DiamondMax Plus 9 80Gb data recovery

[ijourneaux]

It looks like I may have posted to the wrong forum. Sorry for cross posting

Hi everyone. Here is my situation.

The DiamondMax Plus 9 80Gb hard drive in my wifes computer died this weekend. As I started exploring options on how to recover the few files she really needs, I came across this forum. Although I haven't read the entire thread, I think I have moved to a point where I need more help.

The drive that is toast is a YAR41BWO, 6Y080L0422651, sticker M6FYA. The drive seems to spin up when I power it on. It is recognized by the bios and other drive recovery software but any attempts to access give an error #1117

I had a DiamondMax Plus 9 160Gb hard drive where one of the IC was toasted a year ago or so. It was a YAR41BWO 6Y160P0042211, Sticker F8FYA. Figureing I had little to lose, I moved the CPU board from the 80Gb drive to the 160Gb drive. I was somewhat surprized when I could successfully read the 160Gb drive. That seems to indicate that the PCB from the 80Gb hard drive is good.

So....... since the PCB board seems to be good, what are my options now for recovering data off of the 80Gb hard drive? The drive doesn't make any suspicious noises. It just seems to spin quietly.

I can use all of the help to avoid my wife's wrath!

Take Care all

[rchadwick]

Which data recovery software did you try?

[ijourneaux]

I tried Restorer2000 (that I have had luck with in the past) and Spinrite 6.0. I also tried MHDD.

The drive is identified in the bios and by all three programs but if I try and scan the drive, I get nothing but errors.

In MHDD , the drive is correctly identified and I can tell the drive to stop spinning or reset but no luck scan the drive.

The information on the drive is important to my wife but not worth several hundred dollars to try and recover. I would like to go as far as I can myself.

Thanks for any help.

[rchadwick]

More details would be helpful (What exactly happened when scanning with MHDD?), but the problem is likely out of your ability and/or financial limits. If your goal is to TRY something as opposed to recovering the data, you could try getting a donor drive, and swapping the heads. Just be aware that that might not be the problem, and even if it was, you probably have at most a 10% chance of doing it successfully. Also, you'll likely ruin any chances of anyone else recovering your data as well. Really, data recovery companies aren't ripping you off (Well, most don't). Equipment to repair drives is expensive, and the knowledge takes years to acquire. There are a few helpful freeware tools, but sometimes a problem needs 'real' tools. Perhaps you can give a car a tune-up with a wrench and a screwdriver, but you'll need better tools to do anything more.

Where are you located?

[ijourneaux]

I guess I realize that this is a low probability exercise but it is something I want to try. I am trying to locate an identical donor drive as we speak.

Since I am technically minded (but an absolute noobie with regard to HD recovery) what should I look for from MHDD? As I indicated it recognzed the drive. When I asked the drive to spind down, it did just that without and abnormal noises. INIT the drive also worked but when I tried to scan the drive all I got was a bunch of ! marks. At the end of the scan MHDD gave a failure message.

I am located in central Wisconsin, USA

I do realize that most data recovery companies are not trying to rip you off. It is just that what I would like to recover isn't worth the several hundred dollars I expect it would cost. I don't mind throwing a donor drive and some time at the problem. In the end I am sure I will learn something in the prcess.

Take Care

[rchadwick]

Another thing to try... in MHDD, let it scan for a long time. I'm guessing you might have given up after an hour or so of seeing !. Try at least 25%. See if they are all !, or if you start to see some data. If it's all !, then I'm guessing a head swap won't help (drive wouldn't become ready if heads were completely dead). If you get a donor, I'd try a hot swap instead.

[ijourneaux]

WWhat do you mean when you say a hot swap?

[rchadwick]

A search on here will bring up more details. Basically you power up the good drive, tell it to spin down, remove the PCB while still powered and connected, attach it to the bad drive, and tell it to spin up.

Also, I should have mentioned this earlier, but thought it was obvious. When opening a drive, it must be kept as clean as possible. A few specs of misplaced dust can cause a head crash and/or grinding down the platter surfaces. Those of us doing this for a living have clean benches ($3000 - $10,000). I've heard some rumors about how to do this ghetto-style (In a steamy bathroom, homemade glove box, etc), but can't vouch for any of them.

[ijourneaux]

Thanks for the comments. It has been very interesting to read the message threads that have been posted.

[ijourneaux]

What does the hot swap hope to accomplish? What drive problem does the hot swap try to address and why "might" it work?

<<After further reading, I found the answer to my own question. >>

[ijourneaux]

So I think I have got the idea of a hot swap.

Using an identical hard drive, start up the computer with the donor drive, spin down the drive. With the HHD energized, remove the pcb from the donor drive and install on the problem drive. Try to copy information off of the hard drive. I only need a few relatively small files.

How identical do the drives/pcbs need to be perform a hot swap?

The damaged drive is a 6Y080L.... YAR41BWO M6FYA. I have found several that are 6Y080L... YAR41BWO F8FYA. Is that a close enough match? I believe that both use the Ardent C1-C8.

[BlackST]

My 50 cents :

1) If the drive with the original PCB is NOT recognised at all , the fault is in the PCB or in the drive itself (firmware/head/etc.)
2) If the drive with the original PCB is recognised by BIOS with the factory alias - in this case MAXTOR CALYPSO - it's a firmware issue (and in this case MHDD will show all ! 's )
3) If the drive is recognised correctly with exact model but still not accessible :
- Logical problem (partition damage/boot sector damage)
- Could be another firmware issue
- Could either (5%) be a PCB problem but very very rare
- Could be head problem
4) If the drive is not recognised and knocks after power-up, common in CALYPSO, you could have a head problem.

You can't find solutions for free for firmware issues in this case and also skill is required, unless someone will provide you the tools (sw/hw) and other people want to guide you step by step. Sad but true.
A common issue repaired by a serious DR specialist doesn't cost the world, it depends on how much you can afford for the DR according to the importance of your files.

Regards.

[rchadwick]

I Agree BlackST. However, I think the goal here is less of getting the data, and more of getting experience, and getting the data only if it's very low cost. I don't expect the hot swap to be successful, but that's probably the only thing that can be done under these circumstances. On of my favorite sayings: If your only tool is a hammer, all your problems start looking like nails.

As for the donor, there are many variables. To put it simply, get the best match possible. A better match increases your odds.

[ijourneaux]

I really appreciate everyone comments. As rchadwick mentioned this is mainly a learning project. The data is just a good reason to dig into this.

1) If the drive with the original PCB is NOT recognised at all , the fault is in the PCB or in the drive itself (firmware/head/etc.)

Drive is recognized by the BIOS but not by the operating system. Substituing a known good PCB produces the same results. The PCB in the damaged drive seems to work as putting in a different drive with a damaged smooth chip produces a drive that works.

2) If the drive with the original PCB is recognised by BIOS with the factory alias - in this case MAXTOR CALYPSO - it's a firmware issue (and in this case MHDD will show all ! 's )

I will confirm tomorrow that I am getting the alias. I thought the drive was properly recognized but I may have misread the display. MHDD does show all !'s though

3) If the drive is recognised correctly with exact model but still not accessible :
- Logical problem (partition damage/boot sector damage)
- Could be another firmware issue
- Could either (5%) be a PCB problem but very very rare
- Could be head problem

I will find out for sure when I check the drive again tomorrow

4) If the drive is not recognised and knocks after power-up, common in CALYPSO, you could have a head problem.

There is no knocking clicking when the drive is powered up. When it first starts up, I think I can hear the head reposition and then it spins quietly like normal. When running a scan with MHDD, I don't hear anything from the drive that wsounds liek the head repositioning.

If it is a firmware issue, isn't the hot swap supposed to get you past that problem so that you can access the secotrs on the drive?

I have used the nails and hammer analogy in other problems <grin>.

I really appreciate the discussion. I am probably heading towars an "I told you so" but as long as it is fun, it is good to try.

Take Care all.

[ijourneaux]

The drive is correctly ID'ed as a Maxtor 6Y080L.

I guess that indicates that the problem is as identified in your option 3. Will the hot swap allow me to access the drive in this case or will I have to replace the head stack?

Take Care

[BlackST]

OK - If MHDD can read correct model and correct LBA , trying SCAN what do you get ?
If you get all " ! " then something's wrong in SA.
Is HPA asserted (lit) ?
All !'s could be a SECURITY issue (ATA password that has been set) or the drive is starting NOT normally.
Can you start SCAN ? During SCAN heard any noise from the drive (head seek, knock etc.)
If you see bad blocks (i.e. brown, green, red ones) could be either a firmware issue or head/preamp issue (surge ha damaged the preamp chip on the HSA)
Can you post what MHDD show in reply of the EID command ?
My advice : If you want to get your data back and assuming you can have at hand the proper tools (HW and SW) to handle , don't poke with the firmware unless you know exactly what you're doing and you're ready to risk. I think playing with valuable data is not a clever way to learn how to repair a drive, but you're the owner
Anyway, according to my experience, this seems to be a "minor issue" case, ask a honest professional and ask for evaluation
Best regards.

[ijourneaux]

I will run MHDD again to answer all of your questions

Scan generates only ! marks. I can't hear any motion of the heads when doing a scan. When I turn the drive on, I can hear the heads move but once the head stop moving, I don't hear anything and certainly nothing that sounds like clicking.

I did swap the pcb from the problem drive to another drive and the pcb works so that is not it.

The data is only of personal value. Nothing that I could justify spending serious $$ on. My real objective is to try and learn something about the process and see how far I can get.

I will post the EID results (I know it seemed to run correctly when I did try it) and I will post the status of the HPA.

I really apprecaite your time and interest and hope you will have the time to follow up with conclusions based on current results and any future tests that I could run.

[ijourneaux]

Here is the MHDD screen shot with EID displayed. HPA is asserted. In MHDD the NHPA command fails.

52 ERR INDX CORR DREQ DRSC WRFT DRDY BUSY HPA AMNF T0NF ABRT IDNF UNCR BBK 00
[Maxtor 6Y080L0 ] [ 160,327,793] [ ] [ ]
MHDD>hpa
Maxtor 6Y080L0 LBA:160,327,793 BIOS: 80H
SN:Y2LQ6HTE FW:YAR41BW0 CACHE:2048KB Size = 78285MB
Init drive: Done


HPA manager v2.0 (LBA28/48)
Maxtor 6Y080L0 LBA:160,327,793 BIOS: 80H
SN:Y2LQ6HTE FW:YAR41BW0 CACHE:2048KB Size = 78285MB
Init drive: Done
Read NHPA command...
Fail.
Done (RHPA).
Done (HPA).
MHDD>eid
Maxtor 6Y080L0 LBA:160,327,793 BIOS: 80H
SN:Y2LQ6HTE FW:YAR41BW0 CACHE:2048KB
Supports: LBA48 HPA AAM DLMC LBA MS16 DMA (UDMA6,MWDMA2)
SMART: Disabled SelfTest: Supported ErrorLog: Supported
Size = 78285MB

[ijourneaux]

Just a bump to see if the MHDD screen captures helps point in a direction for salvaging the data on the drive. Appreciate any comments.

[ijourneaux]

Just and update. It looks like doing a hot swap allowed me to access the drive sufficiently to retrieve a good deal of the data on the drive. I am still not quite sure what the hot swap does but it seemed to have worked.

After I did the hot swap, MHDD could actually scan the drive identifying several bad areas. After I powered down, I expected to have to hot swap again to get the drive to a position where I could start retrieving data but I didn't have to.

Thanks everyone for the comments. Appreciate the help