Hi!

I've got a weird problem with a drive that I hope to get some help with..

The drive is a WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0 with serial starting at WMAZ.


Now to the problem;

I was copying stuff to the drive, about 150GB of files.. Would've had about 100GB left on the drive when done, so it was getting pretty full.. Suddenly I noticed my computer getting extremely unresponsive (Windows 7 64bit, linked all user folders like "my documents", "Desktop" and so on to this drive). I finally closed everything and attempted a reboot, but it wouldn't reboot and I had to hit reset..

After this, the computer wouldn't boot up, stuck at the Windows 7 screen with the glowing flag. I tried to boot the setup CD for Win7 in order to check whats wrong, same thing here.. I left it sitting at the loading screen and after an hour it finally continued and booted up.. Computer was still unresponsive as it had to access user files on the drive.. Turned the computer off and opened the case to disconnect the drive, after this the computer booted up normally which led me to head to the store and buy a new drive (Hitachi 2TB) and a SATA USB enclosure for the defective drive.

I installed the new drive internally and put the defective drive (WD20EARS) in the USB enclosure to copy stuff off it. The computer boots normally but the drive does not show up until after about an hour. chkdsk also spent about a day to get through it, finding no errors. I copied everything over to the hitachi drive, and got all the important stuff.. there was 10 files or so that was unreadable, but luckily no important ones... Accessing files and reading files from the drive was extremely slow.. My user folder had about 18 GB and 20 000 files, and took more than 24 hours to copy. I got less than 1 MB/s while copying.. It took a while to get all the 1600GB out, some parts had faster read times, to me I got the impression that larger files was quicker to read than many small files.. And for some reason, if I had two copy-processes (two copying windows) running at the same time, it made the drive read quicker and have higher transfer speeds which I find to be very weird.. Got about 1.5 to 2MB/s using that method..

After I got all the stuff copied over, I deleted the partition and created a new and formatted it (quick format, windows 7), but the drive is still unresponsive and takes a long time before it shows up in Windows. Western Digitals DLGDIAG says all is OK on the quick test, while the extended test tells me it will take 5 or 6000 minutes, or about a week or two.. Does anyone have any idea of what might be wrong with the drive? It seems to be fine mechanically, as it can read and write and all that, but it's just extremely slow....

Could be a firmware problem, not a DIY.

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Rescue IT Datarecovery service Sweden
Rescue IT Dataräddning Göteborg AB
http://www.rescue-it.se

Agree, common problem but requires specialist tools to fix.

Better just to RMA

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PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

RMA it or buy a new one, OR find a pro in your area who can refurb the drive for a nominal fee.

Hi!

Thanks for the answers.. I checked up on RMA'ing it and it's not really an option.. I would have to send it to Malaysia (I'm in Philippines), and the cost of shipping, not sure if I had to pay the return shipping, but almost certain there would be customs and all, so the total cost is pretty much a new drive...


Does anyone know someone in the Philippines that does work like this and is reliable? If not, is there anything I could try at all, doesn't really matter if it's risky as I already got everything off it and now it's just a paperweight anyway.. Perhaps find a firmware-file and reflash the firmware?

Not going to resolve the problem.

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

@Skauber,

As labtech said, if this is a firmware problem, it won't be fixed by your suggestion to "reflash the firmware". Repairing a firmware problem is not the same as "reflashing" the firmware.

I suggest you read this thread, to get some more background info:

diy-what-the-big-deal-t12671.html

Ok, so repairing firmware is not as easy as I thought..

Just a final question, is there anything I could try that has a small chance of reviving the drive, or does it really require special tools that I simply don't have access to? If I don't find anyone in the Philippines that does this stuff and is reliable, and theres absolutely nothing I can do, this drive is nothing but a paperweight.. Which is why I dont mind taking chances with it, even if it means that the drive might be destroyed..

Summary of the situation:
1) We do not really know for sure what is wrong with the drive, therefore we can't quite tell you what to try
2) This is a WD family drive that is tricky to recover even for decent pros
3) Let's assume the drive has a firmware issue ONLY - the cheapest tool, which is not very reliable, to try anything is more than $400 (this does not include the knowledge, training and the time to learn how to develop the proper skills, which is kind of the equivalent of something like "I have a airplane in my backyard, but I am not quite sure how to fly it or where to start learning how to fly". Keep in mind that there are all sorts of airplanes out there, some $4,000, some $400,000 and some that are $40 mil. Same applies to DR tools. Pretty sure, you would not be interested in going through all of this to just "try" something.
4) Let's assume the drive has a mechanical failure ONLY - here there is need of other broad knowledge to successfully address internal issues. Such knowledge includes what meets the compatibility criterion, then need good vision, great dexterity, advanced understanding of internal component architecture, the proper tools, a clean-room, and of course parts, which if lucky to find in working condition for a minimum of let's generously say give or take an average of $100 depending on location. Pretty sure you would not want to spend $100 to experiment with something that will likely require the resources in step 3 anyway just to verify that the firmware is good, because in order to work with the firmware the mechanics have to be in working order.
5) Let's say the drive has a combination of the above, then you can clearly see that all resources above would be necessary.
6) Let's say you stabilize the drive's mechanics (which you also need advanced tools to test with unless you have vast experience in finding other ways to test, but keep in mind that this is just testing at this point) and firmware, and assume the electronics are good, which should be, then what about if the drive has developed bad sectors? Ouuuuch, now we have to assess how many and where without further damaging the drive. Tricky and likely to cause serious damage with out the proper tools, knowledge and experience.

I left many uncovered holes above, hence I could go on and on... but I hope I conveyed enough to make you draw a realistic conclusion about the challenge ahead solely based on assumptions.

If you still feel it is worthwhile to pursue something, I feel comfortable saying that all the info needed to do basic stuff can be found here on the forum. Use the search function and start reading and little by little you will may be able to learn to do some trivial things.

Best wishes.

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

Ok, thanks.. In other words, forget the drive and move on.. A new drive only cost around 150 bucks, and since there's absolutely nothing of value on the drive it's really pointless to pursue it.. And since RMA'ing it will most likely come in just shy of the same 150 bucks including all shipping costs and customs, then it's simply a worthless drive..

Thanks for all the answers! At least I was able to learn something through it..

No problem.

Have you thoroughly checked the data you have recovered off the failed drive? Is it all good?

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

Yep, it's all good, with the exception of 10 or 15 files which were non-important files, so I got everything off it and I guess I should be thankful for that..

Really strange.

Well, if it is slow due to firmware issue, then there is no free or cheap solution I can think of. Dead end.
Likely not a mechanical issue because if it was, then a lot more than 15 files would not be good.
If it is a bad sector issue, then you can try zero filling the drive. You can look into MHDD and try erasing the drive. Warning, this will destroy the data. If this will somehow resolve the slowness, I would not rely on the drive for data storage. It will fail sooner than later permanently.

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

The WD DLDIAG software has a "Write zero's" option, would that do the trick?


I figured that if I could make it work again normally, I'd find some use for it maybe as a secondary storage or backup for replaceable files like movies and what not.. But yeah, even if fixed, I'd never trust that drive..

Though not familiar with it, sure, try it, as you said, you have nothing to lose. Recommend the DOS version. Such operations in Windows are typically problematic.

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

It won't help to zero fill the drive, it's firmware related...sorry to say.

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Rescue IT Datarecovery service Sweden
Rescue IT Dataräddning Göteborg AB
http://www.rescue-it.se

I agree, I suspect firmware as well, but this behavior kind of stirs thoughts up a bit (though this is basically based on OP's own interpretation, which we do not know for sure if accurate or not):

"... It took a while to get all the 1600GB out, some parts had faster read times, to me I got the impression that larger files was quicker to read than many small files.. And for some reason, if I had two copy-processes (two copying windows) running at the same time, it made the drive read quicker and have higher transfer speeds which I find to be very weird.. Got about 1.5 to 2MB/s using that method.."

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

What I meant about that is when I compared the time it took to get files out, some folders was quicker to copy than other, despite similar size.. However, it might be that one folder tree had a ton of sublevels, while the other folder did not have that many. Perhaps that affects seek times. Larger files was generally quicker to copy than smaller files, as in a 20 GB folder of 20 000 files took longer than a 80 GB folder with a few movies.. And lastly, if I used the method of running two copy processes at the same time, it effectively doubled the speed of it.. As when I just had one single, it seemed as if the drive read some files, then stopped for a while, then started reading again and then stop again.. In stopping I mean just stop reading and seeking, the it still were spinning fine.. When running two copy processes, it seemed as if it were "tricked" in to reading more and not stop.. Not sure if that makes sense, but it's the best way I can describe it..

I think apart from trying to zero it, it's generally not worth pursuing the drive itself. Other than actually learning something from it..

I can add that I did take off the PCB and cleaned the contacts.. They were somewhat dirty, brownish.. Same type of corrosion you get when you touch the contact points with your fingers.. This didn't make any difference..

Typically it doesn't.

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts