LACIE LITTLE DISK 500GB (SAMSUNG HM500): ERASED (OR NOT?)

[nemo79blu]

Hi there,
I'm new to the forum, and I wrote for a problem I'm experiencing wih my external drive Lacie Littledisk500.
One morning I plug my hard disk to the pc and.. surprise: no data can be found. Furthermore, windows xp saw the drive but can't assign it a drive letter. It seems like all the MBR has been deleted. I found a fault on the USB cable. I renewed the cable (cablings for electronic market is my job) to avoid further problems and now I need a way to recover all my data inside the disk (most of all, my last 6 years pictures...). The hard disk mounted inside is a SAMSUNG HM500. When I try to recover the data using PC INSPECTOR FILE RECOVERY, after some minutes the softwares gives an error and it is not possible to go ahead. The same happens with other recovery software (like stellar phoneix windows data recovery). I don't know if there are some sectors damaged... Does exists a software wich allow a full scan of the surface of the disk and can recover the files?
Thansk in advance for your support.

[loki]

is this your drive?
http://www.amazon.com/LaCie-Little-Port ... B001CHFZ14

If so it mentions

" Included with the Little Disk are LaCie software bundles to enhance its performance and functionality. LaCieSync: Synchronization and Encryption Software allows you to transport your important data with you safely. Just plug the Mobile Disk into any PC to access and modify your files or emails, and the software will sync your updated changes back to your office or home computer. And for added security, your data is protected by 128-bit encryption (Windows only). The drive also includes LaCie's 1-Click Backup Software (for Mac and PC) and SilverKeeper Backup Software (Mac)."

did you use the encryption software?

[Vulcan]

@nemo79blu:

It seems like all the MBR has been deleted.

How do you know that, or was it a guess?

If you have already examined the MBR in a hex editor, please supply either the binary contents of the MBR, or a screenshot of the MBR viewed in a hex editor.

@loki:

Interesting idea...

[nemo79blu]

@vulcan
it was a guess "It seems like all the MBR has been deleted". I mean that no one deleted intentionally the data, the day before I worked as usual on my pictures and the day afetr, when I riconnected the disk, it said that the unit has not been formatted...

[Vulcan]

OK, thanks for explaining.

Based on this info, and your description of the problems trying to do any recovery directly from the disk even with a new USB cable, it seems very likely that you have got hardware problems with the disk.

Now you have to think whether you want to take the risks of DIY recovery - you could change a recoverable situation into a totally unrecoverable one (or at least much more expensive) by your actions, so you have to decide whether to take the (many different types of) risk of attempting DIY recovery.

If you are accepting the risks, and the data is not very valuable to you so that you decide not to use a DR company, the typical next steps of DIY would be to remove the disk from that enclosure (which also eliminates the enclosure as the cause of the I/O problems, but it may lose your warranty), and try to clone it onto another disk (same size or larger) using suitable software (search for the many previous discussions here about cloning, for examples of such software). However as I said, depending on the actual problem with the disk, your DIY attempts might cause further damage. You should also be careful to take good ESD (anti-static) precautions when handling the drive.

[northwind]

That could have been caused by a lot of things, not only MBR corruption/deletion/modification.

[Vulcan]

@northwind,

Agreed Now we have been told that MBR changes was just a guess by the OP, then the difficulties with initial recovery attempts make sense, as pointing to a different type of problem

[nemo79blu]

@Vulcan
Ok, DIY solution is the only way I have (not enogh money for professional solutions...)
I'll start from the first step:
connect the HDD to a new hardware enclosure and try to clone it on a new one. It will take some days to be implemented (I'm very busy in thie days...)
Thanks to all.
I'll keep you updated

[nemo79blu]

Ok guys,
tried to connect the hard disk to a brand new external box: it crashes explorer service every time I try to connect it to the PC!!!!
Do I have to begin to look for and HDD with same model number, in order to try to change the onboard PCB?

[pcimage]

Ok guys,
tried to connect the hard disk to a brand new external box: it crashes explorer service every time I try to connect it to the PC!!!!
Do I have to begin to look for and HDD with same model number, in order to try to change the onboard PCB?

If the drive is recognised by device manager and will do a partial scan and stop (as I understand is happening) then PCB is NOT your problem.

Sounds more like media issues (bad sectors) or possibly a bad head. The former may be DIYable by cloning the drive with non-windows sector cloning sw and then data extraction, but the latter is not DIY.

Good luck.

[BlackST]

Ok guys,
tried to connect the hard disk to a brand new external box: it crashes explorer service every time I try to connect it to the PC!!!!
Do I have to begin to look for and HDD with same model number, in order to try to change the onboard PCB?

Il problema conoscendo il disco (HM500) e' quasi sicuramente da un'altra parte. Buona fortuna per il fai-da-te.

The problem, knowing the HM500, is likely to be somewhere else. Good luck on DIY.

[nemo79blu]

Il problema conoscendo il disco (HM500) e' quasi sicuramente da un'altra parte. Buona fortuna per il fai-da-te.

The problem, knowing the HM500, is likely to be somewhere else. Good luck on DIY.

@BlackST
OK, quando dici "da un'altra parte" secondo te dov'è? Sai consigliarmi una via migliore per procedere al recupero?
Grazie

OK, when you say "elsewhere" where do you think? Can you recommend a better way to recover?
thanks

[BlackST]

Niente che tu possa fare in totale sicurezza senza strumenti. Se proprio vuoi fare da solo / i dati non sono importanti devi arrangiarti con quello che trovi, con tutti i rischi del caso. Per strumenti si intendono strumenti professionali.

Nothing you can do safely without tools. If you really want to cross the DIY road / data is unimportant, must do it with what you can find, assuming all risks. With "tools" it is intended professional tools.

[nemo79blu]

@blackST
Ok, ma il problema dell'HDD secondo te quindi quale potrebbe essere?
Ok, but which problem do you think the HDD could have?

[SbriXio]

Hello everybody, that's my very first post.
I am here trying to help nemo79blu, but so much time elapsed since this problem occurred, and anybody else experienced the same problem, very similar to mine.
My external 500GB TrekStor Datastore USB drive I used to record 150+ TV movies one bad day does not shows any record in it. Connected to a PC, both Windows and Linux, shows an USB-to-SATA interface correctly mounted but no drive added to devices. I opened the external case and I found a SAMSUNG HM500JI (M7S2 family) inside. So I decided to connect it directly on PC SATA and... the PC stopped to boot at early BIOS POST asking me a password. A PASSWORD ? Who put my drive in such a status ? I never found (and probably I will never find) the answer, but googling a lot and reading Spildit exceptional forum threads I finally unlocked successfully it ! All the professional tools to do that cost a buck and they do not justify data recovery for a hundred of movies on a cheaper HDD. Free version of them reads only, won't dump SA modules and cannot write back them, making them quite useless. Sometimes (SHT2.2.1 FREE) even certain module readings through SATA are affected by errors. But [S_U].zrx script by Moltke Link: http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=113&t=1815 allowed me to made the miracle.
I did not run it on freshly installed ZOC connected to the 57600 8N1 serial port immediately: I was too much afraid. And, since the script was in encrypoted format (why you did that, Moltke ?), I decrypted it by a simple console program in C after an hour of hacking analysis. I studied M7S2 SAMSUNG serial commands and when I understood them all in deep I replicated them une by one by hand, obtaining the password unlocking without data loss !
If anybody still follows this thread and was interested in password unlock (not in password recovering, maybe in near future) on SAMSUNG M7S2 disk family (but practically speaking all non SED (Self-Encryption-Disk) SAMSUNG disks manufactured after 2010) please contact me in PM and I will give him more detailed info. No cracked SW, everything is absolutely legal (just a serial terminal, old WinXP Hyperterminal is good enough).
I am sorry if I cannot explain better the method I used, but I have unlocked it just this night and I need some time to write documentation for the community to attach in this thread and also for me (to make some brain reordering in many notes onto various penkeys and folders).
Waiting for any request you may have !

[fzabkar]

@SbriXio, thanks for your input. We love tutorials! Yours would be most welcome.

[SbriXio]

Hello Master Spildit & fzabkar and many many thanks for your work that tutorialized me about present time HDD state-of-the art HW / SW. My first HD was a 5MB Seagate ST506 (really !), tens of years ago...
As Spildit said, yes it's an easy task, for who knows exactly what is doing. Maybe easier using a PC3K or SeDiv for professionals. A-FF dead one year ago, other demos missed functionalities required. So I need to find another route. Finally the (buggy) SHT 2.2.1 FREE shown me the way and [S_U] ZOC script made me to solve it . I repaired anything in my life, but that's the first time I had to deal with HDD passwords, and, more than likely, activated by some power drop while USB hot plugging / unplugging to HDTV setbox decoder.
Yes, yes, I know that should never be done, but it happened ... believe me or not.
Note that connecting it through USB-to-SATA converter (i.e. the original enclosure) under Linux it shown me a 500G unformatted device. Under WinXP, EaseUs Data Recovery swept the disk for hours replying that there were no data to recover. So: the USB-to-SATA converter was masking internal password locked drive request. Most people does not even take a screwdriver to open the case and to connect SATA interface directly (when possible... sometimes wires have to be soldered ad-hoc). So I thought it's the case of nemo79blu, and maybe some other.

Do you think I can publish my ZOC script decryptor (source code and/or even commandline execuatble) or I will violate some forum rule ? Googling around I have not found anything like that, even if ZOC itself confesses its encryption is very weak.
Please gimme just a week to prepare an [S_U] rationale that explains Samsung HDD serial commands used to heal the lockout.

[fzabkar]

Do you think I can publish my ZOC script decryptor (source code and/or even commandline execuatble) or I will violate some forum rule ? Googling around I have not found anything like that, even if ZOC itself confesses its encryption is very weak.
Please gimme just a week to prepare an [S_U] rationale that explains Samsung HDD serial commands used to heal the lockout.

I wrote a REXX/ZOC script decryptor 2 years ago. Out of deference to Moltke, I did not make it available to everyone. If Moltke allows, I will publish it. Check your PM.