SBIR Phase I: Data Recovery from Low-Cost High-Capacity Backup/Archival Storage Systems for Small Enterprises

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将研究一种从基于磁盘的存档/备份系统中恢复关键任务硬盘数据的新方法，这些数据由于驱动器系统的硬件故障（如磁头碰撞或物理撞击）而无法读取。在这种情况下，像部分响应最大似然（PRML）这样的读通道技术通常不能正确地检测数据，因为在恢复时可能无法获得写通道的先验知识。因此，这项SBIR研究是一种使用与驱动器无关的读取通道技术进行数据恢复的新方法，该技术对写入通道的规格不敏感。该技术是基于大磁阻磁头的“响应函数”特性。它承诺有效地消除符号间干扰（ISI），而ISI反过来（在适当的解码之后）将导致恢复否则不可读的备份/存档数据。这项研究的预期结果将是一种新的数据恢复技术和相关软件，可以在不事先知道数据如何写入的情况下删除ISI。此外，本研究还可能导致硬盘读通道的新设计，从而显著提高未来备份/归档系统的数据存储密度。它填补了从当前数据检索技术无法读取的基于磁盘的备份/归档系统中恢复硬盘数据的现有空白。由于对计算机数据恢复的需求日益增长，这项研究的商业效益是有希望的。从小型企业的备份/存档数据库到大型企业和联邦机构的关键任务服务器，这种恢复技术每年可能为美国节省数亿美元的数据丢失相关成本。这项研究还在情报、安全和执法领域产生了更广泛的社会影响，例如，在计算机取证领域，检索到的数据可以作为刑事和恐怖主义起诉的数字证据，从而促进国土安全。此外，这种isi移除技术的成功实施可能会大大增加未来备份/归档硬盘驱动器的容量和可靠性。此外，该技术还消耗更少的功率和更低的实现成本，使其适用于移动应用程序，并成为数十亿美元硬盘市场中读取通道产品的可行竞争者。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will investigate a novel approach for recovering mission-critical hard disk data from disk-based archival/backup systems that are unreadable due to hardware failures of the drive systems (such as a head crash or physical impact). Under these circumstances, read channel techniques like Partial Response Maximum Likelihood (PRML) often cannot correctly detect the data because prior knowledge of the write channel may not be available at the time of recovery. As such, this SBIR research is a new approach of data recovery using a drive-independent read channel technique that is insensitive to the specifications of the write channel. This technique is based on the "response function" characterization of giant-magnetoresistive heads of hard drives. It has the promise of effectively removing intersymbol interference (ISI) that in turn (after the appropriate decoding) will lead to the recovery of the otherwise unreadable backup/archival data.The anticipated result of this research will be a new data recovery technique and related software that will remove ISI without prior knowledge of how the data were written. In addition, this research may also lead to new designs of hard disk read channels that will significantly increase the data storage density of future backup/archival systems. It fills an existing void of recovering hard disk data from disk-based backup/archival systems that are unreadable by current data retrieval techniques. The commercial benefits of this research are promising due to the growing need for computer data recovery. From backup/archival databases in small enterprises to large mission-critical servers in corporate enterprises and federal agencies, this recovery technique potentially could save America hundreds of millions of dollars per year in data-loss-related costs. This research also has a broader societal impact in the intelligence, security, and law enforcement communities where, in the field of computer forensics, for example, the retrieved data may serve as digital evidence for criminal and terrorist prosecution, thus promoting homeland security. Furthermore, the successful implementation of this ISI-removal technique may substantially increase the capacity and reliability of future backup/archival hard drives. In addition, this technique also consumes less power and assumes a lower cost of implementation, making it suitable for mobile applications and a viable contender for read channel products in the multi-billion dollar hard disk market.