Best option for firmware repairing and diganostics

[datacorder]

We are planning on buying some low-budget tools for firmware repairing and after seen all the available options we have the next doubts

Are the SD HD Doctor tools (+lorana manuals, of course) enought for repairing any kind of firmware problem and diagnose whats the problem with disks? ...or...

what would you recommend for starting on the firmware repairing for a budget of some hundreds?

I know something like PC3000 have to be the best option but is not possible by the momment (not enought money and knowledge)

[falther]

Is it really firmware issues you want to repair - or just a guess that the issues you are faced
are fw issues ?

Which kind of business do you run now ?

Do you start from scratch or do you want to extend your service ?

+++

[datacorder]

Well, thats a good question.

I'm starting from scratch, with more 14 years working on IT security related jobs including some forensics and recovering info with tools like ddrescue and mhdd but always from the logical side.

So after some months studding DR stuff I think that my first step have to be firmware issues & diagnostics in order to start the hands-on and get more knowledge. Because of this, I got the conclusion that my actual budget (about $400-500) should go for tools like HD Doctor + lorana manuals for starting my hands-on on firmware and diagnostics. After this I think the next step should be to build a clean room, go for a disk imager and will leave something like PC3000 for the last stage.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. I know that it will take me about 2 years of daily studding & hands-on for starting to get the full DR picture and I want to start with the right steps.

Thank you for your time falther, really appreciate your comments.

[datacorder]

Thank you falther, thats a good question.

I'm been working on IT security related projects for about 14 years, including forensics for recovering information and getting evidences for different kind of projects.

Since a out 3 months I have been collecting and studing DR stuff like docs, articles, websites, forums, etc, and playing with tools like mhdd and ddrescue.

At this point I think I have a full picture of how starting a DR business from scratch, and because of that I'm looking for low-budget tools to start the hands-on with firmware issues and diagnostics. I know that it could take me about 1-2 years for really master this area, and after that my plan is to go to the next step with a clean room for the surgery and disk imager like DDI or Atola Insight, and after that I suppose that naturally I will be ready for dealing with pro tools like PC3000.

So, my first question is for beeing sure that my first budget (about $400-$500) is going to be spent on the right tools in this first step.

Could you give me your opinion? Will be really valuable to me.

[hddguy]

We are planning on buying some low-budget tools for firmware repairing

You should consider that you get what you pay for.

what would you recommend for starting on the firmware repairing for a budget of some hundreds?

without the appropriate (and high quality) specialist equipment, your best option is simply to outsource until you are in a better position financially.

(not enought money and knowledge)

This is exactly why you should find a reputable partner and outsource until you have the equipment, experience, finances and confidence to do the work in-house.

[drc]

Salvation tools are sufficient to perform some operations provided that you already know what you are trying to accomplish and how it is supposed to work, and can avoid the many pitfalls and problems specific to their tools.

If you are thinking you can take a non-working drive, plug it in, and have the tool tell you what the problem is and repair it for you, then you should know that is not how they work.

[falther]

Sorry, but which business can be started with a budget of 400 - 500 ???

And why should it be different (less) with DR ???

***

Next question?
Do you want to start a business to earn money (and live from that)
or just want to loose time.
What I mean is - I did not yet see the volume of defect drives with
fw issues - where its worth it to spend huge time for DR
Are you sure that YOU will get lots of high end customers to pay
for that ?

And the mass of customers you might see are those with defect
laptops (because of faulty hdd with defect sectors). Be aware that
€ 100.- is a high price - and students will scream starting at € 50,-

So the only chance to start is to get a cloning tool which gets data
off of a hdd with defect sectors.

You are in the class of:
Atola Imager, Forensic Imager - both can be upgraded later to
Atola Insight Ethernet,
or
the Atola Bandura (standallone without need of a pc)
or the Deepspar Imager

They start at about € 2000.- and up

If you cant spend that amount - look for a partner for outcourcing.

+++

[pclab]

With 400-500$ you can buy 1 manual....

You need to invest alot more...

[datacorder]

Thank you very much for your feedback, this is very valuable to me.

Of course I would like to start a DR business but as you can see I'm still not ready for doing it.

Then I'm going to get more founds for an imager and manuals. I'm not hurried up, I just want to be sure that I'm doing the right steps.

Thank you all again, really appreciate your feedback.

[selftest]

With 400-500$ you can buy 1 manual....

The same idea to you

[Alan2]

Dear Datacorder,
I agree with falther. The best way to start a data recovery business from scratch is with a good imager like Atola Imager or Deepspar Imager. That is how I started my part time data recovery business. The money you make from the imager can go towards purchasing additional data recovery equipment. You cannot start a data recovery with only one HD Doctor. I own all 5 HD Doctors. They are basically a poor man's PC3000. Are you aware there is an HD Doctor for each hard drive brand? For example Western Digital HD Doctor, Seagate HD Doctor, Maxtor HD Doctor, Hitachi/IBM HD Doctor, Samsung HD Doctor. Each one cost $600-$800.00 and services only one brand of hard drive. The real cost fot the HD doctor suite is around $3000.00 or more. Your $400.00 or $500.00 will barely purchase one used one that will not be suported by Salvation Data. Also since you could only purchase one, which one would it be? You would have too narrow of a data recovery repair window. Only one brand of hard drive with firmware problems. Not a good way to start a business. On the other hand, if you purchase a good imager, you will be able to recover data from all hard drive brands with corrupted, deleted partitions, bad sectors, virus damage etc. in forward or reverse direction. That is something that data recovery software cannot do.

Just my opinion.

Alan

[Castalba]

With 400-500$ you can buy 1 manual....

Only one???

[harddriverecovery]

The best way to start a data recovery business from scratch is with a good imager like Atola Imager or Deepspar Imager.

This is definitely a good piece of advice. These programs are pretty good.

As an additional note, you should probably set up a good partnership with a local data recovery service that has a clean room. This will probably enable you to take a lot more jobs than just a good imager could give you.

[bcometa]

After this I think the next step should be to build a clean room, go for a disk imager and will leave something like PC3000 for the last stage.

Just my opinion: your order is wrong. I'd recommend first disk imager, then pc3000, then clean room.

Once you get the disk imager, you'll learn all you can do before pc3k and clean room are necessary.

Once you get the PC3K, you'll learn all you can do before a clean room is necessary.

Once you master the PC3K, you'll learn all you can do before a clean room is necessary.

I don't understand why people want to learn about clean room recoveries so badly when they aren't needed to recover data from the majority of bad hard drives. They think they need a clean room for data recovery, but a deepspar and pc3k alone can recover data from most bad drives (certainly not all). Not to mention, unless you know all the capabilities of deepspar and pc3k, you can't properly diagnose a drive to decide if clean room (i.e. head swap, platter swap, etc) is necessary.

For example, do you want to learn to swap heads so you can fix clicking drives? Well, a clicking drive doesn't necessarily mean the heads are bad. If you can't diagnose a drive correctly first (using pc3k), then you may be swapping heads or platters for no reason and risking the data.

**WARNING: It is, however, of the utmost important to realize when a clean room is necessary and not risk hurting a drive using an imager or pc3k.

I know that it could take me about 1-2 years for really master this area

Try: a lifetime (which, in the US is at least 15 years, but since you're in Spain, the most it would take you is 40 years: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imprisonment ).

[thatdellguy]

I don't understand why people want to learn about clean room recoveries so badly when they aren't needed to recover data from the majority of bad hard drives.

You have to first own one to understand. We use our cleanroom on 30% to 40% of all drives that come in. I couldn't imagine running a DR business without a clean room. Our customers are worth more to us than just a quick buck.

[northwind]

I don't understand why people want to learn about clean room recoveries so badly when they aren't needed to recover data from the majority of bad hard drives.

You have to first own one to understand. We use our cleanroom on 30% to 40% of all drives that come in. I couldn't imagine running a DR business without a clean room. Our customers are worth more to us than just a quick buck.

Ditto

[bcometa]

More like a quick $2000 bucks.

[thatdellguy]

Not even in the ballpark.

[bcometa]

I guess you are one of the good guys then.

Either way, even if you charge $600, some people simply can't afford it, and that's where we come in.

[thatdellguy]

We charge more because we actually cover most aspects of DR and don't dance around the hard stuff. I guess we could just replace PCB's all day but we would be doing our customers a disservice.