I have a WD drive that is driving me nuts (not a clients, this came out of my own PVR box). It started off as a typical firmware corruption problem (reading as 0MB, native drive model name) but also had a clicking problem. I obtained a perfect donar with an exact DCM match. Swapped the PCB, U12.. same problem. I thought it could also be a bad preamp or head so I swapped the heads. Now the drive will spin, click a few times then power down. I swapped the heads and PCB back around and the donar drive works perfectly still. Any thoughts?

And what equipment and procedure did you use to check if it was effectively a FW problem ?

To be honest, just scientific method. I've had drives to this exact thing before and this procedure has worked perfectly in the past. I'm a IT shop without some of the higher end DR equipment so I outsource all my DR to a company up the street from me. The data on this thing doesn't mean that much to me other than the time involved to reload the PVR software. It's more recreational than anything at this point. I've replaced everything but the platter itself. I can't replace anymore and its the only drive I've ever matched this perfectly. I mean, other than being 1 week apart in the build date and the serial number being different, its an exact match. Besides, have you ever had a WD drive report 0MB and Sabre as the model name and it NOT be a firmware corruption and/or head problem?

Yes. Drive IDs with factory alias (SABRE) and no access to LBA is possible because either it is not inited correctly or an internal malfunction (either logical or physical) does not allow correct startup.
You can pinpoint exactly the problem with a complete check.

Plenty

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

I hear what your saying but I thought by replacing the PCB/U12 and swapping out every piece inside the drive you are in effect eliminating any "internal malfunction" that can be possible. The only other piece that can be replaced is the platter itself and well, that can't really be replaced.

IMO the shotgun approach is not a good idea for data recovery

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

You may want to re-read back a few posts. This isn't for a customer and it isn't what I normally do for DR. I'm just simply curious as to what other possibly causes could be happening to this drive.

You have done Nothing to actually fix a firmware problem.
The steps you took was ONLY a PCB swap.
To fix a firmware problem, you have to actually repair incorrect data
in the SA or Rom.

Are you not trying to recover data from this drive? When I say it is not a good idea for data recovery I'm not talking about the ethics of dealing with customers or anything, I'm talking about your possibility of success

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

Thank you for answering my question Steve. I had always just assumed the firmware corruption was in the PCB itself. I knew the SA contained important information but I didn't take into account it also can be corrupt or that the U12 ROM could also be corrupt.

Hi ,
The Firmware Is In Negative [ SA ] Section in the Platter And Can Be Access By three Methods 1 : Brain , 2 C-3000 And 3 : Sd tools .Also Many Other Tools Can also Access It cos They Has Item No 1 With Them and Made them

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Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com