Any opinions on which is better? Without seeing either, the HD HDE Pro looks better to me, but I'm wondering if anyone has tried both.

i have both and both use different technology , for small drive without spacer the SD is fine and quickly
for big drives with many platters and with spacer HDRC is more sophisticate.






Regards




Xronis

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T3 Professional Data Recovery
http://www.t3-recovery.com

Can either of these move the platters on a Hitachi Travelstar without needing to move the heads? (At least the Travelstars that have a ramp that the heads park on.) Or, is it still tight enough that you would have to remove the heads?

You would have to remove the ramp - as it hangs over the platters - and the top half of the magnetic flux circuit so you can move the heads off the ramp. So, for the sake of another screw and removing the chance of breaking the heads you may as well remove the heads too.

Once you have done this, you can use what you want to remove the platters.

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If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, you probably don't fully understand the situation. ... Mr Kipling

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Even your fingers?

Depends if it is a Toshiba or not!