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). $400+ for any damage inflicted by inept repair technicians(long screw) that is above and beyond terrible.
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Love From Our Customers
Hear from our satisfied customers who trust us for their data recovery needs in Austin. We didn't become the top rated repair shop on Google maps by accident - this was a 15 year effort of providing best-in-class service, with no gimmicks.
I used their mail-in service and followed their simple instructions on how to send it it. First fill out a form, then you get a ticket number and write it down and put it in the box you ship the device in. Few days later from delivery I got an email indicating diagnosis was beginning. 2 days later I got a full quote and was fairly priced, and was accurate on what their website had stated it possibly could total up to be. 2 days later, it's completed and shipped out Rather spending 600+ for a new board from Apple, with no possibility of data recovery, I got to keep the same board, retain my data, and was done cheaper in the same amount of time it would have taken to do their mail in service which is what the Apple store would have done. Amazing how I went from a MacBook that was completely dead, no signs of power going through tthe board, to a smooth running as good as new Mac. Highly recommend their services and his YouTube channel.read more
Josue Montalvo
4/17/2022
These guys are awesome! Called a bunch of shops around San Antonio and they all said the whole motherboard would need to be replaced after I spilled water on mine and it would cost me around 1000$ to fix it, not only that, all my data would be lost (might as well buy a new laptop). But these guys, not only they fixed what actually needed to be fixed, charged me with a very reasonable amount, saved all my data, but also were able to ship it back to me in San Antonio for 10$. Still can’t believe I got my laptop back with all it’s data and it didn’t cost me an arm and a leg. Glad I bumped into these guys on YouTube, was worth a 2 hour drive! Also, whoever I talked and worked with was very nice and professional! You guys rock!
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Constantin Startev
10/25/2023
These guys are LEGIT! Don't waste your time with anyone else. I had water damage in a newer iphone and had YEARS of pics which were not backed up. I was given a cost and time estimate reflective of what was on their website. Their service exceeded the high-points of both estimates. It was definitely not a drop-in the bucket cost, but worth the service. I was notified 24 hours later that my data recovery was complete. Unfortunately, my phone was not repairable but that didn't matter much to me anyway. Great service with these guys and glad to find them locally as well. If you're not in NYC- they will coordinate with you.
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Marlene Leekang
12/17/2021
I had a MacBook Air that died. Thankfully, I had watched a number of Louis Rossmann videos on YouTube and thought that his group would be the people for the job. I shipped my laptop off to Austin, within a few hours of receiving it, I was assigned a number and kept up to date on the progress. The laptop was repaired in about three business days, packed, and returned to me as good as new! Had I sent it to an "authorized" Apple repair center, they would have been required to replace the logic board, resulting in a complete loss of data! Thankfully, they know how to actually repair computers! I didn't have to lose any data ... it was all intact! That's a great win! The repair cost $425, which was actually less than the $464 at an authorized repair shop, to replace the entire logic board. For sure, if I have other issues, right back to Austin it will go! My only knock, and it's a small one is that the communication is not great when replying to the service ticket to ask questions. I'm still giving five stars though because 4.75 won't work!
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Paul ..
7/18/2024
These guys saved my life. Nowhere else in NYC would even attempt to repair my water-damaged laptop while trying to preserve the invaluable data on it. Rossman executed flawlessly, and even charged me $250 LESS than the original estimate. I won't even consider taking my computer anywhere else from now on, and you shouldn't either. Ultimate no brainer.read more
Christopher S.
1/10/2021
Rossman Repair Group saved me over $600 to repair my computer!My MacBook Pro stopped charging and I went to Apple to have it repaired. They were going to charge me a flat fee that came up to around $865 to fix whatever was wrong. Unfortunately, their “water damage indicator” was triggered and they didn’t even check to see what was wrong and instead asked for $1200 to replace the whole motherboard, which would have been almost half the price of a brand new computer and I would have lost all of my data. My boyfriend recommended I try out Rossman Repair Group before I decided to just accept paying Apple that much. He watches their repair videos on YouTube! I sent my computer in and they repaired my computer (my logic board was the issue) for $462!!! For less than half of what Apple was asking, I got my computer fixed promptly, received e-mails from a real person, and my computer works good as new!I really don’t write reviews, especially long ones, but I hope that my story and experience helps other people decide to choose this business!
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Chelsea Fowler
9/21/2019
I sent in an external hard drive that bricked on me. Its a drive I plug in once a year, dump phone videos, photos, and then back on the shelf til next year. This year I went to free up some space and found the drive wouldn't respond. It had the first 10 years of my daughter growing up and I was freaking out. I had almost accepted they were gone until a friend at work mentioned RRG. I crossed my fingers and sent in the drive, not expecting good news (or some astronomical fee that would force me to put a price on those memories). Instead I got a call a few days after mailing saying not only could they repair the drive, but for a fraction of the cost I was expecting. 10/10 would recommend to anyone needing any services they provide.read more
Jason Burzynski (Baker)
12/17/2021
Place was great! I went in with a clearly injured Mac Book and they told me point blank it wasnt worth fixing, the Mac was opened and diagnosed properly. I recieved my Mac more in tact than when I took itin. 10 minutes was how long I waited to get my answer. I also wasn't charged a diagnosis fee. This was my 2nd opinion. The first place said i need to pay $130 just for them to look at it. Well worth my 30 minute drive into Manhattan. Thanks!!!
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Fatima A
12/17/2020
here is what you need to know before coming this location: getting here is 80% of the battle without running over students on bike foot or scooters coming out of nowhere popping up like daisies ready to throw themselves at your vehicle with nothing to lose From there thankfully this location has a dedicated parking spot that hopefully is not already occupied but if it is well you're doomed because you're going to have to then find parking somewhere nearby and once again not hit any of the students who are out on foot 24/7 365 many of which are not paying any attention and many of which do not care many of which are selfish and many of which would throw themselves at your vehicle at a moment's notice with nothing to lose once again once you get past all of this and regain your compassion for humanity once you get inside this building you find out that they have dual locations going on you want to enter the entrance on the left for the repair shop to entrance on the right is where you get to actually repair your own machine utilized your tools and learn how to use them And while you were at it then forgive all the students on foot who made you lose confidence in humanity and wish upon death and destruction to all mankind and instead regain love for your fellow neighbor these guys may not walk on water and glow in the dark but they are an example of customer service that goes above and beyond what you unfortunately mostly find in IT and they said the bar really high so the owner Lewis rosman is sort of a celebrity in his own right with thousands of YouTube videos and millions of views and has built a business spanning over a decade and an empire around his brand and just shop lives up to that brand and he has hired nothing but the best of the best in every way imaginable these guys lead with empathy and get the job done and are able to repair water damaged marks that nobody else I have found has had success in repairing in any way shape form or fashion I have been keeping an eye on this location for years but because of its location had tried to stay away from it like the plague because again I didn't want to risk running over UT students destroying themselves at my vehicle just to get there thankfully I got there for client of mine who's spilled water on her Mac and then add insult injury injured her back so immediately went to her got her computer took it to this location got it checked in with them they created a ticket it was very thorough while inspiring hope and me that it could actually be fixed because I'm working on computers myself for over a decade I have had no success whatsoever with water damaged Macs because usually by the time people get them to me the damage is already been done not so with these guys they were able to within a week resurrect this machine from the dead for my client preserve her data and again let me know that this is one of the newer generation silicone m chip Macs With no upgradable hardware and her data is all stored basically on the logic boards or the things fried there goes all her data and there's nothing to recover from they were able to successfully repair it at a fraction of the cost of getting another computer but even more importantly preserve the data of my client and I was then able to get it back to her which again meant the world to her recovering from pulling her back these guys went above and beyond to instill confidence and by the way their place is extremely organized spotless and efficient which again is impressive because I'm not going to say other peers and IT industry are slobs but I'm definitely going to say these guys at the bar high for organization and cleanliness and that reinstills encouragement and confidence in my own computer repair business where I'm more specialized on password therapy sessions minus the trauma of people's childhood to get them back into their computer and beat her password Superman to straighten out their password chaos. These guys for all Mac hardware! :)
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Shane Anciso
3/15/2025
Phenomenal repair shop! My moms Macbook pro 16 with coffee spills was pretty much done for, we were heart broken so much money down the drain, luckily my brother stumbled upon this shop online. They live in Chicago, mind you they took a hige leap of faith to mail it in. Long srory short they fixed it at a fraction of what it would cost -600 bucks! For coffee spills they usually switch mother boards ect and you get a bill similar to the price of the computer. They are super transparent about the process. In todays age very few places you can blindly trust, and why i would highly recommend Rossmans to any one around the country, they literally saved my mom from a $2800 loss, so happy! Months down the line im trying to swap out my hard drive in my 21.5 imac and finding the right tape is tricky. Ive heard heaps of horror story of screens falling off in the middle of the night... Any hoot i called them up and asked them for the info, they not only ready helped me over the phone, they also went ahead and gave me there supplier for the adhesive im looking for! This goes to show what an amazing store this is! Thanks guys you rock!read more
PhilosophiseIt
12/17/2021
Five weeks ago, my 10 year old daughter's 5th gen iPad stopped charging. My husband and I suspected a loose connection, but when we took it to Apple, they ran some test and concluded the logic board died. Since the iPad was set up under me when she got it (at the age of 6), I had disconnected her from *my* iCloud. Apple basically couldn't sell me a new iPad because we had no data backup. Based on Apple's recommendation, we sent it to their data recovery partner, DriveSavers, who quoted me $2800 for data recovery due to "widespread corruption" on her logic board. We declined. Enter the Rossmann Repair Group. Earlier this week, I got a call asking me what specifically was wrong with the iPad because they were able to turn it on, and had access to all the data. To say I was floored is a complete understatement - but 100% explains why the Find Me app showed my daughter's iPad location as CA, when it had a "corrupted" logic board… *eye roll* Rossmann Repair Group gave me a copy of my daughter's data for $100, on a storage device I did not have to pay for, AND fixed her home button and cracked screen for another $100. They shipped it back to me for free. $200 and it was done. I would tipped if there was a virtual tip jar... so happy!! ;) I feel completely misled by Apple, and we were flat out lied to by DriveSavers. But Rossmann Repair Group was honest, kind, and reasonable. I feel like they completely came to our rescue. I wish you could have seen the smile on my daughter's face when she got her iPad back. My heart swelled. To David, the tech who fixed it, thank you so much. Because of you, we are Rossmann Repair Group customers for life.
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Christina M
12/17/2021
They rescued my 4gb hard disk. All my data backup was recovered and all my stuff was saved!!!
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Erick Rodriguez
12/17/2020
I had the pleasure of visiting the Rossmann Repair Group in Austin 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.
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Jerry D.
9/05/2019
Simply the email "request a quote" feature was enough for me to come here and make my first ever review. They couldn't even fix my problem due to it being a severe legacy hardware failure, but were quick, upfront and honest about it, even linking me to a work around that will allow me to recover my files and transfer them to a new device or hard drive. There is really something to be said about this quality of service, I would have stuck my logic board back in the oven like an idiot (again) potentially bricking the entire thing forever. Louis, you really know how to run a no nonsense quality business. Thank you From a former Apple fanboy.
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Sam S.
9/22/2019
GO HERE, no scams & good advice (Spoke with Kevin)! Had an issue with my hard drive, went to a place called Mikes Repair Shop in Chelsea, they were trying to charge me way more. Got a second option at Rossmann, come to find out that the issue was as simple as getting a different cord. Saved me $170 which was what Mikes Repair place was trying to charge + 2-3 day process to get it fixed. Anyways recommend coming to Rossmann 100%!
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Georgia S.
10/26/2022
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 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.
Made In America
No Outsourcing
Experienced Technicians
Address
Rossmann Repair Group Inc 2410 San Antonio Street,
Austin, TX 78705
(347) 552-2258
OPENING HOURS
Monday-Friday – 11 AM to 7 PM
Austin, TX 78705
(347) 552-2258
OPENING HOURS
Monday-Friday – 11 AM to 7 PM
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