HDD GURU FORUMS

Does anybody knows where I can buy a direct platter reader for hard disk drives ? I need a device for direct reading from the plate, plus I am a IT technician, so I could use that device in the future... Please tell me all useful advices of how to recover the data. Thank you in advance to all that will respond.

thank you that was just what I needed to take my mind off things.

Sorry but it doesnt work like that.

Loki

Something like this?

northwind wrote:Something like this?

disney_sketch_book_rectangular_serving_platter_P0000316791S0022T2.jpg

Can i have one? PLEASE

Indhay check out the beginners section here on the forum to get a better understanding
sticky-important-topics-beginners-please-look-here-first-f16.html


Loki

If you could buy such a device, it would most likely cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

https://services.seagate.com/signal_trace.aspx

I think I know where one may get the device.

TaskManager wrote:I think I know where one may get the device.

where is that?

yes there is a tool from germany that does this but you need a lot more skill and information on how to use it and is precision to use
and tools cost a lot around
around $40,000 secondhand

the only company's that use these are the hard drive makers

do you need one nope

craig6928 wrote:yes there is a tool from germany that does this but you need a lot more skill and information on how to use it and is precision to use
and tools cost a lot around
around $40,000 secondhand

the only company's that use these are the hard drive makers

do you need one nope

waow...$40,000, fantastics price, thank you for ur information. do you know about "DeepSpar disk imager"?

yes a lot of members use this product

but i like to use the Atola imager instead there some nice tools built into this

every machine has it hit and miss

deepspar is ok but it tied down to a pc system and is not standalone unit

which if it was it would be great.
this machine works in dos

where the atola imager is windows based and connects up to any pc system




the machine i was thinking of was a Spinstand by Guzik

some data recovery use this for recovery.
reading direct of the platters
i seen one in action in the uk but it way beyond

craig6928 wrote:deepspar is ok but it tied down to a pc system and is not standalone unit

True, but neither is the Atola Imager as it needs a separate Windows system to run the unit. With DDI, you have the choice to run directly from the console or from a network connected Windows system.

which if it was it would be great.
this machine works in dos

The system uses DOS to boot, but is not controlled by the DOS environment when running. I'm not sure what OS the Atola system boots to, as it is locked down within its propriety box. If I were a to guess, I'd go with Linux.

where the atola imager is windows based and connects up to any pc system

DeepSpar has a Windows program (DRE) that will allow advanced control over the DDI systems via the network. As all the configuration information is stored with the clone or config drive on the DDI system, the user can control from any system. Also, when the clone is complete, it can be connected directly to a system and the configuration data and can still be accessed via the DRE application.

Above all else, DDI is a little more expensive up front, but does not have any annual update/support fees, and provides free updates for the life of the product line.

With the help of DRE, you can also export the DDI map to a DE map, should you need to complete the mirroring process with DE.

Don't get me wrong, Atola Imager is not a bad product. But, it is still the little kid on the block and is still #3 in imaging products behind #1 DDI and #2 DE.

craig6928 wrote:the machine i was thinking of was a Spinstand by Guzik

some data recovery use this for recovery.

I think you are confused

I have to change one of my statements in that DeepSpar is now charging an annual support/update fee for their latest DDI4 systems.

I've also confirmed a few other things about the Atola system.
1. It is running Linux (CentOS) which has a much larger system overhead than the DOS environment used by DDI
2. It is a computer with a standard system board, CPU & RAM...just without kvm access. DeepSpar users build their own systems while Atola supplies the system hardware
3. Atola is limited to BIOS commands to the drive

It is my understanding that Atola Imagers certainly do go a lot faster than DDI systems on healthy drives, as they default to a much larger block size of 4096 sectors vs 120. But, for unhealthy drives, you will have to drop Atola down to the smaller block sizes and this is where the overhead of the OS kills them and they find themselves mirroring as low as 10% the speed of a DDI system.

At the end of the day, Atola is not a bad product and is certainly a lot better than most software imaging tools available. I certainly would recommend it over the Data Compass. But, if you are looking for solid professional data recovery imaging hardware, DeepSpar Disk Imager and PC3000 with Data Extractor are the best tools for the job.

drc wrote:

craig6928 wrote:the machine i was thinking of was a Spinstand by Guzik

some data recovery use this for recovery.

I think you are confused

Many universities, research and development organisations and some data recovery companies use the Guzik Spinstand for R&D however its ability to perform any commercial data recovery has never been proven.

Some Data Recovery companies in the UK claim to perform data recovery using Spinstand.

But, for unhealthy drives, you will have to drop Atola down to the smaller block sizes and this is where the overhead of the OS kills them and they find themselves mirroring as low as 10% the speed of a DDI system.

I have never used the Atola Imager, so I can't comment on the relative performance of the Atola and the DDI. But it seems odd to me that the OS should be the reason for low performance when reading using small block sizes. I reckon as block sizes are lowered, and also bad media forcing retries, the HDD rotational delay will be the limiting factor. Averaging at the time for half a rotation, the rotational delay for a 7200 RPM HDD is 4.17mS, which in computing terms is half an eternity. Yes, the DDI is running almost bare metal, but even a tool running on a slightly more bloated OS (Linux) shouldn't have any problems handling an incoming small chunk of data every 4mS.

My guess would be that the difference in performance for unhealthy drives could be reduced by tweaking parms on the Atola, possibly not trying to emulate the DDI parm setup. I can only speak for myself, but depending on whether I use tools I am well familiar with, or those I only use occasionally, there is a vast difference in results. Not to imply this is the reason for Luke's results, but this is always a challenge when comparing tools.

To get slightly back on the topic of platter readers. Does anybody know what the devices listed below are? Current technology, or from the years gone by?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hard-Disk-Drive ... _818wt_920
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mitutoyo-Digima ... _818wt_920

Ask Data Clinic where they got theirs from:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 563&type=3

It allows them to remove the platters from hard drives and read the data independently. It is used in some of their "Advanced Data Recovery"

MANDR wrote:It allows them to remove the platters from hard drives and read the data independently.

I highly doubt this...

MANDR wrote:It allows them to remove the platters from hard drives and read the data independently. It is used in some of their "Advanced Data Recovery"

With all due respect.... Bo110cks

pcimage wrote:

MANDR wrote:It allows them to remove the platters from hard drives and read the data independently. It is used in some of their "Advanced Data Recovery"

With all due respect.... Bo110cks

not really any more to add to that

Loki