Packard Bell USB drive - HPA delete in MHDD, how?

[Barbarina]

Hello, i've this 500GB Packard Bell USB hdd which has HPA activeted.
I need to disable HPA to have full capacity because i need to clone another drive into it.
WinHex doesn't let me to clone it of course due to the lower capacity on the destination drive (only 56 LBA smaller then source drive).

How can i disable HPA in MHDD without opening the case?
MHDD can't detect it if is connected via usb, it can only detect only if is connected via sata, but i do not want to open the case because it will avoid the warranty.

How can i do?

[Vulcan]

i've this 500GB Packard Bell USB hdd which has HPA activeted.

How do you know that this HDD has an HPA? Please explain the full history of this drive.

What is the real make/model of drive is inside the Packard Bell enclosure? (you don't need to open the enclosure to get this info, of course)

WinHex doesn't let me to clone it of course due to the lower capacity on the destination drive (only 56 LBA smaller then source drive).

Are you saying that you want this "Packard Bell" drive to be the destination drive for your cloning? Or is that drive the source drive?

MHDD can't detect it if is connected via usb, it can only detect only if is connected via sata, but i do not want to open the case because it will avoid the warranty.

It is not clear to me, how much of your comment is opinion (guess / idea) and how much is a result of your testing. For example, how do you know that this drive has a SATA connector anyway? MHDD can be used with USB drives, with some USB host controllers and special DOS drivers (although I don't recommend it) - so I don't know if you are saying that you tried to do this and failed, or if you didn't try but assume it won't work, or something else...

[Friedrich]

Interesting...

[Barbarina]

I don't know if inside it's a sata drive, i suppose it is.
I don't know how to discover which kind of drive is inside without opening the enclosure.
Maybe hd tune? I will try...

I suppose it has HPA on because it was connected to a HP motherboard and because has few sectors less then normal 500 GB hard drives.
Yes, i want to use this packard bel as destination for cloning...

If i will be able to make it detect in MHDD i will be sure if HPA is on, but i don't know where to find usb host controller and dos drives, can you help me?

[Vulcan]

I suppose it has HPA on because it was connected to a HP motherboard and because has few sectors less then normal 500 GB hard drives.

Therefore this whole thread so far, is based on your guess of there being an HPA, but you previously stated it, as if it was a fact Actually there are at least 3 other possible causes which I have seen in the past, so there may not be an HPA. Please make it clear when you write, what is a guess (or assumption) and what is a fact. Thank you.

I don't know if inside it's a sata drive, i suppose it is.

Again, you are guessing - for example, some drives have USB built-into the PCB and they have no normal SATA interface connector. This is why I was asking about the disk's make & model.

I don't know how to discover which kind of drive is inside without opening the enclosure.
Maybe hd tune? I will try...

I don't use HD Tune. Personally I would use the Smartmontools package (which is available for Windows, as well as Linux etc.) and collect the "smartctl -a" output, which includes the SMART data in an easy-to-read format, as well as including the identification data from the drive. Please provide that output. If you have big problems with that (there can be reasons), then HDDScan can be tried, to get that information.

i don't know where to find usb host controller and dos drives, can you help me?

No, as this may be a waste of time. As I said before, using MHDD with USB drives is not something I recommend, as there are many limits when used in that way (for reasons too long for me to write now - read about the USB mass storage protocol to learn more). I was asking you to explain why you said MHDD doesn't work with USB drives, and again, I see that your original statement was a guess and not something you had actually tried with this drive, so you have now answered that question, thank you.

So in summary: If HD Tune doesn't show the necessary details about the drive, please provide the "smartctl -a" output [you may also need to use the -d option - read the documentation] (or the HDD Scan output) showing the drive identification and SMART data. Also please answer my previous question - what is the full history of this drive? (e.g. is it from a customer?; was it recently bought in a shop?; has it been used successfully for storing files for a long time?; do you know that it ever reported a larger capacity, or is it possible that the currently reported capacity is what this drive has always reported? etc. etc. - any information which may help the readers here to understand more).

[Barbarina]

HDD Scan:

HD Tune:

SMART Vision 4.1:
S.M.A.R.T. Vision report

Code:

WDC WD5000BEVT-22A0RT0 WD-WX71AXXXXXXX identify:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Common data about configuration                                           |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| ATA device                                                                |
| Fixed disk and/or controller                                              |
| Model                                              | WDC WD5000BEVT-22A0RT0 |
| Serial number                                      | WD-WX71AXXXXXXX      |
| Firmware version                                   | 01.01A01             |
| Capacity                                           | 465,8 Gb             |
| Interface type                                     | SATA                 |
| Bus type                                           | USB                  |
| Identification method                              | SCSI PT; SAT PT      |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Additional info                                                           |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Logical cylinders                                  | 969021               |
| Logical heads                                      | 16                   |
| Logical sectors per track                          | 63                   |
| Number of bytes available when performing R/W long | 50                   |
| Maximal block size for commands R/W multiple       | 16                   |
| Buffer size                                        | 8 Mb                 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Info about logical drives                                                 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Disk F:\                                                                  |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Volume name                                        | HP 500               |
| File system name                                   | NTFS                 |
| Volume serial number                               | 1BE0C1E7             |
| Total space                                        | 465,8 Gb             |
| Free space                                         | 336,1 Gb             |
| Total clusters                                     | 122096383            |
| Num free clusters                                  | 88103900             |
| Sectors per cluster                                | 8                    |
| Bytes per sector                                   | 512                  |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Features                                                                  |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| ÇStop timer values is standard                                            |
| IORDY is supported                                                        |
| IORDY can be disabled                                                     |
| LBA is supported                                                          |
| DMA is supported                                                          |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Current logical parameters                                                |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Cylinders                                          | 969021               |
| Heads                                              | 16                   |
| Sectors per track                                  | 63                   |
| CHS mode capacity available                        | 7,9 Gb               |
| LBA mode capacity available                        | 128 Gb               |
| LBA48 mode capacity available                      | 465,8 Gb             |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Available DMA modes                                                       |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Multiword DMA Mode 0                                                      |
| Multiword DMA Mode 1                                                      |
| Multiword DMA Mode 2                                                      |
| Minimal multiword DMA cycle time                   | 120 ns               |
| Recommended multiword DMA cycle time               | 120 ns               |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Available Ultra DMA/33 modes                                              |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Ultra DMA/33 Mode 0                                                       |
| Ultra DMA/33 Mode 1                                                       |
| Ultra DMA/33 Mode 2                                                       |
| Ultra DMA/33 Mode 3                                                       |
| Ultra DMA/33 Mode 4                                                       |
| Ultra DMA/33 Mode 5                                                       |
| Ultra DMA/33 Mode 6                                                       |
| Active UDMA mode                                   | UDMA 6               |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Supported extended PIO modes                                              |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| PIO Mode 3                                                                |
| PIO Mode 4                                                                |
| Minimal PIO cycle time without thread management   | 120 ns               |
| Minimal PIO cycle time with IORDY                  | 120 ns               |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Supported ATA standards                                                   |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| ATA - 1                                                                   |
| ATA - 2                                                                   |
| ATA - 3                                                                   |
| ATA - 4                                                                   |
| ATA - 5                                                                   |
| ATA - 6                                                                   |
| ATA - 7                                                                   |
| ATA - 8                                                                   |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Available SATA modes                                                      |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| SATA-I (1.5Gb/s)                                                          |
| SATA-II (3.0Gb/s)                                                         |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Acoustic management                                                       |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Acoustic management current                        | 254                  |
| Acoustic management vendor                         | 128                  |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Supported command sets                                                    |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| NCQ                                                                       |
| Phy Event Counters                                                        |
| DMA Setup auto-activation                                                 |
| Initiating power management                                               |
| Software Settings Preservation                                            |
| S.M.A.R.T.                                                                |
| Power management                                                          |
| Volatile write cache                                                      |
| Read look-ahead                                                           |
| Host protected area                                                       |
| Write buffer                                                              |
| Read buffer                                                               |
| NOP                                                                       |
| Download microcode                                                        |
| Advanced power management                                                 |
| SET MAX                                                                   |
| Automatic acoustic management                                             |
| 48-bit addressing                                                         |
| Device configuration overlay                                              |
| Flush cache                                                               |
| Flush cache ext                                                           |
| S.M.A.R.T. error logging                                                  |
| S.M.A.R.T. self-test                                                      |
| General purpose logging                                                   |
| Write DMA/MULTIPLE FUA ext                                                |
| 64-bit World wide name                                                    |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Enabled command sets                                                      |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Software settings preservation                                            |
| S.M.A.R.T.                                                                |
| Power management                                                          |
| Volatile write cache                                                      |
| Read look-ahead                                                           |
| Host protected area                                                       |
| Write buffer                                                              |
| Read buffer                                                               |
| NOP                                                                       |
| Download microcode                                                        |
| Advanced power management                                                 |
| 48-bit addressing                                                         |
| Device configuration overlay                                              |
| Flush cache                                                               |
| Flush cache ext                                                           |
| S.M.A.R.T. error logging                                                  |
| S.M.A.R.T. self-test                                                      |
| General purpose logging                                                   |
| Write DMA/MULTIPLE FUA ext                                                |
| 64-bit World wide name                                                    |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Security subsystem                                                        |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Password is set                                    | No                   |
| Drive is locked                                    | No                   |
| Drive is frozen                                    | No                   |
| Incorrect passwords counter overflow               | No                   |
| Security level                                     | High                 |
| Master code                                        | FFFE                 |
| Supporting extended security erase                 | Yes                  |
| Âðåìÿ ïîëíîãî ñòèðàíèÿ (security erase)            | 71                   |
| Âðåìÿ ïîëíîãî ñòèðàíèÿ (enhanced security)         | 71                   |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------


WDC WD5000BEVT-22A0RT0 WD-WX71AXXXXXXX S.M.A.R.T.:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| ID# | Parameter                                     | Value | Threshold | Worst |       Raw |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|   1 | Raw Read Error Rate                           |   200 |        51 |   200 |         0 |
|   3 | Spin Up Time                                  |   166 |        21 |   150 |      2700 |
|   4 | Start/Stop Count                              |   100 |         0 |   100 |       739 |
|   5 | Reallocated Sectors Count                     |   200 |       140 |   200 |         0 |
|   7 | Seek Error Rate                               |   100 |         0 |   253 |         0 |
|   9 | Power-On Hours Count                          |   100 |         0 |   100 |       124 |
|  10 | Spin Retry Count                              |   100 |        51 |   100 |         0 |
|  11 | Recalibration Retries                         |   100 |         0 |   100 |         0 |
|  12 | Device Power Cycle Count                      |   100 |         0 |   100 |       233 |
| 191 | G-Sense Error Rate                            |    97 |         0 |    97 |         3 |
| 192 | Power-Off Retract Count                       |   200 |         0 |   200 |       190 |
| 193 | Load/Unload Cycle Count                       |   200 |         0 |   200 |      1642 |
| 194 | Temperature                                   |   119 |         0 |    99 |        28 |
| 196 | Reallocation Events Count                     |   200 |         0 |   200 |         0 |
| 197 | Current Pending Sector Count                  |   200 |         0 |   200 |         0 |
| 198 | Uncorrectable Sector Count                    |   100 |         0 |   253 |         0 |
| 199 | UltraDMA CRC Error Rate                       |   200 |         0 |   200 |         0 |
| 200 | Write Error Rate                              |   100 |        51 |   253 |         0 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[loki]

Your second picture shows HPA is set & the data output from smart shows the drives interface is SATA

A quick search on google confirms this:
http://www.pchub.com/uph/laptop/645-817 ... 500GB.html

If you remove the drive from the caddy & connect it up via the sata to a PC then MHDD should be able to remove the HPA. Remember that the BIOS setting for sata needs to be changed from enhanced to ide or compatible.

Obviously opening up the caddy to remove the drive would void any warranty

Loki

[Friedrich]

wow interesting

[Barbarina]

As I thought ...
Thank you Loki, i will open the enclosure and connect the drive via sata, also i saw that the warranty has expired so i will open the case without any fear.
Connecting the drive to USB I have not been able to detect it by MHDD even with Magic Boot Disk v2.0, so now I pull out from the enclosure.
I will let you know...

[Vulcan]

Now we have the evidence that it is a SATA drive inside the enclosure, then of course the approach explained by loki is possible. However you have changed the requirements, as you now say that you can open the enclosure (at the start, you said you didn't want to do that).

Depending on the USB-SATA bridge chip, then a software-only approach to confirm/remove any HPA may also be possible without opening the enclosure, although I would use Linux and not MHDD to achieve that. However that process would be more complicated than just opening the enclosure and attaching via SATA, so it's simpler to just carry on with the plan from loki. Good luck!

[Barbarina]

I opended it and connected via sata.
Mhdd detects it but the HPA light is off and it shows full capacity
This it means that the drive shows limited capacity (only 46 LBA less) only when is connected to the packard bell usb-sata adpter, i don't know why

If i clone my seagate into this western digital (sata connection) and after i put the western digital again in his enclousure, what will happen?
I will lose data (or part of it)?

On the usb-sata packard bell adapter it's wrote:
S09A6505/506-B2
EPB0007729

On the U2 chip it's wrote:
JW8509
1015 LGBA0 A

U3 chip:
93c46vi
(which is a 1-Kb Microwire Serial EEPROM)

On the enclosure:
LC.EXH04.015

Last edited by Barbarina on February 14th, 2013, 11:52, edited 2 times in total.

[Vulcan]

I opended it and connected via sata.
Mhdd detects it but the HPA light is off and it shows full capacity
This it means that the drive shows limited capacity (only 46 LBA less) only when is connected to the packard bell usb-sata adpter, i don't know why

That is one of the other reasons for reduced capacity via USB that I've seen - as I mentioned earlier, an HPA is not the only possible reason. [Edit: I see you've now included the number of the USB-SATA bridge chip - researching that chip may give some clues about the cause of this...]

You could consider trying to put that WD drive into a different "basic" (generic) USB-SATA enclosure.

[Barbarina]

[Vulcan]

Thanks for the photos.

On the U2 chip it's wrote:
JW8509

IMHO I don't think it says that - I think it says JMB509 which looks like a JMicron part. I haven't seen that specific number before, but perhaps someone else may have seen it before, or have more time to research it for you.

[Barbarina]

yes is JMB509, my camera has better eye then me
I was thinking if this LBA reduction coluld it be a sort of hardware encryption?
In the main root of the drive there was "WD SmartWare.exe"

P.S.
I'm cloning data in this moment with WinHex, now it's at 15%

[loki]

Your second picture shows HPA is set & the data output from smart shows the drives interface is SATA

2nd picture shows that the drive supports HPA, it doesn't mean that it's turned on

True but when you also look at the smart data picture under Enabled command sets Host protected area is listed

pic.PNG (4.06 KiB) Viewed 13789 times

Loki

[Barbarina]

Ok thanks you all, the winhex cloning worked good, then i closed the WD into his Packard Bell enclosure, and it's working fine.
Strange usb-sata adapter has this enclosure, but it's working good and no data lost, so i do not need a generic enclosure.

[loki]

Well done glad you got the data back

Loki