Disk Image Tools Review

The comparison table will help buyers to compare and make a choice in one single sight of the disk image tools amongDeepSpar Disk Imager, Atola Imager,

GNU ddrescue, SD Data Compass.

Items	DeepSpar DiskImager	Atola Imager	GNU ddrescue	SD DataCompass
Software Interface	DOS	Windows	Linux/Mac OS/windows	windows
System interface	IDE(supplied PCI-E1xATA Controller)	Gigabit Ethernet	N/A	USB
Data extraction	×	×	×	√
SATA Source	√ with supplied adapter	√	√	√
IDE Source	√	√	√	√
SATA destination	√	√	√	√
IDE destination	√	√ yes with adapter	√	√
Image specific files	Yes (NTFS with good $MFT)	×	yes if the system accessible	√
Image data areas only	√	√	×	√
Head map	√	×	×	√
Image by head	√	×	×	√
Switch between specific DMA and UDMA modes	√	×	×	√
Set sector range to mirror	√	√(requires multiple sessions that don’t cross reference the samesector map)	√ (not by sectors, rather by bytes)	√
Image to file	Yes but requires forensic edition	Yes via network connection	√	√
Skip ‘x’ number of sectors	√	×	×	√
Image to network drive	×	√	√	×
Reverse clone	√	√	×	√
Hardware reset	√	×	×	√
Visible sector map	√	×	×	√
Stored configuration data	On the destination drive or on a 3rd connected drive	Case management database	×	√
Set max LBA on destination	√	×	×	√
Power oscilloscope	√(Optional add-on)	×	×	√
Time to read sectors oscilloscope	×	√	Maybe (OS dependant)	√
Head and media test	√	×	×	√
Read ignoring ECC	√	×	×	√
Checksum calculations	MD5 (Forensic Edition)	MD5, SHA1,SHA224,SHA256,SHA384, SHA512	×	CRC
Set read timeout	√	Maybe	×	√
Log of bad sectors	√	√	√	√
e-email notification	×	√	×	×
Force read in PIO Mode	√	×	×	√
Set read block size	√	√(the system slows down significantly with smaller block sizes)	√	√
Customizable algorithms (Set read response based on individual sector read errors	√	×	×	√
Disable SMART operations	√	Maybe	×	√
Turn off “read bad sector” auto reallocation	√	Maybe	×	√
Disable read look ahead	√	×	×	√
Reset HPA	√	×	×	√
Enable/Disable overwrite unread sectors	√	×	×	√
System boot time	23 seconds	2 minutes 40 seconds	Depends on the OS	5 Seconds
Write protection	√	√ toggle switch on unit	√ (needs to be setup through the OS)	√
Wipe destination sector by sector	√	×	√	√
Wipe unprocessed sectors	√	×	×	×
Set number of sectors to skip	√	√	×	√
Live sector view	√	×	×	√
Health 1TB transfer speed	80 MB/second	100 MB/second	70 MB/second (depends on the system)	50MB/second
SA emulation	×	×	×	√
Software update	×	One year free	Maybe	√free in lifetime
Technical support	Limited free support	Limited free support	×	√Lifetime free support
Warranty	One year	One year	×	One year
Approximate price	$3350 USD	$2000 USD	Free	$3300 USD

Info provided in the review comes from following three websites:

SalvationDATA Technology Data Compass

http://www.salvationdata.com/data-recovery-equipment/data-compass.htm

Deepspar disk imager

http://www.deepspar.com/

Atola imager

http://atola.com/products

GNU ddrescue

http://gnu.com