PCB BIOS and FLASH swap

[northwind]

You 've been told that your PCB is fine, yet you still insist on wanting to play with it.

I don't know where you got this from. I already agreed with everyone who told me that it's probably not a PCB issue and was asking about the next steps which were converting to SATA.

From here:

I was told that the controller in the passport that controls the power to the USB can fail, causing the USB port to get a low power supply. USB should be getting at least 1.3 amps. Can someone refer to me some adaptor or something that I can connect the passport to that would give it more power?

Anyway, I don't want to argue with you, nor am I being aggressive.
From what I undestand your best bet would be to follow @maximus advice and use his (excellent, BTW) software. If you're lucky enough, you will get some of your data, at least.

However, you must understand that this:

I'm trying to gain experience in life and will turn to pros for help after exhausting my DIY efforts.

might not be an option if you slaughter your drive, or at least not a cheap one.

Good luck.

[pepe]

I never thought of a synology nas as being the perfect environment to conduct a recovery process on
of course it may be...

[zvit]

@pepe of course not there are no recovery data software that I know of fro Synology, I was just trying to see if it gets detected. I have already been able to scan the drive in macOS virtual so I will try some suggestions here with Ubuntu or some other debian Linux.

[BGman]

As I said before, such a drive operates normally for about 30 sec. Sending "Super Reset" command to the drive you can get another 30 sec., etc.... If your DR software is able to read data by chunks, you may get your data back safely.
Another option is to leave your drive to cope with the problems it has (pending sectors) and returns to normal operation. In some cases this can takes too much time....

[zvit]

As I said before, such a drive operates normally for about 30 sec. Sending "Super Reset" command to the drive you can get another 30 sec., etc.... If your DR software is able to read data by chunks, you may get your data back safely.
Another option is to leave your drive to cope with the problems it has (pending sectors) and returns to normal operation. In some cases, this can takes too much time....

I tried HDDSuperClone as Northwind suggested and you are correct about the "Super Reset"; the drive is read and then stops, then reads again, then stops. Luckily, HDDSuperClone allows you to reload a saved project and continue writing to the same image each time. I didn't want to cause more damage to the drive by letting it do this for 12 hours, so I let it create an image for about 6-7 minutes. R-studio was able to see jpgs in the 14GB image that HDDSuperClone created. So the data is there.

I don't want to disagree with anyone, so bear with me.
My friend that I'm consulting with is almost positive that the drive is not getting enough power (maybe a failed capacitor or something - I don't recall the explanation he gave) and he thinks converting to SATA would give it the power it needs to be cloned sector-by-sector. This doesn't contradict what northwind said, because not enough power would also cause the know "slow response" issue with passports mentioned here.

Yes, of course, it could be other issues mentioned here; bad head; firmware bug; etc; that could be easily fixed in PC3000 (saw a video that PC3000 has functions that fix this very easily - including correct ATA, fw detection, decryption, what have you. But I'm still looking at the DIY methods for educational purposes.

So let's assume that more power would be a good start. I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to give the USB more power without having to convert to SATA and dealing with fw and decryption.

What would you say about some USB power booters like these? (don't laugh at me for the amateur question! )

[BGman]

My friend that I'm consulting with is almost positive that the drive is not getting enough power

Feel free to consult with whoever you want or be as mush stupid as you want.

[maximus]

Skips 42, slow skips 42. Yep, slow responding issue. It has nothing to do with power. Do whatever you want, but remember the part in my previous post where I said not to jump to conclusions...

Speaking of not jumping to conclusions, now that we can see the full model of the drive, it looks like it may be in the era of drives where it might still be possible to apply the slow fix with HDDSuperClone (the HDDSuperTool part). It may be worth a try, and free to try if you are willing to risk it.

But I'm still looking at the DIY methods for educational purposes.

That = data not important, and willing to lose data by trying DIY stuff.

[magnetepazzo]

Hi Zvit, it's nice to see that there are tough people in the world Everyone started from something to become who they are today and I really struggle to understand why people are not told how to fix their unit problems but they just say go to the professional assuming that whoever is on the other side is an incapable person. I will tell you how to solve your problem in a very simple way. Step 1, buy MRT which is the cheapest DR card. 2, convert pcb to sata, just do a main chip check and find one with same main and motor controller, if you provide your board pcb number i will tell you which one to use. 3 connect the card to mrt without the disk and wait for it to exit the bsy state. 4 deactivate the 411 module and mount the card on your disk after disconnecting the power supply. 5 with mrt uses the slow response resolution tool. 6 reactivate the 411 module and turn off the unit. 7 enjoy. Total cost of the operation today I think no more than 3000 $ now I don't remember exactly the cost of mrt however you will have invested well the time and money to enter this family of "strange" people
I forgot, you have to check if the data is encrypted, if it is you have to use the decryption utility built into mrt which you can call up from the options. When you make the purchase I will be happy to show you how to do it with screenshots

[zvit]

Feel free to consult with whoever you want or be as mush stupid as you want.

I don't think it's stupid to consult with more than one person about anything. What would be stupid is to say that he's right and you're wrong - when both of you haven't even seen the hard drive up close. I'm not saying that of course. I mentioned to him what you advised here and I mentioned to you things he said. I'm just soaking in all the information from all sides because ultimately I will have to make the final decision about how to proceed. All respect to you man!

That = data not important, and willing to lose data by trying DIY stuff

I'm with you, just explain when you say "willing to lose data" are you saying that in the state the drive is in now, every minute that it's running can potentially harm the disk and that data should be extracted in a method that's as fast as possible (which would be faster when a pro does it)? Meaning, letting HDDSuperClone extract from it for 12 hours is risky?

Hi Zvit, it's nice to see that there are tough people in the world Everyone started from something to become who they are today and I really struggle to understand why people are not told how to fix their unit problems but they just say go to the professional assuming that whoever is on the other side is an incapable person.

Thanks, man, I appreciate that. I'm not tough; it's just that being the son of a psychologist I was raised to be assertive while still being respectful and honoring other people's opinions. I'm also 47 years old and already father to 5 kids (youngest is a 19 yo marine) and grandfather to 5.5 grandkids, which also makes one assertive )

I will tell you how to solve your problem in a very simple way. Step 1, buy MRT which is the cheapest DR card.

Yes, they are the cheapest and have an interesting online payment plan so you don't have to pay for months you don't work, but it's still a few hundred dollars and not something I'd want to invest at this time since DR is not my real job (just do it on the side when I get an occasional request.)

2, convert pcb to sata, just do a main chip check and find one with same main and motor controller, if you provide your board pcb number i will tell you which one to use.

Already got one. But didn't convert mine to SATA or do anything to the donor PCB yet because I first came to the forum to ask about it.

I forgot, you have to check if the data is encrypted

From what I read, the passports do go through encryption and decryption when using the USB port so converting to SATA would give me encrypted data.

When you make the purchase I will be happy to show you how to do it with screenshots

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind.

[maximus]

I tried HDDSuperClone as Northwind suggested and you are correct about the "Super Reset"; the drive is read and then stops, then reads again, then stops.

The free version of HDDSuperClone does not perform any resets, so what you are seeing is how the drive is responding all on its own. You are jumping to a false conclusion about the reset.

[maximus]

and he thinks converting to SATA would give it the power it needs to be cloned sector-by-sector. This doesn't contradict what northwind said, because not enough power would also cause the know "slow response" issue with passports mentioned here.

I don't think anyone here would argue with me when I say that is a false statement. Lack of power would not cause the "slow response" issue. What lack of power could cause is the drive to start clicking like it had a bad head, and give read errors and lock up unresponsive until a power cycle.

[maximus]

Most of the "white" fields in that screenshot are blank, when almost all of them should have data in them. Did you somehow manage to take a screenshot at the exact moment the display was updating? I just want to make sure there is not some weird issue with HDDSuperClone itself that caused that.

[maximus]

I'm with you, just explain when you say "willing to lose data" are you saying that in the state the drive is in now, every minute that it's running can potentially harm the disk and that data should be extracted in a method that's as fast as possible (which would be faster when a pro does it)? Meaning, letting HDDSuperClone extract from it for 12 hours is risky?

The point is that the drive could die at any time. It could last 5 more seconds or 500 more days (the later is an example not often achieved with a failing drive). The goal for recovering any failing drive is to get the most good data as fast as possible, before it degrades further, causing further data recovery to become more difficult or impossible.

[zvit]

Most of the "white" fields in that screenshot are blank, when almost all of them should have data in them. Did you somehow manage to take a screenshot at the exact moment the display was updating? I just want to make sure there is not some weird issue with HDDSuperClone itself that caused that.

This seems to be a side effect when using Linux in dark mode. I changed to light mode and now it shows up. Should I report this as a bug on their website? (They have a report bug section with an email)

It reads data for about 20-30 seconds every 10 minutes or so. While it's reading data, there are hex values in "data preview." When the reading stops, there are zeros in "data preview" (obviously.) During those 20-30 seconds, the read speed is about 85-95MB/s. Some fields don't update right away. For example, the remaining time will sometimes say 1047 days left (should be when read rate is 0) and sometimes 14 hours left or 3 hours left. (when read rate is 85MB) - but those times take a few minutes to update. (I'll put a few screenshots below)

At first, it would time out every 30 minutes and I would have to manually click "Start" but after watching some of their videos, I changed a few settings and now that only happens once every few hours. I also did the patch with the HDDSuperTool but that didn't help. But it did prove that the data is not encrypted I guess because according to the video, if the data was encrypted it would not be able to patch and would give me an error. Does this mean that if I convert to SATA that I wouldn't have to deal with decryption?

It's been running for about 8 hours and image size is now 103GB. I'm not sure what the phases mean. It's on phase 1. Does this mean that for phase 2 it will start the entire process again or will it just go back and try to read the spots it wasn't able to read in phase 1?

I don't mind paying $200 for the full version but only if it would help speed up the process in my case (or give me an additional solution that I don't have in the free ver). I already changed the read sector size from 512 (I think it was) to the max in the free version (2048 I think) and that didn't help at all. So would raising that size even higher in the pro version really help?

If converting to SATA would help, and I am correct about what I said before that I wouldn't have to deal with decryption (so after wiring a SATA connecter, I would just run HDDSuperClone again), then I would definitely do that.

[maximus]

I only have time to post a quick response, but with the information given it would appear that the drive possibly has a weak/damaged head. To be sure I would need to see the progress log, if you could attach it, which also may give me an indication if something in the pro version would help with the recovery. To see a visual pattern for yourself, you could use HDDSCViewer. But I really need to see the actual progress log for a full analysis. Also, what is the error you get when it stops and you have to restart it? And do you have to power cycle the drive to get it going again?

I honestly don't have an answer if this drive would be encrypted if converted to SATA, but my gut would say probably. The fact that the patch was successful only means the SA (Service Area) access was not locked out. Maybe someone else could answer this.

[zvit]

I only have time to post a quick response, but with the information given it would appear that the drive possibly has a weak/damaged head. To be sure I would need to see the progress log, if you could attach it, which also may give me an indication if something in the pro version would help with the recovery. To see a visual pattern for yourself, you could use HDDSCViewer. But I really need to see the actual progress log for a full analysis.

I honestly don't have an answer if this drive would be encrypted if converted to SATA, but my gut would say probably. The fact that the patch was successful only means the SA (Service Area) access was not locked out. Maybe someone else could answer this.

Thank you maximum, I appreciate your time. I remembered that there was a $20 temporary license so I went ahead and got that for now, why not
I remember reading on the site that it could take a few business days to get the license, but it actually came attached in an email immediately after purchase and I applied it successfully.

Even after applying the license file and restarting the software, I'm still not able to increase the Cluster size more than 2048 - this might be a USB limitation, I can't remember from the videos.

1. Attached is the log as you requested.
2. I'm reading about the virtual mode with DMDE.
3. I saw the use of HDDSCViewer in one of the videos. I saw that the pattern there can show you if a head is not being read. I'll try it.

Also, what is the error you get when it stops and you have to restart it? And do you have to power cycle the drive to get it going again?

I haven't taken a screenshot of the error; I will do so and post a screenshot the next time it happens (might take an hour or so.)
No, I don't have to power cycle, just click START again.

Attachments

tal.log2.txt

(101.37 KiB) Downloaded 849 times

[zvit]

Here is the Viewer. I tried to line up the pattern as best I can. Error message didn't happen yet.

[zvit]

Just wondering if HDDSuperclone can utilize only the good heads, thus getting the data faster. (I know PC3K can) or would this just result in an incomplete recovery and only a head swap would get all the data. Or perhaps when converting to SATA, the additional power (or something) would make the weak head readable? There are no sounds coming from the drive (no clicking, scratching, nothing.)

[zvit]

Also, I'd appreciate if someone can answer a quick question:
Everyone mentioned that the next step would be to convert to SATA.
Would it be correct to say that since there is no evidence that the current PCB has any issues, that I can just convert the current PCB to SATA without having to use the donor PCBs that I purchased?

[magnetepazzo]

Also, I'd appreciate if someone can answer a quick question:
Everyone mentioned that the next step would be to convert to SATA.
Would it be correct to say that since there is no evidence that the current PCB has any issues, that I can just convert the current PCB to SATA without having to use the donor PCBs that I purchased?

Yes it's possible but because you have a sata pcb (if are compatible) the conversion are very fast, you need to swap u12 chip rom on new pcb and enjoy if you want to use usb pcb you need to broke usb bridge and use e75 e73 e72 and e71 pin contact on pcb su sata port