I am completely confused on this one, I think PC3000 has a bug - but after speaking with their technical support (Maxim) I am no closer to a solution.

A client came in with a single platter 2 head Hubble (WD Passport HDD).
This hard drive presented with a mechanical failure.

The heads were replaced by donor obtained from credible website.
PCB was changed to SATA and ROM was written (an actual transfer not a read and write).

Model : WDC WD5000LMVW-11CKRS0
Firmware : 01.01A01
Capacity : 500 GB (976 773 168)

MOD 02 shows this drive as SED type.

Using PC3000 I performed typical block SA (shift) and upload SA DIR and Loader to gain access to SA.
PC3000 only shows Copy 0 available (H0), Copy 1 not accessible.
Head tests confirm that H1 is not working.

Ok, so with H0 functional I should be able to get 50% of the data on the HDD read by building HM as this is a 2 platter model.
A backup of all modules are made (no errors besides 6F which can be ignored), SED is removed (Edit HDD ID), a slow fix is applied. I write MOD02 by ABA Copy 0.

I then change SA regions to both point to Copy 0 and power cycle HDD.
Last I change HM on the HDD from 0>1 to 0>0 to ensure only one SA is being addressed.

Drive becomes ready and then will ID properly in PC3000, I can also browse NTFS structure (not encrypted) on H0 - however PC3000 still reports the HDD is SED locked.
No access to SA (at all). I then repeat the process but this time I read MOD02 using Module Directory. I write "101010" in MOD02 and write to HDD via ABA Copy 0. PC3000 says the module was written OK.
Then I refresh MOD02 and see the changes I made are gone, the "101010" is not present. So, PC3000 is not writing module.

I again repeat the process, this time I use terminal. Same result.

I contacted ACE Labs who state the problem is with H0 not being able to write.

I question this as a heads test shows no write errors, and I can write using H0 to NTFS (client data area) - I tested with the same "101010" in a few sectors R/W by H0.

Am I crazy? To me, PC3000 simply is not writing the module. I could also legitimately have a drive that will not write to SA due to damaged heads, but in 13 years doing DR I've never encountered that.

it seems head 0 is not writing well or SA has issues, since Head 1 is already gone, solution would be to remove SED lock in RAM !

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Data Recovery Pakistan

I would recommend replacing the heads again.
Hubble/LT, Firebird/LT and Shrek/LT are PITA and always has surprises.

Hello,
Could You Try This First ,Please open the patient and take out the heads ,Inspect them under a microscope , do you find metal debris ? . If yes your lower head 0 platter is scratched .IF no shift heads back to donor and run donor ,Does donor run fine ,If yes your heads are not compatiable .I was trying to Help frank from gefund IT in germany long time back and demonstrating a technique to him ,we had the same issue and we solved it in a little different way ,Before you try this can you gimme access to your pc with PC3k might be i can have a peek please ,Please pm me here with details

_________________
Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com

Yes, I missed it.

_________________
Data Recovery Pakistan

+1

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

Hi ,
I am frank had the same issue ,The sed would not go ,but we were able to access all sectors that to properly i mean without any encryption ,So frank just cloned the hdd without the headmap

_________________
Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com

welcome frank

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

Hello,
Apologies ,It was a typo i meant Me and Frank from gefund IT Germany

_________________
Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com