Data Recovery from SATA Hard Disk Drives

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Recovering data from faulty SATA hard drives

Background: SATA is an alternative interface to the more common (but old) ATA/IDE specification. Some advantages of SATA are -

  • Performance - SATA provides faster data transfer rates than the highest spec . ATA interface drives ie ATA-7 , 150 Mo/s vs 133 Mo/s .
  • Advanced features – The SATA interface provides a feature known as Native Command Queue-ing, this improves the processing efficiency of the hard drive and therefore the perceived performance of the hard drive for the majority of popular applications. Hard drives with SATA interfaces are hot swappable and therefore provide improved maintainability and resilience.
  • Up to 128 devices per channel, rather than 2 (as with ATA)
  • The SATA interface consumes less power.

The advanced features of the SATA interface is designed to replace the ATA interface.

Data Recovery: Regardless of the interface, the mechanical design of the hard disk remains essentially the same. Thus disks using a SATA interface will still be prone to all the common problems associated with hard disk drives. The specific nature of a hard disk failure determines the likelyhood of recovering the data stored on it . Typical failure symptoms you may find are and the prognosis for recovery are given below -

  • The hard disk appears dead and is no longer recognized by the computer - This is often symptomatic of electronic component or motor failure on the hard disk assembly, the data written to the magnetic media on the platters is frequently un-damaged and using various professional recovery techniques can be recovered.
  • The hard disk makes a clicking noise - There are a variety of causes of this symptom, in all cases it's important that the drive is powered down and advice sort. Continued use can often further damage the drive and make the chances of recovery more problematic. Diagnosed early the possibilities of recovery are often optimistic.
  • The hard disk is still accessible but files on it are not - Often indicates corrupt or damaged media sometimes as a result of the read write heads coming into contact with the platters. Under these circumstances we advise that the computer or external hard drive equipment is powered down to prevent further potential damage or corruption. The possibilities of recovery will depend upon the condition of the stored data.

In all cases it's important that the problem is diagnosed & recovered correctly. Please call us for assistance.

 

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Above: There is no external difference between ATA and SATA hard drives, except for the controller board.

The old ATA interface (bottom) uses a 40-pin parallel cable, the new SATA interface (top) uses a 7 pin connector.