ddrescue recovers 0 byte from HDD

[bobby_yan]

1 of the 3 HDDs (Western Digitial WD3003FZEX Black 3TB SATA 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB Cache 3.5IN Hard Drive) fails in a RAID 0 array. At first, it disappears from the OS. Then, it re-appears after re-plug the cables. However, it is not stable, sometime even the serial number cannot be read out (see below).

I try to clone it first with ddrescue, but even cannot even read a byte.

Code:

sudo ddrescue -f  /dev/sdc Port1.img Port1.log
GNU ddrescue 1.22
     ipos:    3000 GB, non-trimmed:        0 B,  current rate:       0 B/sB/s
     opos:    3000 GB, non-scraped:        0 B,  average rate:       0 B/s
non-tried:        0 B,  bad-sector:    3000 GB,    error rate:  23256 kB/s
  rescued:        0 B,   bad areas:        1,        run time: 14h 18m 13s
pct rescued:    0.00%, read errors:5906318682,  remaining time:         n/a
                              time since last successful read:         n/a
Finished

sudo ddrescue -f -d /dev/sdc Port1.img Port1.log
GNU ddrescue 1.22
     ipos:   38402 MB, non-trimmed:   38408 MB,  current rate:       0 B/s
     opos:   38402 MB, non-scraped:        0 B,  average rate:       0 B/s
non-tried:    2962 GB,  bad-sector:        0 B,    error rate:    875 MB/s
  rescued:        0 B,   bad areas:        0,        run time:         17s
pct rescued:    0.00%, read errors:   586172,  remaining time:         n/a
                              time since last successful read:         n/a
Copying non-tried blocks... Pass 5 (forwards)^C
  Interrupted by user

sudo ddrescue -f -d -R /dev/sdc Port1.img Port1.log
GNU ddrescue 1.22
     ipos:    2895 GB, non-trimmed:  105045 MB,  current rate:       0 B/s
     opos:    2895 GB, non-scraped:        0 B,  average rate:       0 B/s
non-tried:    2895 GB,  bad-sector:        0 B,    error rate:   2350 MB/s
  rescued:        0 B,   bad areas:        0,        run time:         46s
pct rescued:    0.00%, read errors:  1602973,  remaining time:         n/a
                              time since last successful read:         n/a
Copying non-tried blocks... Pass 5 (backwards)

Here is the HDD information, the one without serial number of the broken one. After reboot, there is a chance to read the serial number successfully, and it is WD-WMC5D0D61CYD.

Code:

sudo mdadm --detail-platform
mdadm: imsm capabilities not found for controller: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:11.4 (type SATA)
       Platform : Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology
        Version : 14.8.0.2377
    RAID Levels : raid0 raid1 raid10 raid5
    Chunk Sizes : 4k 8k 16k 32k 64k 128k
    2TB volumes : supported
      2TB disks : supported
      Max Disks : 7
    Max Volumes : 2 per array, 4 per controller
I/O Controller : /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.2 (SATA)
          Port2 : /dev/sdd (WD-WMC5D0D9X6D8)
          Port3 : /dev/sde (WD-WMC1F0EARDW0)
          Port1 : /dev/sdc ()
          Port0 : - no device attached -
          Port4 : - no device attached -
          Port5 : - no device attached –

The motherboard is ASUS X99-E USB 3.1, the RAID 0 is setup with Intel RST, and the I/O Controller is still left in RAID mode in BIOS. However, the raid array only consists of WD-WMC5D0D9X6D8 and WD-WMC1F0EARDW0 in BIOS now, the broken is now a non-member drive. The system must somehow detect the drive failure and remove it from the array automatically.

Any further effort I should try before given if I would like to clone the failed drive? Change the PCB? Thank you.

[fzabkar]

You could try HDDSuperClone, but I'm guessing that will fail, too.

[ddrecovery]

Can I suggest you stop trying. If this is a RAID 0 you need to clone all 3 drives to recover your data. It does seem like at least one of the drives is physically failing. Can I respectfully suggest you contact a professional data recovery lab ASAP if the data is valuable.

[pcimage]

Can I suggest you stop trying. If this is a RAID 0 you need to clone all 3 drives to recover your data. It does seem like at least one of the drives is physically failing. Can I respectfully suggest you contact a professional data recovery lab ASAP if the data is valuable.

+1

DIY isn’t a “free shot” at recovery before giving up and sending to a pro. The drives are degrading every second you have them powered on and torturing them with software.

[bobby_yan]

Thanks. I'm cloning other two drives. The data loss will lead to some extra work of several weeks, it's acceptable in the worse case. But I would like to try my best before giving up. After ddrescue, I tried dd as well, but it copies out more than 16TB data and is continuing, which is obviously wrong.

Code:

sudo dd if=/dev/sdc conv=sync,noerror bs=64K | gzip -c  > ./Port1.img.gz
dd: error reading '/dev/sdc': Input/output error
0+248815925 records in
248815925+0 records out
16306400460800 bytes (16 TB, 15 TiB) copied, 91157.6 s, 179 MB/s
dd: error reading '/dev/sdc': Input/output error
0+248815926 records in
248815926+0 records out
16306400526336 bytes (16 TB, 15 TiB) copied, 91157.6 s, 179 MB/s
dd: error reading '/dev/sdc': Input/output error
0+248815927 records in
248815927+0 records out
16306400591872 bytes (16 TB, 15 TiB) copied, 91157.6 s, 179 MB/s
^C0+248815928 records in
248815927+0 records out
16306400591872 bytes (16 TB, 15 TiB) copied, 91157.6 s, 179 MB/s

[bobby_yan]

You could try HDDSuperClone, but I'm guessing that will fail, too.

Thank you. I tried the free version with "Passthrough auto detect" mode, it showed

Code:

Host IO error during capacity 4 (BAD target, device not responding?)

and something in the console

Code:

(hddsuperclone:7067): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: 14:03:22.545: g_dbus_proxy_new: assertion 'G_IS_DBUS_CONNECTION (connection)' failed

(hddsuperclone:7067): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: 14:03:22.545: g_dbus_proxy_new: assertion 'G_IS_DBUS_CONNECTION (connection)' failed

(hddsuperclone:7067): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: 14:03:22.545: g_dbus_proxy_new: assertion 'G_IS_DBUS_CONNECTION (connection)' failed

Other modes failed too. Will the modes for direct access in the Pro version solve this problem?

[maximus]

First, you can ignore those “GLib-GIO-CRITICAL” messages, they have something to do with the GUI (GTK) and nothing to due with program operation.

Since it appears you are not willing to spend the money for a data recovery pro, and are willing to loose the data by trying to do it yourself, there is a slight possibility that the direct modes could help. That “Host IO error during capacity” message tells me the drive did not respond to an identify device command, and is likely locked up busy. It may be suffering from the “slow responding” issue, and/or have a bad head.

Before you spend money on the pro version of HDDSuperClone, you can try the Direct IDE mode for free. But you must set your computer BIOS setting to IDE instead of AHCI. Then boot the computer with the drive disconnected, and connect the drive after the OS has loaded. Then try the Analyze feature (with a destination of NULL) to see if it can read anything. If it is successful, the results will be stored in the progress log file. You can post the entire contents of that file in a code box here (or attach the file if you are able to, not sure how many posts are needed before you can attach files). If it is not successful and the program stops with an error, please post the error message. This process will give an idea of what is wrong, and if there is any chance of DIY recovery.

It is best to test the direct IDE mode with a good drive first so you know it is working.

[bobby_yan]

Thank you @maximus.

I find the HDD works a few hours after reboot, and ddrescue reads about 90GB data out before the above mentioned 0-byte problem, at an average speed of 2 MB/s. Moreover, mdadm is able to read out the serial number just after reboot, but not any more after 0-byte problem reappears.

Shall I keep rebooting the machine? Is there any command I can just reboot/reset the HDD rather than the whole system?

Thank you.

[maximus]

There is no command to reboot/reset the hard drive when it locks up and goes offline. It likely needs to be power cycled. You could unplug the power connector to the drive and plug it back in to reset it.

[bobby_yan]

There is no command to reboot/reset the hard drive when it locks up and goes offline. It likely needs to be power cycled. You could unplug the power connector to the drive and plug it back in to reset it.

If I reboot the machine, it goes back to (relatively) normal status, and there is not power cycle in this case. So I guess power cycle is not necessary to get it back to normal? What happens to the drive when I reboot the machine? Thank you very much.

[maximus]

I am pretty sure that when you reboot a computer, it cycles the power supply, which is power cycling the drive.