[Solved]Dying HDD for Tektronix DSA 70804, Looking for Recovery CD

[dominitech]

I have a DSA 70804 that has a horrible sounding hard drive and its in bad enough shape that I cannot clone unless I find a donor HDD of the same make.  I would like to try to install win XP onto an SSD with the Tektronix recovery CD but having trouble finding the exact one to purchase on sites such as eBay.  Does anyone know if any other Tektronix recovery CD's are compatible with the DSA 7000 series?  If someone has an image of the recovery CD that would be even better.  Thanks in advance!

[decoder_82]

If the disk is still working you can try to clone it. On Linux there dd command does a great job for that.

[m k]

Just in case, don't use dd, use dd_rescue.

It tries to avoid stressing weak areas.

[decoder_82]

Nice thing about dd_rescue. I did not know about it. It seems indeed safer.

[fzabkar]

HDDSuperClone is better than ddrescue. BTW, ddrescue and dd_rescue are not the same. The former is preferable.

[m k]

Yes, ddrescue is the right one.
And don't forget the mapfile.

Can't comment the HDDSuperClone.

With ddrescue you can read stuff to file and so on, just like with dd.

[fzabkar]

Can't comment the HDDSuperClone.

HDDSuperClone tries to skip over a bad head in a HDD whereas ddrescue is "medium agnostic". HDDSuperClone also has some firmware hacks/tricks to switch off error processing in certain HDDs. Its author was involved in the ddrescue project and is a member of several professional data recovery forums. HDDSuperClone also has a GUI and a Live CD to make it easier for Linux beginners.

[dominitech]

If the disk is still working you can try to clone it. On Linux there dd command does a great job for that.

I did attempt to clone it already and it was not successful.  I have cloning software and another software I use to recover files.  I was only able to recover a certain amount of files but eventually the drive just gets stuck.  So I believe the physical problem is too severe and will require a platter swap.  It sounds like its grinding and gets really hot after a few minutes so it seems like its working really hard and not able to travel smoothly across the platter.

Nice thing about dd_rescue. I did not know about it. It seems indeed safer.

I think I will try that linux dd or dd rescue command in the future so thanks for the tips.

[decoder_82]

If cloning is not an option indeed you need a recovery CD or an image.
Did you try contacting the support from Tektronix ?

From their download page it seems some firmwares are common for the DSA 7000 series:
https://www.tek.com/en/support/product-support?model=DSA70804

[m k]

If the disk is still working you can try to clone it. On Linux there dd command does a great job for that.

I did attempt to clone it already and it was not successful.  I have cloning software and another software I use to recover files.  I was only able to recover a certain amount of files but eventually the drive just gets stuck.  So I believe the physical problem is too severe and will require a platter swap.  It sounds like its grinding and gets really hot after a few minutes so it seems like its working really hard and not able to travel smoothly across the platter.

Nice thing about dd_rescue. I did not know about it. It seems indeed safer.

I think I will try that linux dd or dd rescue command in the future so thanks for the tips.

It's ddrescue, single command.

If and when you start with it prepare to leave it on for days if not weeks.

If head is crashed it will be worse every time you start the drive.
If it's a bearing thing it can be just a time issue, reading is too slow but still possibly possible.

If you have tried it with some general cloning thing you possibly don't know nothing yet.
In that case one rescue oriented cloning thing will be a good direction.

[m k]

Can't comment the HDDSuperClone.

HDDSuperClone tries to skip over a bad head in a HDD whereas ddrescue is "medium agnostic". HDDSuperClone also has some firmware hacks/tricks to switch off error processing in certain HDDs. Its author was involved in the ddrescue project and is a member of several professional data recovery forums. HDDSuperClone also has a GUI and a Live CD to make it easier for Linux beginners.

Boot disk is good, GUI even better.

Nowadays people are not so confident that they used to be with text based stuff.
The problem with graphical environment is that it's limited to what it is and when something else happens the user is stuck.
Normally GUI can't do everything but good ones have a text command possibility somewhere.

[fzabkar]

So I believe the physical problem is too severe and will require a platter swap.

Why do people keep saying this? The problem is most probably a head or media fault. If it's a head fault, then a DR shop will replace the heads. If it's a media fault, then transferring the platter to another drive will achieve nothing.

[fzabkar]

The problem with graphical environment is that it's limited to what it is and when something else happens the user is stuck.
Normally GUI can't do everything but good ones have a text command possibility somewhere.

I often use command line tools. They do have a lot of advantages. However, professional data recovery tools are all GUI based.

[dominitech]

So I believe the physical problem is too severe and will require a platter swap.

Why do people keep saying this? The problem is most probably a head or media fault. If it's a head fault, then a DR shop will replace the heads. If it's a media fault, then transferring the platter to another drive will achieve nothing.

Why not? Isn't easier to remove one screw on a single platter then move it a working donor than to remove the head assembly?  I'm just guessing looking at the assembly.  My point is, I unable to likely fix this with software in a timely manner so I will certainly have to look for a local data recovery shop with the parts to perform the repair on the HDD and have them clone it as well.

[fzabkar]

So I believe the physical problem is too severe and will require a platter swap.

Why do people keep saying this? The problem is most probably a head or media fault. If it's a head fault, then a DR shop will replace the heads. If it's a media fault, then transferring the platter to another drive will achieve nothing.

Why not? Isn't easier to remove one screw on a single platter then move it a working donor than to remove the head assembly?  I'm just guessing looking at the assembly.  My point is, I unable to likely fix this with software in a timely manner so I will certainly have to look for a local data recovery shop with the parts to perform the repair on the HDD and have them clone it as well.

In many multi-platter models you need to maintain perfect platter-to-platter alignment. If it's a single-platter drive, then you're probably OK.

https://www.recoveryforce.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=565

In any case the data recovery professionals only swap platters in those cases where the spindle motor has failed, or the spindle bearing is seized.

[Haenk]

If it gets hot, active cooling might help. Saved a couple of customer disks by putting them into a fridge (in a sealed bag, of course).
Depending on the arrangement of data, the heads might be fine, or one head is damaged. It's a good idea to figure out, which blocks can be read and which can't. There might be a pattern there.
However there might be physically damaged areas (scratched by a headcrash or particles leading to a crash), if this is the case, further damage might occur, even to other platters (lumps of particles might fly around the housing).

[dominitech]

I have a DSA 70804 that has a horrible sounding hard drive and its in bad enough shape that I cannot clone unless I find a donor HDD of the same make.  I would like to try to install win XP onto an SSD with the Tektronix recovery CD but having trouble finding the exact one to purchase on sites such as eBay.  Does anyone know if any other Tektronix recovery CD's are compatible with the DSA 7000 series?  If someone has an image of the recovery CD that would be even better.  Thanks in advance!

Update:
I found a set of recovery CD's for the Tektronix VM6000 in .iso format that worked for the DSA 70804.  I found this information from another post and here is the link to the files:
https://xdevs.com/doc/Tektronix/VM6000/backup_iso/
I was not able to clone the drive even after swapping parts for the hdd but I did manage to pull the tektronix files.
I installed the latest scope drivers for XP and still needs the drivers for the touch screen and front usb port installed.  Scope passes SPC but will fail the DMA test in the acquisition self test about 50% of the time so I still have additional troubleshooting to do and maybe more material for another post.  Anyway, I was able to resolve the original problem for this post with information from this other thread: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/tek-dpo7104-recovery-image/msg3623436/#msg3623436.  Thanks to everyone for all the info.