Hi all,

Only have enough funds to purchase either DDI4 or PC-3000 UDMA. Which should I purchase first and why?

Feedback appreciated as always.

_________________
http://www.computerworksuk.com

Can PC-3000 suppport head testing and cloning by disabling heads etc. Do they have any plan to support USB drives like DDI4 can?

Thanks

_________________
http://www.computerworksuk.com

PC3K +DE is considerably more expensive than DDI, but a considerably better all-round tool IMHO

So, if you can afford PC3k + DE then go for it, is my advice.

Admittedly it's MUCH harder to get your head round, but it does a LOT more.

If you were a regular PC shop that just wants to clone drives with bad sectors, then DDI is your man.

But if you want to go a step further and fix FW issues and read drives that won't start up on their own (e.g. Seagate drives that require a LDR to start, as Spildit says), then PC3K is the way to go.

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

Depends on what you need it for. If that's data recovery, then definitely PC-3000.
With it you should be able to do all the things, which can be done with DDI and much more, but not the vice versa.

_________________
• Remote RAID, NAS, SAN, VMware, DVR (CCTV), flash and tape recovery. Data recovery support.

Many thanks people - I have a lot more to go on now.

thank you

_________________
http://www.computerworksuk.com

And as far as the USB only drives are concerned. If it's a WD drive, you can replace the PCB with a SATA one using PC-3000 and even decrypt the data on the fly (for most models).

DDI is a faster more feature rich imaging tool which is used to speed up the cloning process. However you can still do the same thing (just a bit slower) with PC-3000 and Data Extractor.

However PC-3000 can do a ton of stuff that DDI can't. Re-programming PCB boards, re-building lost ROM codes, common firmware repairs, etc. So if you can only afford one it's the obvious choice.

But don't think for one second that it's going to be a quick, plug in the drive, press fix and it's all better solution either. It isn't like that. The tool will take a lot of time to learn how to use it, which if you aren't willing to invest the time will render the tool useless.

_________________
Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

Some very strong points made thanks. I guess it depends what percentage and what type of market One is looking to capture. If someone's main customer base is going to be home and small business I'm guessing DDI maybe the way to go as less chance of firmware issues. Does anyone have an idea percentage wise what the spit would be between jobs requiring firmware fixing as opposed to those that simply need a head swap and imaging? I'm currently using DFL-FRP for Seagate drives so I'm quite aware of how complex firmware issues can be.

_________________
http://www.computerworksuk.com

Really all depends. We get quite a few WD drives here that need a simple slow responding fix to get them operational, quite a few Seagates that need translator regeneration, etc. I'd say roughly about 20% of the drives that show up, we couldn't do without the firmware capabilities. However at least another 10-15% we couldn't do without PC-3000 as we need it to write SA tracks onto a donor drive to hotswap drives with damaged SA areas.

All in all, I'd say at least 40% of the jobs we do couldn't be done with just DDI, but can be done with PC-3000. It's the first machine that any drive gets connected to when they arrive here and it's probably the only one I couldn't live without.

_________________
Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

Just as a thought.... if you're on a really tight budget you might consider MRT PRO as an alternative. It's certainly not as good as PC-3000 (the gold standard), but has a lot of the basic functionality, as well as good cloning capabilities. The whole system only costs $3,360 USD and they even accept payments.

_________________
Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

Yes I did look into that actually and yes they accept monthly instalments. Problem is I'm a little cautious about Chinese products where good support would be needed. I find support from the Chinese market in my experience to be quite poor and even when info get a response it's like trying to decipher morse code because of poor English. How have you found the support from Ace Labs?

_________________
http://www.computerworksuk.com

The tool you want as No:1 is PC3000+DE+SSD and maybe Flash if you have many of these cases. I have the whole kit and cannot live without it! For sure!
As second tool you want DDI.

Support from Ace Labs is excellent and simply the best in the world!! I know because i had all the other tools before (Not talking about DDI now).

Thx
eazycut

Thanks good to know.

_________________
http://www.computerworksuk.com