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Data Recovered From Space Shuttle Columbia HDD

WmHBlair writes "Data recovered from a 400MB Seagate hard drive carried on the Space Shuttle Columbia has been used to complete a physics experiment performed on the mission in space. The Johnson Space Center sent the recovered drive to Kroll Ontrack in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Considering the shape the drive was in (see picture in the linked article), it could indeed qualify for the 'most amazing disk data recovery ever.'" Update: 05/08 12:51 GMT by T : Reader lucas123 points out a piece at Computerworld with a series of photos of the recovered drive.

25 of 274 comments (clear)

  1. I've had some drives crash on me, but.. by catdevnull · · Score: 4, Funny

    I will probably never use the term "crash" to describe a hard drive failure again.

    I'll bet Ontrack made a fortune off of this recovery, too.

    --

    I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
  2. Good thing, too! by greyspectre · · Score: 5, Funny

    Their server is shooting flames as I type this, but they have the technology to recover their site!

  3. Amazing data recovery! by InvisblePinkUnicorn · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wow! They recovered 400MB of data when all they had to work with was "500 Internal Server Error"?! Unbelievable!!!

  4. Preparing for slashdot effect by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 5, Funny

    So someone put together a story on spectacular hard disk failure, space shuttle, physic experiments and heroic success, and decided to host this on anything less than an industrial-strength web server? The only thing that could have made for a quicker or larger slashdotting would be if somehow it also involved big guns and Natalie Portman (with hot grits, petrified).

    Seriously people. Show some foresight here. At least the editors should have shown some mercy.

    Soooo.... anyone got a coral cache of it?

    --
    Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
  5. Re:Fastest /. effect ever ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Great, so it was you that finished off the server. gatzke effect. Not really got the same ring to it.

  6. Way to go guys (and gals) by smooth+wombat · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now look what you've done. Wasn't it bad enough the shuttle burned up? Now you've gone and burned up the server trying to show us pictures of the mangled hard drive from the burned up shuttle.

    --
    We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
  7. Re:First post by trolltalk.com · · Score: 4, Funny

    You call THIS "recovered"??? More like "Houston,we have a problem ..."

    Error Executing Database Query.
    Data source rejected establishment of connection, message from server: "Too many connections"

    The error occurred in /home/httpd/customtags/parameters.cfm: line 22
    20 :
    21 :
    22 :
    23 : SELECT tag, value FROM parameters
    24 :

    SQL SELECT tag, value FROM parameters
    DATASOURCE blocksandfiles
    VENDORERRORCODE 1040
    SQLSTATE 08004

    Resources:
    Check the ColdFusion documentation to verify that you are using the correct syntax.
    Search the Knowledge Base to find a solution to your problem.

    Browser Opera/9.23 (X11; Linux i686; U; en)
    Remote Address 70.49.63.152
    Referrer http://blocksandfiles.com/article/5056
    Date/Time 07-May-08 07:30 PM

    Stack Trace
    at cfparameters2ecfm1715857017.runPage(/home/httpd/customtags/parameters.cfm:22) at cfApplication2ecfm1592932022.runPage(/home/httpd/vhosts/blocksandfiles.co.uk/sitedocs/Application.cfm:17)

    com.mysql.jdbc.exceptions.MySQLNonTransientConnectionException: Data source rejected establishment of connection, message from server: "Too many connections"
            at com.mysql.jdbc.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:921)
            at com.mysql.jdbc.MysqlIO.doHandshake(MysqlIO.java:1055)
            at com.mysql.jdbc.Connection.createNewIO(Connection.java:2749)
            at com.mysql.jdbc.Connection.(Connection.java:1553)
            at com.mysql.jdbc.NonRegisteringDriver.connect(NonRegisteringDriver.java:285)
            at coldfusion.server.j2ee.sql.pool.JDBCPool.createPhysicalConnection(JDBCPool.java:562)
            at coldfusion.server.j2ee.sql.pool.ConnectionRunner$RunnableConnection.run(ConnectionRunner.java:67)
            at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)

  8. Re:Yup... by jlindy · · Score: 4, Funny

    What are proper deletion techniques? 7 pass DoD... 35 pass Gutmann for the truly paranoid.
  9. Re:Yup... by dAzED1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    nothing happened to the platters...with the exception of the violent crash (head-to-platter damage) and, more importantly, the extreme heat.

    Short of that though, yeah - platters were just peachy.

  10. Warranty Void by winphreak · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Product warranty is void if any seal or label is removed, or if drive experiences shock in excess of 350 Gs"

    --
    "I'm a well-wisher, in that I don't wish you any specific harm."
  11. Re:Wrong Shuttle or wrong image name? by omnipresentbob · · Score: 2, Funny

    Because they were/are challenged?

  12. Re:Yup... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I saw them do it on CSI, and TV never lies.

  13. What else can be recovered? by heroine · · Score: 2, Funny

    There R probably a few drives in Calif* landfills, containing your underwear size from 1988, waiting to be recovered.

  14. Re:so which was it? by 3t3rn4l · · Score: 2, Funny

    They were unfortunately unable to recover the exact percentage. :(

    --
    "Everything right is wrong again, just like in a long, long trailer." --They Might Be Giants

    --
    Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt. (When catapults are outlawed, only outlaws will
  15. Re:First post by smittyoneeach · · Score: 3, Funny

    WTF? ColdFusion and Java? To serve a single static page?
    Well, there was some sed, awk, a dash of emacs in batch mode, python, some xalan and xlst in there (to simplify things).
    That "First post recovered !" business was really a debug string literal that crept in at one point.
    The expected output was, or course "Hello, World".
    We're obviously going to have to port some of this to Mono. Probably get a more impressive stack trace out of it, too: the line count that wimpy java business didn't even make double digits.
    How weak is that?
    --
    Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
  16. Re:Yup... by RealGrouchy · · Score: 2, Funny

    And from that image it does not appear anything happened to the platters. Well, other than smoke getting in their eyes...

    - RG>
    --
    Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
  17. Re:Yup... by Swampash · · Score: 5, Funny

    Here is a picture for you:

    http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=hard-drive-recovered-from-columbia&sc=rss


    No, I'm pretty sure that's just stock photography of an IBM Deskstar after one week of use.

  18. Re:First post by rbanffy · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's you! You are the one using Opera! ;-)

  19. Re:First post by Achromatic1978 · · Score: 2, Funny

    you've got balls, publishing your ip address on slashdot...

  20. Re:Yup... by leenks · · Score: 2, Funny

    7 pass DoD... 35 pass Whitehouse... ;-)

  21. Re:Data are plural by Spatial · · Score: 2, Funny

    Pfft. It's just one android.

  22. Vibration degrades magnets by jake-in-a-box · · Score: 4, Funny

    I worked with hall-effect devices which we used to build tensiometers in the textiles industry. One of the problems we had was loss of sensitivity over time. The service lifetime of a unit was a year or so before it was returned to me for rebuild and recalibration. The reason was that the unit was used in an industrial setting with lots of vibration and noise. The magnets lost strength.

    All I had to do in many cases was to swap in a new set of magnets (and send the old ones out to be remagnetized). Then there were the clients that would turn the current up to compensate for the demagnetizing. They sent theirs back for a smoke refill after the smoke got out.

    --
    To hear the gods laugh tell them your plans.
  23. Re:Yup... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny

    The picture *IS* the 400MB seagate drive. I can tell by the traces and the dimensions of the drive (which there is a ruler at the bottom of the image - it's not a 3.5" factor drive, it's 5.25")

    You can tell the make and model of a nearly completely trashed hard drive.

    I'm not sure whether I should be impressed or if I should merely feel sad for another wasted life ...

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  24. Re:First post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    oh noes not TEH IP ADDRESS!?!?!?!?1111!!eleventy! Someone might....well they might...they, er...THEY'LL KNOW HIS IP ADDRESS!

  25. Re:Yup... by Chris+Shannon · · Score: 2, Funny

    A good general explanation is given by the RCMP (what the hell mounties have to do with computers, like most of Canadian society, is entirely beyond me) Mounties are our computer people who specialize in hard drives, hence their name.
    Makes sense, doesn't it?
    --
    "Follow me" the wise man said, but he walked behind.