Western Digital Head Stack swap and DCM

[jermy]

You know what, upload the ROM and I'll try to find you a candidate donor

[labtech]

In the World there are people who recovery data in non-protected atmosphere and with non-proper tools with success, so tools don't count so much like knowledge instead.

Sadly, wrong mentality. What you saw were mere exceptions. Most people fail.
Tools are almost as equally important generally speaking in properly recovering data. The only way around it in terms of knowledge is to create your own tools whether hardware or software based that are as good as the situation requires them to be. Realistic? Not really.

Here is a basic example:
Last Sunday, on the highway, my car tire exploded at 70 mph.
It happened literally a quarter mile before the next service area exit. I drive there slowly. I have AAA (road side assistance for towing here in USA) and of course my donut spare tire and the flat tire swap tools.

AAA was slow on the phone and annoying as always with fifteen different confirmations in getting somebody in a remote location to respond to the call.

So, I went with swapping the flat myself. Do I know how to swap a tire? Yes, I have the knowledge to do so. However, had I not had the tools to lift the car and remove the wheel screws and so on, I could not get the job done.

Luckily, Cadillac had really good tools in there making it a smooth job (plus I was lucky to have flat hard surface parking lot to keep the car stable while lifted - say equivalent of clean room environment).

Now, I had the flat swapping tools. Good. Without tools, I would have been stuck say there was nobody else able to help.

BUT, then, my donut spare was flat too, no air in it virtually. Do I know how to put air in it? Sure, have the knowledge to do so.

Luckly, I had the air pump machine nearby, so drove to it on the flat donut wheel, put air in it, and I was good to go.
Without the air pump machine being available, again I would have been screwed, again had nobody else been around to help or beg other to help, who statistically don't give a s**t pretty much nowadays.

So, were the tools just as valuable as my knowledge to get the job done? Yes, pretty much.

Just food for thought, as based on your intention you are statistically bound to fail as swapping a flat tire is way different than swapping a head stack on a drive whose donor is $100+.

Just curious, how much would you be willing to spend for a successful recovery? Or at least successful for the critical files?

[tono86]

@jermy
Regarding the first part of your post, I don't want to seem a know-all person, believe me, I'm very modest, there are so many things that we (you and I) don't know only on pc environment. So.......
But I really appreciate the second part of your answer guy!! The problem is the hdd is out of order now, cause I've opened it (in an artigianal air-protected box), with all patience and accuracy and I've discovered that the heads are really devastated. So I need doing JTAG to extract rom data, I'm right? (I'm asking you)

@labtech
Logically a minimum set of tools is needed, sure I have screwdrivers, anti-static gloves, tweezers...etc... like you in your case you were lucky to found some tools, surely if you had a mechanical tire changer and wheel balancer it would have been better!!!

A new 500 gb hdd costs 30-40 euros (figure a used one!!), I know that for this job specific tools, air-protected rooms, etc... are needed, but I think starting from a bill of 1.000 euros and up, it's a BIT expensive.
As other cases, the bill is related to the peoples' needs (in this case data isn't so important).

Just curious, are you an hdd data recovery technician?

[tono86]

I'd been able to read microjogs etc... if I had the ROM data, but this is the problem.

[fzabkar]

@tono86, are you certain that the drive has a head fault? AIUI, this particular model is sometimes affected by a "head mimic" fault. A faulty MCU (88i6745-TFJ1) can make it appear as if the drive has bad heads, in which case a board swap, with firmware transfer, should fix it.

WD Tornado:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=255&p=700

BTW, you should also be aware of this:

Oxidisation on Western Digital PCBs:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php? ... 649&p=1789

[pcimage]

@tono86, are you certain that the drive has a head fault? AIUI, this particular model is sometimes affected by a "head mimic" fault. A faulty MCU (88i6745-TFJ1) can make it appear as if the drive has bad heads, in which case a board swap, with firmware transfer, should fix it.

WD Tornado:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=255&p=700

BTW, you should also be aware of this:

Oxidisation on Western Digital PCBs:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php? ... 649&p=1789

This is true, the first thing I check on this series is the PCB.

If you can get hold of a PCB from the exact same model and try it on your drive it would help with the diagnosis. If it still clicks and spins down (assuming this is the basis of your diagnosis of the heads being bad) then heads are bad for sure, but if it sounds normal and stays spinning then there's a reasonable chance the PCB is the issue, then you'll need to look at adaptive transfer.

[tono86]

@tono86, are you certain that the drive has a head fault? AIUI, this particular model is sometimes affected by a "head mimic" fault. A faulty MCU (88i6745-TFJ1) can make it appear as if the drive has bad heads, in which case a board swap, with firmware transfer, should fix it.

WD Tornado:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=255&p=700

I think this is not my case.

BTW, you should also be aware of this:

Oxidisation on Western Digital PCBs:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php? ... 649&p=1789

Yes, unfortunately the PCB is a bit oxidated, I've seen this before open the hdd and I've tried to clean with contact cleaner spray, but some contacts are still damaged.

So maybe the head fault is due to the PCB oxidation.

Maybe it'll need also a PCB swap...the iceberg is getting greater!!

The worse thing is that the hdd never fault any read/write before, until from one day to another, turning on the PC, it failed 3 times head alingment and then spinned down to protection mode.

[labtech]

@labtech
A new 500 gb hdd costs 30-40 euros (figure a used one!!), I know that for this job specific tools, air-protected rooms, etc... are needed, but I think starting from a bill of 1.000 euros and up, it's a BIT expensive.
As other cases, the bill is related to the peoples' needs (in this case data isn't so important).

Doubt you will find a compatible part for less than $100.

Just curious, are you an hdd data recovery technician?

I am.
I would have offered you a free recovery (you just pay for parts and shipping), but since you opened it and don't like to answer a simple question, sorry, can't offer that.

[jermy]

My guess is the head map is: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Plenty of candidates
Regarding the ROM I can assume that ROM F/W version 00210068 or 0021007N will be suitable enough for rebuilding the ROM from the SA copy

[jermy]

Doubt you will find a compatible part for less than $100.

I'll have to agree on this

I would have offered you a free recovery (you just pay for parts and shipping)

Wow, do you have a data recovery charity organisation ?

[tono86]

@tono86, are you certain that the drive has a head fault? AIUI, this particular model is sometimes affected by a "head mimic" fault. A faulty MCU (88i6745-TFJ1) can make it appear as if the drive has bad heads, in which case a board swap, with firmware transfer, should fix it.

WD Tornado:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=255&p=700

BTW, you should also be aware of this:

Oxidisation on Western Digital PCBs:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php? ... 649&p=1789

This is true, the first thing I check on this series is the PCB.

If you can get hold of a PCB from the exact same model and try it on your drive it would help with the diagnosis. If it still clicks and spins down (assuming this is the basis of your diagnosis of the heads being bad) then heads are bad for sure, but if it sounds normal and stays spinning then there's a reasonable chance the PCB is the issue, then you'll need to look at adaptive transfer.

Yes, thanks guys.
I've seen that my PCB had oxidisation problems, cleaned with contact cleaner spray (poor solution) but still damaged.
Maybe this is the issue that caused the head crash too.
Unfortunately the heads are gone for sure. So now I surely need also a PCB swap.

[tono86]

My guess is the head map is: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Plenty of candidates
Regarding the ROM I can assume that ROM F/W version 00210068 or 0021007N will be suitable enough for rebuilding the ROM from the SA copy

Many Thanks jermy.

[tono86]

Doubt you will find a compatible part for less than $100.

I'll have to agree on this

Sure I believe you and I will spend $200-250 if needed but no more.

I would have offered you a free recovery (you just pay for parts and shipping)

Wow, do you have a data recovery charity organisation ?

I was thinking the same thing jermy!!!

[labtech]

No, but I give back sometimes by offering free recovery (except parts, new drive for recovery and shipping).
Testing the law of reciprocity is a cool experiment once in a while.

[tono86]

@fzabkar, @pcimage
I wrote two posts thanking you and saying that actually I've discovered also the oxidisation problem in my PCB and tried to clean, but they are still waiting the "moderator view".
When the posts will be public you will read them.