Hello guys, I need your help.

I have here a WD Charger WD20SMZW-11JW8S0 that had bad heads. So I adapted a SATA unlocked board and made head swap. After that, HDD went online and I had sector access (not all zeroes, but real data). I made a SA backup. SA backup went well, only mods 189 & 190 had checksum errors, but since I had data access, I thought it was normal.

After reading 50GB, HDD had reading errors and make Power off / Power on routine. After that, it started to read all zeroes (secondary translator corruption typical of SMR drives).

I wrote back to HDD my SA backup made when disk was reading correctly, including mod 189 and 190 with checksum errors.

Also with original SA (saved when HDD was working) I always have all zeros.

What am I doing wrong?

Many Thanks
Simone

Modules 189 and 190 are the second layer translation. So if you didn't get a good backup of those it might be a big problem.

Did you at least to a single sector read of the modules ignoring errors, or use a composite read of them?

_________________
Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

I used composite reading. But in a old post here I read that checksum errors on modules 189 and 190 are normal if you use PC3K.

So I have the full backup made when HDD was working, but I always have zero-reading also if I write mods back to disk.

Simone

It is normal for those 2 to have bad cs, not only when you use pc3k, but generally. They have CS as zero.
I can help you with it remotely for fee.
pepe

_________________
Adatmentés - Data recovery

Hello ,
Try writing all modules back other then module 01 and post results

_________________
Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com

When writing the modules back, are you verifying that they actually write back? Perhaps you have an issue where the heads are reading but not writing. I've seen that already with this family.

_________________
Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

I have an assuption that when you write modules back you use pc3k listed modules. 189/190 with CS errors are not in list . You have to try put them back different way.
In case if you did that and still zeroies is comming, means FW already relocated zones (real time defragmentation) on background when you were reading drive. There is a strict rule always to force "write block" to avoid such ocasions.

_________________
Angel Data Recovery

Well,
According to me one of the techniques used by gurus who are wd partners is write blocking along with a technique to solve slow responding problem .I do not have latest version of pc3k but manually we need to read the module 189 and 190 in the version i have ,CS errors is always there as explained earlier

_________________
Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com

Anyone "in the know" to share this "write block" method?

As I understand it, NOT "write blocking" could cause the drive to be unrecoverable by anyone.

By not sharing how to write block, those "in the know" will never be able to recover this drive in the future, after the first or second company breaks it because it wasn't write blocked.

So, if anyone knows how to "write block" these drives, it's in their interest to share.

And, without also sharing the "slow" solution, the drive would still be unrecoverable. At least, explaining how to write block will prevent innocent customer's data from being destroyed. But, it will also give you "in the know" companies/people a chance of recovering their data in the future using your "slow fix."

_________________
$300 Data Recovery - Los Angeles Data Recovery

or those who don't have idea about it should not hazard customers' data. Why would it be our interest? Don't touch it if you don't know. Outsource, research, refer the client to an expert who knows it.

pepe

_________________
Adatmentés - Data recovery

Well,
Its Shorting Two Points In The PCB Thats All

_________________
Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com

Well,
Short and Simple Answer ,Customers Cannot And Will Not Pay That Much Of Money For Those Services ,Because When You Folks Come To Know a Data Recovery Company Has Tried ,Rates Start From USD 1000+ ,In India Atleast My Country No One Pays That Kinda Money ,Some of us Do really know what we are not capabil To Do and we never do that ,but even then there is no consideration of sharing revenue and giving a proper quote ,Does it Matter NOPE ,Why Because in a Year There is hardly 1 or two cases like this That we cannot do and we learn pretty fast ,Version 6.7 of PC3K is Already Out In Russia i Think ,Soon it will be for English Too ,Love Acelab

PS : No offense

_________________
Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com

Yes. i have tested their write blocking, it kind of works, but i think it's not perfect. And be aware that they at least pay something for solutions, not just ask for share...
pepe

_________________
Adatmentés - Data recovery

Sir ,
I have my own technique ,I am not saying acelab taught me this ,BTW i have started to collect resources to Start Reverse Engineering Of Mechanical Hard Drives And By Gods Grace Knowledge Should Increase ,Focus is On Learning Assembly Language And Disassembly Of Code To Understand The Drives ,If not complete success then also partial fun

_________________
Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com