You might as well tell people that they don't need to spend $10K on a hernia operation when the scalpels, sutures, antibiotics, etc. can be had for just $440.00, if you are willing to do it yourself.

Believe it or not, you have to know what you are doing when you manipulate firmware; the function of each module; which ones should be replaced and which should not be touched. It's very possible to brick a drive and make it unrecoverable if you don't know best practices and haven't had experience working with failed drives.

Whatever your feelings may be about data recovery professionals -- and it is apparent that for some reason you disdain them in general -- not providing suitable, realistic caveats about the downside of experimenting with a drive containing someone's valuable data is doing a tremendous disservice to all who read these kinds of unvetted prescriptions from you and go merrily on their way, not knowing that the light at the end of the tunnel is actually the headlight of the approaching train.

If you wish to offer advice, please stick to the topics that you are personally familiar with, and those you are willing and able to offer further assistance should the followers get into trouble.

Thank you for your consideration.

_________________
http://www.datasaversllc.com

I am also interested to see the outcome of someone who is completely inexperienced, playing with a software that can brick a drive with a simple click.

"Ah maybe i should regenerate the translator"

_________________
http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

Well, the truth is that you don't need PC3K or any expensive DR tool to do a firmware job, assuming that's the OP's problem. My post was intended to preempt this kind of standard response from the DR community. I agree that I shouldn't have used the term "DIY", but I did qualify my statement by saying that someone with the "requisite experience" should be able to handle this job using an inexpensive tool.

As for your most recent analogy, it reminds me of your (?) cake shop example where you attempted to defend the secrecy surrounding what is essentially a trivial procedure, namely connecting to the drive's SATA interface by intercepting the link between the MCU and the bridge IC. At that time I explained just how easy that was to do. Moreover, I suspect that connecting to the drive's serial console is even easier, once you understand the function of the 12-pin header.

And therein lies the problem. I don't have a USB PCB, nor am I able to discern the connectivity from the photos that people have supplied. However, the way that I would go about determining the pinout is to use a multimeter to identify the connections to the corresponding pins of the bridge and MCU ICs. That should take maybe half an hour at most. From what I've seen in another thread, most of the pins appear to be connected to the bridge IC and are used to drive the LED indicators, and to accept user input from various pushbutton switches. However, there appear to be at least two pins that function as the Tx/Rx signals for the serial console. These would connect to the MCU.

Other than trial-and-error, you could confirm the functions of the RS232 pins by comparing the pinouts against a SATA PCB with an identical MCU. Once again you would trace the jumper header back to the corresponding pins of the MCU. By knowing the function of the header pins (your tools tell you this), you would then know the function of each MCU pin. Presumably the SATA and USB boards would use the same MCU pins for their serial consoles, in which case the pinout of the 12-pin header would be evident. No need to wait for Ace Labs or Salvation Data to come out with updates ...

As for the complexity of firmware jobs, I think you would agree that these are at the easy end of the DR spectrum. In fact, if you read the promotional material from Salvation Data and other tool suppliers, firmware problems are relatively easily handled using non-invasive techniques, some even with a single click. There is even an online service that purports to be able to solve certain WD firmware problems remotely, without human intervention, and all for US$50.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

I haven't tried the $150 tool you are promoting, nor have I tried your $50 on-line solution. How well do they work? What problems can they resolve -- and which ones can't they?

Have you PERSONALLY used one of these tools that you are recommending to fix a WD firmware problem? If not, how can you recommend them for a task that you have no experience with and very little knowledge about?

Several years ago I bought a product from one of the companies that you mentioned, that was advertised to fix Seagate firmware problems. I followed their instructions and it bricked two test drives. I asked for technical support and they provided nothing helpful. They were good enough to take the tool back when I protested.

Firmware problems range from "easy" to extremely challenging. The techniques vary by drive manufacturer, and often by model or family. It takes a lot of learning to know what works and what doesn't, and the nuances of firmware repair, in each and every case.

Nowhere do you warn people that misapplication of firmware fixes can ruin their chances of data recovery. Nor do you recommend that they practice (using tools and techniques that you've never used yourself!) on test drives before they try it on their own or their friend's drive. That's not just irresponsible -- it's reckless.

_________________
http://www.datasaversllc.com

"promotional material from Salvation Data and other tool suppliers, firmware problems are relatively easily handled using non-invasive techniques, some even with a single click. "

= lies to get you to buy their tool.

Anyone who OWNS Salvation Tools can verify this. SD tools have their place in the right hands if you know EXACTLY what you are doing, but can SO easily irreversibly ***k up a drive in a single click.

This is NOT scare mongering by an evil Data Recovery guy whos out to screw the innocent and unsuspecting, it's the truth.

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

Only one person has ever given me any feedback on AFF Repair Station. In his case the diagnosis was that the fault did not lend itself to remote repair. Instead the software advised him to consult professional recovery.

On WDR-UDMA and WD HD Pro, I also have no feedback from end users (they all want a free repair), but your own DR colleagues have reported favourably on the software. In fact some have said that it has certain "factory" features that even PC3K doesn't have. There was a recent thread on the subject, but the moderator has deleted it (for reasons known only to himself).

Curiously, just today I was asked by a PC3K user how to reconstruct the ROM contents on a Royl drive. I advised him that these functions were easily handled by WDR-UDMA and by SD's HD Doctor. Am I to understand that PC3K cannot do this? The aforementioned DR pro stated that he was in the habit of transferring the physical MCU to the replacement PCB.

BTW, I have received some private enquiries about the Tx/Rx pins. AIUI, in a WD3200BMVU-11A04S0, the Tx/Rx pins are pins 29 and 31 of J5, and pin 27 is ground.

You can just see them in the following photo, at the RH end of the header:
http://www.hardmaster.info/news11/img/wd320bmvu_pcb.jpg

I expect that this pinout would be standardised for all WD drives with a 12-pin header, but that's something for others to verify.

As for your concerns about releasing information to the public, I am of the opinion that information wants to be free. What people do with such information is for them to decide, not you or I. If these people choose not to practice on a disposable drive, it's because they don't want to spend any money, in which case they're not interested in professional services.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Totally agree.

_________________
http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

'Nuf said.



Your reasoning here is faulty. "Free" info isn't the issue. Recommending risky solutions (that you have no experience with) without any cautions is the issue, IMHO. People cannot make wise decisions if they are not FULLY INFORMED. I don't understand why you refuse to take any responsibility.

As far as not wanting to spend money for DR services, I think it's a fair statement that people will try to save money whenever possible. If you present a picture that certain critical DR operations are easy when they are not, and don't advise about the inherent risks, don't you see a problem in the making?

We still receive drives that people muck with hoping to save money, but want the data at the end of the day. The outcome would be better in just about every case if they didn't try to "upgrade firmware", swap platters, etc.

It's clear that I'm not going to be able to encourage you accept responsibility for your behavior, and so I am finished with our "debate."

_________________
http://www.datasaversllc.com

This is so correct. If you do not understand this tool from SD you can kill a drive in a second. The tools are not easy to use and to work with. If you think it is just a click away it is not. Even some of the free or small paid program that Franc is offering can totally screw up a drive in less than a second. One wrong click and it is finished.

As for SD - ACE - and others some ROM can not be written back to the HDD becasue there is problems. If you understand which ones work then you can do this one. But some need special attention before you can write them back to the HDD. Yes PC3K can reconstruct a ROM and write it back. That is providing the mods inside the SA are not destroyed or corrupted and are good. But I think one reason Franc got a PM on this one is the fact there is a few WD drives that you can corrupt the ROM in PC3K and also in SD tools. If you understand this one then you know what to do to fix it and make it possible to use the tools and write back the ROM to the PCB. But an average Joe off the street who wants to save a few bucks can not do this one at all.

Plus I see the prices of these tools and after investing in this and maybe a donor part or what ever else the price adds up to $$ spent. Some of these can add up to more than it would of cost to have a person who understand all this do the work and get off the data. I see here that people say they have screwed up totally the conversion of the PCB and now ask if there is another point they can use to make this work.

Simple logical recovery information is good for everyone. Only if they take the right measure when working on their HDD. But any good advise goes only so far. Here many people see this info and think it is for their HDD. They get too excited and wham it is done no more drive and no more data and the solution did not work for them at all. Now they come here crying and wanting to understand why they do not have thier data.

But as for telling anyone not to do this one it is impossible. At times I think to say no is like when we were all children and heard this one. What was the first thing we wanted to do. Yes no was not a good answer and any good advise never is listened too. So in this one it is pointless to argue with Franc and he is set in his ways. If the person will listen to him then we just have to leave it alone. I think the more we say do not do this the more he will. So for me it is useless to say it is not a good idea to do this. Just leave him alone and if enough people screw up their drives maybe they will figure it all out in the end.

_________________
Iorana Haraharaini

Hello

i have a WD5000BMVV and desolderd the caps and connected them as described - but i doesnt work. One thing is i dont know where to attach the middle cable

here is a thread wehre there is a picture which shows it.

http://www.reepair.net/en/showthread.ph ... sk-to-sata

i connected everything except for the one above the C71

Can anybody help ?

PS: This is not mine its an thread photo.

thanks

xose_maria,

Hi,

wich capacitors did you removed?


Regards,

Hi guys, hope you can help.
I have a WD My Passport, that I am informed has a password on it.
The drive is a WD5000BMVV, hence my reasoning to jump on this thread
It spins up slowly, takes about 40 secs then is detected etc but comes up as 2047.35GB instead of 500GB.
Am I right in thinking that this is a firmware corruption?
I can solder the SATA connector no problem but would it get me anywhere?
I think I read that this drive is encrypted in the My Passport anyway?
Really hope you can help, Cheers!

Ritch

I'm a complete novoice, touching the PCB 1st time in my life. can someone pls tell me how can I exactly remove the capacitors? Thanks

Remove them with the same soldering iron that you will be using to attach the wires. :shock:

That said, how will you make sense of the encrypted data?

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Ok will give a try. I'm using Ubuntu rescue remix and it detects the HDD but shows 2199 GB instead of 500 GB. what it means? is it corrupt the physical disk?

I'm not a data recovery professional, but whenever this kind of symptom has appeared in other threads, the prevailing diagnosis has been an internal fault, possibly heads or firmware, or both.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

You are wasting your time doing this. Even by some miracle you remove the correct components and solder a SATA port on, at best you are going to be met with lots of encrypted data that you can do nothing with.

Hi sorry for my english

So i have a problem with a HDD WD5000BMVV.

It's lights up, spinning but nothing.

I put the Cable on E71, E72, E73 and E75.

But i have a probleme. I don't found the C33 capacitor juste the C37 a the place of the C33.

Here the picture : http://softetservices.com/WP_000112.jpg

Again sorry for my english.

C37, C31, C13, C18.

Can you not see that the above capacitors are in series with the two Tx/Rx signal pairs?

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

I see that.

But i want to be sure before doing anything.

So i have another problem now.

When I plug my HDD the led is lit up, the HDD spin but after that nothing, not detected on Windows, Linux and Mac OS.

I tried with a USB / SATA Adapator and directly in a tower.