Data Recovery of HP SimpleSave 3.5" 1TB

[Apples555]

Hello all,

Long time lurker here, excellent forum.

I have an HP SimpleSave 3.5" 1TB drive I used for backups. Inside is a simple WD Green. One time I accidentally ran DBAN drive zeroing on the HP. It ran for a few seconds at most, when I quickly stopped it.

However, when the drive is turned on now, the drive spins up then the blue status light blinks to indicate an error. It doesn't show up in Windows or Linux though device manager still sees it. SMART reads ok.

I tried running testdisk (for quite a long time) without success.

Most of the data must be there. DBAN ran for a few seconds at most and it was done over a USB 1.1 interface. I can't use an enclosure because of the Initio encryption used by the HP SATA to USB board.

How can I proceed?

[labtech]

Run a scan with DMDE. If it finds your files, buy a license. Same with R-Studio.

[Apples555]

Already tried, DMDE finds a bunch of I/O errors. I have to stress that the drive has not suffered any shock and has been used lightly. This behavior occurred immediately after my aborted wipe. SMART reads ok. In an enclosure it reads fine but obviously the data is encrypted.

Here is what I've been able to piece together. The board uses an Initio encryption/decryption chip. When I started to wipe the drive, it wiped the key on the disk the Initio expects. Without the key, it can't decrypt hence the blinking light and "I/O errors."

According to some posters on here, there is a backup copy of the key located on the disk somewhere. Ideally, I'd like to find that key and recover the data on the drive.

[fzabkar]

DBAN would not have been able to touch the key. The key is located at the end of the drive, outside DBAN's visible user area.

Could we see the SMART report?

[lcoughey]

I/O errors suggests a physical issues. You should consider professional assistant. It shouldn't be more than $300USD at most reputable labs.

[Apples555]

In any other case, I would agree that I/O errors usually mean physical damage. But in this case, I am certain that this behavior only occurred after my attempted DBAN. One moment the drive was functioning completely fine, blue LED lit solid. Then after DBAN was aborted, now the LED blinks and nothing sees the files on the drive.

SMART report is attached.

[labtech]

There is too much confusion and assumption. Send to a specialist, let them image with proper equipment and run the scans needed on the image. Should be relatively low.cost at this point.
Please, send to someone reputable, not someone down the block just because it is convenient and cheap.

[fzabkar]

You could clone the drive outside its enclosure with HDDSuperClone or ddrescue, and then decrypt the clone with "reallymine".

[Apples555]

Now that's an inspired idea! I look forward to trying this out. Then I can run testdisk on the decrypted clone image to recover the NTFS partition.

[Apples555]

Ok guys, I figured it out.

When I used dban, I opted for the secure erase option. Since I aborted it, the drive had locked itself pending completion of the wipe. That was the reason for the I/O errors.

Once I sent an unlock command with hdparm, everything is good. Running testdisk now, hopefully I'll be able to get some data back.

Thanks guys.