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Spildit

Post subject: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 6th, 2018, 12:21

Joined: December 19th, 2006, 8:49
Posts: 9663
Location: Portugal

Well, i need to recover data from this VERY OLD WDC AC31600H drive...

This is older then typical WD_xA and WD_xB drives and it's NOT supported by latest HRT software. Super ON for WD_xB type of drives doesn't even work on this model.

Attachment:

1.jpg [ 83.58 KiB | Viewed 1858 times ]

Can't access S.M.A.R.T. on this drive, maybe it's not even supported as the drive is very old.

Attachment:

2.jpg [ 61.5 KiB | Viewed 1858 times ]

Can't access user data either by LBA or C/H/S. Drive should support LBA anyway ...

Attachment:

3.jpg [ 131.74 KiB | Viewed 1858 times ]

Drive spins up ok (takes some time to spin at full speed) and heads calibrate OK.

Looks like translator issue typical of older models but i don't know the VSC to regen translator on this one ...

I do need to test with older tools, i guess...

Any idea ?

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Spildit

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 6th, 2018, 13:01

Joined: December 19th, 2006, 8:49
Posts: 9663
Location: Portugal

WOW ... I did made some progress with this drive ! This is very strange indeed !!!

Sending the Super ON "unlocks" this drive and allow user data access. Drive is imaging now.

I did test it several times. Used HRT prototype (HDD.exe) to access the drive firmware by "OLD" WD utility (not x_A and x_B of the HRT complex). Gained access to all modules and user area access was unlocked. Drive is almost imaged now so far with something like 200 bad sectors at 95% of the image ....

Let's see ... Looks like it have a FAT 16 partition. Will post as soon as HRT-DRE finish the image.

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Last edited by Spildit on January 6th, 2018, 13:13, edited 1 time in total.

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Spildit

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 6th, 2018, 13:08

Joined: December 19th, 2006, 8:49
Posts: 9663
Location: Portugal

I will need to try to fix this drive later but i can confirm now that if i turn the power on and try to scan/access media (user space) then i can't (it aborts) but if i send the SUPER ON for this drive type using HDD.exe the drive allows access to user area. If i turn power off and on again then it's again "locked" and to "unlock" it it's necessary to send the super on again.

Drive doesn't support security sub-system so i guess it's not ATA password related but it acts as if it is .... Maybe it's some kind of "lock" like DVR lock but i guess the drive is very old for that ...

Maybe a translator issue after all that Supe On can bypass ?

Drive spins ok and calibrates ok as soon as it's powered on.

As soon as i have the image i will be able to tell if it was removed from some sort of DVR machine but i think it wasn't....

Reached 94.85 % of the image and now it's hitting a area with more bad sectors. I will set it to a lower time-out and a single read attempt to skip them faster ....

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Spildit

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 6th, 2018, 13:26

Joined: December 19th, 2006, 8:49
Posts: 9663
Location: Portugal

Here :

I do have full access to FW modules (they are NOT like x_A and x_B modules) and sending the Super On allows media access !

Attachment:

a.jpg [ 132.44 KiB | Viewed 1843 times ]

Attachment:

b.jpg [ 101.97 KiB | Viewed 1843 times ]

I don't know why the "Super On" unlocks this drive by itself but the "image" contains data from an ordinary windows installation ... It's a windows based machine as it have the windows folder, etc ... So it's not "locked" .... Somehow the damage on the drive prevents access to user area if one doesn't send the Super On. Will try to regenerate translator later when i do have the full image done.

I will try to read some more data out of the bad blocks now.

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Spildit

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 6th, 2018, 14:22

Joined: December 19th, 2006, 8:49
Posts: 9663
Location: Portugal

Looks like this drive is considerably damaged at it's end ...

Attachment:

a.jpg [ 102.97 KiB | Viewed 1831 times ]

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Spildit

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 6th, 2018, 14:42

Joined: December 19th, 2006, 8:49
Posts: 9663
Location: Portugal

It looks like i got the data ....

Attachment:

1.jpg [ 64.08 KiB | Viewed 1825 times ]

I don't think that i will be able to "fix" the drive ....

Power it off/on again makes me loose access to UA.

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fzabkar

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 6th, 2018, 15:13

Joined: September 8th, 2009, 18:21
Posts: 10838
Location: Australia

Can you upload the modules? Could it be that the G-list is full?

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Spildit

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 6th, 2018, 15:21

Joined: December 19th, 2006, 8:49
Posts: 9663
Location: Portugal

fzabkar wrote:

Can you upload the modules? Could it be that the G-list is full?

I will in a moment. G-List is empty, P-List have some considerable amount of defects.

My tool only have commands to do the Super format with data loss. I do have to "sniff" those format commands so that i can then try the quick format with P-List.

In other words the commands for Marvell based and WDC based "xB" drives are very well known. Those don't work on this very old drive (maybe Arch-0). If i get the commands for the format options i can try to place the value "12" to do the quick format / regen translator without data loss.

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Spildit

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 6th, 2018, 15:48

Joined: December 19th, 2006, 8:49
Posts: 9663
Location: Portugal

fzabkar wrote:

Can you upload the modules? Could it be that the G-list is full?

Drive doesn't support the "Clear S.M.A.R.T." command (doesn't produce any error but doesn't do a thing) and Quick Format / Regen translator commands don't work (only data destructive super format with P and P+G or whithout lists) This drive does have a kill translator command as well but there are no know way to regen it again without killing data.

G - List :

Attachment:

b.jpg [ 22.28 KiB | Viewed 1813 times ]

P - List :

Attachment:

c.jpg [ 41.32 KiB | Viewed 1813 times ]

I will post the modules in a moment .

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Spildit

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 6th, 2018, 15:52

Joined: December 19th, 2006, 8:49
Posts: 9663
Location: Portugal

Here !!!

Enjoy !

Attachment:

OLD WD.rar [86.24 KiB]
Downloaded 70 times

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Spildit

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 6th, 2018, 16:34

Joined: December 19th, 2006, 8:49
Posts: 9663
Location: Portugal

I don't know if my modules are "valid" but a CheckSum-8 of all of my modules returns a value of 00 so it should be ok.

I couldn't find PC-3000 dumps for my model of drive but there are some dumps for some other very old models on the file section like this one :

http://files.hddguru.com/download/PC-30 ... al/Ercoca/

Unfortunatly it looks like the modules retrieve by PC-3000 doesn't look that good .... Tracks looks ok but cheksum for the modules doesn't apear to be correct neither the aspect of the modules themselfs.

I did compare with AA (xA) type of firmware and they are completly diferent as well. xA type is very close to xB type. Those older modules must be ARCH-0 while newer models (WDC MCU BASED) should be Arch V and Arch VI. Latest Arch-VI models goes up to 240 GB WDC MCU based (cyl 32) drives.

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fzabkar

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 6th, 2018, 23:06

Joined: September 8th, 2009, 18:21
Posts: 10838
Location: Australia

Attached are several PC3K resources for AC31600.

Attachments:

62-602111-066_AC31600.rar [47.19 KiB]
Downloaded 33 times

62-602111-065_WDAC31600.rar [49.22 KiB]
Downloaded 31 times

62-602111-064_AC31600.rar [45.02 KiB]
Downloaded 58 times

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Spildit

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 7th, 2018, 11:33

Joined: December 19th, 2006, 8:49
Posts: 9663
Location: Portugal

Interesting !!!

- PC3K Dumps have only copy 0 and not copy 0/1 like my dump.

- ID2E might be S.M.A.R.T. related and it's NOT present on my drive (doesn't support S.M.A.R.T.).

- ID05 is my module PA (ID57) and have the configuration / passport data.

- Module 30 of PC3K Dumps show - Copyright 1996 while my drive module 30 shows Copyright 1993 (older).

- There are no modules 21 to 25 on the PC3K dump.

- PC3K dump have modules A1, A2, A6, AF, C5, C9, E0, F2, F4, F5 and FF that are not present on my dump.

- Module 41 should be the "Road Map" and i can't find it on PC3K dump.

- PC3K module FF have a COPYRIGHT 1993 WDC string.

Maybe i should try to retrieve Modules by VSC on my drive ? This should be fun !!! I will test this later. Now that i do have the data out i need to try to "fix" the drive as well.

Maybe format with P-List ?

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Spildit

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 7th, 2018, 11:36

Joined: December 19th, 2006, 8:49
Posts: 9663
Location: Portugal

PC3K module ID 05 is the full module. HDD.EXE Module 41 is indeed the start of module ID 05 ... Interesting.

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Spildit

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 7th, 2018, 11:38

Joined: December 19th, 2006, 8:49
Posts: 9663
Location: Portugal

Bahhhh .... I'm cinfused

Can you find the module directory on the dumps ?

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fzabkar

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 7th, 2018, 14:44

Joined: September 8th, 2009, 18:21
Posts: 10838
Location: Australia

The Ercoca module dumps are bogus, as you say. The attachment contains those components which I have managed to carve out of the track dumps.

Code:

02       BIN         8,192  01-07-18  7:08p 02.bin
05       BIN         4,096  01-07-18  7:06p 05.bin
10       BIN         5,632  01-07-18  7:04p 10.bin
11       BIN         3,584  01-07-18  7:09p 11.bin
12       BIN         4,608  01-07-18  7:10p 12.bin
13       BIN         3,584  01-07-18  7:09p 13.bin
20       BIN         2,048  01-07-18  7:03p 20.bin
30       BIN         3,584  01-07-18  7:05p 30.bin
C0       BIN         3,072  01-07-18  7:14p C0.bin
C1       BIN         2,048  01-07-18  7:01p C1.bin
C2       BIN         7,680  01-07-18  7:11p C2.bin
C6       BIN         1,024  01-07-18  7:15p C6.bin
C7       BIN         1,024  01-07-18  7:14p C7.bin
CC       BIN         3,072  01-07-18  7:02p CC.bin
CE       BIN         1,536  01-07-18  7:03p CE.bin
E0       BIN         1,024  01-07-18  7:16p E0.bin
FF       BIN           512  01-07-18  7:08p FF.bin
GL       BIN         7,680  01-07-18  7:07p GL.bin
ID_STUFF BIN           512  01-08-18  4:11a ID_stuff.bin
PL       BIN         4,096  01-07-18  7:28p PL.bin

I have analysed one of the good PC3K resource dumps. Each SA module has a 12-byte header.

Code:

              mmddyy  Cs  Id  Sz  ??  ??  Ver
              --------------------------------
~ID02.RPM     0B095F  D7  02  17  00  B4  2.1P
~ID05.RPM     0B1260  F1  05  10  15  10  72.0
~ID10.RPM     051060  41  10  10  00  B4  1.6P
~ID11.RPM     0B095F  BB  11  12  00  B4  2.1P
~ID12.RPM     0B095F  6F  12  10  00  B4  1.5P
~ID13.RPM     0B095F  9E  13  10  00  B4  1.4P
~ID30.RPM     0B095F  67  30  0A  00  E4  1.5P
~ID9F.RPM     0A1E5F  7A  9F  01  00  FC  1.2P
~IDA0.RPM     0A1E5F  EC  A0  0C  00  C8  26 P
~IDA1.RPM     0A1E5F  D1  A1  0E  80  DF  25 ?
~IDA2.RPM     0A1E5F  18  A2  03  04  04  170?
~IDA3.RPM     0A1E5F  E4  A3  01  D0  01  16 ?
~IDA4.RPM     0A1E5F  B9  A4  02  0C  02  141?
~IDA5.RPM     0A1E5F  E1  A5  03  0E  04  121?
~IDA8.RPM     0A1E5F  1F  A8  05  DA  08  10 ?
~IDA9.RPM     0A1E5F  20  A9  01  E2  CF  11 ?
~IDAC.RPM     0A1E5F  EE  AC  01  D8  CF  12 ?
~IDAD.RPM     0A1E5F  12  AD  01  A2  CF  12 ?
~IDAE.RPM     0A1E5F  25  AE  01  E6  CF  13 ?
~IDAF.RPM     0A1E5F  71  AF  01  E6  CF  11 ?
~IDB0.RPM     0A1E5F  D2  B0  02  48  02  29 ?
~IDBE.RPM     0A1E5F  11  BE  01  28  CF  19 ?
~IDBF.RPM     0A1E5F  AA  BF  01  C6  CF  13 ?
~IDC1.RPM     0A1E5F  3D  C1  02  00  00  15 P
~IDC6.RPM     0A1E5F  34  C6  02  1C  03  132P
~IDC9.RPM     0A1E5F  2C  C9  01  82  00  11 P
~IDD1.RPM     0A1E5F  92  D1  02  00  00  11 P
~IDE0.RPM     0A1E5F  6D  E0  03  00  00  201P
~IDFF.RPM     0A1E5F  CD  FF  01  00  00  2.0P

Attachments:

Ercoca_modules_cut.rar [32.77 KiB]
Downloaded 32 times

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fzabkar

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 7th, 2018, 14:45

Joined: September 8th, 2009, 18:21
Posts: 10838
Location: Australia

Module 05 appears to consist of 3 parts, each part having its own 8-bit checksum of 0x00.

Part 1 contains the module directory. In this example there are 12 entries (although the SA has many more modules). Each entry consists of 4 bytes which specify the module ID, track number, sector number, and size in sectors.

02012517 -> module 0x02, track 0x01, sector 0x25, size 0x17 sectors
Part 1 (0 - 0x1FF)

Code:

Offset(h) 00       04       08       0C

00000000  0B1260F1 05101510 37322E30 3050000C  ..`ñ....72.00P..
          number of directory entries = 12 ^^

00000010  02012517 12013C10 30014C0A 2201561C
           mod 02   mod 12   mod 30   mod 22

00000020  10020110 11021112 13022310 25017205
00000030  2302330E 21017702 24017901 2002410A

Part 2 (0x200 - 0x7FF)

Code:

Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

00000200  0B 11 60 F3 57 44 2D 57 54 32 38 39 30 34 38 38  ..`óWD-WT2890488
00000210  37 31 36 20 20 20 20 20 4C 0C 10 3F 01 0A FC 03  716     L..?..ü.
00000220  00 00 0A 78 70 0F 01 00 00 1F 00 00 78 01 8A 05
00000230  5F 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00000240  05 04 03 02 01 00 00 01 02 03 04 05 05 04 03 02
00000250  01 00 00 01 02 03 04 05 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
........
000002B0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 62 37 3C 3F 00 2E CC 7A  ........b7<?..Ìz
000002C0  05 10 47 48 60 37 3D 3F 00 38 F4 78 05 10 47 48  ..GH`7=?.8ôx..GH
000002D0  5E 33 3C 3F 00 32 D5 75 05 10 47 48 5C 27 3E 3F  ^3<?.2Õu..GH\'>?
........
00000720  3C 2F 3D 3F 00 30 73 3E 04 10 47 48 3A 27 3B 3F  </=?.0s>..GH:';?
00000730  00 6E F9 3A 04 10 47 48                          .nù:..GH
........
00000730                          25 35 45 25 35 45 28 35          %5E%5E(5
00000740  45 30 35 45 30 35 40 30 35 40 33 35 40 33 35 40  E05E05@05@35@35@
00000750  35 35 3C 35 35 3C 33 35 3C 33 35 3F 32 35 40 2D  55<55<35<35?25@-
00000760  35 40 25 35 40 25 35 40 25 35 45 00 00 00 00 00  5@%5@%5@%5E.....

Part 3 (0x800 - 0x1FFF)

Code:

Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

00000800  0A 0F 5B 3B 96 01 30 00 02 0D 40 10 FE FF 31 00
00000810  02 0D 40 10 FE FF 32 00 02 0D 40 10 FE FF 33 00
........
000014A0  02 2A 48 09 FE FF CB 0F 02 2A 64 09 FE FF CC 0F
000014B0  02 2A 48 09 FE FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

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Spildit

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 7th, 2018, 14:46

Joined: December 19th, 2006, 8:49
Posts: 9663
Location: Portugal

Ok !!!

I did made some progress !!!

HRT/HDD Dump is CORRECT.

PC3K DUMP is NOT !!!

Here :

To get module directory one uses SUPER ON + VSC to read Sector 1 (size 1) :

Attachment:

1.jpg [ 75.09 KiB | Viewed 1676 times ]

Module ID 5 is Road Map of my drive and all other modules have correct size and location. I can now retrieve them all by ata terminal !

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Spildit

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 7th, 2018, 14:48

Joined: December 19th, 2006, 8:49
Posts: 9663
Location: Portugal

The PC3K resources have several modules joined together as one.

Looks like PC3K doesn't calculate the size correctly to diferenciate modules sometimes .....

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Spildit

Post subject: Re: WDC AC31600H firmware issue ?

Posted: January 7th, 2018, 14:53

Joined: December 19th, 2006, 8:49
Posts: 9663
Location: Portugal

Module 05 on PC3K dump have 3 modules inside one.

On my drive if i place a bigger number to read on sector count i can get modules like on PC3K but on my module directory the correct size should be 1 :

Attachment:

2.jpg [ 164.23 KiB | Viewed 1672 times ]

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