HGST issue SA or Head or Firmware question

[athena]

Hi All
I have HGST HTS725050A7E630 hard disk.
In PC3000 UDMA it takes some time to come to DRD DSC , after initially giving error it gets detected when selected correct family.
I can read firmware modules as well . Some of the modules are showing errors ( out of 2 copies 1 copy of most of the important A grade are OK )
It has single 450 GB partition , I am getting read errors while imaging disk.
I have observed that reading is better in following conditions -
1) In utility status when " SA surface write by 1 sector " is selected
2) Techno Key is selected
3) Hdd translator initialization in RAM is selected.
In DE when active utility reading is selected , I could access data but suddenly disk starts showing all sectors bad.

I am sure drives heads are Ok , but a firmware corruption is preventing data access . Cant read MFTs so no directory structure is visible.
Finally I have started imaging entire 450 Gb partition by selecting one head at a time & have been able to copy 200Gb disk.

I have not done anything as customers data is important. Can anyone give me some suggestion for handling this case most professionally and in technically correct manner ?
Thanks.

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[hddbug]

It seems modules cannot be read due to bad sectors in SA , recovery complex , bad sectors in SA must be reallocated , I haven't seen this option in pc3000 , may be it needs deeper understanding of hitachi .good luck

[labtech]

If you have data access, even limited, then the SA is in minimum working condition to work (hence why can access data).
Now, for this series drives, in failed state, it is normal behavior give or take. Nevertheless, seems you have a severe case, where the surface is very degraded and at least one head unstable.
First thing is to know whether the heads really do work, and if they do, have to work out the translator quirks, so that the drive can stably continue imaging upon heating an error.

[athena]

Hi labtech thanks a lot for suggestion.

I can access data area & have so far imaged 65 % sectors ,so heads seems to be Ok.
I have done " initilization of translator in ram " in hitachi utility as well.
I am using active utility function in de for imaging.
Drive starts imaging perfectly normal but for some blocks it loses reading and gives all read errors as shown in snapshot 6.
Is there anything else i can try?

[athena]

I am not able to read module RDM2 - G-list module copy , read errors could be because of this.

Should I erase smart & clear RDMT ( G list) , How can I regerate translator in such case , I could not see option of translator regeberation in utility. Can someone throw light on this ?

[labtech]

Look closer at the script options and see which fit best the drive's behavior by testing in the problematic areas. Of course, should do this after have imagined all accessible areas, especially those containing data.

[athena]

Hi Labtech Thanks for suggestion.

Fortunately I have succeeded in cloning sufficient disk sectors & have found required data.

Thanks a lot for all the help.

[athena]

I am certainly not happy with my work as it was a donkey work. I did not operated from drives firmware level.
I am curious how a Professional would have handled this case. Do ontrack or any big lab use other than acelab tools ?
I could not find any information on how to relocate g-list in SA if SA has bad sectors in that location.
can someone throw light on this.?
Dear Labtech I tried various script options as suggested by you , however there was marginal improvement. Whenever drive was needing particular sectors from g-list it simply stopped reading all sectors .

[labtech]

I could not find any information on how to relocate g-list in SA if SA has bad sectors in that location.
can someone throw light on this?

Though I have not worked with a PC3000 in a few months, I don't recall on whatever version was out at that time there being a way to do this. However, with advanced firmware structure understanding and tools that could access tracks and so on, manual manipulation should be possible.

Have you asked Ace tech support?

[athena]

Hi labtech , sending PM.

[hddbug]

I am also curious how BlackST or Doomer would have handled the case.