February 1st, 2018, 3:22
February 1st, 2018, 4:08
February 1st, 2018, 5:33
February 1st, 2018, 8:01
Most Toshiba drives that arrive to me for recovery have problems related to bad sectors, dying heads and sometimes translator related issues. Lacking something like PC3K that allow to create a virtual translator and read from the utility it might be a challenge to clone those drives or to extract data out of them.
Defective models that I see the most are MKxxxxGSYN and MKxxxxGSX. On all of those the standard procedure would be to use either PC3K or MRT Pro to read CPs, create a virtual translator and copy the data from the active utility with the virtual translator. This is the general procedure nowadays and do work on the majority of cases.
If you don't have any of those tools but you still have something like HRT (latest version with the Toshiba Sata tool + DRE) or SeDiv you can try to clear S.M.A.R.T., G-List and clone either with the HRT-DRE or any other hardware based imager.
February 2nd, 2018, 7:35
Spildit wrote:Well ....
First of all it's a Toshiba drive so all of the CPs are on the ROM (PCB) with the exception of a few "modules" like the G-List, Password module, etc ...
Spildit wrote:In "normal" cases when you have completly "dead" heads or pre-amp the drive should just click.
Spildit wrote:Can you ear the heads moving when you first power up the drive ?
Spildit wrote:If the data inside the drive is important please do consider the use of a professional data recovery service !!!
Spildit wrote:If you want a do-it-yourself "fix" start by getting a TTL adaptor - http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=192 - connect it to the drive as already posted and press "enter" on your terminal application 8like HyperTerminal). You should see a prompt like ">". If not (and if your TTL works fine when connected to another similar drive then you can start to investigate the possibility of a bad PCB. If the PCB is bad you can replace it with a compatible one but you MUST move the ROM chip from the old PCB to the new one and if you damage that chip it will be IMPOSSIBLE to recover the data ever again !!! So be very carefull !!!
Spildit wrote:If the PCB is not the "problem" then maybe the G-List is "damaged" and somehow making the drive "stuck" in BSY status or something simmilar. When you run MHDD what status registers does the drive show ? Can you see a gren/blue light on BSY ? Can you see DRDY / DSC lit up ? Or the PCB is not showing any register status ?
Spildit wrote:Can you detect the drive with MHDD (at least the correct port) and post a picture of it ?
Spildit wrote:What i can't figure out is the loss of capacity that you mentioned .... I would have to see the drive to attempt to figure out what is wrong with it.
February 2nd, 2018, 9:01
February 2nd, 2018, 18:39
C:\>debug
-e 100 7f 6c
-n test.bin
-rcx
CX 0000
:2
-w
Writing 00002 bytes
-q
C:\>type test.bin
l <--- these two characters will display differently in a DOS box (same as in MHDD)
C:\>del test.bin
February 2nd, 2018, 18:46
February 2nd, 2018, 18:58
In regards to HDDSuperclone, there is a warning that it can not disable some of the built in ubuntu attempts to fix a drive. I don't think it's worth a gamble until I know better what I'm dealing with.
February 2nd, 2018, 19:05
Spildit wrote:Forget about plugging the PCB only ....
I did just test it out....
If you plug the PCB only the drive will remain BSY and it will not ID ...
February 2nd, 2018, 19:21
Spildit wrote:So ... Let's say the drive have a G-List problem and it's stuck on BSY ...
Is there any chance that the motherboard itself is dumping that 0x7F6C "pattern" to the MHDD ? Because the drive is not directly connected to some sort of hardware assisted firmware card the BIOS/motherboard might not be displaying the true status of the drive ...
If the drive is indeed sending that 0x7F6C pattern (instead of the system) then i would say that either PCB or firmware should be "investigated".
Lacking firmware tools i would remove the PCB out of a known good Toshiba drive and pluig it alone on your system to see how MHDD detects the PCB. If it's BSY like mine and if with broken drive you got that pattern then i would try to plug just the PCB of the bad drive and see if i get BSY or the same pattern. If the same pattern is observed then PCB is broken or you have damaged ROM CPs. If you plug the PCB and you can see that it's stuck on BSY then you can assume that the problem might be related to SA on the drive itself ...
February 2nd, 2018, 21:43
February 2nd, 2018, 23:54
gringobonk wrote:I have a lot to take in from all of the responses and I humbly acknowledge that MHDD is not a tool that I have used frequently. Therefore, after reviewing and thinking through all of the responses, I will spend extra time with MHDD to see if I can yield any other results as a result of perhaps not utilizing it properly. I'm working to keep my head above water right now but I will post further tests soon. I'm grateful for all of the responses regarding my issue.
February 3rd, 2018, 9:05
February 3rd, 2018, 9:51
maximus wrote:Just so you know, I myself struggle with how to use MHDD, which is why I am not offering to help in that respect, and am expecting the others to offer their help. If you every get to a point where you need help with the likes of HDDSuperTool or HDDSuperClone, then I can be of much more help.
February 3rd, 2018, 20:14
February 4th, 2018, 5:29
Spildit wrote:You can try to plug just the PCB to your system and check if MHDD displays diferent data. Also you can try with a known good Toshiba drive (PCB only).
February 4th, 2018, 5:36
maximus wrote:Now that you have MHDD figured out, it shows the drive is staying in the busy state. Time to work with the terminal, for which I am no help at all, so that will be all @spildit.
HDDSuperClone won't help you at all until you get the drive responding normally. If you would not have been able to get MHDD to work, I was going to offer help on how to use HDDSuperTool to get the status registers, but you figured out MHDD.
February 4th, 2018, 8:26
Spildit wrote:Ok, your posts were added later on when i did already published mine.
Time for terminal.
Here get one of those - http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=192 and connect it to the drive like this : - http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=751
With something like HyperTerminal or putty try to press enter and check if you can see a ">" prompts. If so the drive should "leave" the BSY state and should allow you to use ATA commands. You would then need to issue the "Super On" by ATA and the command to regenerate the G-List secto and teh S.M.A.R.T. sector assuming you don't have a way to "bypass" the G-List and calculate the "translator" outside of the drive matching LBA to PBA yourself accouting with the P-List shifts.
February 4th, 2018, 20:18
Spildit wrote:Ok, your posts were added later on when i did already published mine.
Time for terminal.
Here get one of those - http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=192 and connect it to the drive like this : - http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=751
With something like HyperTerminal or putty try to press enter and check if you can see a ">" prompts. If so the drive should "leave" the BSY state and should allow you to use ATA commands. You would then need to issue the "Super On" by ATA and the command to regenerate the G-List secto and teh S.M.A.R.T. sector assuming you don't have a way to "bypass" the G-List and calculate the "translator" outside of the drive matching LBA to PBA yourself accouting with the P-List shifts.
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