Hi all,

I hope to get some help to resolve my problem.

Thanks in advanced.



Introduction

I have a problem with my hard disk.
The hard disk is a 2.5" WD 750Gb (model WDBABV7500ABK) and it was connected to my PC.
I was copying a document when suddenly, the hard disk was blocked by the system (Windows 7).
I switched off the system and restarted again, but now my PC didn't detect the USB of my hard disk.
The hard disk hasn't any strange noise.

I was looking for information about this error.
I have found more people with the same symptoms and problems, but nobody with the possible
solution to the problem.

I have found the next urls (I haven't tried them yet):
http://community.wdc.com/t5/Other-Exter ... ng-size/m-
p/110098
http://community.wdc.com/t5/My-Passport ... from-a-WD-
750gb-Passport/td-p/102570
http://www.datarecoverytools.co.uk/2010 ... y-western-
digital-drives-with-hd-doctor-suite/


Steps done and information

Well, here that I have tried to resolve my problem and recover the data information.
I have done the next steps.
Localize the U12 and U14 chips.
Replace them by the same chips of a PCB working fine (same model as donor PCB).


However, I have the same problems.
Now, my hard disk is detected as USB (well!), but it has 2 Tb instead of 750Gb and the information is missing.

I'm not sure if I have replaced well the chips or if I have done something wrong (if I have to
replace more chips, or replace other different chips).

At the moment I haven't tried another things. This is my first approach to recover all my hard
disk data.

I haven't found information in Internet about the PCB and I'm a little bit desperate about this.

I need help to resolve my problem.

Thanks a lot.

Jorge

Can you post exactly the link where the idea about moving chips came from / who suggested it and what was the outcome, and why asking HERE ?

Hi BlackST.

Thanks for your reply.

First all, ask HERE because this is a forum and I suppose that there are experts that can help with a correct solution. I'm sorry if I have disturbed you.

Second, about your other questions, here is the link with the information: (http://community.wdc.com/t5/My-Passport ... d-p/102570)

I have had the same conclusions of that link and I want to know what other things can try.

Thanks a lot.

Jorge

This seems the typical case of "internet diagnose" followed by "internet advice" and "DIY" as "one fits all" solution. In the picture we see the board BEFORE or AFTER chip swap ? (too clean to be true unless performed with pro gear and cleaned after ).

Would be interesting to see a REAL hi-res picture of the board AFTER replacing the chips, if possible can you make a pic and post ? Possibly a close-up of the chips area.

If the drive is seen as 2TB there are problems either in firmware or on the SA.
To me, the problem was elsewhere right from the start, and proper diagnose was needed. I know it's difficult without proper tools but now it is more difficult.

Before you ask, encryption has nothing to do with the drive being recognised and how. Out of curiosity, can you see the serial no. of the drive somehow and does it match the label ?

I'm a little confused here, did you put chips from new pcb onto old pcb, or did you but chips from old pcb onto new pcb?

Thanks a lot BlackST and Steve.

@BlackST:
The image is from Internet to show you which are the chips replaced.
I'm sorry but I haven't the PCB here in this moment to show you a picture of it, but is exactly the same PCB.
The chips have been replaced by a professional person with a precission equipment to do it.

One question more.
If the problem is on the firmware or on the SA, how can I resolve the problem?.

@Steve:
I'm sorry if I have confused you.
Both chips (U12 & U14) have been replaced from the bad PCB to the donor PCB.


Thanks a lot for your time and help!

Jorge

Both chip swaps appear to have gone well.

U14 is associated with the Initio INIC-1607E USB-SATA bridge chip. If the chip had been improperly soldered or damaged, your OS would have detected a new device -- "default Initio controller".

U12 is associated with the hard drive. It stores unique, drive specific information. AIUI, if U12 were improperly soldered or damaged, your drive would not have spun up.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

If it is sa or heads , you can't do nothing without know how and expensive equipment.

Thanks fzabkar and BlackST.

I will continue analyzing and testing the possibilities to recover the information.

Another thing is prepare a SATA interface with this information: http://www.datarecoverytools.co.uk/2010 ... tor-suite/

But, in this case, I will have to decrypt the information, and I don't know how I have to do it.

Any help about this?

Thanks again.

Jorge

AIUI, you won't have access to your data, even via SATA. In any case the encryption format is 128-bit AES, which is essentially unbreakable.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Not true. Depends on the amount of money...

Thanks a again.

I'm agree with BlackST. With money is possible, but for the rest of the people is difficult (not impossible).

In other hand, fzabkar, I have talked with other people and they say that if I'm going to access to my encrypted information, I will need decrypt them using the internal chip of my bad or damage PCB (I don't know what is this chip [U12, U14, other?]).
Essentially, they told me that I will have to recover the encrypted information from the bad hard disk, put this encrypted information in the donor hard disk, change the chip of the bad PCB with the encryption/decryption key (each hard disk has its own key in that chip), and recover the information.
Another possibility, is decrypt the information with other tools (expensive and specials). To do this, I have to access to the key information to decrypt all.
All this is theory, because I haven't done anything about this yet.

In the next days, my friend and me will prepare the SATA connector and will try recover the information. I suppose that these information will be encrypted, and we will have to know what steps we have to do to recover the information.

If someone know how can we do it, please free feel to contact me or post the solution here.

I think that this solution will help to other people with the same problem with this bad bad bad hard disks. I'm sorry but I hate the WD hard disks and this isn't the first WD hard disks which I have had problems. Is very strange and I will buy other different hard disks the next time.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Jorge

Do you know somewhere that can break 128-bit AES for some amount of money?

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

Why ?

If this service exists in the world I would probably have some business for it from time to time

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

I doubt that such a service exists.

There are several attack methods described in this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_E ... n_Standard

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

I'm aware of the wikipedia article.

None of the attacks described involve ciphertext only and a full AES implementation, hence my surprise at the suggestion that it could be achieved with enough money. As far as I know the US government has been unable to break AES in attempting to prosecute for child porn

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

BlackST's suggestion was a snide remark, nothing more. Let's not feed the trolls.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

I love the "pluralis maiestatis", but unfortunately carnival is over, just in case...

There are people that , instead of stuffing their minds with wikibullshit and netbullshit try other ways to get what they want/need.
I suggest to buy some good technical publications on the subject and to have explained the principles of data security from SOMEONE REALLY GOOD , you'll understand that sometimes solutions are very different from what could seem....
Sorry (maybe not) for ruining the day

breaking AES is not the same as hacking its implementation IMHO

_________________
All went well until I plugged the drive in.