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gaucho
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 11th, 2011, 11:31 
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may be i found something new:

-i connected the disk directly to PC

-i zeroized sectors 625137672 and 625141759.

-i connected the disk with the adapter and it still works well.

-i connected the disk directly to PC

I FOUND THAT SECTOR 625137672 HAS BEEN REWRITED COMPLETELY BY THE ADAPTER!
THAT SECTOR IS ESACTLY AS IT WAS BEFORE.

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fzabkar
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 11th, 2011, 16:25 
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gaucho wrote:
-i connected the disk directly to PC

-i zeroized sectors 625137672 and 625141759.

-i connected the disk with the adapter and it still works well.

-i connected the disk directly to PC

I FOUND THAT SECTOR 625137672 HAS BEEN REWRITED COMPLETELY BY THE ADAPTER!
THAT SECTOR IS ESACTLY AS IT WAS BEFORE.

That is interesting.

I notice that the header information includes these bytes: 25 2D F8 00

Now 0x252DF800 = 623769600, so it appears that the header is identifying the starting sector of the VCD.

http://www.google.com/search?q=0x252DF800+in+decimal

BTW, when connected via the bridge, what is the drive's reported size? Is it 625141760 sectors? If so, then this would suggest that the Initio bridge reserves at least 688 sectors for itself, regardless of whether a VCD data area exists.

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fzabkar
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 11th, 2011, 16:34 
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gaucho wrote:
question: one sector (625137672) begins with WD, the other one (625141759) with NTFS. what does it means? why it is placed at the end of the hard disk?

Your NTFS partition begins at sector 63. That is its boot sector. The last sector of the partition is a backup copy.

The NTFS Boot Record: Boot Sector:
http://mirror.href.com/thestarman/asm/mbr/NTFSBR.htm

BTW, I'm a little confused about your results, ie I can't tell which sectors were written or read via the bridge or via SATA. If you write zeros to sector 1 via the bridge and then read this sector via SATA, do you still see zeros, or do you see encrypted data?

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fzabkar
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 12th, 2011, 2:20 
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Another idea that occurred to me is to view the backup copy of the VCD sectors with a utility such as IsoBuster. You may need to rename the image with a .ISO extension. If you can see your files, then try burning the ISO to a CD. Check whether the CD file system can be mounted.

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fzabkar
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 12th, 2011, 2:46 
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On closer examination of sector 625137672, it appears that the header is identifying the starting sector of the VCD as 623769600 (= 0x252DF800), and its size as 1368064 sectors (= 0x14E000), ie 700448768 bytes.

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gaucho
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 12th, 2011, 5:23 
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fzabkar wrote:
I notice that the header information includes these bytes: 25 2D F8 00

Now 0x252DF800 = 623769600, so it appears that the header is identifying the starting sector of the VCD.

Very good Frank. This is an important information, even if i think i can't change this value (adapter overwrites sector)
fzabkar wrote:
BTW, when connected via the bridge, what is the drive's reported size? Is it 625141760 sectors? If so, then this would suggest that the Initio bridge reserves at least 688 sectors for itself, regardless of whether a VCD data area exists.

As i wrote in one of my previous post, the last sector visible from usb, is the sector 623769599.

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fzabkar
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 12th, 2011, 5:31 
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gaucho wrote:
fzabkar wrote:
BTW, when connected via the bridge, what is the drive's reported size? Is it 625141760 sectors? If so, then this would suggest that the Initio bridge reserves at least 688 sectors for itself, regardless of whether a VCD data area exists.

As i wrote in one of my previous post, the last sector visible from usb, is the sector 623769599.

Sorry, I just wanted to make sure that this had not changed after you wiped the VCD data area.

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gaucho
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 12th, 2011, 5:41 
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fzabkar wrote:
gaucho wrote:
question: one sector (625137672) begins with WD, the other one (625141759) with NTFS. what does it means? why it is placed at the end of the hard disk?

Your NTFS partition begins at sector 63. That is its boot sector. The last sector of the partition is a backup copy.

The NTFS Boot Record: Boot Sector:
http://mirror.href.com/thestarman/asm/mbr/NTFSBR.htm

BTW, I'm a little confused about your results, ie I can't tell which sectors were written or read via the bridge or via SATA. If you write zeros to sector 1 via the bridge and then read this sector via SATA, do you still see zeros, or do you see encrypted data?

now i don't have the disk with me, but i'm quite sure that the adapter writes the data encrypted.
I'm quite sure of it, because sector number 0 is in clear if readed with adapter, and it is encrypted if readed without adapter.

Instead, sectors starting from 623769600 (even if not visible with the adapter, or better, visible only as V-CD) are not crypted (infact i can read without adapter, the bytes contained in the files of the V-CD)

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gaucho
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 12th, 2011, 5:54 
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fzabkar wrote:
Another idea that occurred to me is to view the backup copy of the VCD sectors with a utility such as IsoBuster. You may need to rename the image with a .ISO extension. If you can see your files, then try burning the ISO to a CD. Check whether the CD file system can be mounted.

i saved a backup of sectors beginning from 623769600 to the end of the disk, and renamed to .iso
then i tried to open it with winrar, but it tells me that the image is corrupted.
i think i have to remove the first sector, or some of last sectors to let the image work.
In example i think that sector overwritted by adapter (sector 625137672 ) is not a part of the V-CD image.

I posted sectors 623769600-623769601-623769602 in one of my previous posts:

How is a CD-ROM first sector structured? how could i identify it? where can i find some literature on it? Which is the CD-ROM structure in bytes (like the link that you posted for NTFS filesystem sector zero) ?

I need this information to find the beginning of the V-CD image and the size.

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gaucho
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 12th, 2011, 6:07 
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fzabkar wrote:
On closer examination of sector 625137672, it appears that the header is identifying the starting sector of the VCD as 623769600 (= 0x252DF800), and its size as 1368064 sectors (= 0x14E000), ie 700448768 bytes.

ok, you solved my previous question:
the last CD-ROM sector must be sector number 625137664 ( 623769600 + 1368064 )
Monday i will try to create the .iso file and to open it with winrar.
but i'm still courious about the structure of a CD-ROM's first sector.

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gaucho
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 12th, 2011, 6:09 
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fzabkar wrote:
gaucho wrote:
fzabkar wrote:
BTW, when connected via the bridge, what is the drive's reported size? Is it 625141760 sectors? If so, then this would suggest that the Initio bridge reserves at least 688 sectors for itself, regardless of whether a VCD data area exists.

As i wrote in one of my previous post, the last sector visible from usb, is the sector 623769599.

Sorry, I just wanted to make sure that this had not changed after you wiped the VCD data area.

you're right, i must re-check. i'll let you know.

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fzabkar
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 12th, 2011, 17:54 
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gaucho wrote:
the last CD-ROM sector must be sector number 625137664 ( 623769600 + 1368064 )
Monday i will try to create the .iso file and to open it with winrar.
but i'm still courious about the structure of a CD-ROM's first sector.

The last sector is 625137663 (= 623769600 + 1368064 - 1).

I tried WinRar on some bootable Seagate ISOs (firmware updates), but it doesn't always see the entire file system. IsoBuster works well, though. The block size for CDs appears to be 2048 bytes (4 sectors). FWIW, Seagate's bootable ISOs have zeros in the first 64 sectors (0 - 63), and a volume label (?) in sector 64 (offset 0x8000).

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Doomer
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 12th, 2011, 18:28 
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gaucho wrote:
but i'm still courious about the structure of a CD-ROM's first sector.

as was said above that VCD has dual file system
It has Mac and Windows software on it
Mac CDs have Apple partition format at the beginning (letters ER etc.) and HFS+ file system
Windows ISO 9660 format does not use first 32768 bytes and it has CDFS file system
When you connect this WD drive to Mac, Mac OS will find ER and then PM and then H+ which is HFS+ volume header magic and then all the Mac files
When you connect this drive to Windows PC it will go to CDFS file system and then to all Windows files

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_9660
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchical_File_System
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HFS_Plus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_CD

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gaucho
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 14th, 2011, 5:32 
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i used winrar to open the CD image (backup of sectors as described in previous posts).
it opens normally.
anyway: nothing new: a can see files of V-CD. (it was just for educational scope)

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gaucho
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 16th, 2011, 10:40 
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I disconnected, on the adapter, pins 2 and 6 (Data Output and clock) from the flash memory 25X10avnig.
then i connected the adapter with the disk to PC and the compuer find a new device. The PC automatically looks for a driver on windows website and finds a device named "initio combo device class", and inside it i find a "initio default controller".
on MyComputer i can not find any V-CD neither any external hard disk.
here annexed it is a screenshot of "device manager" and a report obtained with USBview:
Code:
Device Descriptor:
bcdUSB:             0x0200
bDeviceClass:         0xFF
bDeviceSubClass:      0xFF
bDeviceProtocol:      0xFF
bMaxPacketSize0:      0x40 (64)
idVendor:           0x13FD
idProduct:          0x1617
bcdDevice:          0x0100
iManufacturer:        0x00
iProduct:             0x00
iSerialNumber:        0x00
bNumConfigurations:   0x01

ConnectionStatus: DeviceConnected
Current Config Value: 0x01
Device Bus Speed:     High
Device Address:       0x01
Open Pipes:              0

Configuration Descriptor:
wTotalLength:       0x0012
bNumInterfaces:       0x01
bConfigurationValue:  0x01
iConfiguration:       0x00
bmAttributes:         0xC0 (Bus Powered Self Powered )
MaxPower:             0x01 (2 Ma)

Interface Descriptor:
bInterfaceNumber:     0x00
bAlternateSetting:    0x00
bNumEndpoints:        0x00
bInterfaceClass:      0xFF
bInterfaceSubClass:   0xFF
bInterfaceProtocol:   0xFF
iInterface:           0x00


Attachments:
Immagine.JPG
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gaucho
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 16th, 2011, 11:30 
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now that flash is disconnected i tried the WD tool named "Apollo 1607E Firmware Updater v2.018-v2.019 (1.0.8.6).exe" but it crashes during firmware update process.
here is a screenshot before it crashes:


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Vulcan
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 16th, 2011, 11:33 
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gaucho wrote:
now that flash is disconnected i tried the WD tool named "Apollo 1607E Firmware Updater v2.018-v2.019 (1.0.8.6).exe" but it crashes during firmware update process.

I'm not surprised - it's almost certainly trying to update the firmware contained in the flash that you disconnected! :shock:
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fzabkar
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 16th, 2011, 18:43 
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Once again, that's very interesting information. As expected, the Initio bridge chip identifies its own manufacturer (idVendor: 0x13FD) and its own internal part number (idProduct: 0x1617).

You have confirmed that the flash memory contains code that enables the VCD, and that it contains WD's Vendor and Product IDs.

Does the "Apollo 1607E Firmware Updater" also hang when the bridge board is not plugged in, or does the program fail in some other way?

I would try wiring the data and clock pins to a DPST switch. Open the switch before powering on the bridge, and close it afterwards. This should simulate the case where a new bridge board with a blank EEPROM is being flashed for the first time. Hopefully the updater will be OK with this.

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gaucho
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 16th, 2011, 19:32 
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fzabkar wrote:
Once again, that's very interesting information. As expected, the Initio bridge chip identifies its own manufacturer (idVendor: 0x13FD) and its own internal part number (idProduct: 0x1617).

You have confirmed that the flash memory contains code that enables the VCD, and that it contains WD's Vendor and Product IDs.

Does the "Apollo 1607E Firmware Updater" also hang when the bridge board is not plugged in, or does the program fail in some other way?

the firmware updater allows to press the "Update firmware" button only if it detects compatible device.
If adapter is disconnected or recognized as HP device, the button "update firmware" can not be pressed.

fzabkar wrote:
I would try wiring the data and clock pins to a DPST switch. Open the switch before powering on the bridge, and close it afterwards. This should simulate the case where a new bridge board with a blank EEPROM is being flashed for the first time. Hopefully the updater will be OK with this.

Good suggestion Frank. I'll try it.

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fzabkar
 Post subject: Re: HP HD (WD disk with SATA-USB adapter) -remove virtual CD-ROM
PostPosted: February 19th, 2011, 0:50 
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I hesitate to suggest this but, instead of lifting the clock and data pins, it would be easier just to short one or the other to ground with tweezers. However, I'm not certain that this is safe to do. (If it were my drive, I would do it.)

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