PREVIEW · this view is the print bundle · use to produce the handoff document · back to manifest
library.gf.cx · handoff cover drive-recovery-2026-05 · 1 of 4 · 2026-05-29
data-recovery + data-wrangling batch · pre-handoff package

drive-recovery 2026-05

Cover note + manifest + per-drive labels for a small batch of legacy drives going through triage at dtown tech, with a path for dead drives to escalate to Data Recovery NJ.

From
Owner
Dan Sellars
Email
dan@gf.cx
Phone
+1 (212) 960 3201
Address
6279 Greenhill Rd · Doylestown PA 18902
Batch URL
library.gf.cx/manifests/drive-recovery-2026-05/
To
Vendor
dtown tech
Contact
Blake Lertzman
Phone
+1 267-463-6673
Address
17 E Oakland Ave · Doylestown PA
Web
dtowntech.com

Hi Blake — three legacy drives in this drop, each labelled with a slug + QR. The drives carry photographs and project work going back several years; we'd like to recover what's recoverable and identify which drives are worth the deeper effort vs which can be retired.

Each drive has a disposition code printed on its label (see the legend overleaf) — that's our planned action; please update with what you actually call after triage. The drives that you flag as TRANSFER-OUT go to Data Recovery NJ; we'll handle that handoff. No need for a quote on those — just flag and return them to me.

The QR on each label links to a public stub page (id.gf.cx/<slug>) with my contact + return address — useful if a drive gets separated from this packet. The slug itself (e.g. seed-drive-01) is what I'll use to log events on my side, so referring to it on a callback is easier than reading off a serial number.

Per the shortlist conversation: free diagnostic on the first batch, per-drive imaging fee to confirm on first call, escalation criteria for anything above ~$400 / clean-room work. I'll come by for the drop-off once we've picked a time.

Dan
dan@gf.cx · +1 (212) 960 3201 · pa.gf.cx/contractors/dtown-tech/
drive-recovery-2026-05 · cover library.gf.cx/manifests/drive-recovery-2026-05/print/
library.gf.cx · manifest drive-recovery-2026-05 · 2 of 4 · 2026-05-29

Two-vendor batch. dtown tech runs triage + wrangling on every drive. Drives flagged TRANSFER-OUT escalate to Data Recovery NJ for deep recovery. Per-vendor depth (call notes, costs, events) lives on each contractor's job page; this manifest is the cross-vendor lens.

Default · local
dtown tech
17 E Oakland Ave · Doylestown PA · +1 267-463-6673
Triage + wrangling. Catalogue extractable vs non-functioning. Pull data from drives that spin. Flag dead drives for escalation.
Escalation · NJ
Data Recovery NJ LLC
12 New Providence Rd · Watchung NJ · <$1,000/drive · 60% under $400
Clean-room recovery on dead drives only. Rare subset of the batch — drives dtown tech flags as worth the deeper effort.
Slug Identity Planned Called Date in Outcome note
seed-drive-01 2TB · WD Elements · USB3
S/N WX...
TRIAGE → MINE
seed-drive-02 4TB · Seagate Backup Plus
S/N NA...
TRIAGE → MINE
seed-drive-03 1TB · LaCie Rugged
suspected dead
TRIAGE → TRANSFER-OUT

Planned = what Dan expects based on prior knowledge of the drive. Called = what dtown tech decides after physical inspection. Mismatches are useful — they refine next batch's pre-handoff classification.

drive-recovery-2026-05 · manifest · 3 drives library.gf.cx/manifests/drive-recovery-2026-05/
library.gf.cx · disposition legend drive-recovery-2026-05 · 3 of 4 · 2026-05-29

The five-code vocabulary printed on every drive's faceplate label. Single page; pin it next to the bench. Every drive starts at TRIAGE and ends in one of the other four states.

TRIAGE
Initial classification action. Every drive starts here on arrival. Inspect physically, attempt power-up with write-blocker, check whether the drive enumerates and reads. Decide which of the four terminal states applies and mark the Called column on the manifest.
MINE
Drive is fully workable. Spins, reads cleanly, no signs of failure. Pull all the data — full extract. Image the drive (DMG or sparsebundle preferred for Mac-formatted volumes) and return both the original drive + the imaged copy on the delivery medium.
RESCUE
Drive is struggling. Maybe slow reads, intermittent enumeration, bad sectors but enumerable. Recover what's recoverable; partial extract is OK. Spend extra cycles only if the data turns out to be high-value — call before exceeding ~$400 of effort.
PRUNE
No value or already extracted elsewhere. Don't waste cycles. Return the drive as-is (we'll dispose / wipe / repurpose on our side). Do not attempt destruction-of-media unless explicitly asked.
TRANSFER-OUT
Escalate. Drive is non-functional (won't spin, clicking, won't enumerate) AND the data is worth professional clean-room recovery. Return the drive to Dan; he handles the handoff to Data Recovery NJ. No imaging attempt needed; just confirm the failure mode in the Called column.
Default routing in this batch: all three drives start with TRIAGE at dtown tech. seed-drive-01 and seed-drive-02 are expected to MINE (placeholder — confirm based on what you see). seed-drive-03 is flagged as suspected-dead, so the planned disposition is TRANSFER-OUT — but if it surprises us and spins, RESCUE is a fine call instead.
drive-recovery-2026-05 · legend library.gf.cx/manifests/drive-recovery-2026-05/#disposition-vocabulary
library.gf.cx · faceplate labels drive-recovery-2026-05 · 4 of 4 · 2026-05-29

One label per drive. Cut + stick to the drive faceplate (or attach with a tag-tie if the drive has no flat surface). Each label encodes the slug, the planned disposition, the public-stub URL, and a QR pointing to id.gf.cx/<slug>.

drive-recovery-2026-05 · dtown tech
seed-drive-01
2TB · WD Elements · USB3
TRIAGE → MINE
id.gf.cx/seed-drive-01
drive-recovery-2026-05 · dtown tech
seed-drive-02
4TB · Seagate Backup Plus
TRIAGE → MINE
id.gf.cx/seed-drive-02
drive-recovery-2026-05 · dtown tech
seed-drive-03
1TB · LaCie Rugged · suspected dead
TRIAGE → TRANSFER-OUT
id.gf.cx/seed-drive-03
spare slot
4th label position
— add 4th drive here —
drive-recovery-2026-05 · labels (4 per A4 sheet) id.gf.cx/<slug> → library.gf.cx/drives/<slug>/