Data Recovery Using Linux

So you have a bad hard drive do ya? Does your computer still at least see the drive? Well there is hope. First step is to take that data off the bad drive.

For this i used

dd_rescue and dd_rhelp

This command basically goes down to the sector level and make an exact duplicate of the data from one drive to the other.

dd_rhelp is a more advanced implementation of dd_rescue. It basically reads the data until it starts finding bad blocks. It then skips to a different part of the disk and starts reading there. It trys to brush over all the bad blocks which slow you down and just get the good data. If time is not a constraint, just use dd_rescue, dd_rhelp is best used if you have limited amount of time, or your drive is badly damamged and its looks like your restore is going to take a long time.

Once you have the data duplicated, hook it up to a standard data recovery program and attempt to get the data using the standard methods. I like final data for windows apps. Don't trust the "data recovery" houses that exist out there. I have NEVER once gotten data back from those places after i already tried and failed. These places are supposed to have class 100 clean rooms and this and that. The are in my opinion, con artists, that wait for stupid people to walk in with a drive thats not physically damaged. I would bet theses guys could handel a drive if its not damaged, but i would like to see them produce any drive that they have repaired that was damaged. I have requested to be present for this, but they will not allow it.

I have used two local companies in san diego

HDO(hard disk only) - 858-455-0277
I brought a drive to this company that i scanned before bringing it in with light to medium bad sectors. Out of 80GB there was about 15MB of bad sectors or less then 1% of the disk. I requested they try to recover a mysql database off the drive. After the valuation, they declined to do the recovery stating that it was too difficult and too risky. When i asked the tech to send me an email explaining this, he said he would not stating that i would need to pay for a report to be sent. This company did not win any points in my book for customer service. I asked the company why they don't offer data backup service (the first thing any of these people would go out and buy) The tech stated that it was a conflict of intrest to help people avoid losing data. I see his point but he is basically saying that they make all their money on people not backing up. Bottom feeders is what i call them.

A similar story with another san diego comany CBL Data Recovery technologies. 619-449-1200. I brought data to them on a drive (more damaged then the other drive) They gave it a good college try and tried to get the data. No luck, they called me back after 3 days stating that the drive is too badly damaged. I did not get charged in either case so i guess i cant complain that much but my point is, Data recover houses are not able to fix damaged drives. I have never seen one do so thus far. If any one has ever brought a drive to a recovery place that you couldn't get and they did, i would like to hear about it. I need a good data recovery house and i still have not found one.

If you want it done right, do it your self!