Posts Tagged ‘hard disk drive data recovery’

Helium Hard Drives?

Monday, October 1st, 2012

Better not leave your hard drive just lying around, or it may just float away. Or at least that may be the case after 2013, when at least one hard drive manufacture, Hitachi Global Storage (now owned by Western Digital) has plans to start filling hard drives with helium.

http://www.hgst.com/press-room/2012/hgst-announces-radically-new-helium-filled-hard-disk-drive-platform

We all know helium as that “lighter than air” gas that has been used to fill and float party balloons for years. But due to it’s lighter then air composition, operating in a helium environment also allows mechanical devices like motors, to spin with less effort, produce less air turbulence, and to operate with less heat and noise. Hard drive manufactures have known of these advantages for years but the problem was keeping the helium from escaping the sealed internal chamber of a hard disk drive. Now that a solution has been found, it will be possible to install more disks on the same motor by spacing them even closer together. Presently, 5 disks can be used in a normal air filled hard drive. Using a sealed helium environment will allow 7 disks for a maximum capacity of 5.6 TB in a single hard drive! WOW!

Helium is harvested as a bi-product of natural gas production and Texas has some of the highest concentrations in the world but the demand continues to outstrip supply. Helium is mainly used in the medical industry to cool MRI machines, and in cryogenics, arc welding and wafer fabrication. It is still unclear how the hard drive industries requirements could effect this shortage but it will no doubt help drive up the cost of hard drives should it become common place.

As for data recovery, it could be a tough barrier to overcome. Assuming that the process used to seal in the helium is a one time affair it may not be possible to reload the hard drive with helium. Consequently we may not be able to replace damaged heads or open the sealed disk chamber in any way … or perhaps we will need to operate in a helium filled clean room .. I can hear the recovery techs speaking in high pitched chipmunk-like voices now … :-) .. is that you Alvin?

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Let’s Get Green($): Redeploying old Hard Drives

Monday, September 17th, 2012

This blog regularly focuses on the issues around data recovery and important considerations in maintaining your storage devices. But today I’d like to highlight an interesting service from Memofix through a guest post by our CEO, Chris Rathgeber. – David Foster

Memofix has more than two decades of experience in providing warranty depot service for technology manufacturers, computer resellers and businesses of all size. We provide solutions for a variety of devices but we have a particular focus and passion for all things related to storage. This has allowed us to build some unique customer programs that reduce risk and recover value for assets that have been deemed obsolete.

Hard drive shipments world-wide continue to increase with some 300 million delivered in the first half of 2012 (IHS.com). IT managers are replacing thousands of hard drives each month across Canada and we deal with the asset disposition process for a significant amount, either directly or through our partnerships with manufacturers or resellers. They may be upgrading to newer technologies, like SSD, or adding capacity or simply reducing the number of storage devices by relying on cloud based solution providers. These IT refresh or upgrade projects end up displacing an equal or greater amount older storage devices.

All IT managers should be exploring the possible trade-in value for any storage devices that are replaced in their environment. Many can be sold to other companies who are increasing storage capacity in a network environment that is standardized on older technology. Hard disks and tape drives, once audited and refurbished, can be sold as service spares to a wide variety of customers. Some may have more value to be broken down into key components and used as spare parts. Our team has been able to find customers for older hard disks of all capacities, tape drives, network drive enclosures, tape libraries, auto-loaders and other storage related components.


The most critical issue for any customer, when considering the re-marketing of hard drives from their facility, will be data security. There is always a concern that one of their hard disks will be resold with information that can be accessed by a potential future buyer. We believe that Memofix delivers a level of security that customer can rely on, that no data can be retrieved and they can extract full value for the re-marketed device. In the 25 years that we have been delivering data recovery solutions, hard drive repairs and data destruction services we have never had a single incident of a data breech. The manufacturing leaders in storage technology rely on us for this level of security as do some of the largest IT departments in Canada. Once devices have gone through our audit and data wipe process, they can be re-marketed and the recovery value can underwrite the replacement units or future operational costs.

We’re a bit obsessive about the details when we take on an asset disposition project for our clients. We establish a secure chain of custody that matches our customer’s need for security. All assets are received and detailed reports are created that allow us to track each asset through our various phases of audit, test, data wipe, refurbishing, packaging and ultimate payment to the client. These reports account for every asset and ensure that they can be removed from the customer’s accounting application. We utilize our data recovery division to random test devices during the data wipe process to guarantee that our procedures are working as expected. Approximately 25% of drives cannot be wiped effectively because the device does not function properly. These are degaussed and shredded to endure data security standards are met.

Memofix is known as a quality supplier of refurbished storage with all products backed by warranties that are best in the industry. A hard drive with a single bad sector will fail our testing process and will not be resold. This level of quality means we demand premium prices for our refurbished inventory which results in higher trade-in values paid to our asset disposition customers. All hardware that fails while in testing, or that has no re-marketing value, is recycled responsibly meeting strict Canadian ewaste guidelines.

We regularly manage the physical destruction of thousands of hard drives as directed by our customers despite our knowledge that many have value in the re-marketing and service channel. Some companies have no appetite for risk and will remove all storage devices for shredding and recycling and we follow instructions accordingly. But we will provide an analysis of the potential trade-in value of all devices so the client can weigh the benefits of pursuing that option. For several customers their confidence in our secure processing has resulted in valuable recovery dollars flowing back into their IT operations.

Please consider partnering with Memofix as a key supplier for asset disposition services focused on storage technology. Whether your project is large or small, or you deal with us directly or through a trusted computer reseller, we can provide data wipe solutions and re-marketing programs that give you peace of mind for your retired assets along with funds for extending your IT budget.

Chris Rathgeber, CEO Memofix

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Data Recovery Second Chances

Thursday, December 1st, 2011

Here is a story that our head of client services in Toronto wishes me to tell. It’s a story that happens just a little bit too often …

A few weeks back we had a gentleman drop by with a Western Digital hard disk drive for possible data recovery services. The client was quite anxious so we did a while-u-wait evaluation and quickly discovered the disc drive couldn’t spin up because it had a defective PCB or printed circuit board. After reading off the original NVRAM memory contents* and transferring them onto a compatible PCB we soon had the drive spinning again. However we still couldn’t access the client’s data and further analysis revealed there was a second more complicated problem with the drive’s SA or “system area” modules, (kind of a secret operating system stored on the drive’s disks or platters and for its own exclusive use). After some attempts to repair the damaged SA modules it became apparent that it would take further research and time to solve the corruption. We did however believe we had enough information to quote the customer and we proceeded to do just that.

With multiple hard drive problems we don’t typically charge twice as much but we do add a premium and this recovery was quoted at $800. And as often happens, the client was aghast at the figure and decided to decline our data recovery quote. Fair enough, we realize the real value of the data can only be determined by the owner so we packed up the case and handed it back to the gentleman. See this older blog post “Data Recovery Pricing and Why were not the Cheapest” to better understand the data recovery pricing process.

A week or so goes by and we get another visit from the same gentleman. This time he is ready to agree to our quote and he leaves the drive with us. However, once we get the disk drive back into the lab, we see stickers on it from one of our competitors, the largest data recovery company in the world ! And worse yet, the drive’s bubble or sealed environment where the disks are located had been opened.

Oh oh, why would they open the drive? Our initial evaluation revealed no problems with the actual disc media or the read/write heads, so we better take a look. Under class100 clean room conditions we open the hard drive and find a crash forming on the top surface minimally. The crash has formed a ring and can only be created by continuing to operate a crashing hard drive. We then remove the head assembly and inspect each head for damage and contamination. This process reveals additional crashes have developed on the lower disk surfaces. The damage is so severe; the odds are against us recovering anything of value!

We contact the client who admits he did bring it to a competitor BUT he swears it was only for another evaluation and quote. He was trying to find a better price. After “evaluating” his hard drive recovery for 2 days, the other data recovery company told him it was unrecoverable!

This is where the illusion of two totally different outcomes must be addressed and the difference in data recovery processes exposed! Here’s what happened …

The world’s largest data recovery company receives a hard drive for data recovery. The drive is received and they immediately attempt to recover all the data possible. If they can’t recover any data they declare it unrecoverable. If they can recover some data they send the client a list of what they can recover and a firm quote. The recovery is already attempted, the results are already in. There is no proper “do no harm” evaluation or diagnosis. There is little chance of anyone doing any better once they are finished with it. Any 2nd chances are effectively destroyed!

What makes matters worse is what happened with this case. What would have been a 99% chance of a successful recovery with Memofix Data Recovery Services turns into a 100% unrecoverable situation. Whether the new damage was caused by mishandling during its transportation or whether it occurred during our competitors “evaluation” cannot be said, BUT I can tell you the result is the same. Somebody is not going to see their data ever again.

IF a data recovery company can’t give you an evaluation without doing further harm to your hard drive then they don’t know what they are doing, period! Memofix stands by every evaluation we perform and furthermore our processes do NO harm. Consequently if you get a 2nd opinion after a Memofix diagnosis it should confirm exactly what we discovered. Of course actual data recovery pricing for the same diagnosis may differ between competitors, especially in Toronto.

IF a data recovery company uses a process where they attempt to recover the data immediately from any data recovery case they receive, don’t use them. Even if they successfully recover your data, their attempts may have denied anyone else a chance of recovering your data AND consequently they can hold you over a barrel as they have the last obtainable copy of your data in the world.

Remember, the 1st attempt at recovering data from a hard disk drive is typically the most successful. The longer a failing hard drive is operated, the worse your chances of seeing your data again. Choose a data recover provider with the same care that you would use to choose a surgeon, your data may depend on it.

*PCB swapping on most HDDs is not a straight exchange (even with an exact firmware PCB), as the PCB stores settings specifically tuned for its original set of disks and heads. .

 

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