing I wont be disappointed.

[crecomp]

What about adding support for imaging of SAS drives?

[Dmitry Postrigan]

We do not have immediate plans for adding SAS support in Bandura.
Do you want to image good drives (without defects) or defect drives?

[crecomp]

Occassionally drives with defects.
Thank you

[juanalte]

Hi

I have a Atola Bandura. In my opinion is an excellent tool for all kinds of "computer shops". The only update is missing is "bad sector repair". some time it found only some bad sectors, these Hard Disks can be repaired!!!..

[Eleg]

Generally UNC sectors will be reallocated when written to. Thus using the Bandura function "fill with pattern" will take care of those. Though the g-list might end up flooded if the drive is in bad shape. To do detailed work with p- and g-lists you need firmware oriented tools like PC3000.

[Idr]

I have 4 units of bandura, and while i'm satisfied with the performance of the units, their technical condition makes me start thinking about their poor asemblence quality. When i first got them, one unit came with mailfunctioning screen , and i had to send it back to repairs. And now, after one month only of using them, another unit just stopped working, and doesn't turn on! It's not the quality i would expect from this expencive equipment, and frankly i'm starting to regret i purchased them.

[Dmitry Postrigan]

Idr:
I am very sorry for your experience with the damaged Bandura units. Of course, being one of the first users of any product is always somewhat risky, but this is exactly why we were offering an introductory price - to compensate for the risks involved. In other words, we give our first customers a much better price and then listen to their feedback to improve the product.

If my records are correct, this particular issue is being worked on right now. Should you need any help with this, please contact me directly (we had communicated previously, so you should have my direct e-mail address).

[Idr]

Hi Dmitry

Yes, the issue is being handled now.

Yes, i'm aware of the existance of so called "childhood diseases" of a new products.

But the price argument is not exactly correct - i'm sure that you aware of the rates for international shipping, and they are not cheap. So the discount i got is being slowly writen down by the amount of deliveries i'm forced to make on my account.

So frankly, i would preffer to by the units full price, then to deal with all the shipping/repair issues now.

On the other note, i really appreciate the service i'm receiving from you and from the dealer, and i hope we will be able to solve this issue as fast as possible.

[Dmitry Postrigan]

I absolutely understand your point. We are now trying to resolve this without shipping the units back and forth - you should receive the replacement board soon. Hope this resolves the issue.

Once again, should this not resolve the issue, or if you need anything at all, just contact me.

[Touchclarity]

My Bandura Unit has on occasion just refused to switch on.... I have found that simply just unplugging the unit from the mains and flicking the power switch on then off (ATX reset) has solved the problem... It is after all just a PC..

[mattbrad2]

Anyone recommend good IDE adapters for this? The ones I have apparently aren't very good because I have a heck of a time getting IDE transfers to go through on the Bandura.

[kpeddie]

if anyone does have a faulty Bandura that refuses to switch on using switch at back its probably a simple fix. Mine did it, they sent a new board and I fitted it. Only took 5 minutes and worked fine after. Was much happier doing that than sending it back and having to wait. Small transistor had blown on a small board inside, can easily happen. Anyone that fixes computers or does data recovery should be able to fault find this in 20 minutes! Very happy with Bandura so far. Very quick and frees up other things for other jobs.

[Cris]

Anyone recommend good IDE adapters for this?

I got one of these today:

http://www.sybausa.com/productInfo.php?iid=374

and tested it with three (non-faulty) IDE drives and it seems to work so far.