Probably a stupid question, but I need something that can read and dump data from HDD's that won't mount. Ive seen the posts here about YEC, Atola, Salvationdata, etc - but they are too expensive for my budget. I have a shintaro duplicator (don't laugh), but it chokes on a lot of the damaged drives I put into it, so is pretty much useless for most data recovery tasks. Is there anything out there for under $500 that will offer some of the functionality of the more expensive tools?

no.

if you are familiar with Linux you can customize ddrescue or dd_rescue, most likely your best option if you don't have money to spend.

Useful like a tit on a bull if one or more heads are weak and/or need imaging by heads, and you can't control power/reset, and ECC, and... Assuming this is not important... may help.

may be HD Duplicator is the answer, gurus will tell better..

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Ok. So it sounds like the experts are saying, "probably not".

I really dont have thousands to spend, but I do have to ask the question, "whats the advantage"?

Obviously people use these devices and swear by them. What can they do that software can't?

Also (sorry if this is a stupid question), but is it possible to use one of these boxes to copy a hdd that cant be seen by BIOS in a PC? (seems to me this would be a significant reason to look at getting one)

Thanks for any light shed

no box or sw will work on non working drive until you fix it. P.s. I made my own sw/hw solution and happy with it so if you really want you can do it.

copy paste will do
You are asking for a good car for cheep money, if You want good or make it or pay it.

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Or better, it's the demand for a pig that makes wool, you can milk, that lay eggs and eventually you can ride. Ah yes it must not eat a lot.

cheapest will be salvation data data compass or the new version 'data king?'
will work best for what you want.

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" Is there anything out there for under $500 that will offer some of the functionality of the more expensive tools?"

What is your time worth?

If you can get your labour cost down to a Buck an hour, then you are still going to be out of pocket in six months.

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Yes there are a couple of cheaper options......
Make contact with the Hd Duplicator developer and see what deal he will do for you.
You could also contact the developer of Dmde to see if the harware control interface is ready yet.

Also as has been pointed out any hardware/software combination is of no or little use if the drive has certain mechanical or firmware problems so bear that in mind.

Read more here and a simple search would also help to answer some questions: duplicator-hardware-imagers-t15441.html

Semi Serious: R-Studio
Very Serious: Deepspar

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Side note and comparison :

Semi expensive : R-Studio
Very Expensive : Deepspar

As usual, everything depends on what you really need, how is the business and the budget.

R-studio, while a great software, is NOT a drive imager.

Imaging software meant to handle bad drives is not going to be Windows-based.

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

@drc,

it is not an imager in "strict" meaning : you can make an image (drive -> file) that can be "mounted" eventually and analized later.
Yes you cannot "clone" drive to drive. At least now.

Right... but the original poster was looking for something that would do well at imaging "damaged" drives. It works fine for imaging healthy drives, as do any number of other softwares like winhex, etc.

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

I know, but everybody think that DR is easy, what to say ?

Thanks guys... very informative responses.

Im still not clear about the advantages of the devices though. Specifically what is it that the dedicated hardware units are able to do that software can't?

Deal with errors in a predictable and specified way

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.