WD Head donor compatibility

[PBernard]

I am searching for a donor disk for a WD3200JB-00KFA0. Do I need to match the entire DCM or just specific characters?Thank you for any assistance.

[PBernard]

Nobody knows? Or should it be entire DCM for best compatibility?

[dobrevjetser]

Hi Pbernard,

This item as been discussed several times allready.
Just use the search function and you'll find your answers.

Regards,

Dobre

[rameez]

Read the head stack article .

[pcimage]

Hi Pbernard,

This item as been discussed several times allready.
Just use the search function and you'll find your answers.

Regards,

Dobre

I've read the articles here, the ACE manuals, Deepspar forum and consulted with Salvation Technical support.

Differing answers.

ACE and HDD guru say digits 5 & 6 of DCM, DeepSpar say it does not matter about DCM, and Salvation say it's the first 4 digits!

Can anyone finally put this one to bed, with actual experience, rather than hearsay?

[acforensics]

I agree. I've heard varying criteria also. I've been going by the 5th and 6th characters and the head configurations have been the same, but that's just been my experience.

A

[TerraNova]

my experience is the last 4 digits in DCM must be the same

[pcimage]

So, despite discussing it again, we're no nearer to a definitive answer?

[acforensics]

Haha. Not yet. Shall we vote?

A

[pcimage]

Yes, good idea.

Most popular solution wins!!

[pcimage]

Still no firm answer?

Someone must know, from experience.

[Tiago Costa]

I have a case that even matching the dcm, the heads still not be compatible. I'm searching to understand why. But be free to any help. .

Answering your question the rule for DCM is match the 5th and 4th 5th 6th and 7th we shoult try to match.

[Tawfeek]

i pass DCM in royal

[ROb]

My Experience is when Family is a match it works most of the time. Even if Capacity is different, they match Off course the head Map has to be same.

[ROb]

Like
WD5000LPVX-22VOTTO is a perfect match of WD5000LMVW-11VEDS0 and worked like charm.

[Dmitri]

Overall criterion is the drive from the same batch.
But that's old WDs, if you're looking for a head stack, which will work immediately after the swap, I'd say chances are 1-2%. Most likely it will require an extra voodoo dance after replacement to start reading.

[BGman]

DCM is somewhat ambiguous - there is one on the label and another one in mod 02. Which one you are talking about?
Information about the HSA can be found also in mods 0A, 47, C5, etc....

[fzabkar]

This article explains what to look for in a donor drive:
http://www.deepspar.com/blog/Donor-Drive.html

... taking Western Digital drives as an example, several vendor-specific parameters located in the ROM and RAM of the drive help in finding a donor with better compatibility:

Head map
Microjog adaptives
Drive information table
Firmware release

Unfortunately, none of these parameters are located on a drive’s label. However, you can retrieve them using some data recovery tools.

Here is a good explanation of microjogs:
http://www.alexsoft.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=24#p1721

An HDD Oracle forum member has written a tool to extract important donor matching data (microjogs, preamp values) from MOD 47.

See http://www.alexsoft.org/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=1009

MOD 0A and MOD 0D contain "DCM", head map and firmware version information, including head and media type.

[fzabkar]

MOD 47 in ROM contains SA adaptives, microjogs and preamp values.

MOD 47

Code:

Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

00000000  52 4F 59 4C 01 00 1E 00 47 00 03 00 99 51 35 7A  ROYL............
00000010  48 53 6F 30 30 30 30 36 07 07 07 00 30 00 C0 01  HSo00006........
00000020  E0 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 43 57  ..............CW

Code:

offset    function
-------------------------------------------
0x1E      location of preamp values (0x1C0)
0x20      location of microjogs (0x1E0)
0x2E      DCM values for Head/Media type (heads = type C, media = type W)

preamp values (little-endian)

Code:

Offset(h) 00       04       08       0C

000001C0  1F723204 18842C06 1E722804 1A943207
000001D0  20723002 1D743201 00042002 00042002

microjogs (little-endian)

Code:

Offset(h) 00   02   04   06   08   0A   0C   0E

000001E0  F411 4B13 2D12 3713 F911 1113 0A0A 0A0A

Code:

HEAD NO | MICROJOGS | PREAMP VAL
--------------------------------
0         11F4        0432721F
1         134B        062C8418
2         122D        0428721E
3         1337        0732941A
4         11F9        02307220
5         1311        0132741D
6         0A0A        02200400
7         0A0A        02200400

MOD 0A in ROM contains the head map and DCM (Drive Configuration Matrix).

MOD 0A

Code:

Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

00000000  52 4F 59 4C 04 00 1E 00 0A 00 01 00 24 60 37 6D  ROYL............
00000010  30 30 30 32 30 30 30 30 0B 04 0C 00 00 00 30 0D  00020000........
00000020  04 06 06 00 00 00 7C 4E 7C 52 57 43 55 48 52 44  ......|N|RWCUHRD
00000030  55 55 00 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 00 AA F5 3F 00  UU..............
00000040  3F 00 00 00 00 00 47 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................

Code:

offset      function
----------------------------
0x26        DCM (|N|RWCUHRD)
0x21/0x22   number of physical/logical heads (06/06)
0x23/0x24   heap map in earlier models
0x3C        single word checksum of the addresses 1E to 3D, such that it should equal zero
0x3E/0x40   head map (0x3F = heads 0,1,2,3,4,5)

Section 18 of MOD 02 contains the DCM and manufacture date.

MOD 02

Code:

Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

000004B0                                            00 01
000004C0  53 7C 42 4E 4C 41 50 52 4D 57 48 43 43 55 52 48  S|BNLAPRMWHCCURH
000004D0  56 52 4B 4A 55 47 00 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  VRKJUG
000004E0  20 20 20 20 31 31 2D 31 30 2D 32 30 31 32 00 00      11-10-2012
000004F0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00000500  00 00 00 00

Comparison of DCMs in MODs 0A and 02

Code:

.| N | R W C U H R D     MOD 0A
S|BNLAPRMWHCCURHVRKJUG   MOD 02
      | | |
      | | heads
      | |
      | media
      |
      preamp ?

Each DCM component in MOD 02 appears to be comprised of two characters. The first character denotes the component (eg media, headstack) while the second character identifies the supplier (?) of the component.

media type MW (M = media)
heads type HC (H = heads)
? preamp type PR (P = preamp?)

The DCM on the label (HGRNHVJCG) doesn't have any obvious relationship to the DCM in the firmware.

The following thread discusses the DCM in earlier models.

Western Digital - What is DCM?
viewtopic.php?t=6488

Example for old models:

DCM: HSEHYV2AH

1- Motor (H)
2- Base (S)
3- Latch (E)
4- Bottom VCM (H)
5- Media (Y)
6- Headstack (V)
7- Actuator-Preamp (2)
8- Top VCM (A)
9- Separator (H)

MOD 4F (in ROM) and MOD 11 (SA) identify the firmware version (00040027 and 00040028). The versions are not always identical.

MOD 4F

Code:

Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

00000000  52 4F 59 4C 04 00 1E 00 4F 00 02 00 AC 4A 8F A0  ROYL............ 
00000010  30 30 30 34 30 30 32 37 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00040027........

MOD 11

Code:

Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

00000000  52 4F 59 4C 03 00 30 00 11 00 C1 04 FF 26 4C 6F  ROYL............
00000010  30 30 30 34 30 30 32 38 07 07 07 00 00 00 55 AA  00040028........

MOD C5 - materials list ?

Code:

Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

00000000  52 4F 59 4C 01 00 30 00 C5 00 20 02 5C F2 0E BA  ROYL..0.Å. .\ò.º
00000010  48 53 44 59 73 30 31 30 07 07 07 00 00 00 00 00  HSDYs010........
00000020  00 00 00 50 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ...P............
00000030  00 80 FE 00 02 80 01 30 01 10 03 82 62 F1 04 80  .€þ..€.0...‚bñ.€
00000040  09 10 44 49 41 42 4C 4F 33 44 00 01 81 01 10 00  ..DIABLO3D......
00000050  00 81 01 10 00 02 81 01 10 00 04 82 03 E0 05 00  ...........‚.à..
00000060  10 00 01 00 04 82 50 10 57 44 42 5F 4B 31 30 00  .....‚P.WDB_K10.
00000070  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 53 41 45 5F 57 31 35 32  ........SAE_W152
00000080  5F 33 35 44 42 31 00 00 53 41 45 5F 57 31 38 33  _35DB1..SAE_W183
00000090  5F 33 35 44 42 31 00 00 53 41 45 5F 57 31 38 33  _35DB1..SAE_W183
000000A0  5F 33 35 44 42 32 4D 00 53 41 45 5F 57 31 38 39  _35DB2M.SAE_W189
000000B0  5F 33 35 44 42 32 4D 00 05 82 03 E0 03 00 0C 00  _35DB2M..‚.à....
000000C0  01 00 05 82 24 10 54 49 35 35 38 30 00 00 00 00  ...‚$.TI5580....
000000D0  00 00 4C 53 49 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 4C 53  ..LSI.........LS
000000E0  49 5F 36 2D 43 48 5F 42 31 00 06 82 03 E0 02 00  I_6-CH_B1..‚.à..
000000F0  06 00 01 00 06 82 0C 10 53 48 4F 57 41 00 57 44  .....‚..SHOWA.WD
00000100  4D 4F 00 00 07 82 02 E0 05 00 01 00 07 82 05 10  MO...‚.à.....‚..
00000110  59 41 42 43 56 08 82 02 E0 03 00 01 00 08 82 03  YABCV.‚.à.....‚.
00000120  10 01 00 02 09 82 02 E0 02 00 01 00 09 82 02 10  .....‚.à.....‚..
00000130  53 57 3D 01 01 50 31 03 00 00 3E 01 01 50 20 00  SW=..P1...>..P .
00000140  00 00 3F 01 01 50 00 00 00 00 09 01 08 10 48 53  ..?..P........HS
00000150  44 59 73 30 31 30 DB 01 01 10 01 DC 01 01 10 01  DYs010Û....Ü....

DIABLO3D - family name

headstack options (SAE = SAE Magnetics)

WDB_K10
SAE_W152_35DB1
SAE_W183_35DB1
SAE_W183_35DB2M
SAE_W189_35DB2M

preamp options (TI = Texas Instruments, LSI = LSI Logic)

TI5580
LSI
LSI_6-CH_B1

media options (SHOWA = Showa Denko)

SHOWA
WDMO

The DCX on the label (8D06C1F03) appears to be related to the family code (DC0) in the model number suffix (WDC WD30EZRX-00DC0B0).