On Monday 15 November 2010 18:07:27 Alan McKinnon wrote: > Apparently, though unproven, at 17:10 on Monday 15 November 2010, J. > Roeleveld > > did opine thusly:
<snipped> > > > > How is this different from: > > 1) take a backup > > 2) check for bad sectors (badblocks) > > 3) restore backup > > > > This is also less risky as the data is backed up somewhere safe > > spinrite claims to make the head do other things than what the drive > firmware makes it do. Meaning that spinrite can extract data that the > drive itself in normal conditions cannot. This reasoning is sound. True, provided it actually knows HOW to override the firmware on all drives currently in use... > Remember that a drive is an analogue device, not a digital one (only the > *output data* is digital). Ofcourse, but is the head actually sensitive enough to be able to cooperate with this? Professional data recovery companies actually take out the platters and use their own drive-heads to get the data out. > There is some doubt as to whether spinrite can even function in this wise > with modern drives though. Yes, and that's exactly my point. Something that overrides the drives firmware can, in my view, easily brick the drive. -- Joost
