Hello friends, i have a case, and i need some help.

Drive:WD30EFAX-68JH4N0 (SMR)
Family:Venicer
Head Mapin ROM:0-2-3

I have an unlocked PCB, and i use MRT Pro.

The problem is:
The drive after spinning up, i hear some normal head movement, two times restarts itself with original, and with unlocked PCB then spins down.

What i have tried so far:
-Disabling loading 02 module in ROM - The drive after spinning up, two times restarts itself then spins down, and can't upload loader
-Disabling loading 30 modules in ROM - I can upload loader, but no SA access (because there is no SA translator loaded i think)
-Disabling 411 module in ROM - Drive spins up, and goes DRDY. I can upload loader, and i have SA access, and can save both copies of SA modules. But when i try load 02 module, then the drive restarts itself, but loaded loader is still in memory. I can upload 02 module with "Establish a virtual start environment" method, but the drive restart itself, when i try upload 03, or 6F module.
-Disabling refresh of module 190 - The drive after spinning up, two times restarts itself, and can't upload loader
-Closing SA access in ROM - Drive spins up, and goes DRDY. I can load loader, and i have SA access (after i opening it in RAM), and can save both copies of SA modules. But when i try load 02 moudule, then the drive restarts itself, loader cleared from memory, but i can upload again. I tried this with enabled, and disabled 190 module.
-Changing SA (ABA) regions - The drive after spinning up, two times restarts itself, and can't load loader
-Head map in RAM after i upload loader - .....cause the drive restarts itself. I note, when i try soft reset the drive with uploaded loader, it always restarts itself.
-Tried with another (newly generated) 02 module, but the drive not comes to life. Two times restarts itself then spins down.
-Tried with same microcode ROM and changing ROM modules one by one, but the drive not comes to life.
-Tried with same microcode ROM without changing anything, but the drive not seeking SA, it simply two times restarts itself then spins down.
-Tried clearing 02 module with "drastic" and "simple" method (and old method to solve slow response), everithing is a same.
-Tried above methods with another loader with same microcode, but the drive not comes to life.

As i seen, 32 relo list module is clear, and there is nothing starnge in ROM, or any other checked SA modules.

You can download full resources from here:https://we.tl/t-cH1IqT7RFZ

I ran out of ideas, please help.

Do you have another set of heads just to drop in and test? I don't think those are helium filled.

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Data Recovery Services in the UK.
https://www.usbrecovery.co.uk/

Hi!
This is not a helium drive, and at the moment i don't have another set of HSA. I think the HSA is okay (because i can read both SA copies without problem), but i'm not opened the drive yet.

Strange thing, is when i disabling loading 30 modules in ROM then there is no SA access.
I tried this with an a diablo 3S drive too, and after i upload loader, i can access to SA.

My bet is i think there is a problem with ROM 30 SA translator module.
hmmm.......

There is an error (confirmed) in the SMR modules and it causes the drive to restart.

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SAN, NAS, RAID, Server, and HDD Data Recovery.

Are these modules repairable?

Module 190h contains two complete ROYL modules (124h and 6Fh), plus a partial 145h module. Their contents don't match the existing modules in the SA. I don't know if this is just noise (due to incomplete module initialisation), or whether it is corruption, or maybe it is the normal cached location for these SA modules (I don't think so).

There are two sectors which begin with "TIS". Perhaps these sectors define the cached SMR regions???

Do you have a known good version of module 190h? Are there any other "SMR modules" that we need to examine?

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

These are the SMART data in module 21h (in the SA):

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

These SMART data were extracted from the ROYL module (21h) embedded within 190h:

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Hello Frank, and thank you trying help me....i secretly hope you will be here for help.
Unfortunately i dont have working modules from this drive form the age of working state.
But what does that S.M.A.R.T. data says for you? As is see, this drive has very few working hours.
And on more information from this drive: The copy 1 of 190 modul were not accessible, but i can overwrite with copy 0.

I'm thinking that module 190h contains bogus data ("noise") that was in RAM when the module was built by the factory. In normal usage this noise would be overwritten. I'm thinking that this noise may be normal for a "young" drive, so I would not pay attention to the SMART data that I retrieved from 190h.

Those two "TIS" blocks appear to each contain 0x35F9 records, but I don't know if these records reflect real SMR cached regions. They may just be noise. In fact there are other records in other areas of the module which have a different format, so I don't know which, if any, are real.


Do you have a copy of module 190h from any other WD model?

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

I've been trying to find a good 190h module from other resource dumps (eg Charger or Palmer), but they all show "ERR".

I'm wondering if we could simply zero fill the embedded ROYL sections and rewrite the module? Do you get the same content if you dump the 190h module several times?

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Hello!
I were in long weekend, sorry. I have 190 module from other Venicer. If it helps, i can upload here. https://we.tl/t-UFaXf3kKZ9 This module from a WD40EFAX-68JH4N0 drive.

After i download 190 module again, i got same content.

The WD40EFAX 190h module has those same ROYL modules embedded at roughly the same locations. It also has the same TIS sections.

Do you know if there are any other modules which are SMR related?

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

I think that if you would like to research module 190h, it might be an idea to perform an enhanced secure erase on a donor drive, and dump the module before and after. Alternatively you could send a TRIM command that TRIMs the entire UA.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

it is not possible to TRIM the whole UA in one command. In fact, it is pretty restrictive concerning the number of sectors you can trim in one command.
Anyway, the help is only a few hundred meters away

pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery