Toshiba MQ01UBD100 reads on head0 only via PBA

[michael chiklis]

Hello,
i've this Toshiba MQ01UBD100 usb drive that i need to clone.
I converted usb pcb G3448A to sata by using sata donor G003235B
G3448A ----------> G003235B

I already cloned surface 1 - 2 - 3 without any problem in sata mode, but i can't clone any single sector on surface 0 (SATA, UDMA, PIO mode don't work).
I thought it was bad head 0 (or at least very weak head), but if i turn off technology mode on toshiba utility, i'm able to read sectors on surface 0 only via PBA.

Reading via PBA.jpg (31.6 KiB) Viewed 7629 times

Reading speed in PBA mode is pretty slow (about 2,7 MB/s) but many consecutives sectors are not readable even in PBA. When head 0 hits first unreadable sector of those bad zones, hard drive goes busy for about 10 seconds before that is able to continue (i had to set 80,000 LBAs jump on 'skipping sectors after reading error' or it would take a life to continue reading).

In fact, i don't think head 0 is dead (at least is just weak), i believe that this issue is related more to bad surface + damaged FW.
I have cleared glist and smart but it didn't help at all.

How can i deal with such problem?
I think it might be possible to clone in normal mode (faster) and clone those unreadable zones too, if i find what's wrong with firmware, but i don't know much about toshiba drives.
Does someone of you know what to do in this case?

I posted firmware backup, maybe someone can find what's wrong (if there is somethibg wrong).
Please, help me thanks.

TOSHIBA MQ01UBD100-AX101U-Y5AFTJZVT.rar

(127.77 KiB) Downloaded 486 times

[pcimage]

My money is on the head being bad/weak.

[michael chiklis]

If head is bad, why i can read sectors in PBA mode?
Why not possible to read in LBA mode?

[pcimage]

Ok, weak rather than bad then. It sounds like it’s struggling to read.

[fzabkar]

FWIW, the G-list has 3 sections. The number of reallocated sectors before and after clearing is 0. The second section has 0x660 defects (pending sectors/tracks?) before clearing and 0xE afterwards. The third section remains unchanged after clearing.

[BGman]

If head is bad, why i can read sectors in PBA mode?
Why not possible to read in LBA mode?

If it was a WDC drive I would say:
In PBA mode it uses Coarse Microjog settings and in LBA mode Fine Microjog settings. This makes the diffrence.

For Toshiba drives I'm not so sure...

[lifeguarddubai]

Ok, weak rather than bad then. It sounds like it’s struggling to read.


PCimage is Right Drive suffer weak Heads & G-list problem.

[michael chiklis]

Thank you all, i continue to clone surface 0 slowly in PBA mode