I would like to ask about the availability of any sensor or device that can be used to read magnetic bits inside hard disks? I tried to google that but I did not see any useful thing till now. I think data recovery companies should be using something like that device.
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You could try to use a SEM microscope. for example, if you really want to know how each bit looks like.– woliveirajrNov 11, 2011 at 13:18
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What is your objective? As Robert David Graham notes hard drive heads (the part that reads the bits) are very good at reading hard disk drives platters. If none of the drive components are damaged the best hardware setup is the existing hard drive.– this.joshNov 14, 2011 at 23:18
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2 Answers
Already there...
- Spin stand microscopy of hard disk data mentions some varying technologies.
- Single drive wipe protects data, research finds links to papers about how randomly overwriting data just once can make it unrecoverable.
- Magnetic force microscope on Wikipedia. Include images taken from hard drives.
answered Nov 11, 2011 at 13:32
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+1. I wonder if an open-source atomic microscope can be adapted to read bits off a hard drive platter? Nov 11, 2011 at 13:50
The disk-drive heads are already excellent sensors. With special firmware, you can position the heads anywhere, even between tracks. Data recovery firms usually use pull the platters from a broken drive and mount them in a good driver (in a clean room, of course). They then use special drive firmware or software with the drivers to deal with the fact that the formatting information is likely corrupted.
answered Nov 11, 2011 at 16:12
