SMR Hard Drive Data Recovery
At Rossmann Repair Group, we specialize in the recovery of data from Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) hard drives, which is new tech. SMR drives are widely used in consumer and enterprise environments since they provide higher storage capacity for less money. Their unique structure makes them very difficult to recover when they fail.
If your SMR hard drive is not working, we have all the tools necessary to get your data back!
If your SMR hard drive is not working, we have all the tools necessary to get your data back!
Why Rossmann Repair?
What Makes SMR Drives Unique and Challenging for Recovery?
SMR hard drives write data in overlapping tracks, like shingles on a roof. This allows for higher storage density. While this technology maximizes capacity, it makes recovery more difficult due to the following reasons:
- Overlapping Data Tracks: Modifying or recovering one track risks overwriting or corrupting adjacent tracks.
- Second-Level Translators (SLT): These firmware components map logical block addresses (LBA) to physical block addresses (PBA). If the translator is damaged, the drive can return empty or corrupted data.
- Trim-like UNMAP Commands: SMR drives used in host-managed or host-aware configurations can process UNMAP commands (similar to TRIM for SSDs) in some systems. These commands tell the drive to mark certain data blocks as no longer in use, which can sometimes erase important mapping information in the Second-Level Translator (SLT) that connects logical addresses to physical storage locations. Deleted translator metadata or zone mappings can prevent reconstruction of the overlapping data tracks unique to SMR drives.
- Firmware Dependence: SMR drives heavily rely on firmware for managing data zones, and corruption here can make recovery extremely complex.
Who Uses SMR Hard Drives?
SMR drives are commonly found in:
- Consumer Electronics: External hard drives like the WD My Passport and Seagate Backup Plus.
- Network Attached Storage (NAS): Models like the WD Red series often use SMR drives for storage solutions.
- Surveillance Systems: High-capacity drives for storing security camera footage, such as some of Seagate’s SMR-based surveillance models.
Common Issues with SMR Drives
- Quick Formatting:
- If you format a drive and unplug it, old-style CMR drives (CMR referring to Conventional Magnetic Recording) are trivial to recover with standard software like R-Studio or UFS. Sometimes a pain, but mostly doable.
- With SMR drives like some WD My Passport models, you have to deal with second translators, translator dependencies, and you may not even get all the data from it.
- Basic software like UFS Explorer and R-Studio will show only empty sectors with zeroes in a case like this where the drive was formatted.
- Recovery often requires advanced tools to bypass damaged SLTs and restore fragmented data, like the Acelab PC3000.
- Firmware Corruption:
- SMR-specific firmware handling is more complicated compared to older CMR drives.
- If the second translator has an issue, the drive may click even if the heads are good, which can confuse new technicians into believing the heads are a problem.
- Sometimes this means blocking access to the service area or special modules.
- Software like UFS Explorer and R-Studio will not handle this. In this case, UFS stands for "u find shit" - only zeroes :'(
Our SMR Data Recovery Process
We use advanced technology and methods to deal with the challenges specific to SMR recovery:
- Translator Repair:
- We rebuild or bypass the damaged second-level translator to recover fragmented data.
- Firmware Restoration:
- Our tools safely repair corrupted firmware modules to get the drive back to working condition so we can recover all of its data.
- Zone Recovery:
- By carefully handling overlapping zones, we ensure adjacent data tracks remain intact during recovery.
- Physical Repairs:
- For drives with mechanical issues, our Purair VLF-48 laminar flow bench provides the controlled environment necessary for repairs. The Purair VLF-48 Laminar Flow Bench allows an ultra-clean workspace with ULPA filtration capturing 99.999% of particles down to 0.1 microns. Its vertical airflow design minimizes turbulence, making it perfect for handling delicate media during data recovery. We are NOT opening your drive in any old office!
Watch a Real Data Recovery Service below!
Why SMR Data Recovery Requires Experienced Technicians
Recovering data from SMR hard drives is a highly specialized task that requires lots of technical expertise & precision. New technicians working with tools like the PC3000 or performing cleanroom repairs on a laminar flow bench are on their way to success if they are committed to learning, but newer technicians often make mistakes that lead to permanent data loss. Here’s why choosing an experienced technician matters!
Common Mistakes Made by Inexperienced Technicians
Mishandling Second-Level Translators (SLT):
- SMR drives rely on SLTs to map logical data to physical locations. A newbie may overwrite or improperly rebuild this translator, causing irreversible data loss.
- Using generic PC3000 scripts without understanding SMR-specific firmware quirks can result in fragmented or missing data.
Damage to Overlapping Data Tracks:
- SMR drives write data in overlapping tracks, meaning a mistake in one area can overwrite or corrupt adjacent tracks.
- Inexperienced techs often use cloning methods meant for standard old CMR drives which can destroy the integrity of overlapping zones.
Improper Use of Cleanroom Tools:
- Handling delicate internal components like heads or platters in a laminar flow bench requires experience. Common errors include:
- Scratching platters while removing heads.
- Misaligning replacement components, rendering the drive unreadable.
- Handling delicate internal components like heads or platters in a laminar flow bench requires experience. Common errors include:
Not addressing UNMAP Issues:
- New techs sometimes overlook the impact of Trim commands, which can prematurely delete data necessary for a data recovery from SMR drives. Misconfiguring recovery software can make things worse.
Inadequate Firmware Handling:
- SMR drives depend heavily on proprietary firmware for managing shingled zones. Without training a technician might apply firmware fixes meant for CMR drives, bricking the device.
Why Choose Rossmann Repair Group?
- Certified Expertise: Our technicians are extensively trained and certified by ACE Lab, the developers of PC3000. We understand the nuances of SMR drives and their unique recovery challenges. While "Apple certification" is useless & often means the technician is not allowed to do real repairs, acelab's actually matter!
- Industry-Leading Tools: We
- Experience You Can Trust: With years of expertise in data recovery, we handle cases other labs cannot.
- Top Rated: No, really. Check google maps - we have the highest(and most) ratings of any data recovery company.
- No paid advertising: No banner ads, no yelp promotions, no google adwords. We rely on word of mouth and videos demonstrating our abilities. The lack of paid advertising means the savings are passed onto you.
Contact Us Today
If your SMR hard drive has failed, don’t lose hope. Contact Rossmann Repair Group for professional data recovery services!
We Can Extract Information From These Types of Media at Our Lab
Laptop Hard Drives
Liquid damaged iPhones
Physically damaged USB flash drives
SD & microSD cards
WD MyPassport
Desktop Hard Drives
External Hard Drives
USB Hard Drives
RAID configurations
SATA, IDE, SCSI, SAS, SSD Hard Drives
Our Rates?
Giving a price without seeing the device, assessing its condition is impossible. Everyone feels better having some basic idea of what things may cost, so for a basic idea, see below. Do realize the + means price can go up! Please do note that drives that have been opened before are rarely if ever recoverable by us: mention this prior to sending it in as we rarely work on pre-worked on drives.
Hard Drives
$100 for basic data retrieval, $250-$650 for firmware repair, $900-$2000 for heads swap.
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CellPhones
$300-$650 for drop or liquid damage, $1200+ for difficult cases(board swap). $400+ for any damage inflicted by inept repair technicians(long screw) that is above and beyond terrible.
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Love From Our Customers
Hear from our satisfied customers who trust us for their data recovery needs in Austin. We didn't become the top rated repair shop on Google maps by accident - this was a 15 year effort of providing best-in-class service, with no gimmicks.
I had all of our pictures backed up twice, except for 2017 and 2018. As I was uploading originals to the cloud, my drive died. And there went 2 years, four daughters' middle school and high school memories, and my heart was broken. Two separate repair shops looked at our drive....one of which likely also damaged it further....to no avail. Rossman was recommended by our local guy after he said it was not something he could do. Steve came through. It took time, and patience, and I fully expected for him to give up, but he didn't. He finally fixed it, did it at a price that was way too reasonable, and I now have our memories back. I would unequivocally recommend Rossman. They were honest, fair, and hardworking to the end.read more
Karen Ferrero
12/17/2020
They were very responsive, and very flexible. They put a new motherboard in my computer and then learned that the screen was still bad. So they didn't charge me and sent me my hard drive too. I was really impressed
read more
Danny Shader
12/17/2020
If I could give this place 10 stars I would. Long story short my wife's macbook pro wouldn't see hard drive. Upon startup all we saw was a blinking file with a question mark. Called apple and made appointment with "genius" bar. They said that hard drive was dead and to take it to a micro center or similar store to try and get my wife's pics and videos (which she NEVER backed up) off of the dead drive. My wife was in tears now because it wasn't even a definite that she could recover them. Pricing for this according to numerous data recovery shops was 500-1500 and like I said it wasn't definite they could get the data. Well went on yelp and saw Rossman repair group which was a 40 minute drive and had 4.5 stars on yelp. Their pricing was tiered according to what had to be done to get the data and started at around 200 bucks so I figured I'd take a ride into the city with the wifey and hope for the best. Upon walking into this little shop a nice young lady asked to see the computer. She started started it up, saw the blinking file and handed it to a gentleman sitting at a work desk right next to her. The guy says might be a cable issue they're known to go bad in these computers. He then opened the computer, hooked up his hard drive and it still didn't work. Cable is bad and NOT HARD DRIVE!!!! Give us about 20 minutes we have these in stock and it will cost 100 bucks plus tax!!!!! OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH !!! went for a nice little dinner right on next block at this great little pizzeria/restaurant while we waited. Got the wifey a nice glass of wine and picked computer up 45 minutes later. THESE GUYS ARE THE BEST !!!!read more
Glen L.
11/25/2019
When all others failed, Rossmann did not!!! In January of this year a snow storm knocked out the power at my house and a very important external hard drive of mine was affected. My computer could tell that there was a drive connected but would not read it. All it was doing was making a clicking noise. I made an appointment to a chain electronics and appliance store. They took one look at it, plugged it in, and then handed it back to me telling me that there was nothing to be done to fix it. I made another appointment, this time for a local computer repair company. They had my drive for two weeks but with no luck. They then sent the drive off to a higher repair company that they work with. This company attempted to work on my hard drive for about a month. Eventually, after replacing parts and trying all that they could, they returned it to me, stating that it was lost and could not be recovered. I had given up on the drive. This drive contained all of my photography business back to 2016. Haven't lost so much, I was about to shut down my small business. My wife posted a message to some friends asking if anyone could recommend anything for me. Someone suggested Rossmann. I reached out to them and sent my drive in, not expecting anything but more disappointment. The crew of Rossmann were constantly in touch with me letting me know what was going on with my drive. After some time, they called me to tell me that it would be another month or so because they had to fix whatever the prior company had tried to do. My drive was with them for a few months that I had actually forgotten about it. One rough day at work and just getting home, I received a call from a repair company that was in my phone contacts. I figured it was some construction company wanting to offer me some home remodeling deal. When the guy on the other end told me that they had recovered my hard drive it had completely made my day so much better. I had written it off as a complete loss and Rossmann had saved it all. They set up a time with me to get online and remote connect with them to be able to see my drive in their system and review my files. I was very happy with what I was seeing. They mailed my drive back to me and even contacted me shortly after the delivery date to ensure I got the drive and was happy with it. I couldn't be more pleased. All that was lost was not actually gone and what three other tech companies could not do, Rossmann did!read more
Daniel S.
8/01/2022
Extremely knowledgeable staff that care about fixing your device for far less than it would cost to replace it. Don't act like a jerk in here just because you are frustrated that your expensive machine is broken. The lady in front of me literally had her problem diagnosed (case opened, board examined, hard drive and ram tested) for free, mind you, only to discover that the issue was just her broken charger cable. She was complaining that they didn't contact her promptly during the Thanksgiving holiday. She was acting anxiously and kept trying to blame them until she found out she didn't owe them any money; then she ran out. Don't act like that. These are smart people that are trying to help you.
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Benjamin Valkai
1/21/2018
If I could give this place 10 stars I would. Long story short my wife's macbook pro wouldn't see hard drive. Upon startup all we saw was a blinking file with a question mark. Called apple and made appointment with "genius" bar. They said that hard drive was dead and to take it to a micro center or similar store to try and get my wife's pics and videos (which she NEVER backed up) off of the dead drive. My wife was in tears now because it wasn't even a definite that she could recover them. Pricing for this according to numerous data recovery shops was 500-1500 and like I said it wasn't definite they could get the data. Well went on yelp and saw Rossman repair group which was a 40 minute drive and had 4.5 stars on yelp. Their pricing was tiered according to what had to be done to get the data and started at around 200 bucks so I figured I'd take a ride into the city with the wifey and hope for the best. Upon walking into this little shop a nice young lady asked to see the computer. She started started it up, saw the blinking file and handed it to a gentleman sitting at a work desk right next to her. The guy says might be a cable issue they're known to go bad in these computers. He then opened the computer, hooked up his hard drive and it still didn't work. Cable is bad and NOT HARD DRIVE!!!! Give us about 20 minutes we have these in stock and it will cost 100 bucks plus tax!!!!! OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH !!! went for a nice little dinner right on next block at this great little pizzeria/restaurant while we waited. Got the wifey a nice glass of wine and picked computer up 45 minutes later. THESE GUYS ARE THE BEST !!!!read more
Glen L.
11/25/2019
I had all of our pictures backed up twice, except for 2017 and 2018. As I was uploading originals to the cloud, my drive died. And there went 2 years, four daughters' middle school and high school memories, and my heart was broken. Two separate repair shops looked at our drive....one of which likely also damaged it further....to no avail. Rossman was recommended by our local guy after he said it was not something he could do. Steve came through. It took time, and patience, and I fully expected for him to give up, but he didn't. He finally fixed it, did it at a price that was way too reasonable, and I now have our memories back. I would unequivocally recommend Rossman. They were honest, fair, and hardworking to the end.
read more
Karen Ferrero
12/17/2020
Great Customer service. Way better than apple (Specially in terms of charges). You can go with any Mac, iphone or data recovery related problems. They are genuinely helpful. Would recommend to anyone anytime.read more
ImTi BabLu
12/17/2021
Brought my 2017 macbook air in today after Apple's "genius" bar told me last week I needed a new logic board. Someone recommended bringing it here to see if they could repair it. I came in thinking I'd pay $250 for a logic board repair but one of the guys working took it apart, cleaned some dirt out of the keyboard/trackpad and sent me on my way(with no charge!!!) Cant believe im writing this on my mac after I almost bought a whole new machine. Wish I had more cash on hand to leave these guys a bigger tip. Well worth the 1.5 hour drive!!! (also appreciate them taking precautions against covid-everyone was wearing masks)
read more
Carolyn Dickson
12/17/2020
ROSSMANN GROUP SAVED MY 2010 MACBOOK PRO! My 2010 MacBook Pro was on it's last leg. It had gotten to a point where it would shut down & restart 3 times within 10 mins of use. I had replaced the memory & upgraded my hard drive, neither of which fixed the incessant kernel panics (shutdown-restarts). In my desperation to save my really old computer, I searched the internet for weeks & eventually found Rossmann on YouTube. I watched a lot of their videos & decided to ship my computer to them in hopes that they could fix it by replacing the crap capacitor*. I shipped my MacBook out to Rossmann on a Monday & it arrived in their NYC shop two days later. Rossmann immediately fixed it upon arrival (same day!) & invoiced me. I didn't check my email until Thursday, which is when I paid their invoice & they shipped the computer back out to me. I received my MacBook that following Monday, but had I checked my email on Wednesday, I would have received it on Saturday, just 5 days after shipping it out for repair. The turnaround was incredibly fast & my computer has been running like new with daily use since I got it back a few weeks ago. I'm so thankful I found Rossmann Group's informative YouTube videos about MacBook Pro's kernel panics. The repair was less than 1/10 what a new MacBook Pro would have cost, literally saving me well over $2,000. I'll never take my MacBook to Apple or another shop for repair again, local or not. We are forever Rossmann customers! *NOTE: Even though it's a very affordable & quick repair, the MacBook capacitor issue isn't well-known or something that Apple advertises. Our local computer repair shops weren't even aware of it! I was basically told by 2 local shops that my MacBook wasn't repairable & I needed to get a new computer. Meanwhile, Rossmann fixed it in a matter of minutes! If you're up in the air on whether or not shipping your computer is worth it, I'm here to tell you that it is 100% worth shipping to Rossmann. They're honest (sometimes brutally so) & reliable. If your computer can't be fixed, they'll simply tell you so & you can pay the cost of shipping to have it shipped back to you.read more
Kristi R.
2/19/2021
I had the pleasure of visiting the Rossmann Repair Group in NYC one day almost two years ago as friends of mine needed an evaluation of a broken Macbook Pro, a bad hard drive and possible data transfer. Louis Rossmann greeted us immediately and was very friendly and patient. He told us exactly what the problem was and said that the Macbook Pro was beyond repair due to bad GPU connections. In fact he saw this as soon as he turned it on, he could detect very faint lines on the screen which indicated this issue. He was very honest about this, he said that some places would get it to work for a while by heating it up and charging a few hundred dollars, but that the repair would not last long and it would certainly fail again.My friend asked him if he could transfer the data from the Macbook to a Mac Mini so it would work like the Macbook. He said he could and it would take a couple of days. We returned a few days later to pick everything up. The cost was very reasonable and my friends were very satisfied with the service. He gave the bad HD back to us, said it would require sending to a recovery center. Just honest. No ripoffs.In this tech repair industry, dishonesty is very common since tech people know the average person has no clue about any of this technology and there is almost no chance they would know if they are being fooled or how much the repair is really worth. I know this well since I also do computer and electronics repair and support myself and I know how easy it would be to fool customers left and right! I don't do this and I highly appreciate other tech experts who aren't tempted to profit from people's trust and innocence!So in summary, if you don't want to get ripped of and lied to, and are looking for a highly competent reliable technician, make sure you go here with your Mac equipment. If you like, you can stop by an Apple Genius bar first for a good laugh, while they give you the wrong diagnosis, quote you an insanely high repair price, and try to convince you to buy a whole new unit.Finally, if you want to be amazed, look for Louis Rossmann on YouTube and watch some of his videos where he shows exactly how he repairs the "unrepairable" and inspires many others to do their own repairs, start their own repair businesses and with his tireless entrepreneurial positive attitude even motivates disillusioned young students to not give up on school and go to college! (In fact one student said he was about to give up on education but after watching Louis on YouTube he made the decision to enter Med school! Now that's remarkable!)Louis is such a great guy, that in some cases where the issue is very minor, like a bad cable, he even does the repair for no charge! Try to find anybody who is willing to do anything for no charge these days! (The Genius bar would certainly tell you that your unit has been water damaged, when it wasn't, (maybe was in a humid room which would turn the water indicators red!) and quote you $1000 for a repair that would cost them $7 for the cable)Louis Rossmann is a hero, one of those rare individuals who make positive contributions to individuals and society every single day. I am pretty sure that anybody who gives him a bad review probably either is part of Apple, or considers Apple to be some kind of religious deity.read more
Jerry D.
9/05/2019
I had an iPhone 8 that was totally dead, wouldn't recognize being plugged into a computer or power outlet. The biggest problem was that it hadn't been backed up in a long time and there 5000+ photos and videos of our kids were potentially lost.I sent it in to RRG and got a call from Kevin (who was the tech who was actually going to be handling my repair). He was great, forthcoming with the plan, and very polite.
Bottom line? Got my phone back with all the data still intact (apps, contacts, photos, videos, settings) working 100%, AND got a flash drive with the photos and videos on it.
Thanks guys!
read more
Chris S.
10/14/2019
World-class Mac repair service. If you want it done right and fast, this is the shop. Rossmann Repair had my damaged Macbook Pro screen replaced and ready for pick up less than six hours after drop off. Prior to that, I had spilled a cup of tea on another laptop- they successfully retrieved all data. Their quiet, friendly efficiency is very much appreciated pandemic or not. Great guys and gals.read more
Ron Link
12/17/2021
Great place. Prompt service. Went in for data recovery and was dealt with quickly and without bs. Fair pricing on the service.
read more
EPHiiOS
12/17/2020
Amazing technician, I believe the best in Apple repair in the country even better than Apple with the tools and facility they can get of course, Apple makes many problems for third party repair shops. I have learned a lot from his videos and from Jessa Jones at iPad Rehab in Rochester NY. I look forward in learning more from them all. Aside from being great technicians they are very honest which is a good relief from anyone that want's to get anything repaired. I look forward to visiting NYC one day and stopping by the shop and thank him in person. They have also fixed my laptop where I am writing this response on and gave me tips on my external hard drive which is now also up and working!
read more
Tony Trilex
12/17/2021
Our Recent Work
Our highly trained technicians have worked on some of the most complex cases with great success. If your hard drive or SDcard is no longer responsive, we’ll get your information back!
Have a failed external USB drive? We can by-pass the USB on your drive and go straight for your data!
Stuck heads? No problem! We have the tools and the clean room to un-stick your heads..
We can do clean room data recovery on premises when necessary.
Inspecting a 6 head stack from a donor drive before it goes into the patient.
Bottom Line:
At Rossmann Repair Group, we don’t just recover data; we restore your peace of mind. Contact us today for your hard drive data recovery needs in Austin and experience service that sets the industry standard.
Top Reasons To Have Your Repairs Done By Us
All data recovery done on-site.
Our pricing is fair.
High success rate.
You can meet & speak with the recovery specialist working on your case directly.
Get In Touch with Us
Give us a call or fill out the form below to get a fast price estimate on a fix for your device. If you are not local, we also offer a very streamlined Mail-In Service which makes it very easy to work with us from anywhere in the country.
Mail-In Repair ServiceEmail, Call, Live Chat or Walk Into Our Store. We Want to Hear From You!
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Common Questions
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We Can Fix Your Problem
We provide the best unauthorized MacBook, iPad & iPhone Repair in Austin. You can come to our store for a free estimate without an appointment, or mail your device to us from anywhere in the world to receive service.