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HDD Mechanic Standard 2.1 Giveaway
$139.95
EXPIRED

Giveaway of the day — HDD Mechanic Standard 2.1

HDD Mechanic retrieves data and restores damaged hard drives on Windows.
$139.95 EXPIRED
User rating: 365 42 comments

HDD Mechanic Standard 2.1 was available as a giveaway on October 20, 2015!

Today Giveaway of the Day
$36.00
free today
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HDD Mechanic is a basic featured tool for retrieving data and restoring damaged hard drives on Windows. It detects all storage types, such as flash drives, hard drives, SSD, memory cards, digital cameras and external drives. The HDD Mechanic tool completely restores split tables, MBR and file systems automatically. A live preview enables you to select a particular file you wish to restore among the other fixable files. The live preview is a very important feature as it shows you 350+ categories of files which include archives, documents, pictures and multimedia files.

HDD Mechanic also retrieves deleted folders and files, and restores files that have already been deleted from Recycle bin. It can retrieve information from corrupted, formatted and inaccessible disks.

You can order any software by RecoveryMechanic Company with 80% discount! Use this coupon code: GiveawayoftheDay80

System Requirements:

Windows 98/ Me/ XP/ 2003/ Vista/ Server/ 7/ 8

Publisher:

Recovery Mechanic

Homepage:

http://recoverymechanic.com/hard_drive_recovery/hdd_mechanic.php

File Size:

12.4 MB

Price:

$139.95

Comments on HDD Mechanic Standard 2.1

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#17

In an age where 500 GB SSDs cost as much as WDD VeliocRaptor HDDs of the same size, a software program that seems to only work for HDDs....well, it seems to me that HDD Mechanic is destined for the big dustbin for yesterday's technology.
Sure, big corporate servers and network servers will still use HDDs for the foreseeable future....but HDDs in the consumer market are becoming history...and HDD Mechanic is consumer software.
I pass...but thank you, Devos of HDD Mechanic.

Reply   |   Comment by Preston Mitchell  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#16

Installed very quickly, and portability factor using a flash drive is great. However, anyone else have difficulty accessing Help?

All I get with F1 or the "Help Topics" link is an hourglass, which is a functioning cursor -- meaning I can click on another link, and the hourglass changes back to the standard pointer -- but there ain't no Help. Just me?

Reply   |   Comment by McC  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#15

I installed HDD Mechanic Standard 2.1 on Win 10 Pro SSD Program Drive and again on a USB Flash Drive as suggested. I grabbed and mounted an old data drive and it worked from both installs as described. I now have
another option for a nothing goes right day.

Operationally we have been eliminating our use of spinning drives but do still have a RAID 10 and 4 external USB 3
large capacity drives which I routinely maintain with Spin Rite which has saved the day for me and my friends many times in the past when they wouldn't boot. We are backed up and used Carbonite as well.

I have posted this on FB and since it works have recommended it to my FB friends as a last resort on a BAD DAY!
They have my # --=----------- Yes it works with Win 10!

Thank You -- Recovery Mechanic and GOTD

Rick Martin

Reply   |   Comment by Rick Martin  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+5)
#14

Can this program retrieve files from a hard drive that does not spin?

Reply   |   Comment by jay  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+5)

Yes! It's tricky though. Open the defective hard drive and manually spin the disks while holding a small magnet above the surface. You'll need to write each bit of this utility manually... so, just hold the magnet .5mm above the surface for a '1'... and at least 2mm above the surface for a '0' bit. Voila. Now you can use the utility to recover the remaining data while you continue to manually spin the disks.

Reply   |   Comment by Expert  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-16)

Sarcasm aside, no, if the disk doesn't spin, you're hooped. However, there are times you can make the platters spin with a little manual intervention.

Sometimes the platter motor meets with some increased resistance (or decreased power) during a portion of its rotation. If you power your computer down, and the rotation happens to stop near this place, restarting can be difficult or impossible (think of stopping your car on a patch of thick slick ice). You can get it started again, but you'll need a push.

If you're not a techie, then stop here. You will be exposing your drive to ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) and your fingers to shock, so tread carefully, and wear a static discharge strap if you have one. Call for help.

Remove the drive from the case, and ensure the power and data cables are long enough for free movement. Then, when powering your computer up, with small wrist movements, spin the hard drive in the direction of the platter movement. This can sometimes get the platter past the "dead space" and get it spinning again.

Then, grab your data of the drive, and put it somewhere safe -- that disk isn't long for this world.

Reply   |   Comment by CCD Systems  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+16)
#13

As 'support' suggested, I installed this program on a SD memory card. It worked like a charm. This way you can have that portable version, that many ask for.

Reply   |   Comment by yetisouth  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+7)
#12

I have a MISSIL MP4 Player model GL 15058BL.
When I connect it to the computer, the computer does not recognize it. (I use windows Vista).

Will this application detect it and help recover files?

Thank you

Reply   |   Comment by drvajra  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#11

Guys, we all miss the wonderful Mr. Giovanni.
If you wish to read what he said about this software. here is a link to read all the comments by users.
Particularly by Mr Giovanni in November 2012.

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/hdd-mechanic/#comments

My take on this software is that it fundamentally is an undelete data recovery thing.
Deleted data files are no big deal. Just forget it if you cannot recover.
For most people it is merely mundane stuff.

But as a way to offer more bang for the buyer's buck, it also offers to do some repair ability such as repair MBR.
Since GOTD has given many "recovery" software in the past, we already have many other undelete and recover data software.

This software HDD Mechanic Standard has a Boot CD to boot into fully operational Windows. Which is good.
This is important if you cannot even boot into Windows from the hard disk.

If you have a proven, tested bare metal backup and recovery software, then you are well protected and may not need the repair feature of this giveaway.

Reply   |   Comment by ric  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+12)

Where is that Boot CD? I can't see it anywhere.

Reply   |   Comment by yetisouth  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+9)

I can't find any information on making the boot CD either. I sent just sent an email to their support about it.

Reply   |   Comment by ScottW  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

@yetisouth
Normally, you create the boot CD yourself from within the program after you have installed it to your computer.

Reply   |   Comment by Brett  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#10

Disappointingly, this seems to be simply a data recovery program. I had thought it might be something along the lines of HDD regen. Dear at the price, for what it is. And, although I've registered it, it has re opened as an 'evaluation' version.
Also, while I'm being pedantic, it has an option to scan 'lighty' damaged drives.They go to all these lengths to develop and promote a program but fail to proof-read the instructions?

Reply   |   Comment by Col  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+9)

For HDD repair/regen, have a look at SpinRite (www.grc.com). It isn't free, but it's great. Their version 6 hasn't changed in years, but it doesn't have to change when it Just Works (TM)

Reply   |   Comment by CCD Systems  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+6)
#9

Could you tell me please how I go about using this software to recover data from an inaccessible disk, as is claimed? If the disk cannot be recognized by the operating system, how does one recover? I have a situation where the disk just clicks when powered up. It seems to me that if it's hardware failure, no software is going to help.

Reply   |   Comment by Grum Pah  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+11)

The claim is: "HDD Mechanic also retrieves deleted folders and files, and restores files that have already been deleted from Recycle bin. It can retrieve information from corrupted, formatted and inaccessible disks."

I also wonder how an inaccessible disk can be restored. The apparently same V2.1 given away on 3/11/15 couldn't find a corrupted disk I connected to my computer to do anything with it.

Reply   |   Comment by olrowdy01  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#8

Chris Locke commented that this software should not be installed on the same computer from which you wish to recover. Fortunately, I don't need it but was going to get it "just in case". Where should I install it? On an external hard drive? A flash drive?

Reply   |   Comment by Julie  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+12)

"Save and install our data recovery tools onto another hard drive, flash stick or even a memory card. Our hard drive recovery products are compact enough to fit on the smallest flash memory card; don't risk your data, and use a separate drive to save and install Recovery Mechanic products."

Reply   |   Comment by support  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+18)
#7

Just wanted to say thank you for this giveaway. I had some problems with an external hard drive last week and am still trying to resolve it....... hoping that this may be the answer...... Also I'm not a facebook or twitter fan and don't have a/cs............ but will certainly let all and sundry know about the good work
you are doing. Thanks again......... LT

Reply   |   Comment by Lizzytish  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-9)
#6

Is giveawayoftheday a $139 version ??

Or is it the $39 version ??

Will it work with Windows 10 ??

Reply   |   Comment by WILLIAM DAVIS  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+9)

Sidebar, upper right says $139, free today.

Reply   |   Comment by Donald Pullum  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+5)
#5

The set-up and registration was pleasantly straighforward. I understand that this program specializes in full-disk recovery - I haven't got a suitable disk to test this out, but I copied a video file and then erased it (shift-delete). The procedure for recovering a single file is far from obvious. The program found it , and claimed that it had recovered it. It hadn't. I wasn't impressed by this! You have to have confidence in a recovery program. I uninstalled this one.

Reply   |   Comment by David J Wilson  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+24)

I have not come across a recovery app that will work with video files unless they were very small. There may be one or more recovery apps that will work for normal sized video, & I just don't know about them, but judging by the many I have tried, I wouldn't say that a recovery app is bad if it cannot recover them.

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)

This is a reply to Mike's reply to my comment.

I wouldn't have minded if the program had said, "Cannot recover this file," or something similar. But it told me it had recovered it, when it hadn't.

Reply   |   Comment by David J Wilson  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#4

Can this product repair damaged sectors on a HDD? thanks...

Reply   |   Comment by tommo  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+26)

"Can this product repair damaged sectors on a HDD?"

When/if you have actual damage to a storage device, unless you've got a Very current backup, get a full image ASAP in case the drive is failing -- you may only have a small window of time before you can't get whatever's stored on that drive. 2nd I'd suggest checking for & running diagnostic & repair software from the manufacturer if available. A damaged or bad sector means that data can no longer be written &/or read from that space on the drive -- if the drive itself is not failing then that software may be able to re-map that sector to a good one from a pool of spare storage space just for that. That said, software may miss that a drive is in the early stages of failing, so be cautious if/when that software says it fixed any problems.

As far as recovering any lost data, if a sector(s) is physically unreadable, it's unreadable -- nothing will change that. Recovery software **may** be able to piece together a file or files however using the rest of the available data. One of the most common examples may be a Word doc that loses some or all of its formatting, but is still readable or usable. If at the initial signs of problems you do a sector by sector backup image [that includes free space], if the drive does fail, you can attempt recovery from that restored backup image.

Note: generally Do Not attempt to fix a bad sector using anything but software from the manufacturer -- using something like Windows own disk utility can result in bad sectors being recorded in NTFS file tables. If that happens a lot of disk-related software will not run, e.g. backup &/or cloning apps, even if the manufacturer's software is able to fix the problem(s).

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+36)

For repairing (yes, actually repairing, in some cases) damaged sectors on a disk, have a look at .

If the sector is weak (the polarity of the magnetic media is nearing neutral from disuse and strong opposing sectors nearby), the program will read the data (many times, using statistical analysis if necessary, to confidently get a good copy), then "exercise" the sector by writing to it patterns of data that confirm whether or not the sector can be restored. Often times it can, and it is returned to service, but if it can't, it's marked bad in the hard drive's damaged sector table, and will never be used again. If the sector is good, the data is written back to it. If it's irreparably damaged, the data is written to an unused sector on the hard drive.

We've used SpinRite for many years, and it's a great tool for recovering damaged data and restoring hard drives (or confirming that they're good-and-dead).

Reply   |   Comment by CCD Systems  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+23)

(I had included an "a" tag for the link to SpinRite, but it didn't render in the comment)

The link to SpinRite is https://www.grc.com. It is their flagship product.

Reply   |   Comment by CCD Systems  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+12)

Physical sectors on the disk are normally managed by the smart drive controller on modern HDDs, which takes care of spotting failing sectors and remapping them. It's pointless to try to repair from high-level software. You may not even be accessing the same physical sector at that address from one access to the next if the drive controller has spotted a problem and transparently remapped the sector from its spare pool.

Reply   |   Comment by DVMarsh  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+12)
#3

I do not understand that this package does. I've tried copying a file, deleting it.. HDD Mechanic didn't find it, but offered, instead, to copy existing files.

What is the function of this package? copy damaged disks? the description says, "HDD Mechanic also retrieves deleted folders and files, and restores files that have already been deleted from Recycle bin". How do I do that?

Reply   |   Comment by Am** R***  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+24)

Recovering files isn't guaranteed. If you delete a file, but Windows wants to save another file (temporary file, log file, increase the size of the eventlog logs, etc) then there is a possibility it will use the space freed by the deleted file you want to recover. This is why if you've deleted a load of files, don't install this software on the same drive, otherwise you could risk overwriting those files with the installation. Ideally, you don't even want to be using the same computer, as Windows writes files to the disk continually.

Reply   |   Comment by Chris Locke  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+46)

OK, Chris, which is why I deliberately did my tests on a disk used for pure data. no other software was accessing it the whole time. I copied a file to that drive, deleted it. it didn't find it at all.

And what is the point of finding EXISTING files, and offering to copy those?

Reply   |   Comment by Am** R***  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+26)

Please try full scan of needed drive and watch "Recovered Files" folder

Reply   |   Comment by support  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+9)

@ Am** R***,
It all depends what you used to delete the file. Some programs really delete it, i.e. they scrub the hard drive. Others, just as thorough, rewrite the area the file occupied with ones and zeroes, thus deleting the file beyond recuperation.
Windows only marks the file as deleted and does nothing else until space is needed to write another file subsequently. Then it may use the space or some of the space used by the file you deleted.
By the way, this is a simplification of the method used (by Windows; other operating systems may do this differently). If you want to get to the nitty gritty, you will need a complete course on hard drives and file systems.

Reply   |   Comment by bart  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+8)
#2

No support for Windows 10?

Reply   |   Comment by juicestop  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+10)

Supports win10, try it.

Reply   |   Comment by support  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+13)
#1

This program and HDD Recovery Pro appear to be the same and were by far the most successful recovery programs I have used.

Certainly if I was looking for a recovery program this is one I would choose.
This is the same version as given away previously.

Reply   |   Comment by XP-Man  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+58)

Could you, please, name the program you are saying is the same.

I just want to avoid overloading my computer with the same programs.

Thank you in advance for your helpful response.

Regards,

consuella

Reply   |   Comment by consuella  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-5)

consuella
HDD Mechanic Standard 2.1 and HDD Recovery Pro, a GAOD on the 11th June 2012, appear to be the same programs and even have that same price.
Hope this helps.

Reply   |   Comment by XP-Man  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+33)

My bad. Sorry for my early morning confusion.
Thank you, XP-Man for your kind reply.

Regards,

consuella

Reply   |   Comment by consuella  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+19)

i couldn't get the installer. i wasn't able to reach the server. i tried over 100 times, i really needed this software. been waiting for just such a giveaway. i have a disc i need to recover partitions from.
in any event, every time i tried to install, i got a message saying server not available, try again later.
now it's over and i spent all that time trying to install software that i was so close to having.
i was really counting on that software, the frre apps don't find it, and the one that was able to recover it, had to be paid for to release my files, and it found them all, by recovering the partition. all the free data recovery app i tried, and i have a bunch a big bunch, couldn't even recover all the files. it was amazing that there was no luck.
any ideas would be welcome...
thanks anyhow...
maybe there will be another one coming, and i'll be able to get it installed in time.

Reply   |   Comment by Idrum  –  8 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
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