HDD GURU FORUMS

Hi,

I would like to hear your opinions about which laptops are the most suitable for data recovery.

I like very much the Dell Latitude E6400 /E6500 / E6410 / E6510 for many aspects : ultra-easy maintenance (e.g. adding RAM, swapping hard drive, processor, a.s.o.), long-lasting battery, very robust design, easy installation of drivers from DELL's website.

However, these models only offer USB 2.0, which is not sufficient for my current needs.
They have an eSATA port, but for 2.5'' drives, I like using USB 3.0 enclosures as they don't need an external power supply like docks. The ExpressCard allows adding one USB 3.0 port with more or less reliability, but two USB 3.0 ports are a minimum.

I also own a Dell Latitude E6420. Maintenance is less easy (more screws) but still correct.
The battery seems of poorer quality however.

By Lenovo, I liked the T series with their hard drive caddy, allowing to easily insert/remove a second hard drive. I used it on the old T43 (IDE) / T60,T61 (SATA). The speed for cloning was about the half of a eSATA port added via ExpressCard.

For data recovery, I'm upset about the MacBook Pro from years 2010/2011 that I own (A1286, A1278) : only two USB ports, no eSATA, no ExpressCard.
That's not enough for the job. The maintenance is complicated, with at least 10 screws to remove. The thiner new MacBooks are without RJ-45 socket and that's really boring too.

The Alienware I've seen were ultra heavy ; these were more desktops than laptops ; really untransportable.

So, my dream laptop :

- has at least 4 USB ports, enough spaced so that you can insert some fat devices without they enter into conflict, and preferably located on the right and left sides rather than on the back side.

- has at least two and possibly USB 3.0 ports

- has one and possibly two eSATA ports

- has possibly a hot swappable hard drive caddy (like on the Lenovo)

- has possibly an memory card slot

- has possibly an ExpressCard slot

- offers easy maintenance (Maintenance on DELL Latitude was 5 to 10 times easier that what I've seen with Lenovo, Apple, and other brands), so that I can very easily swap the inner drive

- has an internal DVD bay

- has robust design and remains transportable with a backpack

- has a battery with cells lasting long
(+1 for Dell Latitude and MacBook Pro and -1 for HP ProBook)
I don't need many hours of battery life, but I don't want having to change the battery after a few years.

- is already available on the second hand market for reduced price.

I'm asking a lot and maybe is is such laptop a dream, but you have its portrait.

Your suggestions?

SOSdonnees wrote:Your suggestions?

Forget about laptops and buy any decent DESKTOP if possible with some sort of hardware assisted tool like a PC-3000 card or MRTPro card.

This is because you will want to :

1 - Connect the client's drives directly to the motherboard by sata/ide port if no hardware card like pc-3000 is available.

2 - There is no point in using a laptop to do data recovery as you will not want to go to a facility with a damaged drive, plug that to the laptop, image it (can take days), and recover from it on site (copy files from the clone to the other drive).

Data recovery it's not a thing that you will want to preform on site (in general). Better option is to take the drive with you and recover the data by plugging it to your desktop machines with hardware assisted data recovery tools.

Hi Spildit,

Not to disagree with you that if I had to choose between only a desktop and only a laptop to do data recovery, I would choose a desktop.

I myself use several desktops, so that I can connect the drives in SATA, use PCI extension cards, a.s.o.

However, a laptop remains suitable in many data recovery cases (seeking accidentally deleted or overwritten files, imaging drives with bad sectors, logical file system corruptions, basic on-site diagnosis, a.s.o.). I probably have done more than one hundred data recoveries using laptops.

In my country, and especially in the city where I am, every square meter of office space really costs a lot. On one table, I can place several laptops, and image drives or do logical data recoveries in parallel. This is impossible with desktops.

So, please stay on topic : Which laptop for a data recovery guy ?

If space savings is a primary concern then you should get a stack of these mini computers: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

Each one has an internal SATA 3 port which can be routed out of it for you source drive, an M.2 for your OS SSD, and has two USB 3.0 ports for target drive docks. You can fit five or six of these setups on a single desktop with one monitor and keyboard shared via a KVM switch. And with an i3 or i5 processor, they are a totally decent desktop workstation for logical recoveries.

if you're talking about space you may want to consider a tablet (less space than a laptop)

Thank you data-medics and jermy.

The idea of the mini computers and using a switch looks nice.
Do you have to create a hole in the enclosure to route the SATA port out?
Some photo ?

Most of my hard drive docks are currenty eSATA & USB 2.0.
Unfortunately, I see that the mini PC you suggest unfortunately doesn't have an eSATA port. I mostly use USB 3.0 when I put laptop hard drives in enclosures, and eSATA docks for 3.5'' drives.

Another challenge when having few space is the jungle of docks, cables, power chords.

The 17'' M6700 mobile workstation from Dell looks really cool.
It supports up to four storages : main hard drive easily removable, second hard drive (not sure if so easy to swap), third hard drive in bay instead of DVD and as fourth storage, an mSATA hard drive. I assume that the mSATA port could be used for the OS.
This mobile workstation supports total storage up to 2.8TB.
It has an two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 and an eSATA port.
This video shows the storages at 2'15'' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APa0_HXEh-U
Not a cheap laptop, of course.

I like the idea from data-medics, using Intel NUC mini computers.

I could follow an auction for an Intel NUC NUC5i5RYK, which has 4 x USB 3.0, but was quite expensive.

What about the Asus Chromebox, which also does have 4 x USB 3.0 (two on the font panel and two on the rear panel)?
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7850/asus ... box-review

Unfortunately, it doesn't have any SATA port inside, but there is an M.2 socket for an SSD.

Does anyone know if an operating system other than Chrome OS can be installed and used easily, for instance the Parted Magic Linux distro, or does either the BIOS or lacking drivers prevent this ?

Hi SOSdonnes,

To start with datarecovery you need good tools or better to say the best tools. Otherwise you will end up soon or later buying them anyway if you survive until you realize it. It depends whats your goals are and how much money you can spend on tools. If you have the money then go for the best, dont think, just do it!!

If you really want to use a laptop for DR then i suggest a Lenovo thinkpad at least a fast I5 or I7 cpu. This should be more then good. you can take out the dvd and put in a hdd caddy for 6 pounds on ebay, then you have 2 drives. Running OS for example on a 500gb SSD and a regular hdd on 1TB or more in the caddy (up tp you). Here you store FW and Cases and other sh_t.

For the hdd repair tool i can only recommend the tools i use (simply the best tools, best support, from the best engineers, developers in the world, that many other tries to copy!).

In your case with a laptop you can use this tool (cheaper):
PC3000 Portable + DE - This tool connects with usb to your laptop. Then you have a good start at least knowing you have a much better tool out there that many dream of to have in their lab. But i would Rater recommend the PC3000 UDMA or EXPRESS + DE.

In my case i use all there tools, not the portable!
PC3000 EXPRESS + DE + SSD
PC3000 SAS + DE
PC3000 FLASH
With these tools i can do all jobs knowing i have the best tools out there for safety for my customers! Very important.

But for real serious DR these tools are not enogh. In my lab i have 13 workstations (dual screen on the express machine) and three laptops, all machines running Windows, Linux and Mac.
Soldering station with heatgun, ir soldering and all tools needed for soldeirng/desoldering all electronics. you need a Microscope (one for soldering and one in the cleanroom).
All my work with mechanical failure drives i do in a filtered overpressured room with a cleanroom beanch inside (totally clean). Then you need many donordrives, head replacement tools for different drives, adapters for ssd drives and so on.. the list is long and like never ends......

For sure i know you will never regret buying the PC3000 tool. If you want the best tool and best support then this it is m8! Then slowly build up your Dr company, saying you ONLY use the best tools!

Good luck.