Hi all,

I have an old backup HDD which I haven't touched in about 10 years.

WD20EARS - 00MVWB0 with REV P2 2060-771698-002 PCB

Unfortunately it is not recognized anymore (disk unknown/ not initialized). Not over USB or SATA. Not in Windows or Linux. When using SATA, booting takes forever. I guess the system is trying to recognize the disk but eventually fails, the disk spins down and booting continues. This is before SETUP. No unusual noises from the disk whatsoever.

Since I have an identical HDD (same model, same PCB, even same date) I tried swapping the PCB. Same picture tough (donor HDD with patient PCB works fine).

Any idea what else I could try? Thx in advance!

This is an indication to internal problem ( SA and/or heads damage).
If data is important, you should contact a DR pro near your area.

Thanks for the assessment!

And please excuse the rookie questions...

Is it possible that the SA(s) cannot be read without the heads being damaged? And how probable is a head damage when there are no suspicious sounds coming from the drive?

SA means system (firmware operating hdd)
This model usually affected with one or more malfunction heads / slow responding related to background activities / bad sectors.

You will need special tools and equipment / knowledge to deal with such scenarios.

That's why I recommended to seek for a pro help near you.

Sure, I get that. However I am not 100% sure what data I stored on that drive and I am definitely not going to spend 1k+ to find out. So this needs to be a DIY project. I have six identical drives which are all EOL anyway, so I have some material to practice. If it is highly probable that this behaviour is caused by a head damage, I would give it a try.

However I would need to find the right head comb - would something like this do the job? I would appreciate if you could point me in the right direction.

And if there is anything else I need to look out for with this particular drive, I would also be happy to know - thx again!

Can someone please help me out - since I would only do this once, I don't want to buy a full set of WD combs. And without the right head comb I'm definitely heading for hopeless territory...

Can I go wrong with a comb intended for Western Digital 3.5″ HDD with 3 platters? Is this nomenclature standardized and W3-3 is what I need?

Hello,

your least problem is the head comb, difficulties will come uppon powering the drive up after head change...

pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

Hi pepe, thx for your response. Do you mind explaining what will happen when I power the drive back on afterwards? And please feel free to solve my least problem

Merry christmas everyone!

Hello Calvin,

If you're willing to risk losing your data permanently, you can begin experimenting on your drive. The drive you mentioned (WD20EARS - 00MVWB0) belongs to the Saddle G6 family. Start by searching for head ramps suitable for this specific family. The ones you previously shared seem to be of low quality. I'd recommend using metal ramps instead of plastic ones. If you have six identical drives, you could attempt a head swap on two of them. If successful, you can then try imaging those drives and potentially work on your problematic drive.

However, post head-swap, it's crucial to determine if your drive originates from a WD enclosure. Some WD My Books utilize encryption chips like JMS538S, SW6316, INIC-1607E, and OXUF943SE. If your drive is accessed via SATA and the entire surface is read, the data will likely be encrypted. Additionally, there might be challenges with imaging the drive without proper data recovery tools. Undertaking this process involves significant risks, but there's a chance of recovering your data with careful execution.

Best regards and merry christmas to you too!

Oliver

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MACROFER - data recovery

Not touched for 10 years and gone bad, I'm curious to know if you were careful with it, does the drive have been shocked!?
I ask you that because me too I have some of these drives not touched from very long time...

Your "no detection" probably mean your head 0 is bad or at least weak on the SA surface.
If I were you, and choosing the diy way, I would firstly try an hotswap, and see what is the result...
You can find infos about hotswap of the same model there http://hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2815#p21368

But very first, try to plug the drive after the Windows boot https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php ... 08#p295508

Good luck!

@oliver1996, @diybit, @Spildit: Thank you so much for taking the time and helping me out!


Yes, I am fully aware that this is a possible, most would say probable, scenario... But like my grandpa used to say: no risk, no fun - what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger


Oh, I completely agree - e.g. the ones from HddSurgery are real pieces of art. However they seem to only come in sets, the cheap plastic one I linked above is literally the only option I found for buying only a single one.


All are genuine SATA drives, no shucking involved, so encryption should not be an issue. Also there seem to be pretty reliable ways around WD encryption as well.


Most important is proper dealing with issues like bad sectors or weak heads, correct? So I would go for something like ddrescue or HddSuperClone?


There might have been some minor shocks, as the box where I kept the HDDs was moved a few times during the years, but no major abuse. Also from all the drives of different brands, this is the only one resisting to cooperate...


Sound reasonable - I will try that!


Excellent, love it. Like my grandma used to say: think before you act and consider all your options first


Awesome - I will read through everything and report back!

Thanks again for the input everyone! Considering all there is to know around this topic, you can study for years and still be learning - quickly swapping heads somehow seemed like the easy way out... But you are all right, slow and steady wins the race.

this is just as stupid as opening it without proper environment and knowledge.
A bad head is often a result of a damaged surface. Running the drive in that condition, without making sure there is no surface damage can easily result in more serious problems.
I always start with internal examination to reduce probability of such consequences to minimum.

pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

One problem with the hotswap I suggested is you at least need the dir module 01 from the patient and his ABA address.
So you have to gain access to SA to get it, and if you gain reading access to SA, hotswap is probably not needed...

If no SA access, perhaps the hotswap can give you at least access to tracks where you will manually search for the module 01.
Perhaps the modules under head 0 are with defects while the copy on head 1 is good...

And how many "perhaps" I have forget, so it will probably not be easy, and so without knowledge, you are risking bricking it for good on the most tiny error...
All that without repeating the risk that pepe just pointed out. So your data, your choice!

I suggest you go learn the howto from Spildit and familiarize yourself with the tool WDMarvel (or WDR, this one can also work on this drive while you stay away of all dangerous functions, "Module operation" is safe)

Begin by just try detecting the drive under the tool, don't make Windows detecting the drive, stay in IO mode (with SATA channel disabled), choose the right port, and send some "soft reset" or "SMART reading" if it stay not detected.

Train yourself with a working drive. And prepare you to perhaps pass a very long time before success if you choose the diy road, or even eventually to lose all...

Backup all modules + ROM directly if you success!
So train you on a working drive to detect/backup and then try on the patient.
And do it by SATA port in IO mode.

Happy new year to you all! And sorry for the late response but the holidays got in the way...


I tried this first but without any success.


Also no luck...

With the patient drive in normal mode:
- WDMarvel cannot see the drive: The drive is not defined
- When trying to read modules: Error determining head count, Error reading module Dir, state - Invalid drive handle
- Windows also doesn't see the drive

With the drive in kernel mode (using the 3 jumpers):
- WDMarvel sees the drive: Drive: WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0, family: 0133 Unknown, FW: 20.0AB, SN: , LBA 0 - 0Gb
- When trying to read modules: Error reading module Dir, state - FM_ERR_FILE_ID
- Windows sees an uninitialized drive

However I also checked with a fully functioning drive in kernel mode and get the see picture -> Error reading module Dir, state - FM_ERR_FILE_ID
In normal mode I can read the modules without issues for this drive.

As I understood I should be able to access the modules in kernel mode at least for the functioning drive, any idea why this is not working? Isn't there any "easy" way to find out if I am dealing with a messed up SA or if the head(s) are gone?

I alread read the posts you linked above and tried to read the modules accordingly. However WDMarvel cannot access the modules. I also tried shorting TV9-TV10 to enter kernel mode with the same results, no access to modules.

Doesn't that indicate that there must be something wrong with the heads?

Drive should normally be also detected in normal mode, but eventually detected as 0 LBA, as in kernel.
You are not right config in IO mode if Windows see something when in kernel mode, that will stress the drive and probably make it busy, and can also mess/corrupt what is done on the port through WDMarvel.
Repeat the steps, be sure of the port, choose IDE/Compatible, click detect, and make a screen for we see your registers status.

In kernel mode, do you have done all steps explain in the tutorial, with "reinit module", and load 01 from donor into RAM if no list appear, even if I'm not sure this tips will work as ABA are different between drives, but perhaps it will search for the right ID in this case...


This first statement seems strange, are you sure the drive was right working!? Try use the modules from this donor.

Ok, fair enough - but where did I take the wrong turn? At least the first few steps seem pretty straight forward - setting 3 jumpers and trying to detect the drive in WDMarvel?


I cannot do any of the steps in the tutorial as long as WDMarvel doesn't see the drive or lists any of the modules? In kernel mode that is. In normal mode WDMarvel can of course see the drive, backup all resources etc.

Below is what I see in kernel mode trying to detect the drive and trying to read the modules (this is one of the donor drives, don't want to stress the patient too much).


What I meant was:

Patient with donor PCB -> still not working
Donor with patient PCB -> working fine

I have no clue what else to try to get the drive into proper kernel/ IO mode...

i had similar case few months ago... i was not able to fix it remotely with WDmarvel.
Customer brought the drive to me by hand, and i was able to fix it with MRT.
It was SA issue, if i remember well it was just mod 01 corrupted.

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My firmware database:
https://mega.nz/folder/O01DkBRI#MxP2J6ZNqXDcrX40I8MoQQ

Yep, you're right.
In that case which i've solved, mod 01 loaded into ram from donor drive had different address than patient mod 01.
I had to accomplish with that, it's not a simple step if you don't practice regularly.

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My firmware database:
https://mega.nz/folder/O01DkBRI#MxP2J6ZNqXDcrX40I8MoQQ