Keep in mind many of these tools are extremely expensive but they are pretty much the best equipment you can get. Here’s a list of three tools I use daily. Without them I couldn’t get anything done.
DeepSpar Disk Imager:
The DeepSpar Disk Imager is one of the best data recovery tools I have ever used. Basically, it is a card that plugs into a PCI connector on a motherboard and runs a program through DOS. DeepSpar allows you to create a clone of a hard drive, while not doing further damage such as Windows or Mac. It also allows you to jump around the drive, meaning you can copy from the last 75% and then go back and get the rest. So if there is damage on the disk in a certain part you can actually skip that area. It also allows for programming. You can tell it to skip 100,00 sectors, for example, if the drive encounters too many errors in a row.
Cellebrite:
Pretty much the best mobile device forensics equipment around. So what’s the catch with this one…it costs $10,000. However, almost every phone is supported. Even weird Chinese phones. With most phones (excluding iPhone 4S, 5,5C, 5S & some newer android phones) you can actually make an image of the phone. This allows you to carve images and text from unallocated space. It also allows for hashing, reporting, linking reports, etc.
Atola Disk Imager:
This is one of my favorite data recovery tools. It completely automates the diagnostics process…not that it’s always right but it checks oscilloscope results to see if the printed circuit board is malfunctioning, checks heads for damage, checks firmware and the media. This is the first piece of equipment I use when testing a drive for damage.
There’s a lot more information about all of these pieces of equipment. I could literally write a book about it. I have just listed the most impressive features here. I also included links above so you can see what they have to say about their own products.