WD external drive extremely slow

[martinsjonass]

Greetings!
I have an external WD 2TB drive that is extremely slow. Data is about 350GB and very important on it and I would be glad to get all data off of it.
First of all, it has only USB connection, so I cannot connect it to SATA. The drive model is WD20NMVW. PCB number 2060-771961-001 REV A.
When connected to computer it is not recognized immediately, only after few minutes it appears in Disk management. After that, reading folder structure takes very long time. When trying to copy data off, 1MB copies 10 minutes. It would take ages to get those files off.
I would greatly appreciate any help or advise. Please let me know what kind of information I can add to help understand the problem. Also tool and software suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[pcimage]

Drive has bad sectors, firmware damage and/or physical heads issues. Or a combination of all 3.

Not realistically DIY'able.

[martinsjonass]

Sorry I should have mentioned that my knowledge about data recovery is limited, but I am here to learn really. What would be the logical steps to take to get data readable at normal speed and then take a copy of whole drive? As far as I know firmware can be fixed. Can you suggest some good learning materials?

[fzabkar]

Examine the SMART report using a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo.

http://crystalmark.info/software/Crysta ... dex-e.html

Look for reallocated, pending, or uncorrectable sectors.

Assuming that your drive is suffering from bad sectors, then I would clone it, sector by sector, using a tool (eg ddrescue) that understands how to work around bad media. Ddrescue keeps a log so that it can resume after an interruption.

If ddrescue proceeds slowly, you should apply the "slow fix" in the following threads:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29187&start=20
http://www.alexsoft.org/viewtopic.php?t ... 4345#p4345

That said, being a USB drive makes it a little more difficult. You could either convert it to SATA mode and then apply the "slow fix", or you could wait for a tool that can do the same thing via USB. A WD forum member named "beLIEve" is developing (or has developed?) such a tool, as is a ddrescue developer.

[martinsjonass]

fzabkar,
Thank you so much for your response.
I downloaded and ran CrystalDiskInfo but it cannot get SMART report. It takes about 5 minutes for CrystalDiskInfo to launch, I think that is because of that bad drive. The drive is recognized, but no SMART report data. Attached you can find picture of CrystalDiskInfo.
Is it still worth to try to clone the drive with Ddrescue? Or should I look for converting it to SATA? Unless "slow fix" can be applied any other way.

P.S. I found your posts in earlier topics and found them very educative and interesting for me. Thank you.

Attachments

[MindMergepk]

Drive has bad sectors, firmware damage and/or physical heads issues. Or a combination of all 3.

Not realistically DIY'able.

+1

[martinsjonass]

I see, but as I wrote earlier, I am here to learn.
As fzabkar said, it is possible to apply "slow fix" but it would require to convert to SATA. What SATA PCB would work instead of 2060-771961-001 REV A?

[fzabkar]

CrystalDiskInfo has trouble retrieving SMART data via certain USB-SATA bridges. It may be that HD Sentinel or smartctl (smartmontools) would be better for this.

As for converting your PCB to SATA, perhaps the most expedient way would be to obtain a compatible SATA PCB and transfer the contents of "BIOS IC 2" from patient to donor. You would apply the "slow fix" with the SATA PCB, and then revert to the USB PCB for your data recovery, assuming that the data are hardware encrypted by the bridge firmware.

http://ep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-144375849714 ... -001-7.gif

According to Ace Lab, compatible SATA PCBs for your drive would be 2060-771960, 2060-771939, or 2060-771959.

http://ts.acelaboratory.com/index.php?/ ... usb-drives

PCB suppliers such as hddparts.com or onepcbsolution.com (same company) include a "BIOS" transfer service in the price. Please ensure that the original IC remains with your patient PCB so that you can revert to your original board.

Edit: When looking for a compatible SATA PCB, you need to match the MCU (88i9446-NDB2) and the motor controller (WD Nautilus). You will notice that the boards are similar in appearance except for the addition of U11 (USB-SATA bridge IC) and U14 (bridge firmware) to the front end.

[martinsjonass]

Thanks fzabkar,

Is BIOS transfer something I could do myself?

Here is what I got from smartctl if I used it correctly.

root@partedmagic:~# smartctl -a /dev/sdc
smartctl 6.3 2014-07-26 r3976 [i686-linux-3.17.3-pmagic] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-14, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Western Digital Elements / My Passport (USB, AF)
Device Model: WDC WD20NMVW-11AV3S0
Serial Number: WD-WXH1E33YYKU6
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 25e67fb87
Firmware Version: 01.01A01
User Capacity: 2,000,398,934,016 bytes [2.00 TB]
Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate: 5200 rpm
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: ACS-2 (minor revision not indicated)
SATA Version is: SATA 3.0, 3.0 Gb/s (current: 3.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is: Sun Dec 28 17:58:39 2014 EST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Status not supported: Incomplete response, ATA output registers missing
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
Warning: This result is based on an Attribute check.

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity
was never started.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: (37620) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 415) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 5) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x7035) SCT Status supported.
SCT Feature Control supported.
SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 198 194 051 Pre-fail Always - 1951
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 232 207 021 Pre-fail Always - 3383
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 1468
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 200 200 140 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002e 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 65535
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 090 090 000 Old_age Always - 7750
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 775
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 636
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 055 055 000 Old_age Always - 435480
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 116 087 000 Old_age Always - 36
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 218
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0008 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
ATA Error Count: 5365 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
CR = Command Register [HEX]
FR = Features Register [HEX]
SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
ER = Error register [HEX]
ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 5365 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 7749 hours (322 days + 21 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 51 02 00 00 00 00

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
e1 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00:00:45.799 IDLE IMMEDIATE
ec 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00:00:45.799 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ec 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00:00:01.167 IDENTIFY DEVICE

Error 5364 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 7749 hours (322 days + 21 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 51 02 00 00 00 00

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
e1 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00:07:49.037 IDLE IMMEDIATE
ec 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00:07:49.037 IDENTIFY DEVICE
b0 d0 00 00 4f c2 00 00 00:06:30.501 SMART READ DATA
e1 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00:04:15.136 IDLE IMMEDIATE
ec 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00:04:15.135 IDENTIFY DEVICE

Error 5363 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 7749 hours (322 days + 21 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 51 02 00 00 00 00

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
e1 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00:04:15.136 IDLE IMMEDIATE
ec 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00:04:15.135 IDENTIFY DEVICE
e1 00 0f 00 00 00 00 00 00:03:14.998 IDLE IMMEDIATE
e1 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00:03:12.892 IDLE IMMEDIATE
ec 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00:03:12.891 IDENTIFY DEVICE

Error 5362 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 7749 hours (322 days + 21 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 51 0f 00 00 00 00

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
e1 00 0f 00 00 00 00 00 00:03:14.998 IDLE IMMEDIATE
e1 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00:03:12.892 IDLE IMMEDIATE
ec 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00:03:12.891 IDENTIFY DEVICE
b0 da 00 00 4f c2 00 00 00:02:40.037 SMART RETURN STATUS
b0 d1 01 01 4f c2 00 00 00:02:40.028 SMART READ ATTRIBUTE THRESHOLDS [OBS-4]

Error 5361 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 7749 hours (322 days + 21 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 51 02 00 00 00 00

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
e1 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00:03:12.892 IDLE IMMEDIATE
ec 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00:03:12.891 IDENTIFY DEVICE
b0 da 00 00 4f c2 00 00 00:02:40.037 SMART RETURN STATUS
b0 d1 01 01 4f c2 00 00 00:02:40.028 SMART READ ATTRIBUTE THRESHOLDS [OBS-4]
b0 d0 01 00 4f c2 00 00 00:02:32.056 SMART READ DATA

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Short offline Interrupted (host reset) 60% 7749 -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

[martinsjonass]

I am now running ddrescue, but it still is very slow - 500MB in last 24 hours. At some points it stops and starts to count time how long ago last successful read was. Then I stop the process with Ctrl+C and reconnect drive, because it becomes unresponsive.
Smartctl report pending for admin approval.

[falther]

I see, but as I wrote earlier, I am here to learn.
As fzabkar said, it is possible to apply "slow fix" but it would require to convert to SATA. What SATA PCB would work instead of 2060-771961-001 REV A?

Infact the advice from PCimage was the best one to get - he is one of
THE WD specialists in the DR business around the globe.

Everything else is misleading into Do It Yourself
- and I am kind of surprised / sad (etc.) to see it so often, that even
when its obvious that the hdd shouldnt be touched any more by a non
DR person, ...some collegues here in the forum still pass on information
(in good faith) how to go on in DIY

non of these collegues will pay a cent if your drive dies while you work
on it.

- You wont learn DR in a few hours
- if your data is valuable dont go on in DIY
- there are several reputable DR specialists here in the forum out of your
. area - just ask - and contact them locally to let them check your drive
. to get a quote

Do you instantly start to repair any mechanical /electrical machine you
have at home if it breakes ?

I dont want to be inpolite, but a few clear words might save your data
Happy new year

+++

[lcoughey]

I have to agree with Falter and PCImage on this one. It really is not a DIY case. The more you run the drive, the worse it is going to get, decreasing the odds of a successful recovery by a pro, while increasing the cost for the pro to do it.

If your data is worth $300USD or more, get it assessed by a professional data recovery lab. If your data isn't worth that much, then go crazy fighting with the drive over the next few months. Just don't change your mind after the drive dies.

[martinsjonass]

I guess I have to agree to all of you that this case is a little bit more complicated.

I am in Washington DC area, United States. If you know and can suggest some good DR pro that would assess my hdd and give me honest quote based on real situation, I would greatly appreciate that.

falther, thank you for honest words. I appreciate that. And yes, I am that kind of a guy who likes to fix things myself. I like dealing with mechanical and electrical things. Before starting doing something I like to investigate and get more knowledge about the problem. That is why I am here to get help.

[lcoughey]

My suggestions are as follows...of course, including my company at the end of the list.

Atlanta - www.datasaversllc.com
Providence - www.data-medics.com
Ontario, Canada - www.recoveryforce.com (either $350CAD for non clean room recovery or $1400CAD for clean room recovery)

[data-medics]

The reason it's not a DIY case is that some special tools (such as PC-3000) are required to fix the firmware bug that's making it so slow. If you're willing to invest $6000 in tools, we could very easily walk you through the rest. Otherwise it'll be a huge project that'll take you forever to accomplish.

Based on what you're describing the cost will likely be about $450 if we handle it here. Which will include fixing the firmware bug and recovering the data onto another drive. Though it's hard to say for certain until we actually check the drive ourselves.

[fzabkar]

My suggestion would be http://www.300dollardatarecovery.com. Their business model is a fixed price $300 data recovery using non-invasive methods. That is, they will do their best to recover your data without opening your drive, using the same hardware imaging tools and software that the more expensive shops use. Their fixed price business model means that they cannot and will not attempt to upsell you an expensive headswap.

As for requiring PC$10K to perform a simple "firmware repair" (which BTW is not indicated by the symptoms), any relatively inexpensive data recovery tool can "deal with slow responding". The fact is that the WD "slow issue" is a bread-and-butter problem that brings in easy income for most shops. The freeware solution achieves exactly the same end as the expensive tools. Otherwise WDMarvel can do it for $100.

[kpeddie]

Of course it also precludes them from replacing the heads in the reasonably likely event that the heads need to be replaced...

[fzabkar]

More info ...

http://ts.acelaboratory.com/index.php?/ ... g-solution

[lcoughey]

My suggestion would be http://www.300dollardatarecovery.com. Their business model is a fixed price $300 data recovery using non-invasive methods. That is, they will do their best to recover your data without opening your drive, using the same hardware imaging tools and software that the more expensive shops use. Their fixed price business model means that they cannot and will not attempt to upsell you an expensive headswap.

If we don't need the clean room, we don't charge for the clean room. The only time I ever hear about data recovery labs charging clean room rates for non clean room work is from the companies who don't offer in house clean room services. Though, I'm sure that there are likely a few scammers out there...most aren't as evil as they are being portrayed.

[lcoughey]

By the way, 300DDR charges an extra $100 for this model of drive...just because it has encryption, not because it makes it any more complex to recover (the majority of the time).