QUANTUM FIREBALLP AS40.0
fw A1Y.1500
AASY150


The pc bios detects it but even connected to the secondary ide controller it stops the system from booting from the primary hard disk.
When I connected it as Windows starts winxp did find the drive as new hardware and reported the make and model. Then nothing. No drive letter and nothing reported in administrative tools.
Victoria for windows will report the drive but has a strange red coloured upside down exclamation mark next to the cache memory info box.
Its also reported for the log but I guess it was originally meant to be in Russian?
19:34:08 : API access enabled, device #1
19:34:15 : Get passport... OK
19:34:15 : Aaaa, ïîäñóíóëè Quantum AS! Íó ïî÷åìó ìíå?!
19:34:15 : Model: QUANTUM FIREBALLP AS40.0; Capacity: 78177792 LBAs; SN: 794111571008; FW: A1Y.1500


MHDD and other utilities fail to init the drive.

Smart is reported as 'switched OFF' so I am unable to access any info as it won't init.

Any scan would just produce bad blocks.

From what I have read I know you gurus dislike this AS series model. Is it likely to be a fimware issue?
Any ideas?
Tia

Seems a firmware issue.

Hi!

Please, don't scan your drive anymore, it won't help you. It is only going to make thing worth.
You need someone who has experience with DR and probably a long experience in order to advise you with Quantum drive.

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www.datarecoveryne.com

Yea sure it needs an expert!

does anybody know what might have been in this report as I don't have Russian on my pc?
19:34:15 : Aaaa, ïîäñóíóëè Quantum AS! Íó ïî÷åìó ìíå?!

Is it likely to be a firmware issue like the Maxtors though it dosn't seem to be reporting any factory alias in the bios?

Also is there any chance AFF Repair Station might be able to fix this?
I tried to make an account there and it never came back to me so I can't run the utility.

This means that your computer can't read russian, because those are not russian letters .

_________________
www.datarecoveryne.com

Ok I managed to create an account and was able to scan the drive with AFF repair station software.
Unfortunately this drive model is not supported.

Reading a bit more tells me Ace PC3000 does support this drive or some of this series.

Has anybody managed to repair one of these before with these symptoms?

Also has anybody an idea what the garbled message might have looked like in if I had russian language support installed?

Yes thanks!
It was a firmware issue and I have now fixed that problem.
The drive now inits and the smart table is working.

The drive is now shown in windows but with no filing system. (Raw)
Hopefully its going to be a software recovery from now on.

I do have a second problem......if I try to scan the drive for data it runs for a few blocks reading off info and then stops. Drive makes a VERY QUIET knocking noise 'like a woodpecker' when the reading stops on bad sectors. It seems quite regular. Is that likely to be a head problem?
I am trying to image the drive as I write.

I have quickly sampled the data from an earlier aborted scan and files appear to be accessable. At least 1 ntfs boot sector was found during an early quick scan.

Any advice would be appreciated.

tia

Ok i've got the data so the case is closed!

Thanks to BlackST for putting in some positive input and also thanks to the author of COPYR software because its awsome!

Also NO THANKS to the so called experts on this forum who never even once offered a glimmer of hope with my little project.

This is very nice of you, pal!
Do U think U can expect any help next time?

pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

Yes pepe you're probably right but no one thought it could be a FW issue ? This forum could be useful with little helps, obviously no one of us "pros" probably have the time to post a step by step instruction to repair a Fireball, and anyway I want to tell that I had posted many questions, a lot of views and no reply at all , and the questions were really simple. Maybe too stupid questions for pros? Sure, but for me were important, too. I posted the same questions on other places and had a lot of answers and tips, and so did I when other people asked me.
Each one of us have specific knowledge, i.e. I am a service engineer more specialised on hardware than on software.
Probably the use of specialised tools has made people lazy, luckily I have the time for doing R&D on HDDs (some people here know exactly what I do) and DR, I have no problems talking with everyone and I know my info. can be as valuable as the recipient is able to use it - if you don't know the HW/SW structure of some drives you can have all the tools on the market and you'll still spend days of painstaking attempts to fix a drive, with almost no tools and proper knowledge you can do the same.
And that's why I am contacting people via PM rather than on the forum, everyone is welcome and I try to answer to all messages as fast as I can - my job comes first, then a helping hand if possible is given to everyone.

A little story :
When the USSR and the US were competing for the supremacy on space exploration, there was the need for a pen that can write even with no gravity and in extreme conditions like in space or outside the atmosphere... A project was started and then, after millions of $ invested, the US engineers presented a pen that could write with no air, in the outer space and with no gravity, with no ink leakages etc. etc. - The soviets arrived at the same results using common pencils
(I heard it a lot of years ago)

Best regards.

* * *

Hey Dick (how apropos),

Your lousy attitude is shared by many visitors to this site -- they expect an immediate reply, a ton of free advice, and won't spend a dime to pay for any software that someone else developed for D.R. And then they are hacked off if they don't get the attention and positive results they expected.

So, as a service engineer, I suppose that you work for free? Or do you have to make a living, too?

If you have no problems "talking with everyone", why don't you post your answers here? What then, this forum is good enough for you to get answers, but not good enough to share yours with others?

I think rude and ungrateful folks like yourself should get exactly what they deserve. Nothing.

Jon

_________________
http://www.datasaversllc.com

Ok lets get a few things straight before it all gets out of hand.

There is nothing personal in my comments, they were never directed towards any single individual.

Unlike your own comment which kind of sums up how some people deal with the less knowledgeable forum members here.

Rude, well maybe I was this time, but now you are no better on this point so lets leave that one behind.

Ungrateful, well who should I be grateful to? That is kind of my point. I read quite a bit and I did it by myself. I guess the Real Gurus here started that way.

I've only posted a few times and i'm only a learner but if you could trouble yourself to read the few posts i've made you would soon notice i'm not a taker.
I rarely ask for direct help and I know people are often busy so I would never expect any though it must be nice when you get it.

Oh and if anybody has got anything to add I would ask them to keep it clean and calm.

Thanks!

Richard

well, u should be read some posts about "wich its the purpose of this forum", this is not a place on where u get the way to " how to recovery my data from a crashed hard drive on any situation ", why?

1.-Because its really impossible until get the hdd on lab to know what´s happenning.
2.- Many companies involves much money, equipments, tools, sometimes his own tools, technichs´s, and the the most important for me "experience years", that its something on wich u cant bought, on a kit,

- So what its this place? Its a place where u can find only a little or hint´s to know or discovered what´s happening at some cases and to understand , only a "little" about the engineering of HDD¨s
read my post about DR on the beginner´s place this its not a magician field, or if u got "x" tools u get data from any situation, and hdd´s are not "flasheable" like a motherboard should be understand hdd´s are engineering

Best Regards

Alberto

Dick,

Thank you for the additional clarification. I didn't realize until now that it's OK to insult an entire group so long as you don't let things get "personal." My bad.

You can look at groups like this as a continuum. There are beginners, experts, and a lot of people in-between.

A place like this can be a wonderful resource for exchanging information, but it can also be full of MIS-information. Unfortunately, a newbie or a novice is in no position to discern the difference.

My approach is this:

1) If I have information that I think might benefit a poster, as well as the time, then (taking into account what you think the person knows or not) I post an reply.

2) If I have a question, I also post it here in the hope that someone will do the same for me.

3) If you are friendly, helpful, and conduct yourself civilly, then you might enjoy some off-line assistance and relationships.

4) It's wonderful when I get a useful answer. I don't think that happens 1/2 the time. Nonetheless, I'm grateful when ANYONE takes time to reply.

I make a living from DR and I also understand if others are reluctant to share their hard-won info. As Beto says, you have to invest A LOT of time to do well in this field, and we all are busy improving our craft.

Think about other professions. Do doctors prescribe in forums? Do lawyers present you with legal drafts to use or cite case law?

Keep your expectations in perspective, and then you won't feel you need to carry on like a 3 year old if it doesn't turn out to your liking.

Jon

_________________
http://www.datasaversllc.com

Dirck,

Most people on the forum are ready to help others. They spent time reading your post and offered their advice.

The advices are reasonable. From the post, it seems you are new and you didn't tell us you just wanted to practise with this disk (no data needed).

They just offerred a safer solution. They should not take your blame if you failed this time.

Fortunately ,you fix the firmware problem. That's a good beginning. There We have an old saying that " Harmony brings wealth “ in business.

Regards

Laura Lee

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SalvationDATA--Profesionnal Hard drive solution Provider. MSN: sales.laura@salvationdata.com

Lot of People just think DR is an easy job called a COPY PASTE job. even for a Computer technician. they usually call us as a COPY PASTE JOB. We can not blame them because they do not understand what was axactly DR job.

and Lot of them try to repair by themselves hoping there will be a miracle for them to recover the data back. But Mostly of them will make thing worse worse and worse. Here we just try to recommend and recommand hoping can minimize the damage of the Harddrive.

There is lot of problem of Harddrive. and of course can not be describe in a word. and not easy to descrive it step by step how to cover it. when you post a problem here. we just can diagnose and can not make sure perfectly what is the problem exactly. WHY ??? because the damage HD is not in our hand. it is in your hand.

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Спасибо
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