2009/1/27 Russell Gadd <russ.mail.lists@???>:
> 2009/1/26 James Courtier-Dutton <james.dutton@???>
>>
>> 2009/1/26 Andy Smith <andy@???>:
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 10:52:52AM +0000, Russell Gadd wrote:
>> >> I've had good experience with Steve Gibson's Spinrite. There's a ton of
>> >> testimonials here
>> >> http://www.grc.com/sr/testimonials.htm
>> >>
>> >> This guy is one of the best, I would trust everything he does.
>> >
>> > Really?
>> >
>> >
>> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Gibson_(computer_programmer)#Controversy
>> >
>> > Cheers,
>> > Andy
>> >
>>
>> spinrite will not help at all with modern computer HDs.
>> The IDE controllers hide the actual disk "low level" formatting from
>> the PC for very good reasons.
>> spinrite might have been good for the older floppy discs and RLL disk
>> drives, but is not any use really with modern HDs.
>> In fact, spinrite can seriously cause much more damage to an already
>> partially damaged disc surface.
>>
>> --
>
> James, I was going to ignore this post but I was concerned that this
> misinformation would be to the detriment of Stephen who asked the original
> question, so I posted the text on Steve Gibson's Spinrite users newsgroup
> and received 3 replies yesterday, all of which were illuminating and I can
> do no better than just copying them here, whether you respond or not is
> immaterial to me:
>
I stand by my statements except that I might modify one.
"spinrite will not help at all with modern computer HDs."
could be adjusted to
"spinrite might help recover data on modern computer HDs but at
considerable risk of causing extra damage."
I would like to further state that using spinrite is certainly not a
risk free option.
There are other alternatives that are much less risky.
As the original poster said "Money isn't really an issue - the data needs to be
recovered.", I was warning him away from a more risky option.
A professional data recovery outfit like "Ontrack" is the least risky option.
Failing that, GCHQ should be able to help!!!! <--- Joke
