Operation Manual for MRT Data Explorer

This document is issued by MRT Lab

More information can be read by visiting http://www.mrtlab.com

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 Contents
Operation Manual for MRT Data Explorer..............................................................................................- 1 -
Contents....................................................................................................................................................... - 2 -
Chapter 1 Data Explorer Function Introduction.......................................................................................- 4 -
1.1 MRT Main Interface and Data Explorer Interface...................................................................- 4 -
1.1.1 MRT Main Interface..........................................................................................................- 4 -
1.1.2 Data Explorer Interface....................................................................................................- 5 -
1.2 New Task.......................................................................................................................................- 7 -
1.2.1 Select Task Directory.......................................................................................................- 7 -
1.2.2 Select Source Device.......................................................................................................- 8 -
1.2.3 Initializing Settings............................................................................................................- 9 -
1.2.4 Task Options................................................................................................................... - 10 -
1.2.5 Select Target Device......................................................................................................- 11 -
1.2.6 Task Information............................................................................................................. - 13 -
1.3 Open Task...................................................................................................................................- 13 -
1.3.1 Select Task File.............................................................................................................. - 13 -
1.3.2 Initializing Settings..........................................................................................................- 14 -
1.4 Data Copy Task..........................................................................................................................- 15 -
1.4.1 Data Copy Interface....................................................................................................... - 15 -
1.4.2 System Task Menu:....................................................................................................... - 16 -
1.5 Task Params Settings............................................................................................................... - 17 -
1.5.1 Data Copy........................................................................................................................ - 17 -
1.5.2 Transfer Mode.................................................................................................................- 20 -
1.5.3 Scan Type........................................................................................................................- 22 -
1.5.4 Power Manage................................................................................................................ - 24 -
1.5.5 Error Handling................................................................................................................. - 25 -
1.5.6 Timeout Settings.............................................................................................................- 27 -
1.5.7 Head Map........................................................................................................................ - 29 -
1.5.8 Command Check............................................................................................................ - 32 -
1.5.9 File Explorer.................................................................................................................... - 33 -
1.6 Count Sector Map (Task Statistics)........................................................................................ - 35 -
1.7 Task Scheduler.......................................................................................................................... - 39 -
1.8 Log Window................................................................................................................................ - 40 -
1.9 Sector Map Window.................................................................................................................. - 41 -
1.9.1 Sector Map Window Introduction.................................................................................- 41 -
1.9.1 Set Data Scan................................................................................................................. - 43 -
1.9.2 Sector Map Context Menu............................................................................................ - 44 -
1.9.3 Sector Editor....................................................................................................................- 47 -
1.10 File Explorer..............................................................................................................................- 51 -
1.11 File Browsing Mode.................................................................................................................- 62 -

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Chapter 2 Operating Procedure Introduction..................................................................................- 68 -
2.1 Create Data Copy Task - - From Source Device to File Image..........................................- 68 -
2.2 Create File Explorer Task - - Without Image Operation...................................................... - 74 -
2.3 Start to Copy Task......................................................................................................................- 81 -
2.4 Task scheduler............................................................................................................................- 89 -
2.5 Create Head Map - - A Commonly Used Feature................................................................ - 96 -
2.6 Sector Editor............................................................................................................................. - 101 -
2.7 File Explorer..............................................................................................................................- 103 -
2.7.1 Copy A Single File........................................................................................................ - 103 -
2.7.2 Copy Deleted Files and Lost Files.............................................................................- 105 -
2.7.3 Image Valid Data.......................................................................................................... - 107 -
Chapter 3 Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ)................................................................................ - 110 -
3.1 How to extract data after imaging data?.............................................................................. - 110 -
3.2 How to read yellow block?......................................................................................................- 110 -
3.3 How to speed up data copy....................................................................................................- 112 -
3.4 How to use data template?.................................................................................................... - 116 -
3.5 Selected Head Map to Image................................................................................................ - 116 -
3.6 Create Virtual Translator.........................................................................................................- 116 -
3.7 Analyze Sector Details............................................................................................................ - 116 -
3.8 What is MRT DE?.................................................................................................................... - 118 -
3.9 What is advantage of MRT DE compared with other tools...............................................- 118 -
3.10 The condition for using MRT DE to recover data............................................................. - 118 -
3.11 Common skill for using MRT DE to recover data............................................................. - 119 -
3.12 How to use MRT DE to recover data..................................................................................- 119 -

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Chapter 1 Data Explorer Function Introduction

1.1 MRT Main Interface and Data Explorer Interface

1.1.1 MRT Main Interface

Figure1.1.1: Main interface

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1.1.2 Data Explorer Interface

Figure 1.1.2： Data Explorer Interface

1. Power switch 5. Power (status light)

2. New task 6. Device channel NO.
3. Open task 7. Status(light for device)
4. Exit task 8. Error (light for error type)

System Task Menu:

Figure 1.1.2: System Task Menu

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System Window Menu:

Figure 1.1.3: System Window Menu

Function Specification:

1.Click button “1 MRT Pro Ultra Complete version + SSD:ATA01 V2.1.4.0” and then it

switches to main Interface.

2.Click button “2 Data Explorer 2.3.5.3” and then it switches to DE module.

Function Specification:

1. Toolbar button consists of Power, New task, Open task and Exit task in left-to-right

order.

2. The bottom of interface are status lights,including Power status light, Device status

light and Error status light(except no. 6) in left-to-right order.

3. When button “Power” is on, MRT hardware gives power supply to hard disk.,

meanwhile light “DRD” and light “DSK” will be on under normal circumstance.ATA

port in the status bar marked as no.6 corresponds to “select interface” in figure1.1.1,

e.g. when “select interface” displays ATA0, Status bar port will be ATA0.

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1.2 New Task
1.2.1 Select Task Directory

Figure 1.2.1：Select task directory

Function Specification:

1. Task name: The default name a character string based on current time ,and it is

advised to revise to name which is related to task and easy to remember.

1 Rename：Set task name as NewTask_。

2 Delete All：Delete all task name, so task name is null for this moment.

3 Date and Time ： Set name task as New Task + Current date and time.( PS:

NewTask_20190923_094614 )

4 Date：Set task name as New Task + Current date.(PS:NewTask_094614_)

5 Time：Set task name as New Task + Current time.（PS：NewTask_094614_）

2. Task Path: The default path is Data Explorer directory created under MRT main

program User Data File folder, click “Browse “button to modify.

Attentions:

1. No special character in task name, only English, number and underline can be there.

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2. Default directory can not be moved after creation, or program can not identify task.

3. There is a File Image folder under current task name directory, which is backup file for

current task whose default size is 64M. Please do not delete any file under this

directory , or error will occur when restoring.

1.2.2 Select Source Device

Figure1.2.2: Select source device

Function Specification:

1. There is four types of MRT device ;

1 MRT ATA 0/ATA1 (MRT DISK): It connects disk device of MRT card such as MRT

ATA0 and MRT ATA1 showed as above.

2 SYS DISK: Hard disk on system host, includes USB device and virtual disk and

so on, e.g, SanDisk SSD PLUS 120GB showed as above is SYS DISK.

3 FILE IMAGE：Assembly of multiple image files saved in disk .

4 Extend IMAGE：Separate image file saved in disk.

2. When clicking “FILE IMAGE” or “Extend IMAGE”, dialog box will pop up for choosing

path of source file（Mrt Data Explorer. FileImg）

3. When clicking “Show used device”, it will show all detected device, or it can only show

unused device .

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1.2.3 Initializing Settings

Figure 1.2.3: Initialize settings

Function Specification:

1. Soft Reset: It comes from standard ATA transfer protocols, operating one “Soft

Reset” for source device during initializing.

2. Hard Reset: It comes from standard ATA transfer protocols, operating one Hard

Reset for source device during initializing.

3. Read device information: Send commands to source device to acquire information

such as device capacity, serial number and so on during initializing.

4. Initialize device params: Send commands to source device to initialize default params

of device during initializing.

5. Time of waiting for device to be ready: Timeout for device to be ready during

initializing.

Attentions:

4. These settings comes up only when source device is MRT DISK such as MRT ATA0

and MRT ATA1.

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5. When selecting “Soft Reset” or “Hard Reset”, commands will be sent to source device

during initializing whatever status source device is. The reason is that only “Soft

Reset” and “Hard Reset” can work for reading data

6. It is not advisable to select “Soft Reset” or “Hard Reset” for old hard disk with bad

head with long time for readiness, or it will cause failure of initializing task because

device stays busy .

7. Do not select option “Hard Reset” for hard disk with damaged translator or hot swap

or virtual start.Otherwise,drive will get busy.

8. Selection of “Read device information” is not recommended when head is weak,

since it is likely to cause copy failure when hard disk is power-on and drive may stay

busy or light DWF turns on.This problem originates from firmware defects of Seagate.

1.2.4 Task Options

Figure 1.2.4 :Task opinion

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Function Specification:

1. Data copy: If selecting option “Data copy”, initializing task will enter interface of data

copy.Otherwise,it will directly enter interface of “Data Explorer” so that source device

can not be imaged to target device because it won’t pop up dialog of target device

selection.

1 Binary file: This is a large file when selecting FILEIMAGE as target device.

2 List of ranges: It consists of a lot of files which have a fixed size.More specifics

will be explained in the coming subsection.

2. Create virtual translator: It will not affect task performance whether you click or

not.You can ignore it.

1.2.5 Select Target Device

Figure 1.2.5: Select target device

Function Specification:

1. These settings come up only after selection of “Copy data” option.

2. There are some options below when selecting different target device :

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 1 FILE IMAGE: An image to save user data.It is related to the option of “image to

task directory”.The size for unit file can be chosen.

2 MRT ATA: Both MRT ATA0 and ATA1 belong to MRT DISK.At this time you

need to connect a target drive to ATA 0 or ATA 1 after selecting corresponding channel.

3 Extend IMAGE: Image to task directory

3. Image to task directory: Image file is saved in the folder of task directory , or it require

to choose other saving directory.

4. Size of unit file: 64MB is recommended as size of File Image file unit can be moved

more easily. Over-sized unit file makes file move harder , and under-sized unit file will

slow down its copy speed.

Attentions:

1. The best choice is that capacity of target device selected is similar to source hard disk,

or insufficient capacity will cause copy failure, which will be displayed as blue sector,

when copy LBA is out of current maximum LBA of target drive.

2. Try not to select “Extend IMAGE”, insufficient space of hard disk causes writing

failure and greatly decreases success rate for copy.

3. Over-sized file will increase error rate for copying file, decrease success rate for copy

and crash program.

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1.2.6 Task Information

Figure 1.2.6: Task information

Function Specification:

Show main parameters of current task information.

1.3 Open Task

1.3.1 Select Task File

Figure1.3.1 : Select task file

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Function Specification:
Locate task directory, task format is .Task file and Task.bak is backup of task file.Click

either of them to open it.

1.3.2 Initializing Settings

Figure1.3.2：Select task file

Function Specification:

Show configuration of current task selected.

Dev name: Device name,here you can change the channel if source drive is connected to

another channel.However,normally we do not recommend to do it as for 2-port card there

is not additional channels to change source drive channel.And it will confuse user which is

the original channel of source drive and target drive.

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1.4 Data Copy Task
When we have chosen the option “Data copy” in figure 1.2.4,no matter target device you

select is FILE IMAGE,EXTEND IMAGE or a drive,we call the task data copy task.

1.4.1 Data Copy Interface

Figure 1.4.1 Data copy interface

1. Power switch 12. Stop copy

2. Task parameters 13. Exit task

3. Task information 14. Soft reset

4. Task statistics 15. Hard reset

5. Task scheduler 16. Sleep

6. Save task 17. Recalibration

7. File explorer 18. Head map

8. File browsing mode 19. Disable backward reading

9. Head map settings 20. Disable skip

10. Start copy 21. Copying speed window

11. Pause copy 22. Hex data window

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Function Specification:

1. The top of this interface is toolbar for data copy task, reviewing task information and

controlling data copy.

2. Below the menu toolbar is shortcut toolbar, for source device control and shortcut

settings for task parameters.

3. The bottom of this interface is data display window for real-time display of data copy.

4. The functions of number 16 and number 17 are commonly used for hot swap.The16th

function also is recommended to make head sleep so that a quick shutdown of power

will not have an impact on head.

1.4.2 System Task Menu:

Figure1.4.2: System Task Menu

Auto shutdown: Open the option and PC will be power-off after last task is finished.

Please note that other functions correspond to below specification.

The rest will be explained in the coming subtitles.

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1.5 Task Params Settings
1.5.1 Data Copy

Figure1.5.1: Task params

Function Specification:

1. Starting LBA: Address of starting LBA for copy task.

2. Ending LBA: Address of ending LBA for copy task.

3. Translate: Translate between LBA and GB.

4. MAX: Set max Ending LBA value for source device to restore modification .

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5. Read block size: The largest sector size you can read every time is 256 sectors for

two - port card and 2016 sectors for 5 - port card when copying data.The larger block

size is,the faster data copies normally. However, copy speed will slow down on the

contrary when head performance is bad or certain issue of dark disk occurs.

6. Waiting time of switching Map window: Program will make MAP window switch to log

window when set time is over, but it will not happen if value is zero for “Waiting time of

switching Map window”.

Drawing Map in MAP window will be resource- intensive for CPU, Copy speed will be

affected on certain poor configuration of computer.

7. Interval time of auto saving task: It will save task automatically at intervals of set time

8. Modify MBR: It will only modify last two bytes（0x55AA）of sector 0 of target drive

when reading data of sectors.Signature of 0x55AA has a self-protection mechanism

when running on PC and it is occasionally not allowed to be modified by this function

so that we commonly recommend to connect target drive to MRT channel not to PC.

9. Backward copy mode: Copy data backward from Ending LBA to Starting LBA. It will

be slower to copy data backward than forward under normal circumstance according

to working principle of hard disk.

10. Read-Only Mode: It will be allowed to modify any data of source device.

11. Single sector copy mode: It can only read one sector at a time when copying data,

which can decrease failure rate of data copy,meanwhile it will slow down copy speed.

12. Skip read timeout sector: It will automatically skip set sectors and keep on copying

data when timeout sector(marked as red block )occurs .

13. Skip read error sector: It will automatically skip set sectors and keep on copying data

when error sector(marked as black block )occurs.

14. Fast copy: Ignore and skip failed block including error and timeout sectors when

copying data.It can decease damage rate of head when meeting bad block.It is

advisable to start “Fast copy” with head map when trying to extract more data from

hard disk with weak head.

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15. Enable 4K HDD support, the skipped sectors after read failed will be handled by

multiples of 8: It is used for those HDDs that support for 4K feature(4086 bytes) of

user area.It will be automatically chosen after task created.

This function will decrease an unnecessary read burden of head.The reason is that

read status of eight logical sectors corresponding to physical storage unit for 4K HDD

is the same, that is to say, if one sector fails to be read , the same with the rest 7

sectors.

16. 4K disk detect: It will test whether device is 4K HDD.

17. Fill read failure data to target device: If it starts, button “Fill zero” or “Fill bad!“ will be

checked under corresponding sector of target device when failing to read sector. If

not , remaining “bad” details will be written into target device.

18. Read sector failed N Times, then stop task: It will stop copying data after reading set

failure times for reading sector.

Attentions:

1. You can try to set “Read block size” to 1 if translator of certain HDD brands such as

Hitachi drive suddenly encounters malfunction when copying data, which can avoid

translator damage in a large degree, moreover, sometimes copy speed at “1” is

slightly faster or smoother than that of “256” in “Read block size”.

2. “Single sector copy mode” is equal to setting “Read block size” to 1.

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1.5.2 Transfer Mode

Figure1.5.2：Transfer Mode

Function Specification:

Read from active MRT Utility:

1. There are seven transfer modes so far:

1 SATA high-speed transfer mode

2 UDMA66 transfer mode

3 UDMA33 transfer mode

4 PIO transfer mode( Use hardware retries)

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 5 PIO transfer mode (Do not use hardware retries): This transfer mode can be

chosen for hard disk which can not be read by forth transfer mode,but not for hard

disk for more than 128 GB capacity.

6 PIO transfer mode(ignore CRC cyclic checking ): This transfer mode can be

chosen for hard disk which can not be read by forth transfer mode and fifth

transfer mode. , but not for hard disk of more than 128 GB capacity.

7 Read from active MRT utility: This way chooses utility to read data.It is typically

used for WD USB data decryption and virtual translator for ARM drive and SSD.

2. New hard disk will transfer data at highest speed for reading data even though it is set

as UDMA33 or UDMA66, so speed of hard disk for transfer may stay the same after

transfer mode is changed.

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1.5.3 Scan Type

Figure1.5.3: Scan type

Function Specification:

Type Specification:

Read Success: Succeed in reading data and it is reliable data.

Read with Error: Succeed in reading data, but light Error is on, which can not

guarantee data correctness.Normally it occurs in Hitachi and Toshiba drives.

Read without CRC: Succeed in reading by “PIO transfer mode” with ignoring CRC

cyclic checking ,which can not guarantee data correctness.

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 Read Failed: It commonly is bad sector.

Read Timeout: It commonly is bad sector.For partial issue of Seagate drive all

error sectors will be showed in red or black.

Skip when reading: It will skip certain sectors when error sector and timeout sector

occur,and start to read backward from last sector of skipped sectors to the first bad sector.

Modify after reading: Data is modified and recopied

Write failed: Succeed to read data but fail to write data into target device .

Valid data: In “Data Explorer” mode we can mark valid data, in which MFT data is

correctly detected.

Read Remainder: The sector remains to be read.

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1.5.4 Power Manage

Figure 1.5.4：Power manage

Function Specification:

1. Power-off time at reset: When power is reset, program will cut off power and re-turn

on power after waiting until set time

2. Shut down power and stop all tasks when the hard drive cannot be ready: You can

choose this function when head is in bad condition and likely to click，this can avoid

disk damage caused by continuous head click after hard disk stays busy.

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1.5.5 Error Handling

Figure1.5.5:Error handling

Function Specification:

1. Retry times after reading error: When failing to read sector, it is advisable to retry to

read sector at set time until succeeding to do it. To set retry times as zero when head

is bad or there is a lot of defects.

2. The number of skipping sectors after reading error: It will skip set sectors and

continue on copying data when error sector occurs. Set larger value such as

500,1000 or larger when there are lots of defects in hard disk. It does not work if you

do not enable this function at data copy settings or disable this function at toolbar of

shortcut settings.

3. Operate after read error: When failing to read sector, source device will be operated

in sequence by selected options until device is ready.other options will not be

operated once device gets ready.

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Attentions:

Soft Reset,Hard Reset and Reset Power are selected.When failing to read device ,

program will start Soft Reset for source device.If device gets ready at this moment, Hard

Reset and Reset Power will not be operated.Otherwise, Hard Reset will be operated until

device is ready and so the third option.

If both of “Disable backward reading” and “Skip read error sector” are not selected, or

skipping number is not zero, it will start to read backward from the last LBA of skipped

sectors until skipped sectors are all finished to read whether it is successful or not, and

then continue on copying data after skipped sectors.

Do not choose “Hard Reset” or ”Reset Power” for hard disk with translator damage or hot

swap or virtual start.

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1.5.6 Timeout Settings

Figure1.5.6: Timeout settings

Function Specification:

1. The number of skipping sectors after reading timeout: It will skip set sectors and

continue on copying data when reading timeout occurs.To set the number of skipping

sectors larger is recommended,when hard disk is in bad condition.

It does not work if not enabling this function at data copy settings or disable this

function at toolbar shortcut settings.

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2. Timeout setting: Please set “Waiting time of reading by PIO” or “Waiting time of

reading by UDMA” longer according to the transfer mode, when hard disk is in bad

condition and it takes longer time to read sector.

Please attention that it needs to set “Wait time after power reset” longer when hard

disk takes long time to get ready. Hard disk in bad condition will takes minutes or

longer time to wait after power-on.

3. Operate after read timeout: When read timeout occurs, source device will be

operated in sequence by selected options until device gets ready.other options will

not be operated once device gets ready.

Attentions:

Soft Reset,Hard Reset and Reset Power are selected.When failing to read device ,

program will start Soft Reset for source device.If device gets ready at this moment, Hard

Reset and Reset Power will not be operated.Otherwise, Hard Reset will be operated until

device is ready and so the third option.

If both of “Disable backward reading” and “Skip read error sector” are not selected, or

skipping number is not zero, it will start to read backward from the last LBA of skipped

sectors until skipped sectors are all finished to read whether it is successful or not, and

then continue on copying data after skipped sectors.

Here we should combine the attentions of Timeout settings with the ones of Error

handling.In both settings it is not recommended to select “Hard Reset” or ”Reset Power”

with translator damage or hot swap or virtual start.When you have set the options,better

make the other one consistent with the former one.

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1.5.7 Head Map

Figure1.5.7.1: Head map

Function Specification:

This function needs corresponding function module to match, and will be put into use after

creating head map.

If corresponding function module is not enabled, please switch window to main interface

and enable function module corresponding original device interface.

For example: When we need to create head map for a Seagate drive, you should ensure

correct connection of terminal device and enter ST utility to acquire necessary firmware

info in advance. Then go back to “Data Explorer” interface, finally click button “Create

head map”, appearing below window:

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 Figure1.5.7.2: Create head map range

Input LBA address arrange used to create head map and then click button OK, appearing
below window:

Figure1.5.7.3: Select a way to create head bitmap

Figure1.5.7.4: Creating head map

Head map of source device will be showed after creating head map, showed as below
image:

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 Figure 1.5.7.5: Head map
Only selected head will be copied when copying data. The rest of LBA on other heads will

be skipped and the marked color will not change（remains white）.

It is advisable to use separate copy and enable skipping sectors in “Timeout setting” and

“Error handling” when head is weak or some issues occur on certain head.Different heads

perform different copy tasks automatically by task parameter setting in task schedule.

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1.5.8 Command Check

Figure1.5.8: Command Check

Function Specification:

1. Please enable “Check DRD bit” in non-UDMA transfer mode

2. Please enable “Check DWF bit” when DWF error of Seagate occurs.

Attentions:
DRQ: Host sends data transfer command before transferring data to hard disk and then

light DRD is on indicating hard disk gets ready and host can start to transfer data. Light

DRD will not be on if host does not transfer enough data, then next command can not be

executed, so “Soft Reset” or “Hard Reset” need to be enabled to turn on light DRQ.

DWF: This light will be on when a hard disk failure occurs, thus data can not be

transferred at this time. Therefore you need to restart the power of hard disk.

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1.5.9 File Explorer

Figure 1.5.9: File Explorer

Auto skip:

1. Read Failed when parse node 10 sectors, then automatically skip: When using “File

explorer”, it will skip current node and not parse its child node if more than ten error

sectors occur.

2. Read failed when image files 10 sectors, then automatically skip: It will skip current

image file if more than ten error sectors occur when file is imaged.

3. Read failed when save files 10 sectors, then automatically skip: It will skip current file

if more than ten error sectors occur when file is saved.

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Please note that when error sectors achieve a certain amount, this file or node will

probably is not complete. This option can rapidly find out or save some effective data, thus

not wasting much time on some corrupt data.

File save:

1. Save File path include parent path when saving current item: When saving current

files, parent path is treated as parent directory.

2. Use complete node path name when saving file path: When saving file or folder, treat

complete node path name as parent directory.

3. Auto-cancel selected state of nodes after file saved: Cancel selected state of nodes

after file is saved no matter files succeed to be saved or not.

4. Only auto-cancel selected state of nodes successfully saved: This option can be

checked when option Auto-cancel selected state of nodes after file saved is checked.

It will automatically save files failed to be saved after one round for saving file.

5. Auto delete files files failed to be saved: Files failed to be saved will be deleted,

avoiding generating invalid files.

Valid data:

Merge interval less than 64 sectors valid data block: This option will merge valid data

block whose interval is less than 64 sectors, thus usage rate of hard disk is increased and

disk fragment rate is reduced.

Other settings:

Auto delete temporary files generated at preview when existing: This option will

automatically delete temporary files generated at preview when program exits, thus

reduce some capacity occupied by useless file

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Attentions:

When node is parsed or file is imaged or file is saved , the data is corrupt if more than ten

error sectors occur. When skipping the damaged data module (such as a file or folder), it

can increase speed for coping valid data, and reduce malfunction rate for head, especially

hard disk with weak head.

1.6 Count Sector Map (Task Statistics)

Here we select “Read Success” as an example.

Figure 1.6.1: Task statistics

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Function Specification

1. This function will count blocks according to map type( each has its own color), when

clicking button “Start”, it will count sectors of selected type.

2. When statistics process is finished, please click any block and it will automatically

jump to staring LBA of selected block.

3. When statistics process is finished, please click list title (such as “Starting

LBA”, ”Ending LBA”), then statistics result will be sorted automatically according to

selected title.

4. Below image is right-click menu of list data when statistics is finished.

Figure 1.6.2: Context menu of list blocks

Copy block length: Block length is copied into clipboard.

Copy block starting LBA: Starting LBA address is copied into clipboard.

Copy block ending LBA: Ending LBA address is copied into clipboard.

Go to block starting LBA: Map will automatically go to block starting LBA.

Go to block ending LBA: Map will automatically go to block ending LBA.

Sort by block number: Will be sorted by block number.

Sort by block length: Will be sorted by block length.

Clear sector map of block: Clear all mark of sector map of block.

Mark sector map of block: Showed as figure 1.6.3.

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Set block LBA to copy range: According to current block length,starting LBA and ending

LBA of “Task params” will be set as figure 1.6.4.

Figure1.6.3:Mark sector map

Function Specification:

This function will mark range by changing starting LBA and ending LBA value and clicking

button “OK”, then your needed map appears.

Left hand of the window is mark type and the opposite is mark range whose default is Max

LBA.

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 Figure1.6.4:Set block LBA to copy range

After the function performed,selected block will fill stating LBA and ending LBA of “Task

params” with own parameters.

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1.7 Task Scheduler

Figure 1.7.1:Task scheduler

Function Specification:

1. This function can manage task and automatically copy task for many times. Set

different copy parameters and copy scheme every time to achieve flexible and

effective copy and give priority to complete data copy as possible as it could.

2. You can enable auto shutdown in system task menu at unattended situation.

3. Set selected task parameters to template: Set selected task parameters to

“Customize task template”.

4. Context Menu: Right click the task and corresponding interface is showed as below:

Figure 1.7.2:Context menu of task scheduler

Please note that current task can not be deleted.
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1.8 Log Window

Figure 1.8.1: Log window

1. Save log 6. Find

2. Auto save 7. Find next

3. Copy text 8. Switch tab of log window

4. Clear log 9. Switch tab of Map window

5. Pause display

Function Specification:

1. Save log: Save log details into specified file.

2. Auto save: Automatically save log details into specified file when program exits.

3. Copy text: Copy selected details to clipboard.

4. Clear text: Clear log details.

5. Pause display: Pause display of newly added log details.

6. Find: Search content of log details.

7. Find next: Search next result with same content of log details.

8. Switch tab of log window: Go to log window.

9. Switch tab of Sector map window: Go to sector map window.

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1.9 Sector Map Window
1.9.1 Sector Map Window Introduction

Figure 1.9.1: Sector map window

1. LBA input box 5. Show/hide “Data scan” window

2. Jump to LBA 6. Pause/refresh sector map

3. Show/hide “Hex data” window 7. Set data scan type

4. Show/hide “Copy speed” window 8. Adjust Map button

Function Specification:

1. Click or press “Enter” button, then it will jump map to specified LBA. Mouse

will move as it is in “Sector map window”. It will jump to the last LBA if LBA value is

larger than Maximum LBA of source device.

2. Cancel , it will hide this window.

3. Cancel , it will hide this window.

4. Cancel , it will hide this window

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 Please note that “Data scan” is disabled by default. Please click to

enable this function.

5. Function of is available only for “Data copy” option selected when

creating task. When it is enabled, Map will suspend update. “Pause refresh” of map

can increase copy speed in some degree on some computers with poor

configuration.

6. When mouse is moved below the function bar, icon of mouse will be , it will be

when mouth move to left hand of copy speed window. You can hold left mouse

button at this moment and drag it to resize window, finally release mouse to make

size change come into effect.

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1.9.1 Set Data Scan
Below image is a window display of option 7 in figure 1.9.1:

Figure 1.9.1: Data scan

Function Specification

1. This function is disabled by default, since scan function will affect copy speed in some

degree, which depends on machine configuration and quantity of scan type.The more

scan types are selected, the more obvious copy speed is affected.

2. When this function is enabled, data will be scanned for selected file type compared

with data structure of each file type to count and record related information, preparing

for recovery of file system.

3. This function is recommended to be enabled with function “Image valid data”(to be

developed ) and function “Subarea scan”(to be developed )

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1.9.2 Sector Map Context Menu
Right-click any sector, sector map context menu will be showed as below:

Figure 1.9.2: Context menu of sector map

Function Specification:

1. Edit current sector: Hex editor will pop up to check and edit current sector data.

2. Copy current sector LBA: Copy current sector LBA into clipboard.

3. Clear current sector map: Set current sector map as unread,( i.e block type) but do

not delete head map information of current sector.

4. Search sector map: Search specified sector map type by specified direction.

5. Clear current map: Clear specified sector type in specified scope.

6. Mark sector map: Mark specified sector type in specified scope.

7. Fill the target sector: Fill some hexadecimal data to to replace original sector data

Details will be showed in 1.9.2.1 Fill the Target Sector.

8. Recount sector map: Recount all map information within scope

9. Count blocks of sector map: Count specified map type information within scope.

10. View head map block: Check specified head block information.Details will be showed

in 1.9.2.2 View Head Map Block..

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1.9.2.1 Fill the Target Sector

Figure 1.9.2.1: Fill the target sector

Function Specification:

Replace original sector data with hexadecimal data.

This feature should not be applied when extracting user data.

1.9.2.2 View Head Map Block

Figure 1.9.2.2: View head map block

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Function Specification:

1. This function can count and check head map. Please create head map first if there is

no head map.

2. Click and start to count after creating head map. Statistics

result will be saved as file after counting task is finished so that no more counting next

time.

3. Click selected head block, and it will automatically go to Starting LBA of selected Map

block .

4. Double-click head block and it will automatically go to ending LBA of selected Map

block .

5. Click list heading, and statistics result will automatically be sorted by heading type.

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1.9.3 Sector Editor
1.9.3.1 Sector Editor Window Introduction

Figure 1.9.3.1: Sector editor

1. Jump to starting sector 9. Stop

2. Jump to previous sector 10. Load file

3. Sector input box 11. Save

4. Jump to input sector 12. Find

5. Jump to next sector 13. Find next

6. Jump to ending sector 14. Data template

7. Refresh 15. Status message bar

8. Write

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Function Specification:

1. Jump to starting sector: Go to starting starting sector.

2. Jump to previous sector: Go to previous sector (typically sector 0), this function is

disabled when current sector is starting sector.

3. Sector input box: Input any LBA you want to view.

4. Jump to input sector: Go to specified LBA. It will go to ending sector when specified

sector number is larger than max LBA of source device.

5. Jump to next sector: Go to next LBA. This function is disabled when current sector is

ending sector.

6. Jump to ending sector: Go to ending LBA of whole drive.

7. Refresh: Reread sector data of source disk and write them into corresponding sector

of target disk.

8. Write: Write current sector data into target device or source device.

9. Stop: Stop reading data. When encountering bad block, disk affected by some

features will be hanging for long time ,even get a power reset.At that time we advise

to click”stop” button.

10. Load file: Load data from specified file

11. Save: save current data into specified file.

12. Find: Find specified text

13. Find next: find next specified text.

14. Data template window is showed as figure 1.9.3.2.

15. Status message bar: Display process info and current cursor location info.

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1.9.3.2 Data Template Window

Figure 1.9.3.2.1 :Data template window

Function Specification:

Parse current sector by above template(only for senior user ).

P.S: When current sector editor reads sector 0 of hard disk, DOS partition table will be

selected as data template showed as figure 1.9.4.3:

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 Figure 1.9.3.2.2: DOS partition table

Description: It corresponds to meaning of offset. It needs deep knowledge of file system.

Bytes: Value size.

Current sector will be parsed by DOS partition table. As showed as above image, Value

can be modified and then close this window, meanwhile it will synchronize to sector editor.

This can rapidly modify data template.

Attentions:

Please confirm current sector is selected data template when selecting data template.

When parsed data is not correct ,it will lead to data loss after modification

Tips: When holding (previous sector ) or (next sector),sector data will be

automatically read continually.

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1.10 File Explorer

Figure 1.10.1:File explorer interface

1. Tree list

2. File list

3. Log window options

4. Map window options

5. Data window options

6. Node message bar

7. Hex data window

8. Data view window

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Function Specification:

1. When clicking file node in tree list, this node will be parsed and then its information appears if

current node is not parsed or failed to be parsed last time.

2. When double-click non-file node in file list, current node will be parsed automatically and then

its information appears if current node is not parsed or failed to be parsed last time.

3. Double-click file node of file list, file data will be automatically saved in temporary directory

and open. Temporary file generated by preview will be deleted after task exits.

4. Click button of “Data window options”, data position will be located automatically in “Hex Data

window”.

5. Source device should be parsed, saved and imaged separately.

6. When file is saved, file path will be automatically modified if file path is too long and then file

will be separately saved in a file.

7. When several nodes are parsed, saved and imaged simultaneously, you can click button skip

to pass operation of current node.

8. Please clear data of target device before creating task if selective head image is conducted,

or remaining data of target device may make file system parse incorrectly.

9. Context menu of hard drive(i.e ATA - SanDisk SSD PLUS -120G): Right-click current disk and

context menu will be showed as below image:

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 Figure 1.10.2: Context menu of hard drive

10. Context menu of system partition: Right-click system partition(normally the first partition) and

context menu will be showed as below image:

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 Figure 1.10.3 : Context menu of partition

11. Context menu of folder under tree list: Right-click any file or folder under tree list and context

menu will be showed as below image:

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 Figure 1.10.4: Context menu of folder under tree list

12. Context menu of file or folder under file list: Right-click any file or folder under file list and

context menu will be showed as below image:

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 Figure 1.10.5: Context menu of file or folder

Function specification of context menus above from figure 1.10.2 to figure 1.10.5:

1 Mark：Mark current file or folder.

2 Copy name：Copy name of current file or folder into clipboard

3 Copy starting sector LBA: Copy starting sector LBA of current file or folder into clipboard.

4 Image current item ： Copy data from source device into target device.This function will

work only for “Data copy” task.

5 View the size of current item：Check file or folder name and its size of current item.

6 Save current item：Copy current item into specified directory,It will pop up one dialog box

and you can choose path where current item will be copied.

7 Image marked item：Copy data of marked files from source device to target device. This

function will work only for “Data copy” task.

8 View the size of marked item：Check size of marked item.

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 9 Save marked item：Copy marked item into specified directory. It will pop up one dialog box

and you can choose path where current item will be copied .

10 Create virtual file system,figure 1.10.2: It will list a template of file system.The default file

system format is NTFS.This feature can only be used for senior user.

Figure 1.10.6: Create virtual file system

11 View MBR,in figure 1.10.2: Read and view data of sector 0.

12 Search partition,in figure 1.10.2: Search partition when partitions are missing..

13 Scan original data,in figure 1.10.2: Scan for a few supported types of file from whole

device.

14 Scan MFT,in figure1.10.3: Check MFT related information of current partition. (PS:

$AttrDef、$BadClus、$Bitmap、$Boot、$LogFile、$MFT、$MFTMirr、$Root、$Secure、

$UpCase 、 $Volume) 。 Check MFT related information in current area(PS: $AttrDef 、

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 $BadClus、$Bitmap、$Boot、$LogFile、$MFT、$MFTMirr、$Root、$Secure、$UpCase、

$Volume).

15 Mark partition valid data,in figure 1.10.3：Only valid MFT of file or directory will be marked

as valid data.

16 Create partition head map,in figure 1.10.3：Read head map for reference (Please read 2.5

Create Head Map from Chapter 2 for reference)

17 Set partition LBA to copy range,in figure 1.10.3 ： Set starting LBA and ending LBA of

source device to “Task params”.

18 View boot sector,in figure 1.10.3：Check starting sector of current item.

19 View starting sector,in figure 1.10.4: Read and view data of starting sector of current file

or partition.

Attentions:
1 ”Image current item” and “Image marked item“ copy data of source device into target

device, this function can work only for “Data copy” task. The difference between them is

how many files it can image .The former one can only image current file even though you

have selected several.The later one can image all marked items in one time.

2 ”Save current item” and “Save marked item“ save data of source device into another path

which can be your own drive on PC.This function can work only for “Data copy” task.In

addition,once you have saved files,source data will be also imaged to target device in the

purpose of user data backup. The difference between them is how many files it can

save.The former one can only save current file even though you have selected

several.The later one can save all marked items in one time.

3 Image operation is a copy behavior from source LBA corresponding to target LBA. For

example, a file consists of LBA 3 and 5.After image operation, target LBA 3 and 5 will be

filled with same data of source device.

4 After using “Mark partition valid data” ,we can click “Task statistics” to recount sector

map.Normally we don’t need to use it as this is recommended when you need to consult

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 sector map.What we are going to do is just select purple block (valid data) and start the

copy task.

13. Context menu of data view in “Create virtual file system”: Right-click any entry and it will be

showed as below:

Figure 1.10.7: Context menu of data view

Function Specification:

1 Copy description：Copy description into clipboard.

2 Copy offset：Copy offset into clipboard

3 Copy number of bytes：Copy number of bytes into clipboard.

4 Copy value：Copy value of description into clipboard

5 Create NTFS virtual partition：Create a virtual partition of NTFS format and display it on

the left side of background.

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14. Context menu of hex data in “Sector editor”: Right-click any hex data and context menu will be

showed as below image:

Figure 1.10.8: Right-click menu of Hex data window

1 Beginning of block: Set starting point of selected range needed to be copied.

2 End of block：Set ending point of selected range needed to be copied.

3 Find: As below picture:

Figure 1.10.9: Find window

Function Specification:

Search next needed information from local place

1) Hex：Input hexadecimal number needed to search.

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 2) Text：Input text information needed to search.

4 Find next：Fine next one of input data.

5 Go to: As below picture:

Figure 1.10.10: Offset window

Function Specification:

Any offset is a relative value current position starting from 0x00.When clicking option Hex,

offset number will be hexadecimal number.When clicking option Dec, offset number will be

hexadecimal decimal number.

6 Copy：Copy data of current item into clipboard.

7 Paste：Paste data of clipboard into current position

8 Fill：Replace current item with inserted value..

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1.11 File Browsing Mode
This mode is working separately differing from file explorer.

We can create any virtual partition under this circumstance and modify parameters in file system

template.Moreover,this is a switchable button to realize switch between file explorer and file

browsing mode,which is displayed as when the mode is closed and as when it is

opened.

It is applied to a situation that file tree is corrupt and nodes of MFT are partly damaged.Both will

result in invisible partitions.Certainly,this requires that users should have a good understanding of

file system.

1. Below image is original partition：

Figure 1.11.1: Original partition

2. Click “File browsing mode” and there will be a window of “Disk analysis type”:

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 Figure 1.11.2: Disk analysis type
3. Choose “Quick disk analysis” and the result is showed as below:

Figure 1.11.3: Result of quick disk analysis

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From the image we can see that quick analysis method just reads LBA from 0 to 4096 for NTFS

format of file system.This is because most of circumstances using common file system such as

FAT,NTFS record starting sector of first partition at LBA 63.2048 or 4096.

- Let us think about this for a while and guess how option 2 works from its definition?

- Yeah, you got it.

Option 2 will analyse partitions from the whole drive.

4. Choose “Analysis for the whole drive” and LBA setting window will be showed as below.We

typically continue by default:

Figure 1.11.4: LBA setting window

5. Program will is searching for partition table from all LBAs and eventually list all the results.The

process is showed as below:

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 Figure 1.11.5: Analysis for the whole drive

6. Now we stop analysis process and it will display ending LBA at 358612993:

Figure 1.11.5: Stop analysis process

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7. Here we get 12 partitions listed.No matter how many partitions you created, all partitions will

be listed if there is partition table record.

Figure 1.11.5: Listed partitions

8. What we need to do is easy that we just check each partition and extract the data.Here we

choose the fourth partition and we can see some files and folders:

Figure 1.11.5: Listed partitions

9. If there is not critical partition client needs,users can manually recover the partitions relying on

his own experience.For instance, we can right-click current disk and click ”Create virtual file

system” as below image to recover data by a manual way of inputting parameters:

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 Figure 1.11.5: Create virtual file system

For the other functions needed to use it is the same as 1.10 File explorer so users can refer to

this part.

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Chapter 2 Operating Procedure Introduction
Hardware environment: of 2.1 Create Data Copy Task:

The course below is based on MRT 2-port card.

Source device: Seagate 500GB - ST500DM002.

Target device: File image.

2.1 Create Data Copy Task - - From Source Device to File Image
Task Introduction: Copy ST500DM002 drive connected to ATA0 port of MRT card into file image

saved to somewhere on PC.

We recommend to use this method to extract user data when you don’t have a target drive.

1. Please connect hard disk to ATA0 port of MRT card,and click button ATA0 button Power, then

light DRD and DSC will be on in green. By following step 2 we power drive on and finally click

“Start” button of step 5 to open Data Explorer.

Figure 2.1.1: New copy task

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2. Click button “New task”.

Figure 2.1.2: New task

3. Choose default task name and default task path.Also you can choose another path.

Figure 2.1.3: Task name

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4. Select source device (MRT ATA0) as source device:

Figure 2.1.4: Select source device

Attentions:

You can also select system disk, FILE IMAGE,Extend IMAGE besides MRT0. However, please do

not select FILE IMAGE or Extend IMAGE when imaging source device. “File IMAGE” and “Extend

IMAGE” are both imaged data. When data extraction from IMAGE is required, please select

corresponding IMAGE type of imaged data and then you will be able to select “Mrt Data

Explorer.FileImg” in task folder :

Figure 2.1.4: Select .FileImg file as source device

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5. Initialize settings: Just leave it with default options.

Figure 2.1.6: Initializing settings

Attentions:

Read device information: In the process of Initializing, it is not recommended to open this option

when hard disk stays busy,.Please input capacity value manually or less than original capacity

when dialog box appears at last step of task creation.

Normally 500GB drive displays capacity of 976773168 LBA.If you are not clear of it,connect

another drive of same capacity to another channel and enter corresponding utility to obtain it.

Figure 2.1.7: Disk capacity

6. Task option: Select option of ”Data copy” firstly and then click button ”Next”.

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 Figure 2.1.8: Task opinion
Attentions:

Option ”Data copy” needs to be selected, or this new task will not allow to image data to target

device but directly open file explorer for file saving.

7. Select target device: Check option”FILE IMAGE ”firs, then set size of “FILE IMAGE” at 64M.

Figure 2.1.9 : Select target device

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8. Task information: Just go on to finish task creation.

Figure 2.1.10: Task information

9. Initialize task: Creation of new task is finished.

Figure 2.1.11: Initializing task

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10. Data copy window:

Figure 2.1.12: Data copy window

2.2 Create File Explorer Task - - Without Image Operation

Task Introduction:

File explorer task is only to check “File Explorer” for ST500DM002 drive connected to ATA0 port of

MRT card.Then we can manually select files and save to target path.

Please note that this method is commonly used when source device is perfectly working without

any necessity of dealing with bad block,such as a perfect drive or an IMAGE file.

1. Please connect hard disk to ATA0 port of MRT card,and click button “ATA0” and button

“Power”, then light DRD and DSC will be on in green. By following step 2 in below image we

power drive on and finally click “Start” button of step 5 to open “Data Explorer”.

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 Figure 2.2.1: Create file explorer task

2. Click button “New task”.

Figure 2.2.2: New task

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3. Choose default task name or default task path:

Figure 2.2.3: Task name

4. Select source device(MRT ATA0) as source device:

Attentions:

You can also select system disk, FILE IMAGE,Extend IMAGE besides MRT0.

Selection of previous FILE IMAGE or Extend IMAGE as source device is typically used for data

extraction for the second time.At this time IMAGE is regarded as intermeidary.

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 Figure 2.2.4: Select source device

5. Initialize settings: Just leave it with default options.

Figure 2.2.5: Initialize settings

Attentions:

Read device information: In the process of Initializing, it is not recommended to open this option

when hard disk stays busy,.Please input capacity value manually or less than original capacity

when dialog box appears at last step of task creation.

Normally 500GB drive displays capacity of 976773168 LBA.If you are not clear of it,connect

another drive of same capacity to another channel and enter corresponding utility to obtain it.

Figure 2.2.6: Disk capacity

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6. Task option: Just leave it with default options.
Please note that do not select “Data copy”, or this task will be “Data copy” task.

Figure 2.2.7: Task opinion

7. Task information: Just go on to finish task creation.

Figure 2.2.8: Task information of file explorer task

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8. Initialize task: Creation of new task is finished.

Figure 2.2.9 : Initialize task of file explorer

9. “File Explorer” window:

Figure 2.2.10: File explorer window

10. Expand partitions and manually save files.

Attentions:

That some options in “Task params” of file explorer task are gray means they are forbidden to

used under this circumstances.Here is an image of “Task params”:

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 Figure 2.2.11: Task params window

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2.3 Start to Copy Task

Figure 2.3.1: Copy task

Here is a “Data copy” task and we choose FILE IMAGE as target device.

Click “Start copy” button and wait until copy task is finished by monitoring process of task,
marked in figure 2.3.1.

During this period you can modify task parameters which will be with immediate effect so that valid

data can be copied more rapidly. Please click button and then “Task params” window will
be opened as below:

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 Figure 2.3.2: Data copy settings

About brief introduction for of “Command to read”, please read 1.5

“Task Params Settings” for reference to know more about other functions and settings of specific

parameters.

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 Figure 2.3.4: Read from active MRT Utility
Attentions:

1. It is recommended to use option ”Read from active MRT Utility” when an error in G-list of

Toshiba ARM drive occurs or there is something wrong with translator of Hitachi ARM drive.

2. Seagate drive and Western Digital drive are not recommend to use ”Read from active MRT

Utility” since it may cause data disorder of hard disk.

3. There is a exception for WD USB - SATA drive that normally there is a USB data encryption

after resolving firmware issue by converting USB board to SATA board.Under this

circumstance we need to activate this reading mode to decrypt user data.Here is a contrast

table of USB to SATA board:

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 Figure 2.3.4: Contrast table of USB to SATA board

Please note that for 8000xx version PCB there are 2 types: One type has a firmware lock and

another one does not have.In addition, unlocked PCB will cost user more money.

This type of firmware lock has not been figured out to unlock at software level.At present users

have to purchase hardware of unlocked PCB using physical method to remove firmware lock.

4. ”Read from active MRT Utility” needs serial port device and ensure the correct connection of

terminal adaptor and correct selection of brand connector.Here is a link of hardware

installation:

http://en.mrtlab.com/2562-2

For instance:

We take a Toshiba drive as example to guide you how to use this option.

1. Click button “Read from active MRT Utility” and below window will appear, which shows that

utility corresponding to this device is not enabled

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 Figure 2.3.5: MRT Utility hint window
2. Switch to window”MRT Pro Ultra Complete version + SSD:ATA01 V2.1.4.0”:

Figure 2.3.6: Switching window

3. Click button “Automatic detection” and button “Start” , showed as below image,
program will automatically choose type and size of hard disk. Please choose manually if hard

disk can not be detected.

Figure 2.3.7: Enable Toshiba utility

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4. Please select family of hard disk and choose ATA mode, then click button “OK”, showed as
above image.Family can be obtained from its model number “MK16065GSX”, from which we
can see “65GSX”.

Figure 2.3.8: Select family

5. Now we need to select COM serial port showed as below:

Figure 2.3.9: Select COM serial port

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6. If interface shows that “Load Zone” and “G-list” are OK as below image, it means that

“Reading from active MRT Utility” will succeed. When it fails, it does not means that serial port

is not connected successfully,but maybe hard disk crashes or current drive is not supported to

use this feature such as SSD.

Figure 2.3.10: Toshiba utility window

7. Let us go back to DE and activate the feature.Here we select PIO method and the second

option showed as below image:

Figure 2.3.11: Select mode

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8. Initialization is finished.

Figure 2.3.11：Initialization is finished

9. Start the task by following “figure 2.3.1: Copy task”.Now we restart the task and select

“Continue last ”.

Figure 2.3.12: Continue task

Attentions:

It is recommended to stop current task when modifying task parameters.Then restart it and click

button “Continue last ” after task parameters are modified.

“Continue last” will start from the last LBA you stopped at.

“Re-copy” will start from the starting LBA in “Task params” and skip copied LBA to continue.

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2.4 Task scheduler
Function Specification:

This function can manage task and automatically copy task for many times. Set different copy

parameters and copy schemes every time to achieve flexible and effective copy and give priority

to complete data copy as possible as it could.

Click button on data copy interface and “Task scheduler” window appears.

Figure 2.4.1: Task scheduler

Click Option “Set selected task params to template”: Set selected task parameters and then the

result will be in customized task template.

For instance:

We add a new task that our purpose is to recopy the skipped sector due to many scratches.

Current task settings are showed as below images:

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These 4 images mean that we want to skip 200 sectors counting from the first bad sector when

running into error sector and timeout sector.Certainly what we set will also skip the first error

sector and timeout sector every time（when “Fast copy” option of “Data copy” is selected）.

Added task settings are showed as below images:

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These 4 image means after all readable sectors copied by first task,this time we hope to read

yellow sector(skipped sectors) only, and do not want to skip the first bad sector(cancel “Fast copy”

option of “Data copy”).

Attentions:

When a error sector is detected,its color will turn from yellow to black.Since we set skipped sector

number to 8 for error sector, we will skip 8 sectors from current error sector.

When a timeout sector is detected, its color will turn from yellow to red.Since we do not set

skipped sector for timeout sector, we will not skip any yellow sector until it is confirm to be timeout

sector.

Now we have a new task scheduler showed as below:

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 Figure 2.4.2: New task scheduler

Attentions:
When we see error prompt of below image appearing after clicking “Set selected task params to

template”, it means current task with “Reading from active MRT Utility” mode(we selected it in 2.3

Start to Copy Task）cannot be applied with this function.

When we switch reading mode to SATA high-speed mode, this function will succeed.

Figure 2.4.3: Task scheduler error prompt

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2.5 Create Head Map - - A Commonly Used Feature
1. we create a data copy task using Seagate drive as source device and file image as target

device.

Figure 2.5.1: Create head map hint window

2. When clicking button ”Create head map” and above message appears, it means that

corresponding utility of this device is not activated, so we switch to window “MRT Pro Ultra

Complete version+SSD:ATA01 V2.1.4.0” . If no hint window appears, please continue from

step 6.

Figure 2.5.2: Switch window

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3. Click button “Automatic detection” and button “Start” , showed as below image,
program will automatically choose type and size of hard disk. Please choose manually if hard

disk can not be detected. Current drive is 7200.12 drive belonging to Seagate F3 drive.

Figure 2.5.3: Enable Seagate F3 utility

4. Click button “Auto-identification” and click “OK” after family ID detected.

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 Figure 2.5.4: Select family

5. Click “Basic state” and refresh the parameters showed in below image to acquire necessary

head map parameters.

Figure 2.5.5: Acquire head map parameters

6. Go back to “Data Explorer” interface and create head map again.Below image will be showed:

Figure 2.5.6: Create head map range

7. There are 2 methods for “Create a head bitmap mode” showed as below image:

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 Figure 2.5.7: Create method of head bitmap

Attentions:

“Rapid detection method” is recommended when drive is properly working and it can save time to

finish it.When drive is working unstably and head has a little bit issue.please try “Detection

method”.Compared to the former method, this will take some time to accomplish it.

8. Below image will appear for Seagate drive and the default value comes from Figure 2.5.5:

Acquire head map parameters.In the title we can see “4K” ,which means user area adopt a

mechanism of 4096 bytes per sector.

Figure 2.5.8: Seagate separate parameters(4K)

9. Check the process rate.When something wrong occurs, it will report failure.

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 Figure 2.5.9: Creating head map

10. Head map is completed.

Figure 2.5.10: Create head map completed

11. Now we are able to select head map.

When there is any weak head or damaged head, we advise user to check some options by

reference of 2.4 Task scheduler.

Figure 2.5.11: Head list

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2.6 Sector Editor

Figure 2.6.1: Data copy window

1. Double-click any block so that data of sector can be read and edited showed as below:

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 Figure 2.6.2: Sector editor

2. Click any hex data and edit it. Please read 1.9.3 Sector editor for reference for other function

introduction.

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2.7 File Explorer
2.7.1 Copy A Single File
Specification: Files is copied under folder of current task by default in file explorer

Figure 2.7.1.1: File Explorer

1. Double-click “GPT partition - 465.76GB” to expand partitions and then double-click

partitions.Its nodes of file tree will be expanded.

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 Figure 2.7.1.2：Save current item

2. Expand directory for saving file: Choose file to be saved and right-click it,then choose option

“Save current item” and target directory for saving file.

Attentions:

If you want to save multiple files and folders simultaneously, you can check these files and then

right-click the section and finally choose option ”Save marked item”.

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2.7.2 Copy Deleted Files and Lost Files
Specification: Copy deleted file or lost file in “File Explorer” into current task folder by default.

Please note that valid data can be imaged only in “File Explorer” interface, so please switch from

data copy interface to file explore interface.

1. Expand the partitions, and right-click option ”Scan MFT”.

Figure 2.7.2.1: Scan MFT

2. Progress information for scanning MFT:

Figure 2.7.2.2: Scanning progress

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3. Scan result: Expand nodes scanned, and then save needed files. Please read 2.7.1 Copy a

single file for reference for specific method

Figure 2.7.2.3: Scan result

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2.7.3 Image Valid Data
Specification: Copy valid data into target device in “File Explorer”.

Please note that valid data can be imaged only in “File Explorer” interface, so please switch from

data copy interface to file explore interface.

1. Expand partition nodes, right-click it and then choose option ”Mark partition valid data”.

Figure 2.7.3.1: Mark partition valid data

2. Be marking valid data of partition.

Figure 2.7.3.2: Marking valid data

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3. Marking valid data is completed.

Figure 2.7.3.3: Mark valid data of partition completed

4. Result of the size of valid data.

Figure 2.7.3.4: Mark result

5. Exit file explorer and enter “Task statistics” to recount sector map and it will acquire valid data

map.

Figure 2.7.3.5: Recount sector map

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6. Sector map recount is completed.There will be valid data information marked as purple block.

Figure 2.7.3.6: Sector map recount is completed

7. Choose purple type and start copy task.Both “Continue last” and “Re-copy” are ok.

Figure 2.7.3.7: Select purple type

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Chapter 3 Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ)

3.1 How to extract data after imaging data?

Data imaged by MRT DE is saved in target device, so you can check and extract data
directly in it when your target device is a hard disk. If target device selected is FILE
IMAGE, you can open image file by MRT DE to check and extract data in file explorer
interface
1 Load FILE image Please read “2.1 Create Data Copy Task” for reference.

2 Extract file Please read “2.7 File Explorer “.

3.2 How to read yellow block?

Yellow block in MRT DE represents skipped sector. If we set to skip read error sector
and timeout sector as image scheme, program will skip some sectors as we set in
“Task params” when bad sector occurs, meanwhile skipped sectors will be showed in
yellow. If you want to read yellow block, you can check yellow type(Skip when
reading ,also you can refer to fugure 2.7.3.7) in “Copy type” and then program will
restart to read yellow block after starting to copy.
PS: It is recommended to image yellow block after image task is finished.
Below is operation of demonstration:

1. Click button “Task params”:

Figure 3.2.1: Data copy

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2. Click button “Copy type” and choose “Skip when reading”:

Figure 3.2.2: Copy type settings

3. Click button “Start”.

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 Figure 3.2.3: Starting copy

3.3 How to speed up data copy

1. Close option “Hex data”, "Copy speed" and "Data scan" and then Click
button”Log” to log interface.

Figure 3.3.1: Data copy

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2. Select “Fast copy” and cancel “Fill read failure data”.
“4K disk detect” is to detect if drive enables 4K feature.By default it is
automatically selected when 4k feature detected.

Figure 3.3.2: “Data copy” parameters settings

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3. Select “Soft reset” and set skipped sector number to 500 in “Error handling” and
“Timeout setting”.
“Soft reset” is chosen to send this command when bad sector occurs.Sometimes
drive cannot always acquire ready state after encountering bad sector.At this
moment “Soft reset” is helpful.On the other hand, for some drives “Hard reset”
and “Reset power” are helpful so that you maybe need to select these options too.
The number of skipped sectors depends on how many continuous bad sector the
drive has.When there are some scratches, we set to a large number so that copy
process can run more smoothly.Here we just take 500 as an example.

Figure 3.3.3: “Error handing” parameters settings

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 Figure 3.3.4: Timeout setting

Comment: Above figures are for common settings to speed up copy process, which is
applied to situation that data can be constantly read after skipping some bad sectors.
Users should use this method based on actual situation of hard disk.
Moreover,some features supported by WD and Seagate drives will have obvious
effect on copy speed,those features can be checked in feature named “Edit HDD ID”
in corresponding utility.
How to apply it is very easy to perform that users just need to switch options on or off
and observe the copy speed.

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3.4 How to use data template?
Data template in MRT DE is to help you analyze file system and data structure of hard
disk more easily because you do not need to memorize byte size and meaning and so
on when using this data template.
Surely,if a user does know nothing about file system,we recommend to use a
third-party tool to scan for files when nodes are damaged and file tree is not fully
displayed.

3.5 Selected Head Map to Image

Create head map ( please read “2.5 Create Head Map” for reference for creating
map ), and then check needed head for copy.
We strongly suggest that users create head map for every task due to a general
phenomenon that head collapse may happen to many cases.At that time mostly
certain head is dead or all are gone.If lucky, we can copy the rest of data on good
heads if a head map has been created in advance.
Some users prefer to directly save files and never set some basic settings.Once head
is broken,there is no more good alternatives to continue with copy task as head map
creation might fail at the moment.

3.6 Create Virtual Translator

To create Virtual translator is the same as to use ”Read from active MRT Utility”
Please read ”Read from active MRT Utility” setting in “2.3 Start Copy Task” for
reference.

3.7 Analyze Sector Details

Please read data template in “2.6 Sector Editor”for reference. Choose option”DOS

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partition table”:

Figure 3.7.1: DOS template

Figure 3.7.2: Signature mark in sector 0

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When we choose any item,sector 0 on the background will be highlighted in blue.
Attentions: Please do not modify these data if you do not know much about file
system, or it will cause system crash or file loss.

3.8 What is MRT DE?

MRT DE is a professional data recovery tool for hard disk created by MRT laboratory.
This tool can not only recover data from hard disk with logical layer error, but also deal
with damaged disk and head for data recovery.

3.9 What is advantage of MRT DE compared with other tools

The most of data recovery software at current market mainly deal with data from
logical layer, not bad track or perform selective head image. However, MRT DE mainly
focuses on data recovery from physical layer and logical layer such as defects of track,
scratches on platter, separate image from certain head, virtual translator.
We select different data recovery schemes in DE according to different situation of
hard disk to recover more complete data. Principle of data recovery by MRT DE tool is
to try to recover more data and be adaptable to more situations.

3.10 The condition for using MRT DE to recover data

Even though MRT DE as data recovery tool for hard disk is powerful in data recovery,
it is not omnipotent. Below is situation that this tool can not work.:
1 Hard disk can not finish start-up process because of hardware or firmware
problems.
2 Hard disk can start-up process but can not recover data because of bad track,
head damage, channel failure for reading data, and change of head or disk and so on
3 Hard disk has no physical failure but firmware issue that drive can not read
data since it is tampered by someone.

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 4 Data can be not read since an error occurs when translating from logical
address to physical address or an error of G-list occurs.
5 Data structure of hard disk is destroyed, including artificial breakdowns, virus ,
part of data encryption and unexpected power outage and so on.Please keep in mind
that data imaged by MRT DE comes from source disk, so data can not be recovered if
source data is destroyed.

3.11 Common skill for using MRT DE to recover data

There are several ways to extract data flexibly using MRT DE based on hard disk
situation. You can adopt different copy strategies with corresponding function settings
to recover data more rapidly and flexibly.
Meanwhile there is corresponding methods based on firmware problems of different
hard disk brands in MRT DE tool, such as DWF error handling for Seagate, G-list error
handling for Toshiba, virtual translator for ARM drive and SSD etc..More usage skills
and experience can be gained by repeatedly using this tool.

3.12 How to use MRT DE to recover data

Please pay some Aattentions to our website,on which we will publish some basic
video tutorials to help get started with MRT Data Explorer utility.We will gradually
issue them according to current process rate of tutorial production and latest version
we use.
Here are 2 official website:
http://en.mrtlab.com/category/news
http://us.mrtlab.com/

Thank your for all your Aattentions to MRT Data Recovery tool.

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