OCZ Vertex 4 128gb UART Recovery method?

[acecomputers]

So here we go...

We have a 128gb OCZ Vertex 4 SSD that fails to recognise in bios (using AHCI / IDE SATA mode) - When stripped out the PCB displays a green LED when SATA power is plugged in so it would appear to be getting power - has also been tested with multiple power units.

What we need to achieve is to recover the data (yes we know this might be difficult) and we have arrived at the point of attempting data recovery through the UART interface.

Does anyone know if this is possible and if so is there any software that can be recommended? Is there particular UART code required to interface with the Indilinx controller?

The unit uses an Indilinx controller - believed to be the Everest 2 - IDX400M00-BC

Any suggestions for data recovery would be welcomed and if anyone has a schematic of the pcb for the vertex 4 128gb that would also be appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

Attachments

[lcoughey]

How much are you willing to invest into this recovery? I'm not sure that PC3K Flash supports this exact controller, but they do support IDLininx controllers and OCZ Vertex SSD. But, for full SSD support with PC3K Flash, you need PC3K UDMA, as well. If you have both of these, you are on the right track. If not, you can expect to invest at least $10,000 for the two, plus the cost of training and time to learn how to use these tools...then hope that you can figure out how to recover the data.

The other option is to send the drive to a professional data recovery lab that already has the tools and expertise to recover data from these drives. It should cost you less, be faster and have greater odds. The other bonus is, if the lab can't get it, they generally don't charge for the attempt.

[digitalferret]

Outsource rather than risk damaging further?

This may possibly need chips off, NAND reader specialist software and experience.

Have a poke around flash-extractor dot com for a look see.
or maybe waits for hddguy/HaQue or the like on here.

Kern


Edit: poke http://flash-extractor.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3669

[DR-Kiev]

Pc3k SSD edition supports only first Indilinx controller (Barefoot).
3nd generation of Indilinx (Everest 2) - same chip Marvell 88SS9187 - doesn't support by pc3k so far (soon, hope it will ).
And there is still no way to work with it using SC reader and unsoldering nands due the data is XORed with adaptive pattern.
Correct me if i'm wrong.

[fzabkar]

I can show you the voltage test points for the onboard power supplies. Do you know how to use a multimeter?

[fzabkar]

If you wish to proceed with the voltage checks, measure the voltages across each of the capacitors identified in the attached images, and measure the voltages between each coil/inductor and ground.

RT9991, Richtek, 3-channel Power Management IC + voltage detector:
http://www1.futureelectronics.com/doc/R ... 991GQV.pdf

Attachments

OCZ_VERTEX_4_U13.jpg (98.9 KiB) Viewed 28420 times

[fzabkar]

U13 = SC283
U2 = G781

G781, Global Mixed-mode Technology Inc., ±1°C Remote and Local Temperature Sensor with SMBus Serial Interface:
http://www.gmt.com.tw/product/datasheet/EDS-781.pdf

SC283, Semtech, dual channel 1.8A synchronous step-down regulator:
http://www.semtech.com/images/datasheet/sc283.pdf

[HaQue]

it would be interestin to see the terminal output.. but remember...CUSTOMERS DATA.. dont experiment!

send to a pro.

[craig6928]

it would be interestin to see the terminal output.. but remember...CUSTOMERS DATA.. dont experiment!

send to a pro.

ssd.jpg

those are test ports and programming

[HaQue]

obviously J5 is serial port, UART or whatever you want to call it, but what is J3? Do you know how to use it and what port it is?

[arvika]

obviously J5 is serial port, UART or whatever you want to call it, but what is J3? Do you know how to use it and what port it is?

As you can see on photo - probably interface to manage ROM or something.

[bubaleh]

J3 is the jumper, if you short it, the drive will not load and run main firmware. It will continue work controlled by microcode in ROM.
There are two ways:
1. Find datarecovery company that guaranteed can recover data. I mean that already has successfull cases. (Just assuming somebody can recover drives like this one)
2. Wait for ACE will add this drive to support.
As DR-Kiev sad, there is a XOR with adaptive pattern is used. So there is no way to recover data if you dont know how this pattern works.
Dont unsolder the nand chips!

Last edited by bubaleh on August 1st, 2013, 4:30, edited 1 time in total.

[HaQue]

Many thanks for that explanation bubaleh.

does this mean that going by the PCB printing, 1-2 loads ROM and 2-3 loads FW?

I might have to get one of these to play with.

XOR with Adaptive pattern sounds scary

[dobrevjetser]

XOR with Adaptive pattern sounds scary

It is ...

[acecomputers]

Thanks to everyone!

The customer data is mostly backed up but they are missing a few months worth of info and this is mostly an exercise to see if we can identify the problem and rectify or recover cheaply, which sort of rules out specialist recovery - I doubt that they are willing to spend over £100 to be honest but as a challenge it is worth looking at!?

We will now attempt testing of the components to see if we can identify problems there - thanks particularly to fzabkar for all links posted and digital ferret for your contact suggestion.

This is by no means over yet so any more info and suggestions would be welcomed.

By the way HaQue - I might have one of these to play with for you soon!

[fzabkar]

obviously J5 is serial port, UART or whatever you want to call it, but what is J3?

http://flash-extractor.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3669

"... you can test by shorting the firmware jumper near the SATA connector, the drive should ID as YATADONG BAREFOOT."

[hddguy]

the drive should ID as YATADONG BAREFOOT

this is not Barefoot series

[lcoughey]

Thanks to everyone!

The customer data is mostly backed up but they are missing a few months worth of info and this is mostly an exercise to see if we can identify the problem and rectify or recover cheaply, which sort of rules out specialist recovery - I doubt that they are willing to spend over £100 to be honest but as a challenge it is worth looking at!?

We will now attempt testing of the components to see if we can identify problems there - thanks particularly to fzabkar for all links posted and digital ferret for your contact suggestion.

This is by no means over yet so any more info and suggestions would be welcomed.

By the way HaQue - I might have one of these to play with for you soon!

So, what is your time worth? Would it not be better spent on something that will get you paid? Of course, you are assuming the value for your client, rather than simply asking. What happens if you play around and make it worse and then find out that it is worth thousands of dollars?

[acecomputers]

So, what is your time worth? Would it not be better spent on something that will get you paid? Of course, you are assuming the value for your client, rather than simply asking. What happens if you play around and make it worse and then find out that it is worth thousands of dollars?

_________________
Luke
Recovery Force Inc

HI Luke

Our time value is not the issue here really - the client know they messed up and are prepared to take the risk - it is more for us to see if it is possible to recover locally!

We don't like to be beaten and this is an area that we are looking at as another revenue stream?

Just for arguments sake if you could do it what would you charge??

[digitalferret]

@hddguy, acknowledged, wrong generation.
The post is 2yo.
Apologies to all, my bad, It was mainly a link to introduce acecomputers to FE forum and possibly jeremyb posts if they hadn't already found them.

Kern