Data recovery and disk repair questions and discussions related to old-fashioned SATA, SAS, SCSI, IDE, MFM hard drives - any type of storage device that has moving parts
February 5th, 2012, 0:43
The PCB is shot on this drive due to corrosion. But I have a donor PCB...
Original: Model #: WD4000AAKS - 00TMA0; donor is exact same.
Original DCM: HARCNV2AA; donor DCM: HARCNV2CA
When I swap the PCB I can see many of the files but they are corrupted if I try to read them. Would this be due to having the wrong head map?
I tried using OnTrack Recovery, but it is EXTREMELY slow at trying to recover the files. I suspect it isn't really working.
Can anyone help me on what I can do to try to recover the files myself?
Thanks- Sven77
February 5th, 2012, 18:16
Are you saying that your drive was damaged by a water spill?
What are the symptoms of the original board?
Could we see a photo of the damage?
February 9th, 2012, 0:05
Thank you for your response!
The drive was in a USB enclosure and was exposed to about 1/2 to 1 inch of water for about 20 minutes. It was not powered on at the time. It was left to dry for about six months. After which time I tried using it and nothing... So I opened it up and removed the drive to find that the foam that goes between the PCB and the drive must have acted like a sponge and caused some fairly serious corrosion. I found three pins on the "SMOOTH" chip that were corroded so bad that contact with the PCB was lost. I managed to fix those connections. However I still get nothing. I don't see any other physical electrical problems on the board. When I connect it directly to the SATA and power in a computer, the BIOS does not recognize that a drive is connected; nor does it spin at all.
So I tried swapping the PCB from another drive that was purchased at the same time. Hence the identical model number and very similar DCM code. However the data seems to be kind of scrambled. Is that likely due to a mismatch of the head map? If so is there a way to read the firmware, modify the head map, then write the modified fimware back to it? Without having to purchase software, preferably.
Thank you,
Sven77
February 9th, 2012, 5:36
Can anyone help me on what I can do to try to recover the files myself?
yes mate, you need to buy pc3000 or salvation data to edit heads map (if you think this is the problem now).
February 9th, 2012, 12:12
Does it sound like a head map problem? The fact that the directory structure is partially there...
Is there any free method? I've seen that the firmware can be read using free software, but so far no-one has produced a way to write the modified firmware to the drive without paying $50 or $80?
February 9th, 2012, 15:52
I wasn't sure whether you were describing the oxidisation that is typical of recent WD models (due to materials changes mandated by RoHS). Obviously that is not the case ...
That said, I wouldn't have attempted to spin up your drive in that state. But if you don't wish to pay for professional services, then you would need to transfer your original board's adaptive data to your replacement PCB. AIUI, your board does not have an external flash memory IC at location U12, in which case the data are internal to the Marvell MCU.
Therefore, the easiest DIY approach requires that you read certain firmware modules from the drive's System Area (SA) on the platters, and then use these data to reconstruct and reprogram the "ROM" on your replacement PCB. A tool such as WDR-UDMA (US$150) has a single-click solution for this problem.
The trouble with free software is that it requires access to WD's internal documentation. Commercial data recovery software makes use of a 300-page VSC Command Set and Protocol specification that has made it into the wild. If we had access to this same document, then many expensive solutions would be reduced to simple, no-cost DIY procedures. For example, I know how to read and write the MODs and tracks in the SA using the original PCB, and I know how to read the PCB "ROM", but I haven't been able to attempt this with a non-native PCB. I believe I also know how to manually rebuild the ROM image from the relevant SA firmware MODs.
In your case, if you can see the directory structure, then you must have access to the SA. This means that we could at least retrieve the relevant MODs. Would you like to try this?
February 10th, 2012, 11:25
Hi fzabkar,
You seem to be very active and helpful with this stuff! Thank you! From what I've read from your other posts is that even if I retrieve the MODS from the platters which may enable me to re-create the firmware ROM, I still would have no way to write that ROM (firmware) back to the Marvell MCU. Right? So at this point I'd still hit a dead end, right?
February 10th, 2012, 12:36
Sven,
You have three choices, as I see it.
1. Send to a data recovery pro who has the tools and knowledge to recover your data. This could cost beween $300 - $1000, assuming not a head issue too. But, you would only pay if the lab is able to recover your data. If they cannot, you definitely will not be able to either.
2. Buy the necessary tools and gain the knowledge to recover your own data. $1000 - $10,000, depending on the tools you choose. The cheaper tools will be more difficult to use and you will not get the same level of support that comes with the more expensive tools. So, the cheaper tools will take you a lot longer to learn how to do what you need done, assuming that the only issue is with the transplant of the ROM. The downfall is, you can spend the money, but there is no guarantee that you will succeed.
3. As your data is not even worth the value of a new drive, give up.
February 10th, 2012, 17:06
sven77 wrote:From what I've read from your other posts is that even if I retrieve the MODS from the platters which may enable me to re-create the firmware ROM, I still would have no way to write that ROM (firmware) back to the Marvell MCU. Right? So at this point I'd still hit a dead end, right?
If you obtain a copy of WD HD Pro or WDR-UDMA (US$150), then you should be able to repair your drive.
HDD Repair Tools- WDR:
http://hdd.chinahdd.cn/List.asp?C-1-9.html"The new upgrade for ROYL drives; it can allow you to regenerate the corrupted ROM information. (Details of the HDD repair tools refer to the User Manual)."
As for writing the ROM back to the MCU using freeware, I have an idea how to do it, but I wouldn't like to risk it unless you were prepared to lose a board. However, at the very least, you would have a backup of your drive's resources, in which case you may be able to find a PCB supplier who could program a replacement board for you.
BTW, I guessed at the format of the VSC for
writing SA MODs and I was successful on that occasion.
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