Spinrite 6
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Davis Computer Services
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I have ran it as a last chance sort of thing to try and get some data off of some drives. It has brought some hard drives back to life, but I wouldn't trust them at all. If they all ready failed once, they are bound to go again at any moment.
TimeCode
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I've had some luck with it but also some monumental failures. If SpinRite fails or crashes, your drive is HOSED!
sys-eng
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You probably already know this but never test a drive with a product like that unless everything is on an UPS.
The cost is $356. From my experience, I don't believe it is worth it. I got more data back from just imaging the drive and copying. I ran the program on two drives for over 100 hours each and recovered nothing. The drives would still work under chkdsk but SpinRite recovered no data.
See the email message below that I received from GRC.
me: . . . after 22 months of unemployment I am starting a home business to repair computers. Can I use the SpinRite license I have for this? It appears from what I read on your website that I might have to pay for 4 licenses. Is that true?
GRC: Yes, that is true.
me: That would be an enormous cost and impossible for me to pay.
GRC: Well you already have the one license, so you would just need to purchase three more. The best we could do is have you purchase the licenses one at a time as you make money. If you do go this route we would need to link all your separate purchase transactions together, so you would need to notify us via email each time you made a purchase.
Sincerely,
Sue
GRC
Sales Dept.
The cost is $356. From my experience, I don't believe it is worth it. I got more data back from just imaging the drive and copying. I ran the program on two drives for over 100 hours each and recovered nothing. The drives would still work under chkdsk but SpinRite recovered no data.
See the email message below that I received from GRC.
me: . . . after 22 months of unemployment I am starting a home business to repair computers. Can I use the SpinRite license I have for this? It appears from what I read on your website that I might have to pay for 4 licenses. Is that true?
GRC: Yes, that is true.
me: That would be an enormous cost and impossible for me to pay.
GRC: Well you already have the one license, so you would just need to purchase three more. The best we could do is have you purchase the licenses one at a time as you make money. If you do go this route we would need to link all your separate purchase transactions together, so you would need to notify us via email each time you made a purchase.
Sincerely,
Sue
GRC
Sales Dept.
Davis Computer Services
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Site licenses are generally more expensive than retail versions. It is just a cost of doing business. It is better than buying a copy for each computer you use it on.
MrUnknown
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SpinRite type programs are hit or miss. I have had SpinRite and HDD Regenerator allow me to recover more files (as recently as 4 days ago) but there has been times where it has done nothing at all.
As others have said, these programs should be a last resort as they can kill the drive in the process. I generally do a disk image first thing and see what I can recover from that. If the client isn't happy, I charge extra to run it through the program to see what else can be recovered. The most recent hard drive took 30 hours for over 4000 bad sectors, but it did allow me to recover a missing sector that was part of his financial data.
I would honestly like to know more about how these programs apparently work instead of the "we sprinkle fairy dust" marketing speak on their websites.
As others have said, these programs should be a last resort as they can kill the drive in the process. I generally do a disk image first thing and see what I can recover from that. If the client isn't happy, I charge extra to run it through the program to see what else can be recovered. The most recent hard drive took 30 hours for over 4000 bad sectors, but it did allow me to recover a missing sector that was part of his financial data.
I would honestly like to know more about how these programs apparently work instead of the "we sprinkle fairy dust" marketing speak on their websites.
rusty.nells
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All (excellent) comments aside, you have to know "when" to use it. If the drive has a physical or mechanical problem, don't use it.
Davis Computer Services
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Steve Gibson talks about how it works all the time on his Security Now! podcast. I recommend it.
MrUnknown
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I've tried listening to him talk and he sincerely annoys me. When I have listened, he has only read customer stories and the only real detail he has given was that it can recover partial sectors.
I was looking for an in-depth view as to how these things actually recover anything, not a feature list. If you know of a Security Now episode where he really goes into detail, feel free to tell me which episode number.
I was looking for an in-depth view as to how these things actually recover anything, not a feature list. If you know of a Security Now episode where he really goes into detail, feel free to tell me which episode number.
rusty.nells
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Wow.
Thanks for the info guys. I always do an image if its a messed up disk with critical data on it.
Im mainly looking for something besides chkdsk to fix partly corrupted drives.
I'm a big fan of SpinRite. I've been using it for years and it has helped me recover data and unbootable systems many times. About half the time I'll end up replacing the drive after recovery, but it depends on the situation.
I also like to follow a SpinRite recovery with chkdsk for file system errors. Then I'll either image the disk to a replacement drive or put it back in service. It's a process that has worked for me many times.
I also like to follow a SpinRite recovery with chkdsk for file system errors. Then I'll either image the disk to a replacement drive or put it back in service. It's a process that has worked for me many times.
Galdorf
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I have tried it its really bad why? in data recovery you don't want to keep hitting damaged areas it can make things worse this software does that and causes more damage.
Real data recovery software scans drive for bad sectors copies data from good parts of the drive then goes to bad area in an attempt to recover the data.
Spinrite most times i have used it fails too often takes forever to do something Hdd regenerator is much better than spinrite.
what i do is run hdd regenerator in scan and repair mode then i make an image of the drive and work from that, sprinrite is nothing more than a fancy chkdsk.
Most times 90% hdd regenerator fixes the bad sector allowing me to clone the drive.
Real data recovery software scans drive for bad sectors copies data from good parts of the drive then goes to bad area in an attempt to recover the data.
Spinrite most times i have used it fails too often takes forever to do something Hdd regenerator is much better than spinrite.
what i do is run hdd regenerator in scan and repair mode then i make an image of the drive and work from that, sprinrite is nothing more than a fancy chkdsk.
Most times 90% hdd regenerator fixes the bad sector allowing me to clone the drive.
MrUnknown
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from what I understand, HDD Regenerator does not do anything to the data, it just marks the "bad" sectors as good and your HDD will try to read from them again.
SpinRite, while you may call it a fancy chkdsk, has the advantage of knowing about the structure of a file system. If the sector has any real damage to it, HDD Regen will do nothing about it. SpinRite can take the partial data that can be read and re-write it to a good sector allowing the computer to, at the very least, read that partial data which could be a directory marker or a filename.
HDD Regen works because a lot of times, a sector can be marked as bad eventhough it is fine simply because the HDD is having a hard time reading it. After a certain amount of errors, it calls it bad. SpinRite has the option to do a "refresh" and re-write all of the data on the HDD to help prevent that problem, so it can be used as a maintinence application also.
I'd recommend getting them both and use them in different situations.
SpinRite, while you may call it a fancy chkdsk, has the advantage of knowing about the structure of a file system. If the sector has any real damage to it, HDD Regen will do nothing about it. SpinRite can take the partial data that can be read and re-write it to a good sector allowing the computer to, at the very least, read that partial data which could be a directory marker or a filename.
HDD Regen works because a lot of times, a sector can be marked as bad eventhough it is fine simply because the HDD is having a hard time reading it. After a certain amount of errors, it calls it bad. SpinRite has the option to do a "refresh" and re-write all of the data on the HDD to help prevent that problem, so it can be used as a maintinence application also.
I'd recommend getting them both and use them in different situations.
sys-eng
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But at $356, I expect it to work much more than 10% of the time. My experience with it has not shown that it is NOT worth it to me though I do have a license for it.
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LunchBox
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Can someone tell me what SpinRite is able to recover that Get Data Back can't or better yet the pros and cons of each?
I've read many times that tool that work my get data back are able to recover data when SpinRite is not able to and in the same reading if get data back (or same type of tools) is not able to recovery data SpinRite wont have a chance.
I've read many times that tool that work my get data back are able to recover data when SpinRite is not able to and in the same reading if get data back (or same type of tools) is not able to recovery data SpinRite wont have a chance.
B
BostonGeek1
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I wouldn't use spinrite at all. I would use an expensive disk imaging software that skips over the sectors (1 attempt passes), and then do data recovery on the clean image. If there's still data missing, I would try setting to longer attemps per sector and MAYBE use spinrite, but at that point it becomes somewhat hopeless.
Galdorf
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Yes always use image to recover data best tools are:
Media tools Professional
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/media_tools_pro.php?PHPSESSID=48f94ad3a8c976a9120119b968be8925
HD Duplicator (formally called CopyR)
http://copyrsoft.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=25&Itemid=27&lang=en
It is best do do a reverse image on drives with bad sectors:
Reverse Clone is the process of cloning from the end of your media to the beginning of it. When your media is severely failing mechanically, "Reverse-Cloning" is often your last chance to extract raw data from it, without having to take it into a clean room.
Media tools Professional
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/media_tools_pro.php?PHPSESSID=48f94ad3a8c976a9120119b968be8925
HD Duplicator (formally called CopyR)
http://copyrsoft.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=25&Itemid=27&lang=en
It is best do do a reverse image on drives with bad sectors:
Reverse Clone is the process of cloning from the end of your media to the beginning of it. When your media is severely failing mechanically, "Reverse-Cloning" is often your last chance to extract raw data from it, without having to take it into a clean room.
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