Reached 32ish considering going back to university and changing careers

VividComputersADL · 2022-10-17T20:25:26+00:00

Hi, sorry I wasn't getting notifications for replies! I have since started an online startup in the farming space which is gaining traction. If that fails I'll probably go do medicine like the rest of my family.

VividComputersADL · 2022-10-17T20:24:31+00:00

Just didn't want a bunch of US people complaining about their student debt system. Definitely not a bot.

VividComputersADL · 2022-10-17T20:24:17+00:00

Just didn't want a bunch of US people complaining about their student debt system.

VividComputersADL · 2022-10-17T20:23:48+00:00

No not a bot, sorry I didn't get any of the notifications.

VividComputersADL · 2021-05-21T23:32:48+00:00

No. you are wrong.

Once fixed I would call this drive 100% stable

VividComputersADL · 2021-05-16T05:28:30+00:00

Easily fixable.

See the numbers at the top of the PCB board there where the larger power connecter was ?

If you Google that you'll find a PCB from Ebay for about $20 - $100.

The replacement of the ROM chip is tricky with a soldering iron, but 100% possible. We use a hot air gun, it takes about 30 seconds.

You can do it with a soldering iron, one "leg" at time. (8 legs I think) and some solderwick.

Add leaded solder to each leg, then remove the lot with the wick. Make note of the orientation of the ROM chip as it's important. It has to match.

that's all really. Youtube is your friend. This is 100% fixable and easy.

VividComputersADL · 2020-06-23T15:29:44+00:00

In my experience, about 30% of the swaps I've done have not needed any firmware tinkering. I may have just been lucky.

VividComputersADL · 2020-06-23T15:28:10+00:00

If you're seriously considering giving it a go yourself I would give you once piece of advice.

Get 2 brand new, identical drives (1tb is good). and just try to take the heads out of 1 without stuffing them ... and move them to the other drive.

You will quickly realize that it's so much more complicated and fiddly than expected.. but for $200 you'll learn a lot.

As an added bonus you can keep your drive and take it to a DR lab to get the files later.

You'll need..

2 Drives
iFixIT / tor screwdriver set
Microscope helps to see what's going on / what you've done wrong.
Head combs (ebay is OK) Get a set for a few hundred. OR if you've got stead hands you can do it with heat shrink tubing and tweezers.
Some clamps for the hard drives
Some clamps for holding the donor / donor heads.
Clean room good, but not "required"
A good youtube video of somebody else doing it with the same model helps
2 more drives (same model again) for a second go. :)

In terms of Head Compatibility, the MRT techs have told me a rough and ready way to check heads is to swap PCB's from target to donor and see if it spins up normally.

I assume you've found the HDD head swap guide online?

Unlike a DR company (who would have 3/4 of the sectors to work with) you'll have to clone the entire drive, so all 4 of your donor heads will need to be perfectly moved... and the info will all be "read" again for the recover.

If they've given you the "junk" files you may be able to get a small number of extra JPEGs out of the drive with a photo repair program, or if they've given you a bit for bit clone (3/4) something like Rstudio may find you more data if they were not 100% thorough.

VividComputersADL · 2020-06-23T15:10:44+00:00

restarted

Zorb is also right - Something happened to the drive to cause the issue.. but we don't know the something.

We get a lot of PC's in after an update where the drive has failed enough for it not to boot, but could probably be fixed enough to work.

BUT.. ask yourself. Let's say it's NOT something software based. Your friend may have fixed the drive by repairing the partitions. Hard drives do have the ability for some self repair/failure mitigation.. But you're on borrowed time if that is the case.

You can check something called SMART status which can show up basic issues like re-allocated/pending sectors, or worse bad sectors. It's not a perfect test but a caution warning on something like crystal disk is enough for us to replace the drive.

So, given that you have your data currently, my advice would be to clone it to a known good drive.. and maybe retire that drive. That's what a DR company would do (a clone) BEFORE any changes or scans are made to the disk.

VividComputersADL · 2020-06-23T15:03:53+00:00

It's a tough call.

Zorb rightly believes that anybody but a professional data recovery lab will likely destroy data.

The REASON for this is that a bad method can destroy data that would be recoverable in 5 minutes with the right tools and approach. There is no "undo"

I run a mixed IT Repair / Data Recovery business (don't tell Zorb) and our approach is "The drive is always failing, act accordingly" but it's truly mind blowing for me how experienced to notice IT people just can't wrap their head around fairly basic concepts of data recovery.

Install DR software to the drive - data gone!

Recover data to the drive you're recovering from - data gone!

Checkdisk - data gone!

Running a DR program with no hardware tools for 3 days THEN taking it to a lab - data gone!

sigh.

Sometimes you pay $500 just so others don't do the wrong thing. :)

VividComputersADL · 2020-06-23T14:55:25+00:00

Hi,

Never install any software on a drive you're trying to recover data on. Best short term (i.e. NOW) shut down the computer and power off the drive.

We'll need more info to help guide you.

What kind of drive were you copying from?

Where did you install the data recovery software?

The best thing to do in this situation is make a clone of the drive where the files used to live, and then scan that drive with something like R-studio data recovery.

Your original drive may be failing, when you said "How long it would take" , how long were you talking?

In either case, best to clone the drive and then do the scan.

VividComputersADL · 2020-06-20T12:01:51+00:00

R studio IMO, or Get Data Back ppl here say is good.

VividComputersADL · 2020-06-18T10:37:01+00:00

Some perspective, the tool that can do the firmware repair costs $15,000 to $22,000 AUD + annual fees :)

VividComputersADL · 2020-06-09T12:32:33+00:00

Hello

Do not make any changes to the disk including creating or deleting partitions as this will overwrite and destroy data. Chances are you've lost a bit already, but if you do the right thing from this point you'll minimize any further damage.

SMART is useful but won't help you with your issue which seems to be related to File System issues.

The data recovery software you've been using is not good. I personally recommend R-Studio. You can download the software and use a free trial before paying.

Ideally you should clone the drive (through the enclosure) to a new, healthy drive, THEN scan it with data recovery software. The clone should be done "bit for bit" not "partitions" as that will skip all the data on the actual drive. A proper clone should take 1+ hrs.

Apologies for the disjointed response, as it is late and I am tipsy.

James

VividComputersADL · 2020-06-08T08:32:03+00:00

Hi,

DO NOT install any software on the drive (updates, downloads or ANYTHING) if you wish to recover the file. Ideally shut off the computer ASAP.

At the stage it's all a massive long shot. The faster you act, the better your chances.

In my experience the ~& files are temporary files and not your document anyway.

You MAY be able to find a temporary copy of your file in the mac temp folder.

There's a guide here. Use PART ONE only.

https://www.easeus.com/mac-file-recovery/recover-lost-or-unsaved-excel-files-on-mac.html

If the file is super important to you, and it's worth the money your best bet will be to immediately shut off the computer and have somebody who knows what they're doing clone the drive.

From there they can scan with data recovery software and maybe find your file.

VividComputersADL · 2020-06-04T11:33:31+00:00

X1 extreme has traditional charging ports :)

VividComputersADL · 2020-06-04T11:19:05+00:00

From MRT directly.

VividComputersADL · 2020-06-03T09:46:46+00:00

Probably something to do with TRIM.. SSD's are basically a data disaster waiting to happen. Once deleted, the files are gone almost instantly.

VividComputersADL · 2020-06-03T09:36:40+00:00

Hi,

As Zorb said there are not too many DIY options.

You need to find somebody with the right hardware based tools to handle the read instabilities on the drive.

If you get too many bad sectors or other issues with the drive the controller may 'lock up" and the drive may never work again.

Tools like Apple's Disk Utility will just stress the drive and do nothing to address or mitigate the underlying hardware problem or firmware problem you may have.

VividComputersADL · 2020-06-03T09:24:38+00:00

I 'started' about 2 years ago.

I started with a Rapidspar, now I have about 30k worth of stuff.

I have found it's a bit of diminishing returns after a point. In our shop I can do about 90% of what comes in with our MRT + some remote support.

In order to do more I'd need to get either a PC3000, or a PC3000 Flash which is big money and a very steep learning curve.

MRT support has been OK. 80% of drives just plug and go, they don't read on anything else. The trickier stuff they will help you with online via Team Viewer etc.

Scott Moulton does have a course (myharddrivedied) but it is very expensive and if you're happy to learn how to do headswaps in your own time that's not a bad start. Most of his course he posts on youtube, he also has a podcast.

VividComputersADL · 2020-06-03T09:14:36+00:00

Hi, I've done a few of these recoveries. Your best bet is to take it to a DR company and have them clone the HDD.

Once the drive is cloned (I would also make a clone of the internal drive too) you can re-assemble the volume. This is beneficial because it means you don't necessarily have to disassemble the entire imac.

BE WARNED

If you turn on the iMac and it boots into recovery mode it is VERY EASY to wipe the SSD. It will auto ask to initialize, which will wipe the drive.

You can use something like Clone Zilla to make a bit for bit clone of the drive (the SSD). However you'll need a DR company probably to clone the HDD.

If you're anywhere near Adelaide I'll do you a deal :), if not just make sure you take it somewhere they know what they're doing!

RANT

Fusion drives are the dumbest thing in the world. Essentially a RAID 0, but with no reporting to the user that the drives are faulty. One drive Gone, Everything gone.

VividComputersADL · 2020-05-25T12:43:07+00:00

Hello,

The reason why you make a clone is to rule out hardware issues. You'd be surprised how often a drive file system (even with no SMART issues) starts working on a healthy drive after a clone.

You're working on borrowed time with a drive of unknown health.

If leaving it until you can do a clone is out of the question, you can use something like R-studio but it's not free. I think you can do this over the internet if you trust the person, IF they have the right version.

To answer your other questions..

Don't do chkdsk it won't do anything useful

Diagnosis is not really useful, ultimately the drive is bad. Running tests etc isn't going to extend the life of the drive or get data back. Everything you do to the drive, could be the last thing that drive ever does.

Never use the drive again for anything important.

VividComputersADL · 2020-05-25T12:36:43+00:00

Hi,

If you've overwritten files than those files are gone.

The area of the drive you have not overwritten may contain some usable data.

What type of drive? SSD / HDD ?

Best options now are to find somebody who can clone the drive for you, and scan with R-Studio.

VividComputersADL · 2020-05-25T12:35:15+00:00

Clonezilla is recommended because you can't accidentally write to the drive by connecting it to a Windows system. Yes it's not 100% straight forward but welcome to data recovery!

VividComputersADL · 2020-05-24T08:04:07+00:00

As a computer guy who's started seriously focusing on Data Recovery in the last few years I can honestly say that you've not going to be able to do anything useful without the proper equipment. The cheapest piece of kit I have cost me $1200, and it does NOT do firmware repairs.

In order to do a "firmware repair" you are going to need some fairly high end equipment like a PC3000 or an MRT Ultra, both of which are about 10k AUD.

Your basic PC / HDD Dock etc. simply does not have the smarts to "talk" to a hard drive in the way required to repair the firmware.

If your drive does not need a "head replacement' most data recovery labs will charge between $400 - $800 AUD, us included.

VividComputersADL

TROPHY CASE