Lets Get Physical

[Freddie928]

Dear all,

First post, so Hello. I'm Freddie. I'm interested in moving from using software only to a more hardware based data recovery for Physical and PCB / Firmware issues.

I'm hoping for some opinions on my Current three Choices, and in all honsesty I will only be able to afford one option at present, so....

Firstly, for Cloning Drives to work on.

Am looking at DeepSpar but also had thought about Data Compass.

Secondly, for Firmware issues.

I was wondering what everyones thoughts were on the HD Doctor Suite which I've seen at http://www.salvationdata.com/data-recov ... doctor.htm

And Last but not least

A clean cabinate and an array of tools to allow swapping the physical components. Again something similar to:
http://www.salvationdata.com/data-recov ... pe-pro.htm

I would dearly like the forums thoughts on the above products, or indeed, if there are better products with which to start out.

In short, with your experience and knowledge where would you spend your money first.

Sincere thanks in advance and Merry Christmas.

Freddie.

(not affiliated with salvationdata, just had their tabs open during my typing)

[thatdellguy]

This has been discussed in detail with other posts. The cheapest data recovery tool is found on the top of this page toward the right. Hint: It starts with an S.

[Freddie928]

Thanks for the reply, currently quite busy at work and also homelife with new additions to the family. Hoped I might get some food for thought more quickly from the resident Guru's with a new post.

In all honesty I will have to make time and trawl through the forum over the holidays like you suggest.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Have a good time over the holidays.

Freddie.

[HDD Spaz]

it will be easier to answer your questions if you indicate your budget and your ambitions. Do you want a lab to rival the best (25 - 500 cases per week) or just an occasional case 2/3 per week.

Also how much spare time are you willing to lose?

If you seriouslly want to set up a good DR business, your minimum outlay will be £25000.

Also what are your capabilities at the moment? Forget about clean rooms until you master the basics.

[CK]

and don't forget, do not use customer HDD's to experiment and learn your trade.

Buy a load of old drives, strip them down, learn how they work, reassemble them and learn that way. If they don't work when they go back together, you know you need to keep learning.

[Freddie928]

Kind thanks for your replies.

My ambition is to comfortably cope with 5-10 drives within a 5 day period when suitably skilled in the "hardware" data recovery approach. Obviously attaining the heights of 500 drives per week will come in time, but I'm realistic and optimistic for my starting target.

I can afford at present £2000 for my initial investment in a more hardware approach, thus the reason for asking where my savings would be best spent.

Currently I can only achieve Data recovery through software methods, however in some cases I have been fortunate enough to achieve success in sourcing and swapping PCB's using exact firmware and PCB matches. Though I'm sure you are aware of the time, effort and luck needed to be successful.

Currently if the drive is beyond my software skills I outsource. This means, as you quite rightly say, I am not experimenting on customers Drives in a manner beyond my capabilities.

When I started outsourcing jobs I started saving money to buy the correct equipment so I could keep more jobs "in-house."

Currently I have purchased 25 older, yet fully functional drives on which to practice. Some are exact model for model and will be perfect for head swap training.

Also, I am prepared to devote as much time as necessary to achieve the success rate of a 5-10 drive target.

Well everyone, the above details my present situation. Your further thoughts would be most appreciated.

Looking forward to your continued input.

Regards

Freddie.

[CK]

I don't think 500 drives a week will ever happen for you, Scotland is a limited enough market. I doubt anybody in the UK is seeing that volume. 500 per year might be realistic for a small operation. However, best of luck with the work.

[Freddie928]

Thanks CK,

I would happily take the work of 500 drive per year.

Happy to report that I am receiving Hard drives from all over the UK, also have had one drive from France and an e-mail from Texas and Lux re Data recovery. (Though Texan job is a Zip Disk, not a HDD.)

The World has gotten so much smaller since the early days.

Thanks for your Luck, shall put it to good use!

Freddie.

[HDD Spaz]

I don't think 500 drives a week will ever happen for you, Scotland is a limited enough market. I doubt anybody in the UK is seeing that volume

You would be surprised.


£2000 is not going to be enough. If you want to handle 5 - 10 jobs per week you will need at least 3 PC's.

To make a start, your first investment should be a hot air gun and soldering station followed by a disk imager. Not sure if your budget would stretch this far.

How do you plan on securing work? UK/US data recovery market is very competitive, only the strongest will survive.

[guru]

Data recovery s prbably he worst industry to get into at the moment. Good luck but there is a high chance of "EPIC Fail" for new data rec companies.

invest you 2k in bank of scotlnd shares ;o)

[guru]

sorry my keyioard has died

[Money fan]

Look at the experience of the other companies in UK and make conclusions what should be done and what shouldn't.
Indeed now there are a lot of data recovery companies in the place you open your biz, market analysis will be useful.

[Computer Nerder]

Where at on this forum has this already been talked about?