Data Recovery Tools Needed to Complete Recoveries Safely
The largest barrier to entry in the data recovery field is knowledge and experience. The second largest barrier is the tools that are necessary to complete data recoveries safely. We have invested in the best data recovery tools available, and with over 10 years of experience, I have the knowledge and expertise needed to safely recover the data from your device.
Ace Labs PC-3000
The single most important piece of equipment for a data recovery lab is the PC-3000 by Ace Labs. We have an upgraded model that will allow us to work on multiple drives at the same time as well as recover RAIDs.
The PC-3000 has several uses, but the most important is its ability to allow you to alter firmware on the drive. Many drives have corrupt firmware due to their failure, so in order to recover the drive fully the firmware will need to be altered.
We also use the PC-3000 as an imager. Once the drive is working enough to access the data, we use the PC-3000 Data Extractor feature to image the data to a new drive.
DeepSpar Disk Imager
The DeepSpar Disk Imager is a more basic tool than the PC-3000. It accomplishes one of the most time-consuming parts of recovery on most drives, the imaging of the data. Once the drive is working enough to pull the data, I can use the DeepSpar to safely image the data to a good drive.
There are lots of options available when imaging a drive with a DeepSpar. You can only pull data from certain heads, pull the data from front to back or back to front, control how long the data is attempted to access before it times out and moves onto the next sector, and lots more!
Sentry Air Systems Clean Room
We use a Sentry Air Systems clean room box to complete any work on drives where they need to be opened. Anytime you open a drive it needs to be done inside a clean room environment.
Quick Soldering Rework Station
Many drives have electrical or other issues with the printed circuit board. When this is the case, the board may need to be repaired or replaced. During the replacement certain chips have to be moved over from the original board to the new board.
Hard Drive Head Swap Tools
When the hard drive does require a lab recovery, head swaps are the most common service. I like these head combs and have found them to be very well made, which provides a high success rate with the donor stack.
Speciality Screw Drivers
A lot of modern drives (and even some older drives) use security screws or a difficult-to-find driver to try to keep people from opening the cover of their drive without understanding the risks (remember that a drive should not be opened outside of a clean room). But if you have the experience and expertise to open the cover, you will need the special screw drivers to complete the work!
I personally like ordering my screwdrivers from ifixit. I go with the Wera brand when possible, but I also like Wiha tools.
Data Recovery Software
There are a lot of options regarding the software you run once the imaging process is complete. Some of my favorites are:
- Data rescue
- R-Studio
- Get data back
- UFS Explorer
Data Transfer Computers
Once the recovery is complete and the data is ready to move to the customer drive, we use one of our data transfer computers. I have computers setup to transfer data for Macs, PCs, and Linux formats.
Need Your Data Recovered?
If you would like me to work on your recovery project, please feel free to contact us or fill our our contact form below.