External Toshiba Canvio 2TB HDD failure - What next ?

[fzabkar]

The ROM is unique. Your data is unrecoverable without the original ROM.

Try reading the ROM in a programmer. If the CP section is intact, then there is still some hope.

[Basil1402]

So no one has anything to add?

[northwind]

What to add?

What fzabkar said -- 100% correct.

[Basil1402]

Hi.

Digging up this thread once again.

So I bought a EEPROM reader and read the chip that is on my HDD. I enclosed the result of this operation, but I don't know how to interpret this file.
I attached the .bin and .hex files to this post.

Can someone help me ?

Thanks in advance !

Attachments

save.rar

(765.54 KiB) Downloaded 169 times

[Lukas]

The BIN dump looks good.
Lack of reaction to connecting the power supply may be a matter of incorrect soldering of ROM chip or damage to the 5V fuse.
Or head stuck on platter if you connect / disconnect power quickly or often (but you must hear quet digital sound from drive in this scenario).

Reading the thread, one comes to the conclusion that your actions are very chaotic, ill-considered and very harmful to the disk.

If the disk starts, replacing the PCB is pointless.
Although there are exceptions to this rule.
We recently dealt with a Toshiba MQ04, in which the RAM memory was degraded, and since the part of the software responsible for access to DA is loaded there, replacing the PCB helped and practically most of the data could be read from the severely "leaky" disk (we recorded the entire process in video form).

In your case, looking at the behavior of the disk, problems on the PCB side can be ruled out.

[Basil1402]

Thank you for your reply.

I know I may not have a very rigorous approach. I tested what I could test when I could test in an highly erratic way

For now, I will check the 5V fuses.

Do you have any other recommendations for a future task ?

Thanks again

[Lukas]

The basis of work in all services is, first of all, recognizing the problem and correct diagnosis.
Choosing the MQ04 model to start the recovery adventure was quite a bold move.
If you have access to tools like the PC3000, you should also have access to the manual.
Some information is publicly available:
https://blog.acelab.eu.com/basic-hdd-di ... edure.html
You have to look for others yourself and ask on the forum, preferably before doing any work...

[Basil1402]

Fuses are OK.

And, well, something MUST be wrong with the ROM.

I made another (non-rigorous) test :
- I tested the drive with a known-to-be-ok board, with its original ROM. I knew it was not supposed to be readable, I just wanted to check the motor/head stuck. And the drive spins, no clicking sound.
- I then soldered my ROM onto this board, and... not spinning.
- Reswap the ROM. Drive is spinning. And when I put back the board on the donor HDD, it works flawlessly.

I had check many times my soldering and I would be highly unlucky if, among my dozens of ROM soldering, the ones with my faulty drive ROM would be the only wrong.

To conclude :
- my ROM is readable and its content seems fine (I trust you on that )
- but it cannot be read at boot...

[Lukas]

What do the status register lights look like?

[Basil1402]

I have not access to such an equipment

What is the MQ04 model you are referring to ?

[Lukas]

I have not access to such an equipment

Use MHDD or Victoria and checked.

What is the MQ04 model you are referring to ?

Yours, you did not provide this information, it is included in the ROM file you added.
It is also located on a sticker on the lid.

[Basil1402]

Yours, you did not provide this information, it is included in the ROM file you added.
It is also located on a sticker on the lid.

Aaah I thought you were refering to a specific component, not the HDD itself. Well, I startd with my first faulty HDD

As for the test, with what combination should I do it ? what board and and what ROM ? It needs to be spinning, right ? But how can it be conclusive with the wrong ROM ?

Thank you so much for your help !

[Lukas]

As for the test, with what combination should I do it ? what board and and what ROM ? It needs to be spinning, right ? But how can it be conclusive with the wrong ROM ?

In cases like this, where the user solders the ROM several times, the problem is usually its connection.
It also happens that the chip is rotated 180*.

Combination... It is best to check whether the donor PCB (it is 100% functional) and the patient's ROM, and it is best to upload the patient's input with a programmer without soldering (using a clip or POGO adapter)
It's hard to say anything at the moment, especially from a distance.
Can you show how the ROM chip is soldered to the board...

[SWM]

input with a programmer without soldering (using a clip or POGO adapter)

Yeah, like here:
https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=44391

[SOSdonnees]

I might have missed something but from the very beginning it sounds to me like a very classic "bad sectors" case, with possibly but not necessarily one or several weak heads.

Several elements of the case description point in this direction:

it suddenly became very slow

the NTFS partition is found

DMDE is able to find files but it is so slllllloooooooowwww

So, I don't understand why so much energy is wasted on hardware things, whilst is sounds basically a case of logical failure.

I tried TestDisk : the NTFS partition is found, BS and backup BS are good but it cannot list the files and it stays stuck in the Rebuild BS process.
I tried CrystalDiskInfo. It stays stuck and cannot display any info.
DMDE is able to find files but it is so slllllloooooooowwww

Hum. Things seem being done in wrong order here.
If I understand correctly, you attempted testing the SMART values after having attempted something risky with TestDisk without any idea about the condition of the hard drive, and without prior cloning it. Furthermore CrystalDiskInfo gets stucks, meaning very likely a lot of bad sectors, or at least some of them located in critical sectors, and you attempt running DMDE.
In such a case, I would never apply DMDE directly to the patient disk, apart from through HDDSuperClone's virtual disk mode.

I assumed it was a hardware failure

No, at least initially is sounds very like a mostly logical failure, maybe a severe one where you are killing the disk by attempting things the wrong way. When a drive is spinning, problems rarely originates from the PCB itself (although it may arrive).

I have another model of this HDD

I would advise not only matching the model of the hard drive within the enclosure, like MQ01UBB200, but also its hard drive code "DISK DRIVE : HDK...". But currently it is even useless.

The ref for the board is G0034A.

You also have to ensure that the MCU and HSA controllers are same.
The same PCB board number can be used by many models, especially at Toshiba and Hitachi, but the controller chips are not necessarily the same.

- Patient HDD + Donor PCB + Patient BIOS -> doesn't spin. Can't explain why.

When soldering, did you pay attention to the keying? I mean the small dot on the BIOS chip, and its orientation?
Maybe did you solder it wrong, at 180°?

[Basil1402]

Thank you for your help and sorry if my process has been akward.

It's my first time trying to fix a faulty hdd and I read as much as I could before doing anything, looking for similar issues and trying to apply the same procedures. Yet it seems obvious now I should have asked here in the first place

Now, my progress : I have used a donor board and programed a new ROM with the dump I made. And... it spins ! Hooray ! The disk appears in the explorer but cannot be opened. Back to stage 1.

I tried getting the SMART status with Victoria : Unknown

The details are in the screenshots atteached.

To be rigorous, what is the next move I should make ?

Thanks again, Masters

Attachments

[Lukas]

You see? You have a problem with the surface or heads or both (ID 197), probably due to a fall or something else (ID 191).
You can try making a binary copy to another disk or image, maybe reverse the copy (you can't mount the partition, so that suggests a defect to begin with).
If you don't have professional tools, we recommend using DDrescue (linux).
Be prepared for the fact that it will not be possible to create an image at home, you cannot create a heads map that can be turned off for reading (due to a weak head for example)...

Replacing the PCB was completely unnecessary.

[pepe]

me@23.03.2024:

most likely head/surface damage, possibly both. If the data is important, contact a pro, otherwise go with available tools, but use sata pcb and direct connection.
If you screw up the rom, you are screwed too, it contains info unique to the drive.

[Basil1402]

I am trying to use ddrescue.

The config is : Mint on boot disk, secondary 8TB disk (/dev/sda) and my faulty drive on USB3 (/dev/sdh). I couldn't manage to have a SATA board working, so I stick to USB.

The command I run is :

Code:

sudo ddrescue /dev/sdh /dev/sda/copy/img /home/$groupname$/Documents/log.log -n

Yet I have an error I cannot resolve : "Mapfile exists and is not a regular file" as soon as I run the command.

[Basil1402]

I managed to make it work by running :

Code:

sudo ddrescue -f -r3 /dev/sdh /dev/sda mapfile

Hope it is ok