DATA RECOVERY UNION > Articles

Articles

Posted in

Best Data Recovery Softwares 2009

Digital Rescue Premium
Price: $49.99
An easy-to-use interface and “Smart Wizard” make finding and restoring your accidentally deleted photos, videos, music, emails and other files easier than ever before.

Recover My Files
Version: 3.9.8.6307
Price:$69.95
Recover My Files data recovery software will easily recover deleted files emptied from the Windows Recycle Bin, or lost due to the format or corruption of a hard drive, virus or Trojan infection, unexpected system shutdown or software failure.

Data Recovery Wizard
Version: V4.3.6
$69.95
Advanced data recovery software to do format recovery and recover deleted files emptied from Recycle Bin or lost data due to partition loss or damage.

Windows Data Recovery Software
$129.00
Disk Doctors Windows Data Recovery is much more then an simple undelete software or a file recovery program. Its versatility begins when other software fails to recover or even is not able to display data.

Handy Recovery
$49.00
Handy Recovery™ is an easy-to-use data recovery software designed to restore files accidentally deleted from hard disks and memory cards.

ParetoLogic Data Recovery Pro
$49.95
Bring accidentally deleted emails and their attachments back to life. You can also recover a wide variety of other file types.

Quick Recovery
$69.00
Quick Recovery FAT & NTFS is professional windows data recovery software & rated as best data recovery tool to undelete data, recover deleted files & recover deleted data from formatted partition of Windows Operating System.

GetDataBack
Version:3.64
For NTFS:$79
GetDataBack is good data recovery software that scans your hard drive and then allows you to browse through options to find and view files before you actually recover them.

R-Studio
$79.99
an ideal file recovery solution for IT specialists and advanced users who need to recover or undelete lost data .R-Studio offers many tools to help you to find your lost or deleted data. With this product you can recover data over a network, make virtual RAIDS and recover data off a CD or DVD.

Restorer2000
Version:3.3
$49.99
Restorer2000 3.3 is the reliable data recovery utility that provides you with powerful undelete, data recovery and disk restoration functionality.

Posted in

HDD Repair And Data Restoration Tool: PC3000 UDMA

1.What is pc3000 UDMA?
PC3000 UDMA is a new product of ACE Laboratory combining a wealth of long experience in data recovery and HDD repair market with 18 years of work with their first products: PC-2000 MFM/RLL, PC-3000 DOS (ISA), and PC-3000 for Windows PCI recognized by data recovery experts worldwide.
PC3000 UDMA
（Specialized two-port tester card PC-3000 UDMA）

2.Which problems can be solved using PC-3000 UDMA?
The features provided by PC-3000 UDMA can be conventionally subdivided into two parts according to their purpose:

  • HDD repair
  • Restoration of user data

Operations with HDD printed circuit board (PCB):

  • Scanning of firmware microcode in ROM; verification of configuration data in ROM; verification of firmware version in ROM; buffer RAM test; performance of self-diagnostics.
  • Reading and recording of Flash ROM containing firmware microcode and configuration data in ROM. The data for programming of Flash ROM can be copied from the resource database of the PC-3000 for Windows (UDMA) suite.

Operations with HDD service area (SA):

  • Testing of service area for BAD sectors; scanning of service modules to detect possibly corrupted sections.
  • Erasure and formatting of service area; restoration of damaged SA modules or their overwriting with standard reference data from the resource database of PC-3000 for Windows (UDMA).

Operations with HDD disks:

  • Surface testing and detection of BAD sectors; launching the internal low-level format procedure.
  • Relocation of revealed surface defects updating the defect tables; launching the Self Test procedure.

Operations with reading/writing HDD heads:

  • Head testing (for some drive families only).
  • Isolation of malfunctioning heads. HDD capacity decreases in such cases but the drive may become completely functional.

Universal features for operations with HDD:

  • An opportunity to reset SMART parameters of a HDD.
  • An opportunity to correct drive identificatin data (ID).
  • An opportunity to unlock USER and MASTER passwords in a HDD.
  • An opportunity to delete HDD data quickly without impeding its functionality.
  • Read data in UDMA66 mode.

3. PC3000 UDMA FAQS:

1. Can users add new factory modes on their own?
Yes, if the user is quite proficient and familiar with programming basics! For this, PC-3000 for Windows (UDMA) suite has:

  • Built-in script engine, which allows independent extension of utility features. Of course, the task may be daunting for novice users, but after some experience someone who has mastered the product perfectly may attempt to enhance its functionality. Open interface of the PC-3000 for Windows (UDMA) suite provides a wide range of opportunities for that purpose. Besides, users of PC-3000 for Windows (UDMA) can exchange the resources and ready scripts for new factory modes.
  • ATA Commander is another tool that allows inspection of new HDD modes. In fact, it offers a real research lab for users who wish to analyze HDD operation on their own. АТА Commander allows you to send to a HDD any command including factory ones. It also supports their classification, reuse and conversion to scripts, if necessary.

2. Does PC-3000 UDMA support 2.5″ and 1.8″ HDDs?
Yes, the package of PC-3000 for Windows (UDMA) includes a special PC-2″ mini ATA adapter for connection of 2.5″ and 1.8″ HDDs to the PC-3000 UDMA tester board. The software portion of the complex includes factory mode utilities for 2.5″ and 1.8″ drives manufactured by IBM, Hitachi, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Seagate, Western Digital, and Samsung.

3. Does PC-3000 for Windows (UDMA) support 1.0″ Microdrive HDDs?
1.0″ HDD are relatively new. They are designed for use in portable devices featuring the Compact Flash interface. PC-3000 for Windows (UDMA) suite includes a special PC-CF adapter with the Compact Flash interface, which allows connection of such drives to the PC-3000 UDMA tester board. A specialised utility for Hitachi 4-16 Gb Microdrives is currently in development.

4. Does PC-3000 for Windows (UDMA) support SATA HDDs?
Yes, the package of PC-3000 for Windows (UDMA) includes a special PC PATA-SATA adapter for connecting SATA HDDs to the PC-3000 UDMA tester board. The software part of the suite includes factory mode utilities for operations with SATA HDD.

5. Can PC-3000 for Windows (UDMA) be used to unlock a password-protected HDD?
Yes, it can. Factory mode utilities feature a special mode for work with the password-based security subsystem of HDDs. The mode allows you to view and erase existing Master and User passwords thus unlocking the HDD. For most 3.5″ and 2.5″ HDD unlocking is based entirely on software methods in factory mode. Some types of 2.5″ HDD require special Unlock 2,3 probes.

4. PC3000 UDMA Case studies:

Case 1. A Western Digital WD1200PB-00FBA0 drive cannot be identified in computer BIOS, we need to recover user data.

In the first place it is necessary to power-up the HDD and listen carefully to check whether the spindle motor spins up and the drive produces recalibration sounds (PC-3000 is not required during that stage). If the spindle motor spins up, check the settings of configuration jumpers, they should set the drive to be Master Only (in WD drives the mode is on when all jumpers are disabled), then you can connect the drive to the PC-3000 UDMA tester board.

That can be accomplished using a flat IDE cable connected to port 0 or 1 and a power cable. Then it is time to run the software (PC-3000 for Windows), power-up the HDD and launch the PC-3000 universal utility.

If the universal utility is unable to read ID from that HDD and reports error 04h (ABRT), then you should launch a specialized utility for Western Digital HDDs. It will switch the drive to factory mode and attempt to read firmware header in ROM and the configuration sector in service area on disk.

If the utility succeeds and outputs drive information to a report on display, then it starts service area structure test taking several minutes. Then the test results will be displayed. They will likely inform about damaged firmware modules 20h, 21h and 25h. The cause of HDD malfunction becomes evident. Using the “service modules” wizard one can tell that the modules belong to drive translator; modules 20h and 25h at that will be able to recover without assistance when the “regenerate translator” procedure is performed, but module 21h has to be overwritten. To do so, you will have to select from the database of the PC-3000 complex for Windows module 21h, having specified model WD1200PB-00FBA0 and firmware version 15.05R15 as search criteria. Use the list of suggestions to pick any module 21h and select the “write to drive” option. Then you will have to select the “regenerate translator” option and the default menu item; the program will also display the “recommended for data recovery” tip. Then switch the drive’s power supply off and on again to make it initialize itself with new parameters and ensure than the drive is functional and user data can be accessed. Now you can connect that HDD to a computer normally and copy necessary data from it.

Case 2. A Fujitsu MHS2020AT is identified normally in computer BIOS, but during the startup procedure you receive a message about HDD malfunction. We need to recover user data from it.

To connect that 2.5″ HDD to your PC-3000 for Windows system, you will have to use the PC-2″ adapter included into the package. Then power-up the HDD and listen carefully to check whether the spindle motor spins up and the drive produces recalibration sounds (PC-3000 is not necessary during that stage). If the spindle motor spins up, then you can connect the drive to the PC-3000 UDMA tester board and launch the PC-3000 universal utility. At the start the latter will attempt to read identification parameters of the HDD and display the information in its report. In that case the utility would read drive description, but it would also output the following message: “WARNING! Security locked drive”. The cause of HDD malfunction becomes evident.

You may not know the password defined for that HDD, so you should start a specialized utility for 2.5″ Fujitsu drives. Then select the “Security disable password” mode from the “Security subsystem” menu of the utility. The operation will take only a couple of seconds and the password will be disabled. Then switch the drive’s power supply off and on again to make it initialize itself with new parameters. Make sure than the drive is functional and user data can be accessed. Now you can connect that HDD to a computer normally and copy necessary data from it.

Posted in

SD Memory Cards

SD Memory CardThe SD memory cards known as the “Secure Digital” first began as miniature cards. Afterwards the new and advanced form of the SD memory card SDIO “Secure Digital Input/output” was introduced into the market. The SDA “Secure Digital Association” included new features and technology to the SD memory cards. The SDA included new varieties of card functions. These new card functions included wireless “Local Area Network LAN” devices, cell phones, GPS receiver, digital video camera etc. The memory card readers that were used in the Secure Digital devices connected to the Universal Serial Bus (USB). The Windows Operating System detects and manages the SD (Secure Digital) memory cards through the driver called the (USB) Universal Serial Bus mass storage. The (SD) Secure Digital host controllers are supported by the Operating System. The Operating System connects the host controller SD to the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus. When the SD-host controller is detected by the operating system, the “SD Secure Digital bus driver” is loaded by the operating system OS. When the SD card is inserted by the user, the windows Operating system loads two drivers the “Storage mini-port” and the “SD Secure Digital Storage Class”. These two drivers are loaded on top of “Bus driver” by the Windows Operating System. On the other hand if the SD memory card of a different function like the wireless Local Area Network (LAN) or the Global Positioning System is inserted by the user, then the Windows Operating System loads the driver that is supplied by the vendor. It is necessary that both the vendor supplied and the native drivers in the (SD) Secure Digital stack communicate with “Secure Digital Bus”. The device drivers call the routines to communication with the “Secure Digital Bus”. These routines are called in the static “Secure Digital Bus library”. When the SD Secure Digital drivers compile, it is necessary that they link to the “Secure Digital SD Bus library”. There are some limitations for the SD device drivers. The “Host Controller Register” is not directly accessible by the Secure Digital device drivers.

The SD device drivers call the routines of “Secure Digital Library”. Then the Secure Digital Library forwards the Secure Digital commands to “Host Controller”. Music can be stored in the Flash Memory card and it is most advantageous than storing it in the Hard drives.  The SD flash memory cards consume less power and are more portable. The SD flash cards also have resistance to shocks. The SD card facilities its users and they can easily record the data to their personal liking like music, pictures. The users can easily carry and move the data with ease and comfort. The SD memory card has the technology to fulfill the requirements of the future networked society. The tiny SD memory card provides many advantages to their users. These memory cards are highly compatible and they can link to different digital equipments. Because of the compatibility of the SD memory cards, their usage is more likely to expand even more in the future. The SD card has now become a standard of memory cards that are used for digital connectivity. In the near by future, the SD cards will be universally accessible to more wide array of Multimedia data. The size of the SD memory card is approximately 24mm x 32mm x 2.1mm. The design of the SD card is very compact and slim. Therefore, they are easy to handle and the user can easily transfer the data.

The devices that are compatible with SD card can play video clips & music with the help of “decoder software”. The DVD & CD players use “drive mechanism” while the SD memory cards do not require “drive mechanism” to play the video clips. So, this gives the product designers more freedom and they can be more creative and innovative. The other popular form of the SD memory card is the miniSD memory card. The size of the mini-SD card is approximately 20mm x 21.5mm x 1.4mm. The miniSD card is smaller in size than the SD card.

The SD memory cards have different recording capacitates, their capacity reaches up to 8GB. The large capacity helps to store the High quality videos. The demand for high capacity SD cards with fast data transfer speed has increased because of the increased digital content range. The SD cards also have the technology of “Copyright Protection”. This “Copyright Protection” technology enables new distribution system. This provides safety and security to the illegal copying of the data.The SD card has built in technology called the Key Revocation. The SD memory card has “Control Circuit”, which allows to read & write the after the detection of the external devices. The data is written and read within the “protection area” of the card. The authentication among the digital devices has to be enabled so that the SD card could be accessed.

Posted in

CD Optical Storage Glossary of Computer Terms (Letter W)

Warp
A special effect sequence of morph images that simulate smooth transitions of dissimilar frames.

WYSBYGI
“What You See Before You Get it.” An extension of WYSIWYG interface design allowing the user to view and edit selected smaller areas from a preview dialog box prior to committing special effects with the processing load of only a portion of the entire file.

WYSIWYG
“What You See Is What You Get.” A working interface of many authoring systems where an author sees the screens as he develops them exactly as they will appear to the user.

Posted in

CD Optical Storage Glossary of Computer Terms (Letter U)

UART
Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter. An electronic circuit contained within the communications port(s) of the computer that decodes and encodes data in the fashion required by the specific machine for receiving and transmitting purposes. The UART also performs the actual data transmission to the communication device, once it has been encoded and is ready to send.

UPS
Uninterruptible Power Supply. A battery reserve system for computer power installed to supply power in the event of outage. These systems protect against data loss during power outage.

Posted in

New SMART technology in HP Hard Disk Drive

HP Hard Disk DriveDuring the past years, the new, advanced technology of SMART has been introduced in the hard disk drives. The SMART stands for “Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology”. There are many benefits of the SMART technology. With the help of the SMART technology, the user is given a warning about the hard disk drive incase of imminent failure. In this way the user can change the hard disk drive before its failure.

The HP also has introduced the “SMART technology” in their hard disk drives. The SMART technology checks the key parameters of the hp hard disc drive, and gives message to the user in case if there is any problem in the hard disk drive. The performance of the hard disk drive is not affected during the monitoring process of the SMART technology. In case if any type of error is detected by the “SMART technology”, then an immediate message displays on the screen of the user.

The SMART technology has three versions “SMART”, “SMART-II” and “SMART-III”. In the year 1995, the SMART was developed by Compaq. During the drive activity of the hard disk drive, the SMART monitors and keeps eye on the major attributes and the key parameters of the hard disk drive. The “Client Management” or the Basic input output system (BIOS) gives warning message to the user incase the key parameters cross the limits that are defined.

The SMART-II makes the SMART technology more reliable. With the help of SMART-II, the SMART technology uses the offline data. So, the SMART technology can determine the health of the hard disk drive during the time when the hard drive is inactive. Both the SMART-1 and SMART-2 are supported by the SMART-III. By using the SMART-III, the SMART technology completes the “media self scan”. The latest feature has been added to the SMART-III that enforces the coverage. This enforcement is made even when the drive’s usage cycle is under heavy duty.
The SMART performs the job well of detecting the errors and identifying the errors to the user that affect the performance of the hard disk drive. The HP hard disk drives have the technology that helps the smooth flow of the data between the “Host interface” and the “Media”. Therefore, the HP Hewlett-Packard hard drives are more reliable and robust. In every block of 512bytes that are in “data-path” of the “cache Random Access Memory” of HP hard disk drive is added a parity-code. This is done to make sure that the data between the host and the media is moved swiftly.

When the disc is being read, after the transfer of data from the disc it generates a parity-code of two byte. The parity-data is again monitored when it is moved to interface of the hard drive from data-buffer. When the data is written onto the hard disk, the SMART 4 generates a parity-code of two bytes. Before the data moves into the buffer, this parity-code of two bytes attached to the data. Before the writing and transfer of the data to the data buffer, the SMART-4 checks the parity-code. A protocol of the HP hard disk notifies the Operating System of the host if an error occurs during the movement of the data. It is up to the operating system of the host to take action either by resending the command or to send message to the user about the error in the data. The Hewlett-Packard Binary input output system (BIOS) can also send the failure message when the system is rebooted next time. There is no need to install any additional softwares because the BIOS of the HP can handle the status commands of the SMART technology.

Posted in

CD Optical Storage Glossary of Computer Terms (Letter T)

Tablet
A pressure sensitive input device used in conjunction with a pen to edit digital images.

Touch-screen
A display monitor that is pressure sensitive to touch and is often used as a multimedia control instead or in conjunction with a keyboard. Better authoring systems should have touch-screen interface functions built in their software. Touch-screen displays vary widely and can be accomplished with special overlays or can come as integral screens with built-in touch-screen capabilities. The best screens also feature z-axis control, which allows screen response at different rates depending on the level of pressure applied.

Track
A sequence of contiguous data, the beginning, length, mode and end of which are defined in the table of contents, which is held in the Q subcode channel of the lead-in area of the disc. The two types of tracks currently defined are the CD-DA track according to the CD-ROM specification that is also used in CD-I. In CD-DA the length of a track is related to playing times between four seconds and 72 minutes.

Tuning
The Group term for a number of image editing activities including color and grey balancing, hue & saturation, gamma, histogram, and contrast adjusting…etc.

Posted in

CD Optical Storage Glossary of Computer Terms (Letter S)

Scanning
The most common practice of encoding real images into digital form Accomplished by use of a scanner which passes an image sensor across the original

Screen grabs
Common term for the capturing screen rasterization images and video stills to digital files. Can be preformed with software or hardware, but quality may vary between method used.

SCSI
Small Computer System Interface. The abbreviation is pronounced “scuzzy.” A connection that allows high-speed information transfer between the computer and any external devices at speeds in the range of 4 to 5 megabytes per second. This specification also allows multiple devices to be connected via addresses to a single port (receptacle).

SCSI-II
A specification developed to provide greater speed and performance. An SCSI-II connection provides transfer rates ranging from 10 to 40 megabytes per second.

Selection
The term for indicating the desired area to be effected by editing.

Sharpen
To increase contrast along object edges to improve image appearance.

SIMM
Single In-line Memory Module. A small narrow circuit board containing Random Access Memory Chips (the electronic devices that store data while your computer works with it). SIMMs plug into special slots inside the computer to give the computer extra memory.

Special effects
Digital image manipulation techniques for enhancing quality or creating unusual appearances. Can also be used to remove undesirable image attributes.

Spray
To paint with a diffused edge to simulate “air-brush” feathering

Storyboard
A method of planning the content of a presentation by drawing sketches of each screen with notes about what happens in that scene.

Substitution
the process of replacing colors in a image with colors or patterns on the pallet for the image. this is implemented during color format conversion and pallet correction

SyQuest
A manufacturer of SCSI removable cartridge hard drives. This drive specification has been widely used in pre-press and publishing situations.

Posted in

CD Optical Storage Glossary of Computer Terms (Letter R)

Resampling
The practice of interpolating an image of one specification and producing an image of another specification from that interpolation.

Resolution
Defines image quality of a display. It refers to the number of pixels available on a display. Resolution controls the level of detail that can be presented on a screen.

Retouch
Digital image editing processes used to restore damaged photographs for reproduction

RLE
Run-Length Encoding: a data compression technique that records repeated data elements with the same value, which is coded once along with a count of the number of times it occurs.