HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM

[gaucho]

I have a HP USB hard disk
On Microsoft Windows it shows virtual CD (1MB size) and a hard disk.
I need to remove the virtual CD (or to make it a secondary disk) because
i have a TV media player with USB port that reads only the first external
drive, and the media player finds only the virtual CD-ROM, cause it's the first detected drive!)


I opened the case and found:
1)A SATA-USB adapter
2)A SATA western digital hard disk (320GB) model WD3200BEVT

Connecting the disk direcly to a desktop pc, using the sata connector, i can format and use the hard disk.

The SATA-USB adapter has these main components on it:
1)INIC-1607E (INITIO chip) (SATA to USB Bridge Controller IC with AES)( http://www.si-tech.co.jp/eng/v-ini.php )

2)oscillator (for clock)

3)flash memory (1Mbit) model “25X10avnig” by winbond

Since the flash is only 1Mbit size, i assume that virtual CD (1MByte) resides on Hard disk,
BUT i made the following operation:

1)I removed the hard drive, installed on a desktop pc, deleted partition (only one was present) and formatted with FAT32.
2)I connected again the Hard Disk in the HP usb adapter
Now i can see (with Windows) only a CD-ROM drive (1MB size)!!!
If i open "hard disk management tool", windows tells me that the external hard drive has no partition!
Then i can format the disk from "hard disk management tool" and let it work again (but the virtual CD problem is still there!).

Here some questions for you:

1) Any ides for my problem?


2) If i will disconnect the 1Mbit flash (the data or clock pin on the PCB), will the INIC chip work as interface between me and the hard disk or do it needs to read the external flash?
what is stored on the external flash? just a personalization code o the entire operative system?

3) i requested the complete datasheet to initio, but they still didn't answer. If they will answer i will ask them some flashing tool.
Do you have any datasheet or flash tool for this INITIO chip ?
I know it is the same chip installed on some Western Digital hard disks.

Thank you all for your support,
This is my first post on this comunity, hope to became guru soon.
Gaucho.

[fzabkar]

The INIC-1607E bridge IC encrypts the data whether or not you have set a password. When you connect your HD directly to your motherboard, Windows sees the encrypted data and therefore is unable to recognise any partition. If you now reinitialise and reformat the drive, and then reinstall it in your enclosure, the Initio chip decrypts the unencrypted data, resulting in jibberish.

It appears that the ROM code in the Initio chip, or its external flash memory, enables the virtual CD-ROM. Lifting the clock pin would be informative. Some simple USB-SATA bridges only use the external EEPROM for customising the Product ID and Vendor ID of the device. In the absence of such an EEPROM, these chips report their own manufacturer's ID.

AIUI, multifunction USB devices will enumerate themselves by going through the identification process several times in quick succession. Perhaps the external EEPROM code (?) controls this behaviour.

W25X10A, W25X10AVNIG, Winbond, 3.3V, 1M-bit serial flash memory, SPI:
http://www.winbond.com.tw/NR/rdonlyres/ ... 25X80A.pdf
http://www.datasheetarchive.com/pdf/get ... pdf&scan=n

[gaucho]

ok, i will try to disconnect the clock pin, but i found this article
http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/passport-vcd.html
that points to this HP tool
http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197

What do you think if i try to use this tool?
Thank you.
Gaucho.

[fzabkar]

I now remember that there are many reports of external HDs being recognised as "Initio Combo Device Class - Initio Default Controller". I suspect this may occur when the Initio chip's flash memory is corrupt.

Here is one such thread:
http://community.wdc.com/t5/My-Passport ... /m-p/34719

The Vendor and Product IDs reported by the chip in that case were 0x13FD and 0x1618, respectively. This would suggest that the chip was an Initio INIC-1618 which is a "SATA to USB Bridge Controller IC with Mask ROM".

[DR-Kiev]

This virtual CD loader locates at the end of your drive (1372208 sectors from the end) and it's used for HW decrypting your data (inic 1607E uses it).

Don't delete it directly from the drive.

When you connect USB drive to PC you should get 2 partitions. First: user and this virtual CD.

[Steve]

There is software that is on the drive that allows you to
disable the virtual cd . read the docs

[gaucho]

There is software that is on the drive that allows you to
disable the virtual cd . read the docs

in the link on my previous post i read that if you disable the V-CD on a computer and then connect the hard disk to another computer, the V-CD comes out again, then this don't solve my problem.

I added on the first post the following information: my HP product model is sd320a p/n HPBAAC3200ABK-00
the code on the pcb of the adapter is SS25-09031-23 (JUST TO HELP GOOGLERS TO FIND THIS 3AD!!)

[gaucho]

I CANNOT EDIT POSTS!
AND GESTAPO CHECK MY UPLOAD LINKS!
WHAT IS THIS?

[drc]

I CANNOT EDIT POSTS!
AND GESTAPO CHECK MY UPLOAD LINKS!
WHAT IS THIS?

[gaucho]

Spartan FORUM..

ANYWAY,
waiting that my last post is approved by some unlucky guy, i tried the HP tool mentioned in my previous post and the result is that it formats the disk, but the V-CD named "HP Launcher" is still there.

[Steve]

Try virtual cd manager.exe

[gaucho]

Try virtual cd manager.exe

talking about http://download.cnet.com/Virtual-CD-Manager/3000-2242_4-10557452.html?tag=contentMain;overviewHead ? it seems to me that this tool has another purpose.

[drc]

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/wdsmartwareupdate/

Click whichever one you have, then click the utilities button on the right side and you can d/l a software to disable the VCD partition.

[fzabkar]

I found this article
http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/passport-vcd.html
that points to this HP tool
http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197

That tool creates a bootable pen drive. I don't see how it can be of any use to you.

[fzabkar]

This virtual CD loader locates at the end of your drive (1372208 sectors from the end) and it's used for HW decrypting your data (inic 1607E uses it).

Don't delete it directly from the drive.

When you connect USB drive to PC you should get 2 partitions. First: user and this virtual CD.

The OP is saying that the VCD has a size of only 1MB. You appear to be referring to WD's Smartware which occupies several hundred megabytes. :?

1372208 sectors x 512 bytes/sector = 703 MB

[gaucho]

there was a post waiting for moderation, please, read back to my post with pictures.
moderation sometimes is dangerous in discussions..

[gaucho]

w w w . w d c . c o m / w d p r o d u c t s / w d s m a r t w a r e u p d a t e /

Click whichever one you have, then click the utilities button on the right side and you can d/l a software to disable the VCD partition.

even if my product is HP, i tried the tool from WD named "Apollo 1607E Firmware Updater v2.018-v2.019 (1.0.8.6).exe" but it doesn't recognize my external drive.

[fzabkar]

AIUI, the virtual CD should contain SimpleSave backup software, in which case a size of 1MB seems much too small. Did Windows always show a size of 1MB, or was this the result of repartitioning and formatting when the drive was directly connected via its SATA interface? Which files are on the VCD now?

If you now once again connect the drive to a SATA port, are the data encrypted, ie can Windows see your partition?

My understanding of the VCD is that it is enabled by program code in the INIC chip's external flash memory. To disable the VCD, WD offers a firmware update which appears to target this flash chip rather than to the drive itself. In fact the name of the update file refers to Apollo-1607E, which is probably the code name for the bridge chip.

[Steve]

ok, i will try to disconnect the clock pin, but i found this article
http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/passport-vcd.html
that points to this HP tool
http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197

What do you think if i try to use this tool?
Thank you.
Gaucho.

Follow the directions that you found there . don't worry about
updating firmware, and don't worry about the usb adapter.
The usb adapter works with any sata 2-1/2 drive (even non wd)
And the drive is a standard sata drive that happens to have a
hidden partition.



And Frank, sometimes you make things appear harder than they are.

[drc]

Did you try this software from the utilities page like I suggested?

http://download.wdc.com/smartware/WDSma ... .0.8.3.zip