WD20EARX-00PASB0 FW: 510AB51
In MHDD responds to ID and EID (with 2s delay) with correct name and LBA

SMART shows a problem:
#5 Relocated sectors count 200 200 1 (RAW)
#7 Seek error rate 168 163 561
#196 Rellocate event count 200 200 0
#197 Current pending sectors 199 199 394
Scan returns ERR and ABRT with incredible rate about 250000kb/s, which indicate firmware lockup, as it doesn't even attempt to read surface. Still optimistic, as it is connected to SATA1 (150) on old i865 chipset.

Question:
1. Maybe I am wrong and this drive (6Gbit/s) is not compatible with SATA1 chipset, tried also jumper 5-6.
2. If it is firmware lockup, should I try MHDD translator regeneration script? It was working on WD10EARS (3Gb/s) and recovered data on the same computer without playing with jumpers.

Drive belongs to my friend, yes, I have friends from time to time.
It is already rejected quote from DR company in Pretoria for R5500 (500US$). I was told that before bringing it in for a quote drive hasn't been locked up. Now it is, or maybe my computer is not compatible?
Even it was locked up before, a quote for firmware lockup is complete rip-off.

Probably a bad head preventing translator initialisation,

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

I have to find it, it is somewhere on hard drive. From some Ukrainian site Jura projectas??? Could read ROM, modified for 256kB Royl ROM and posted on this forum. Could read modules as well.
@pcimage:
For head transplant quote would be much higher in South Africa. This is a quote for 5 minutes fix.

Question remains: Is this drive much defferent from WD10EARS?

"5 minute fix"?

Hmmm, ok.

We see this problem nearly every week, and its very rarely bad translator module on this model drive.

If they quoted only $500 then they either misdiagnosed, or they found that a head was just weak (not totally bad) preventing complete translator initialisation and think they have a chance of recovery with out changing heads, which is perfectly plausible.

I stand to be corrected if my (sight unseen, as opposed to you having hands on) diagnosis is incorrect.

Good luck, I'll leave you to it!

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

Then my experience is a rare case, as in WD10EARS translator regeneration brought it to life. I asked a question: is these drives so different?

Well, if it is the case of proper diagnosis, then it is rip-off. Firmware fix in this case would be if not 5 minutes, then 10 minutes to regenerate translator in memory and prepare for cloning with possibly weak heads.

I see with no arguments such expression "I'll leave you to it!" is in purpose of comforting yourself...

Will look at that next week, but it comes to my memory that I could read ROM and tracks using scripts but Marvel utilities (pre-Royl) for reading modules didn't work.

Your attitude stinks, you seem to expect free help from "experts" yet seem to despise them for "ripping off" clients by doing their job.

It may or may not take 5-10 minutes to apply the initial procedure, but it does involve expensive equipment and the knowhow to diagnose and apply said procedure. Then of course they would have to make sure the drive does clone properly and then extract the data from the clone (checking the data and seperating the good files from damaged ones) and deliver it to the client. Also, sometimes during this procedure the heads die, so they have to factor in the possible chance that heads might have to be replaced anyway.

I had a case like this last week when H2 was weak, applied said procedure and proceeded to clone (had to clone all the drive as it was from a MyBook and so encrypted) but at about 20% H2 failed completely and so we had to finish the clone using H0,1,3,4,5 and then change heads to image H2 backwards to the same ~20% point where it failed again but we got 99.9% clone.

I shall leave this thread and "comfort myself" by leaving you to it.

I wish you all the best of luck getting any help/advice with a serious attitude problem like you seem to have.

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

pcimage just leaving...

As usual I didn't receive response to my questions. If there were convenient it would be answered. Some answers:

Q1: Not compatible computer (6Gbit/s drive problem on SATA1 interface)?
A: No, tried the other drive, it works.

Q2: Should I try translator regen scripts?
A: Not sure, not my data, so didn't try it. In other situation there is no indication to not try it. The same family, and on the previous occasion drive had been successfully unlocked.

Q3 Are these drives so different?
A: Not really, the same family, just faster interface.

This drive ended up with me. H5 was bad as pcimage suggested. RAM head map tinkering, imaged good heads, headswap, imaged H5, complete image. Case closed.

_________________
Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.
Data Recovery Cape Town

Congrats .