Greetings all,

I'm trying to image a 40.0 GB AT Maxtor D540X-4K, MX4K040K2 manufactured on 10/4/1999. This is a single-platter drive with two heads. This was in a Direct TV-Tivo system... ordinary Linux can't mount it. This drive does not have a head parking ramp.

I purchased five donor drives and have just completed my third attempt with no success. I'm swapping the platter not the heads so far.

The imaging computer I'm using has an 80 GB boot drive, PIII Intel processor, 256 MB of ram, Suse Linux 10.3 and ddrescue. The /home directory has 50 gig and I've tested imaging a donor 40 gig successfully with this setup. I also have the Ultimate Boot Cd with MHDD on it. I've also successfully imaged another Tivo drive with ddrescue.

Normally with a Tivo drive, I'll see the drive as /dev/sdb but can't mount it, which is okay. I have a special Linux boot CD designed for Tivo drives which can, but that's beside the point here.

Here is the history of my imaging so far:

1) the original drive was read by the bios as a Maxtor but only 21 gig. Linux wouldn't see it. Hot swapping PC boards would not read it usind ddrescue. (used hdparm -S1 /dev/sdb to spin down).

2) first attempted swapping platters using the 'sutifed/foam tape' head separator tool. I built a clean box for this operation with an HEPA filter for the incoming air. Imaging computer only saw half the drive. Hot-swapping the PC boards didn't read any data.

3) second attempt swapping platters failed completely. Bios wouldn't recognize the drive at all.

4) third attempt and I'm back to the #2 scenario. Bios sees half the drive, hot-swapping PC boards won't read any data even using '-d -f -r3' ddrescue parameters.

I've decided to step back and determine what to do next before I give up.

These components are known good:
PC Board
Motor
Heads, maybe

Now my seemingly endless array of questions.

1) my first though is that I accidentally flipped the platter when I exchanged it the first time. But if that were the case, would I see half the capacity for the Maxtor drive and the correct part number in the bios? Could this information be coming from the PC Board and not the system area of the drive? Searches on this board yielded little results on this.

2) Since I've failed three times I suspect something on the platter is destroying the heads. I don't see any defects in the platter at all: chips, finger prints (using latex gloves), etc. Can a platter be cleaned with distilled water similar to how one prepares a copper board for photo-etching?

3) Do you think I'm destroying the heads with my separator tool or technique? I've practiced over and over and am getting pretty good at it now. I don't ever touch the read/write heads.

4) What would be YOUR next step? What do you think I'm doing wrong?

Thanks in advance,
Bit

How are you separating the platters and the heads? Post some pics.

But you probably fuc** up the drive completly.

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Hi pclab,

I'm using the technique shown in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIPZtJyrVPw

This technique is from Scott Moulton. I've probably watched all his videos at this point.

I'm open to new ideas here even purchasing a tool.

Okay, the heads may be fubar, but the platter may still be 'salvageable', right?

What if it was a SA problem ?

Hi BlackSt,

It's quite possible the SA is corrupt on the platter. I'm not sure of its physical location but I suspect it to be on the edge of the platter.

When I hot-swap the pc boards, I boot from a known good donor drive, spin down the motor, then move the pc board to the drive I want to image. This is 'suppose' to 'not' read the system area again and I should be able to image the drive. I could be wrong about this, but that's what I've grimed from Scott's videos on this.

I have successfully hot-swapped pc boards on known good donor drives.

-Bit

Why are you trying to swap the platters instead of the heads?

Hi phishin_ca,

Why the platter instead of the heads?

It's a matter of logistics. I don't have a HDD workbench and the bottom screw holding the head assembly can only be accessed underneath. There are six screws holding the platter on and I've built a platter 'gripper' that contacts the platter's edges to move the platter.

I guess I could build a frame to elevate the drives. But I think my real problem is either a bad SA, Flipped Platter, Platter Contamination or Head Separation Technique.

-Bit

I vote for SA.

_________________
Murphy was an optimist

Datarecovery in Belgium, Holland, France and Germany
Datarecoverytools http://www.drtools.eu

dobrevjetser,

I think your right.

The heads finally gave out on the last swap as the Bios doesn't see the drive anymore. I think if the SA were okay, I could have gotten an image.

Time to do some research on rebuilding the SA or sending the drive in to the professionals.

Thanks all for your help, I appreciate it.

-Bit

No one addressed what would happen if the platter was flipped. I'm curious now as if the bios would report 'anything' if this happened. Is literally all data reported to bios coming from the SA and the PC board acting only as a medium?

This is probably moot for my particular issue. But I'm sure future users searching for this would find any responses beneficial.

Thanks,
Bit

If platters were flipped you would not have been able to access the drive.

Dobre

_________________
Murphy was an optimist

Datarecovery in Belgium, Holland, France and Germany
Datarecoverytools http://www.drtools.eu

I've never been able to access the drive. In my case, bios reported the name and part number with half capacity. After boot to linux, the mount point did not exist. Are you saying bios would see nothing?

With what model name did the drive report!

_________________
Murphy was an optimist

Datarecovery in Belgium, Holland, France and Germany
Datarecoverytools http://www.drtools.eu

If this thread is genuine and not something else, there are some points :

1) The drive could have been resized / clipped "at factory" or with a special procedure so you have the label of a 40 and the drive is configured internally as 20 GB and BIOS will see what the drive want the BIOS to see.
Or maybe someone else did it.

2) The original problem could have been SA only. Until the SA is not working , the drive won't work or will work partially.

3) With your so-called "tools" you won't deal with a failing drive due to FW.

4) Finally, all the internet bullshit videos never showed a drive WORKING at the end (I mean : I want to see on the same video, after work is done, the drive connected to i.e. MHDD, the drive recognised, I want to see serial no. on screen and the drive READY, without change of scene on camera. Still waiting).

These drives are the ABC of data recovery but data recovery itself is not for everyone.

Hi,

This is not the best drive for practice.
This drive have head alignment issue just like WD drives have.
Only some better DR companies can deal with this problem.

1)
Some basic PN information are in the PCB, but some information comes from the SA, the size is calculated in this model.

2)
Yes, the platter can be cleaned, but i wouldn't touch it if i would be you.

3)
Can be.

4)
Precise diagnose, this is the key for every case.

Janos

Because you have loosen up the platter, you have made an excentricity issue added to the head alignment.
My friend, you are in big trouble now....

Janos

If you flip the platter, this drive will spin up, will move once the MHA, than increase the speed, move one again, and slow down to 7200 again, and shows 0 size.

Janos

Some models needs the SA after wakeup, additionally hotswap on this model is useless.

Janos

You have made 2 serious problem allready, if you screw up the SA too, the result will be an unrecoverable drive.
If your data is important, seek for professional help instead!

To me it's a complete mess now.

The fact you "did hotswap" with other drives doesn't mean it works UNIVERSALLY.

Anyway, with proper tools, head diagnose takes less than 20 seconds, and proper check of SA less than 5 minutes.......

Out of curiosity, what's so important (better : what WAS) on that drive ?

Final consideration : sending the drive out to another DR professional means that an original quote is now multiplied by "n" with "n" I think between 2 and 5 depending on what happened.