hard drive data recovery

< Alright for some :-). Alas most of us don't have access to a clean room. < Even if I was working at a place which had one, I can't believe they'd be < too happy if I wandered in with an HDA and started stripping it. Majorly true. I worked in pharmaceuticals and though they didn't use super clean rooms (class 10,000 worst case) the equipment was under a laminar airflow curtain with a flow of 100 linear feet per minute and the air under there was class 100. The air flow was obvious ly of the the machine then into the room where super clean was less important. < I would have thought looking for backscattered light would be more < sensitive and easier to set up. Still not sensitive enough for a clean < box, of course (in this form). The air flow and the sensing area cross section are important. Using a light source like a laser is helpful in getting the backscatter brighter. This is the problem of how many Angeles can dance on the end of a pin. You build a clean box and use a good HEPA filter. With 100-200cfm of incomming clean air once the dust in the box has been blown out it will be clean especially if gloved hands are the only thing inside. I'e heard a lot of "good luck", "it will not last" and "too dirty" from those that haven't. I've done it, when RD53s and 54s were in desperately short supply here and it does work without the clean box with some care. Obvious tricks like wearing nylon gloves to avoid finger prints, a canister of dry air to blow things off and keeping the unit covered when possible all reduce risk. Allison