Toshiba mk2552gsx ID's but no data

[Oyster55]

Okay, this is curious but a feature of Toshiba laptop drives.
This mk2552gsx IDs itself on PC300UDMA, but after launching
the Toshiba applet, I get the errors seen on the attachment.

I would like to know how to proceed to fix this. I suspect the
F/W needs rebuilding, as the drive otherwise sounds fine.

Thanks,
Drew
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Attachments

[dmarques]

Hi,

First of all, what's the beaviour of your drive?
Do you have sector access?
Do you have terminal connected?

[pcimage]

Looks like you don't have the terminal (COM port) connection connected, as dmarques mentioned.

[Oyster55]

Oops, you are right. Here is the new picture:
I was able to to a full resources backup after
connecting the Toshiba plug.

Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

-D
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Attachments

[Oyster55]

Behavior of the drive. Initializes fine according to the PC3K-UDMA green lights.
However, there is a series of click-click-clicks before the lights come. And it
stays spinnning. In the universal test there are ALL RED squares, so 100% no
data is being read. When I try to view SMART, I get a RED error:
"Device error detected "(bit5)"

Hope this helps to hone out the error...

-D
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[pcimage]

Try and read sectors in Toshiba utility using the "read through utility" reading option and select "g-list damage" option to create a software translator.

Probably has a bad/weak head and/or excessive media issues.

[dmarques]

If you can't read any sectors like pcimage said, you may need to swap heads.

[Oyster55]

Hi all. Thanks for the help so far.

pcimage, where is this setting, "read through utility"? I looked pretty thoroughly and cannot see it in the PC30000UDMA Toshiba utility.

dmarques, Actually, I do get some sectors that can be read, but it is solid red errors for 95+%. Some are yellow, but very few are green.

I opened the drive in our clean cabinet, zoomed in with a camera to the heads and top surface and platter edges - everything
looks pristine. Closed the drive and same symptoms re-appear as above.

Any further help you can provide is greatly appreciated.


Thanks,

-Drew
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[pcimage]

Hi all. Thanks for the help so far.

pcimage, where is this setting, "read through utility"? I looked pretty thoroughly and cannot see it in the PC30000UDMA Toshiba utility.

It's an option in Data Extractor reading methods. UDMA66,UDMA33, Hardware Retries etc..

The last option is "read through utility" and you must have the Toshiba utility open as well, with the serial connection connected.

[Oyster55]

THANKS pcimage! I am now getting alot of GREEN blocks.

eternally grateful (and now a groupie! )

-Drew
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[pcimage]

You're welcome

You see, we're not all blood-sucking parasites!!!

[dmarques]

Speak for yourself