Data recovery is a professional job. When someone loses data from a hard drive, SSD or other device, they need a company with specialized tools and experienced technicians to get it back.
See the PC-3000 at work in Bot’s lab, in the Bot WhiteRoom® clean room.
PC-3000 Disk Analyser is one of the tools data recovery professionals can use in their work. It is a diagnostic utility from the makers of the PC-3000 suite, one of the most powerful data recovery systems available and used by labs all over the world.
Below, you will learn what PC-3000 Disk Analyser is and how it works.
What is PC-3000 Disk Analyser?
PC-3000 Disk Analyser is a free professional tool from ACE Lab, which runs on Windows and is used to analyze storage devices such as hard drives and SSDs.
ACE Lab, founded in 1992 and based in the Czech Republic, is one of the world’s leading names in data recovery. It pioneered data recovery hardware and software, which it sells under the PC-3000 brand.
Its tools, including PC-3000 Disk Analyser, are aimed at companies and professionals who repair storage devices and recover data.
What is PC-3000 Disk Analyser used for?
PC-3000 Disk Analyser is used to test storage devices such as hard drives, SSDs, memory cards and USB flash drives. It runs verify, read and write tests and shows a lot of useful information about the device. With it, you can:
- Run a surface scan of the device;
- Measure read and write speeds to assess its performance;
- View the drive’s identification data;
- View SMART data, including logs;
- Save the list of errors found for use in other ACE Lab tools.
How does the PC-3000 Disk Analyser work?
PC-3000 Disk Analyser scans the device to gather information about the drive and any storage errors.
During the scan, the software times how long each command takes and sorts the results into four groups: no delay, delay, slow and error. Performance problems are a sign that the device is failing.
Can PC-3000 Disk Analyser overwrite data?
You need to be very careful with PC-3000 Disk Analyser, because some of its tests can overwrite the data on your device.
If that happens, you may lose any chance of recovery, because overwritten data is gone for good. Data that has not been overwritten can usually still be recovered by a specialist.
To avoid overwriting files, choose only the verify and/or read options when you start a test. The write and RAM cache tests can overwrite data and defeat the whole purpose.
How much does the PC-3000 Disk Analyser cost?
PC-3000 Disk Analyser is free. ACE Lab offers it at no cost so users can get a first look at its products.
After trying Disk Analyser, companies can buy ACE Lab’s full software package. Those programs are paid and licensed, and they are what allow companies to offer complete data recovery services.
How do you use PC-3000 Disk Analyser?
The interface is simple and intuitive. All you have to do is pick the drive you want to scan from the ones the program detects.
Once the scan starts, you can follow its progress and the data being collected, such as the number of sectors read with no delay, with a delay, slowly or with errors.
Here is how to run a test with PC-3000 Disk Analyser, step by step:
1. Install the program
First, download the program for free from ACE Lab’s official website: www.acelab.eu.com/downloads.php.
You will get a ZIP file containing the program (EXE) and a PDF with instructions. Install it and read the instructions. Then open the program and select the drive you want to test.
2. Start the test
Click the “play” icon and choose the type of test: verify, read, write or RAM cache. Keep in mind that the write and RAM cache tests write to the device and can overwrite the files you want to recover; never run them on a drive that holds data you need.
Next, set the other options, such as the range of sectors to test, whether the test should pause when it finds errors, and where to save the error list. Click OK to start the test.
3. Follow the test
The test can take a long time, depending on the capacity of the device. You can follow it on the performance chart and the scan map.
On the scan map, green blocks are normal, while yellow blocks mark areas that were slow to read. Pink and red blocks indicate read errors, usually damaged or unreadable sectors.
4. Review the results panel
When the test is complete, the results panel shows how long the scan took and how many errors were found, along with the sectors affected. This tells you how healthy the drive is; if it holds important data, do not try to repair it yourself, but have the data recovered first.
How do you recover data from a disk that shows many errors in PC-3000 Disk Analyser?
PC-3000 Disk Analyser is a professional tool and should be used with caution. Because it is free, you can use it at home to check the condition of your devices and, if it finds a lot of errors, take the drive to a specialist company. Bear in mind that a full scan puts strain on a failing drive: if the disk clicks, makes unusual noises or is extremely slow, stop and do not scan it.
A scan with lots of red blocks, for example, may point to bad sectors that prevent access to the data. Areas with performance problems may mean the device is already failing in ways that can put the data at risk.
In these cases, a company specializing in data recovery needs to use the right procedures to work around the faults and recover the data.
At Bot, we use the best tools and a Class 100 (ISO 5) cleanroom to analyze devices safely, without putting your data at risk. Our technicians are trained and experienced in every kind of data loss, with a 96% success rate.
If you need to recover your data, contact us. Start the process right now to receive a free quote from our team.
