Data Recovery — the manual
73 pages, May 2026 edition, by Mhessan Kouassi. The reference technical manual: device anatomy, professional methods, special cases, prevention. Rigorous method — every figure sourced, no invented case study.
This manual is the third reading level of the Dafotec knowledge base. The service page answers "how much, how long"; the Guide explains "how we do it"; the Manual goes down to "why it works", at the level of device physics and the science of recovery. It's written for sysadmins, experts, IT decision-makers and students looking for a precise, citable technical source.
The incidents cited in the book — NotPetya/Maersk, Code Spaces, the Baccarat cyberattack — are public and referenced. The manual can be read chapter by chapter below, and downloaded in full as PDF or Markdown.
The manual's seven parts.
Foundations — device anatomy
Hard drive (platters, heads, HSA, Service Area) and SSD (NAND, FTL, controller). How devices work and where they break.
Diagnosis
Classifying a failure without worsening it: inspection, S.M.A.R.T., mechanical listening, electronic measurements, logical vs physical decision tree.
Methods
Secure imaging, logical analysis, data carving, physical cleanroom intervention, reverse FTL, RAID reconstruction.
Special cases
Encryption, mobile and the Secure Enclave chain of trust, ISO/IEC 27037 judicial forensics, post-ransomware Btrfs/ZFS.
Laboratory practice
2026 tools (PC-3000, DeepSpar, Atola, Pace, Leica, FLIR), ISO 5 cleanroom, chain of custody, data security.
Prevention 3-2-1-1-0
The modern backup strategy: 3 copies, 2 media, 1 off-site, 1 offline, 0 verified errors. Avoiding the need to call us.
2030 outlook
QLC/PLC, stacked 3D NAND, soldered SSDs going mainstream, encryption by default: what will make recovery harder tomorrow.
Technical glossary
HSA transplant, reverse FTL, XOR de-striping, Spider Web, Bit Rot, air gap, VeriFiles… every definition, self-contained.
The full manual, open access.
73 pages as PDF or Markdown, in French and English. Free download, no sign-up.
Technical manual — English
Manuel technique — Français
Founder of the laboratory and author of this manual. 22 years of expertise, over 120,000 cases handled in an ISO 5 cleanroom. Every method described in the book comes from real operations — that's what separates a practitioner's manual from a theoretical compilation.
The Guide, the Glossary: other ways in.
Prefer a hands-on approach? The Guide gives the method device by device. Need a quick definition? The Glossary is built for that.
The data recovery guide
The laboratory method device by device, more accessible than the Manual, with success rates and mistakes to avoid.
Open the Guide →Every technical term
Short, self-contained definitions of every concept used in the Manual and the Guide.
Open the Glossary →A failing device? Ask for a diagnosis.
The manual helps you understand; the lab intervenes. Free diagnosis within 24h, no data – no fee.