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On 2010-11-16, J. Roeleveld <joost@××××××××.org> wrote: |
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>> spinrite claims to make the head do other things than what the drive |
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>> firmware makes it do. |
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I'm afraid I'll have to call bullshit on that. I don't see how some |
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bit of PC software can make a drive head move. The firmware on the |
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drive controller board is the only thing that can make the head move. |
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Does spinrite claim they _replace_ the drive firmware with their own |
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custom version? |
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Where does Spinrite's claim they can do override drive firmware? |
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I don't see any claims like that on their web site? |
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>> Meaning that spinrite can extract data that the drive itself in |
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>> normal conditions cannot. This reasoning is sound. |
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I've no problem with the reasoning. I, however, don't accept the |
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premise. |
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> True, provided it actually knows HOW to override the firmware on all |
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> drives currently in use... |
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I doubt that it can. |
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>> Remember that a drive is an analogue device, not a digital one (only |
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>> the *output data* is digital). |
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> |
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> Ofcourse, but is the head actually sensitive enough to be able to |
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> cooperate with this? Professional data recovery companies actually |
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> take out the platters and use their own drive-heads to get the data |
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> out. |
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> |
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>> There is some doubt as to whether spinrite can even function in this |
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>> wise with modern drives though. |
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> |
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> Yes, and that's exactly my point. Something that overrides the drives |
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> firmware can, in my view, easily brick the drive. |
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If spinrite is replacing the drive's firmware, then in theory they |
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might be able to do something "extra", but I'd say the odds of them |
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being able to reverse-engineer enough the drives out there enough to do |
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their own custom firmware for all of a significant number of them is |
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pretty close to 0. |
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Besides, their web site explicitly states that they can't do low level |
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formatting, they run under DOS, and that they can only use drives that |
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are recogized by the mothoerboard BIOS. AFAICT, they're just using |
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the normal IDE/ATA API and are doing nothing extraordinary. |
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-- |
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Grant Edwards grant.b.edwards Yow! Hey, wait |
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at a minute!! I want a |
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gmail.com divorce!! ... you're not |
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Clint Eastwood!! |
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