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WD portable drive can read system area but no sector access

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Taserx

Post subject: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector access

Posted: December 27th, 2016, 9:40

Joined: April 17th, 2016, 23:30
Posts: 47
Location: Australia

I have a WD5000BMVV (USB 2.0 PCB) thats not working correctly that I was hoping to get some advice. The drive will spin up normally, I can read SMART data perfectly, but there is no sector access.

I was able to use HDDSupertool to download all the firmware modules, they all downloaded without any reported errors. There's no pending bad sectors in SMART, so I don't think its the slow issue. Which makes me think the translator may have become corrupted.

I was thinking to try to resolve this I would swap the PCB with a compatible SATA board, and swap the U12 chip. Then use something like WDR to regenerate the translator. If that restores sector access then I'd image the drive then attempt to decrypt with Reallymine or swap the U12 chip back to the USB PCB and use that.

Does that sound like it might work? Is there a chance the SA will be encrypted and when I use the SATA board I won't be able to access the firmware?

Thanks for any help.

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F_ARG

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 27th, 2016, 10:04

Joined: September 27th, 2010, 16:29
Posts: 182
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Quote:

Is there a chance the SA will be encrypted and when I use the SATA board I won't be able to access the firmware?

I don´t think so. But i think that data may be encripted.

Quote:

Then use something like WDR to regenerate the translator.

You can do that but firstly you should make a complete modules backup. Have you checked translator modules checksums? Can you access modules by ABA?

Have you tried to access differents LBA positions? Maybe you have bad sectors o weak head.

Best,

F

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Kum Ruzvelt

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 27th, 2016, 10:24

Joined: December 17th, 2009, 22:57
Posts: 142
Location: Macedonia

You have one or two weak or bad heads.
Procedure is to image hdd with good heads, then replace heds from compatible donor hdd. And finish imaging hdd.
Your idea to use software for this is mission impossible. Like scenario sound OK, but in practice not.

_________________
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http://www.sistrum.mk/en

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Taserx

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 27th, 2016, 10:53

Joined: April 17th, 2016, 23:30
Posts: 47
Location: Australia

F_ARG wrote:

Quote:

Is there a chance the SA will be encrypted and when I use the SATA board I won't be able to access the firmware?

I don´t think so. But i think that data may be encripted.

Quote:

Then use something like WDR to regenerate the translator.

I have tried different LBA locations, every sector is read as bad no matter where it is. I used HDDSupertool to download all the modules and have them stored safely. I'm not sure how to check the translator module checksums, can you explain how to do that? From info I've been able to find Module 31 should be the primary translator, but I can't tell from just looking at the hex. Whats ABA refer to?

Many thanks

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F_ARG

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 27th, 2016, 11:24

Joined: September 27th, 2010, 16:29
Posts: 182
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hello!

Quote:

I'm not sure how to check the translator module checksums, can you explain how to do that?

I´am used to do it with PC3K :oops:

But i think hddsupertool or hdparm (https://sourceforge.net/projects/hdparm/) use C functions to do that.

If you upload mod31 and mod32 and can check checksum for you.

Quote:

Whats ABA refer to?

To explain it quickly it is the way to address modules within firmware area (similar to LBA is used for data area address). Every module is located in a particular ABA ('s). Some tools like PC3K allows to access module using ABA mode.

Hope i explian it correctly

Best

F

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Taserx

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 27th, 2016, 11:37

Joined: April 17th, 2016, 23:30
Posts: 47
Location: Australia

F_ARG wrote:

Hello!

Quote:

I'm not sure how to check the translator module checksums, can you explain how to do that?

I´am used to do it with PC3K :oops:

But i think hddsupertool or hdparm (https://sourceforge.net/projects/hdparm/) use C functions to do that.

If you upload mod31 and mod32 and can check checksum for you.

Quote:

Whats ABA refer to?

Best

F

Thanks for the explanations.

I have uploaded Mod31 and Mod32 to here
http://www.filedropper.com/module31
http://www.filedropper.com/module32

I don't have PC3K, I just used Hddsupertool to read the modules.

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F_ARG

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 27th, 2016, 11:42

Joined: September 27th, 2010, 16:29
Posts: 182
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Both CS are ok

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Taserx

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 27th, 2016, 11:47

Joined: April 17th, 2016, 23:30
Posts: 47
Location: Australia

Thanks for checking those. Do you think that indicates the translator is not corrupt? Or can the checksum still be ok even if it has become corrupted?

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F_ARG

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 27th, 2016, 11:56

Joined: September 27th, 2010, 16:29
Posts: 182
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

I go for a head problem but i think you need to do more test. Can you use a SATA PCB and try to access any sector?

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Taserx

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 27th, 2016, 12:28

Joined: April 17th, 2016, 23:30
Posts: 47
Location: Australia

F_ARG wrote:

I go for a head problem but i think you need to do more test. Can you use a SATA PCB and try to access any sector?

Well that's the next step I suppose. The board is 771754 for which the SATA equivalent is 701692, but I don't have one of these boards. I do however have a 771692 from a drive I'm not using, and in this thread https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=33105
one of the users says that board should work too. So tomorrow I'll swap the U12 chip and try with that SATA board. Thanks for your advice thus far.

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maximus

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 27th, 2016, 20:11

Joined: January 29th, 2012, 1:43
Posts: 991
Location: United States

It is odd that you can read all modules with hddsupertool, but not any LBA. However, the dump all modules script does not check the modules, only dumps them by number, so there could be bad modules. But there is something else to check, have you checked to see if the drive is locked with a password? On some drives it is possible to read SA but not LBA when the drive is locked with a password, all normal read commands will fail. Check the identify device data for the drive being locked.

_________________
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Home of HDDSuperClone

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Taserx

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 28th, 2016, 13:01

Joined: April 17th, 2016, 23:30
Posts: 47
Location: Australia

Thanks for the tip Spildt that would be easier than swapping the U12. I have downloaded the rom from the WD5000BMVV using HDDSupertool. But the drive with the SATA board has big problems of its own and I can't get it to go "DRDY" and the "DSC" in WDR Demo. I tried insulating the contacts but my XP machine then wouldn't boot with it connected. And waiting until after its booted up to apply power wouldn't work either.

Could I attach the SATA board to the WD5000BMVV and try to write the ROM in WDR to the board that way? Will a drive with a transplanted board (without correct ROM) still accept ATA commands? That shouldn't pose any danger to the WD5000BMVV would it?

@Maximus I looked in HDDSupertool under identify device and it did not have anything to indicate the drive is locked.

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maximus

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 28th, 2016, 14:12

Joined: January 29th, 2012, 1:43
Posts: 991
Location: United States

Taserx wrote:

Usually if you insulate the head contacts but leave the motor contacts connected, the board will become ready (not busy) very quickly. Some boards will even become ready totally removed from the drive, sometimes quickly and sometimes it takes a minute or two and perhaps a properly timed reset. But some boards must have a good response from the motor, or they will just stay busy. Maybe your SATA donor has motor issues (does it spin up?), hopefully not board issues. If you were to put the SATA board on the WD5000BMVV, I would isolate the head contacts and see if it becomes ready. Also, if it does become ready I would read ROM from donor before writing just to have it.

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Home of HDDSuperClone

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maximus

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 28th, 2016, 17:45

Joined: January 29th, 2012, 1:43
Posts: 991
Location: United States

Quote:

But some boards must have a good response from the motor, or they will just stay busy.

Okay, I just proved my self a bit wrong with this statement. Sometimes you just have to wait several minutes for the board to finally come off busy in these cases. I have a board that takes a good 5 minutes before it will stop being busy when not connected to the drive. I guess I didn't have enough patience originally...

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Home of HDDSuperClone

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Taserx

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 28th, 2016, 23:20

Joined: April 17th, 2016, 23:30
Posts: 47
Location: Australia

Spildit wrote:

- Post the ROM you had dumped from the USB only drive. Best to confirm if it's really ok.

- Place the SATA PCB on the USB only drive and write ROM to it. There should be no problem with that unless the drive is stuck at BSY and it shouldn't happen as it shouldn't even initialize properly because of ROM diferences.

- You can still programm the SATA PCB even without HARD DRIVE connected to it using Kernel/PSV mode. Follow this guide here - http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=86&t=1523

Regards.

Ok I've uploaded the rom's below. I attached the SATA board to the BMVV, insulated the head contacts, and used a SATA/USB bridge from a different enclosure to connect the drive to HDDSupertool and dump the rom from the SATA board. It is half the size of the USB board's rom, is that an issue? When I got HDDSupertool to check the SATA board's rom after dumping it, it reported 3 errors with the checksums. The USB board's rom reported no errors with the checksums.

http://www.filedropper.com/usbrom

http://www.filedropper.com/satarom

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maximus

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 29th, 2016, 0:03

Joined: January 29th, 2012, 1:43
Posts: 991
Location: United States

I have been working on better checking for ROM dumps with hddsupertool, and this is the output from the USB dump, which looks ok.

Code:

USBrom
Reading the rom file
processing rom
block=0x0 start=0x100 size=0x16ec checksum=0x2fbc calulated=0x2fbc (good)
block=0x1 start=0x17ee size=0x1c8c checksum=0xaa calulated=0xaa (good)
block=0x2 start=0x347b size=0x94a4 checksum=0xbb calulated=0xbb (good)
block=0x3 start=0xc920 size=0x450 checksum=0x23 calulated=0x23 (good)
block=0x4 start=0xcd71 size=0x250 checksum=0x8c calulated=0x8c (good)
block=0x5 start=0xcfc2 size=0x1a8 checksum=0x73 calulated=0x73 (good)
block=0x6 start=0xd16b size=0x1a588 checksum=0x84 calulated=0x84 (good)
block=0x7 start=0x276f4 size=0x1bcf4 checksum=0x0 calulated=0x0 (good)
finished processing blocks
ROM blocks appear to be good.
Searching for modules.
Directory module 0xb found, processing
0x7ffb2 ModID=0xa size=0x3e checksum=0x58c1bfec calulated=0x58c1bfec (good)
0x7fe63 ModID=0xb size=0x14f checksum=0x6fcdec62 calulated=0x6fcdec62 (good)
0x7fa63 ModID=0x30 size=0x400 checksum=0x4ae2a2d9 calulated=0x4ae2a2d9 (good)
0x7f5d7 ModID=0x47 size=0x400 checksum=0x9f677a20 calulated=0x9f677a20 (good)
0x7f9d7 ModID=0xd size=0x8c checksum=0x56e73ecd calulated=0x56e73ecd (good)
0x7f1d7 ModID=0x4f size=0x400 checksum=0xce73de9e calulated=0xce73de9e (good)
ModID=0x0 size=0x0 location=0x0
ModID=0x0 size=0x0 location=0x0
ModID=0x0 size=0x0 location=0x0
SA regions=0x4  region bitmap=0xf
Region=0x0 Location=0x0 Size=0x33780
Region=0x1 Location=0x44a00 Size=0x33780
Region=0x2 Location=0x89400 Size=0x33780
Region=0x3 Location=0xcde00 Size=0x33780

But the SATA ROM dump is not good at all. It only read the first 512 bytes, and the only reason some of the checksums showed as good is everything was all zeros. You should try again to read it, and if it still shows as bad, try reading it using WDR Demo to see if you get the same results. If you get a good dump with WDR Demo but not with HDDSuperTool, I would like to know as I would be very curious as to what is going wrong with the reading.

Code:

SATArom
Reading the rom file
processing rom
block=0x0 start=0x100 size=0x1898 checksum=0x0 calulated=0x5f8f (BAD)
block=0x1 start=0x199a size=0x1c8c checksum=0x0 calulated=0x0 (good)
block=0x2 start=0x3627 size=0x9720 checksum=0x0 calulated=0x0 (good)
block=0x3 start=0xcd48 size=0x4b4 checksum=0x0 calulated=0x0 (good)
block=0x4 start=0xd1fd size=0x254 checksum=0x0 calulated=0x0 (good)
block=0x5 start=0xd452 size=0x208 checksum=0x0 calulated=0x0 (good)
block=0x6 start=0xd65b size=0x1b580 checksum=0x0 calulated=0xfe (BAD)
block=0x7 start=0x28bdc size=0x11e1c checksum=0x0 calulated=0xa9 (BAD)
finished processing blocks
WARNING: There were errors with the ROM blocks.
Searching for modules.

_________________
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Home of HDDSuperClone

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maximus

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 29th, 2016, 0:13

Joined: January 29th, 2012, 1:43
Posts: 991
Location: United States

After checking more with a hex editor, the SATA dump did read more than one sector, as there are at least a couple more 512 byte sections that have data. But something is still very wrong. Were there any errors when it was read? The ROM size is found using another command, so unless there were errors it still should have been a full size read the same size as the USB dump.

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maximus

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 29th, 2016, 0:23

Joined: January 29th, 2012, 1:43
Posts: 991
Location: United States

Quote:

and used a SATA/USB bridge from a different enclosure to connect the drive to HDDSupertool and dump the rom from the SATA board

Sorry, did not see this at first. That explains it then. That USB adapter only likes single sector reads for VSC commands. Find the following section in the wd_royl_read_rom script, and change both values to 512. Or connect directly via SATA and use the --direct mode option. Or connect directly and use WDR Demo to read. Both direct ways require setting the BIOS to IDE mode.

Code:

# set these for later, and to make it easy to change if needed
# make sure they are evenly dividable by 512
# in the case of a stubborn USB drive try setting them to 512
seti $main_read_block_size = 65536
seti $alt_read_block_size = 16384

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maximus

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 29th, 2016, 0:33

Joined: January 29th, 2012, 1:43
Posts: 991
Location: United States

I would just like to add that even though it is possible to write ROM with HDDSuperTool, you should NOT do it through USB. Your example of the reading problem is a good example. It is very easy to brick a board if something goes wrong during the write. The write script includes a "slow and stupid" mode for a case like this, as I almost bricked a board myself this way when testing. For about an hour I had a drive that had an erased ROM but would not write, until I figured out how. If erased and it looses power before it is written, it is bricked. Only solution then is using a chip programmer to reprogram the ROM.

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Taserx

Post subject: Re: WD portable drive can read system area but no sector acc

Posted: December 29th, 2016, 1:07

Joined: April 17th, 2016, 23:30
Posts: 47
Location: Australia

maximus wrote:

Quote:

and used a SATA/USB bridge from a different enclosure to connect the drive to HDDSupertool and dump the rom from the SATA board

Ok I'll connect the drive direct by SATA and try again.

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