Switch to full style
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
Post a reply

WD40EFRX-68N32N0 (Apollo) head disabling

July 4th, 2026, 14:53

Hello. I have a WD40EFRX-68N32N0 (Apollo) drive with a dead 4th head; when attempting to disable the head via a drive command, it hangs in the BSY state for a long time. Alternatively, it reports "Module not in Dir???". If this refers to modules 04 and 05, they don't seem to exist on this drive at all. The question is: how can I disable it in this case?

Re: WD40EFRX-68N32N0 (Apollo) head disabling

July 4th, 2026, 17:48

The WD40EFRX is a Red series disk.

Can you post a screenshot from CrystalDiskInfo

Re: WD40EFRX-68N32N0 (Apollo) head disabling

July 4th, 2026, 19:59

Thank you for your reply. During the repair process, I already cleared the SMART data and hid the defects, so everything there has been cleaned up

Re: WD40EFRX-68N32N0 (Apollo) head disabling

July 4th, 2026, 20:11

Is the WD40EFRX functioning now or is that head component still troublesome

Re: WD40EFRX-68N32N0 (Apollo) head disabling

July 5th, 2026, 6:06

It is fully functional, except for the head that needs to be disabled)

Re: WD40EFRX-68N32N0 (Apollo) head disabling

July 5th, 2026, 14:47

You can disable it in the head map, but you're probably not interested in how to disable a head, but rather how to restore the hard drive by reducing its capacity, which includes disabling the damaged head.
hm.png
hm.png (12.74 KiB) Viewed 2432 times

If you simply disable the head in the head map, you'll be in for a surprise because the drive remembers who it is...

P.S. Before doing anything irreparable, create a backup restore point and be sure to back up the service area tracks - they'll come in handy when you have to restore the drive to its original state after experimenting.

Re: WD40EFRX-68N32N0 (Apollo) head disabling

July 5th, 2026, 15:45

ora
You can disable it in the head map, but you're probably not interested in how to disable a head, but rather how to restore the hard drive by reducing its capacity, which includes disabling the damaged head

You're right, that is exactly what I mean. I want to disable it without using critical procedures like ARCO
Post a reply