Hello everyone!
That's my first post on this forum so I want to thank you all, as first thing, because I've read a lot last days and I've really appreciated the information shared here.

I'm an IT consultant with the passion of electronics, I usually work only on the software side (also for forensic/and data recovery on working drives), but I've always repaired/tried to repair any electronic board that I've found on my way (even working with SMD). I'm also a patented Ham radio operator. I'm not particularly skilled on hard drives but I'm interested in learn something.

I had a WD10TMVW-11XSMS1 drive from a dear friend that told me the drive stopped working without any apparent reason (no hits/vibrations/impacts) so I think (but I'm asking a more expert opinion) that is most probable that the damage is on electronics.
http://utils.ruggero.ws/WD10TMVW/top.jpg
http://utils.ruggero.ws/WD10TMVW/back.jpg

I've seen that a lot of people had problem with the USB plug with that kind of hdds but this is OK and with UVCView I can see the device: http://utils.ruggero.ws/WD10TMVW/info.txt

The drive spin-on without clicking or other strange sounds, but after that it hangs. If you plug in a PC without SES drivers, the drivers installation hangs. With the drivers installed you could see it on device manager but not on disk management. (Cannot see any volume)

I’ve two different ideas:
Main idea: the problem could be between the Symware interface and the Marvell SATA adapter
sec. idea: may be the heads are damaged and it hangs the interface due to I/O errors.

I’ve dismounted the electronic board and MAY BE I’ve found something that could confirm the first hypothesis:
http://utils.ruggero.ws/WD10TMVW/board-01.jpg
http://utils.ruggero.ws/WD10TMVW/board-02.jpg.
Inside the yellow circle there is a component that seems to have a crack! I’ve measured it with a multimeter and seemed to be a short-circuit (0 Ohm) on both direction (in the case it should be e Diode).

Now the question is: what kind of component is it? I could guess that it should be a capacitor, but there are no writing on the board, so I cannot be sure. Where could I find out this information? Should I start to search for a donor? On this subject I’ve understood that this drive have an hardware encryption and that the key is inside the U12 so I cannot only swap the boards.

I’ve also searched information on Marvel 88i9146 and I think that I’ve found how to connect the drive with a SATA interface BUT: 1-I’ll need to detach some capacitors 2-I’ll access to encrypted data

At this point I’m not sure how to going on… If it’s better to connect a SATA interface to understand if the disk will become accessible (either without understanding data) OR to make a better diagnose. Or it’s better to find a donor, swap the interfaces and see if the disk will become accessible (either without understanding data) and if yes swap the U12… or even only try to replace the cracked component?!?

Any advice?

My friend didn’t have a budget to recover his data but since I know they are important for him I’ll spend some money to learn something and to make the miracle for him. BUT since I’m not expert I'm asking you before

Many thank in advice
Paolo Ruggero

I have to correct myself on the part of swapping board...
U12 is required to be moved because it's the "bios" ROM, U8 should be the Symwave SW6316's flash. (Also to be moved)

I've also find someone that is using another approch, fist dump the encrypted data to another disk, and than use an external adapter to decrypt: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgr ... j-3hKyk5MA

I think that's an interesting approch, isn't it?

Thank you in advance
Paolo Ruggero

Today, before start to "convert" the dirve to SATA, I've double checked my schematic (board-01.jpg).. and I've found it was wrong I really feel a total newbie!!!

Now, I've corrected the pinout, and made the mod:
http://utils.ruggero.ws/WD10TMVW/sata-bypass-01.jpg
http://utils.ruggero.ws/WD10TMVW/sata-bypass-02.jpg
http://utils.ruggero.ws/WD10TMVW/sata-bypass-03.jpg

The drive is not recognized! The computer doesn't boot if the disk is connected and an USB/SATA bridge after few minutes give up and show no disk. SO the problem wasn't the "Symware" part of the circuit or the "cracked" component (Now I think it may be probably an inductor).

My next step will be to order a replacement board, hoping that it's a board problem...

Any advice is welcome!
(Since none replyed I hope I didn't made something wrong... if yes please tell me)

Paolo

ISTM that the problem is an internal one. Maybe bad heads/media or hopefully a bad firmware module. Try to read the flash memory (aka ROM) and the modules in the System Area.

BTW, UVCView talks to the symwave bridge firmware, not the drive behind the bridge. Therefore UVCView was telling you that the bridge was most probably OK. The serial number (575838314143304830303131 = WX81AC0H0011) and model number (My Passport 0730) in UVCView's report come from the bridge EEPROM.



BTW, would you permit me to publish your photos and information in other forums?

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Hi fzabkar and thank you for your reply,

I've got a couple of questions for you:
1- How could I read the Flash memory? Is there any way to read it from the SATA port, like with PC3K (I don't have it, just to know), or I should have something like this: http://www.ebay.it/itm/110771573141 ?
2- Is there on WD Disks a serial port interface like on the famous Maxtor STM3500320AS? I've built a serial to TTL/CMOS adapter with the common MAX232 IC, but I cannot identify any serial port from any PIN.

Concerning the images, you can share them wherever you want. I think you could share also the information I've wrote.. they are just what I've found googleing for a while.. nothing special IMHO.

Thank you again
Paolo

Hello again, I've read some other posts and understood how to *try* to read Rom and SA Modules with free tools (NazYura's tool / WDR Demo).

The problem is that the disk hangs either when connected on SATA port, so I've tried to start isolating it from the head putting a piece of paper on J1. Doing it I could see the controller on SATA port and read the firmware with WDR!
http://utils.ruggero.ws/WD10TMVW/WDR-Data.zip ("Not Connected" folder).

After that I've removed the piece of paper an tryed again with WDR, waiting a while I could see the disk. The status reports some errors: http://utils.ruggero.ws/WD10TMVW/Connected-WDR-001.png
When I try to do anything (for example read SMART) the drive become "busy" and completely hangs
http://utils.ruggero.ws/WD10TMVW/Connected-WDR-002.png

The only possible operation was to identify the disk:
http://utils.ruggero.ws/WD10TMVW/Connected-WDR-003.png
http://utils.ruggero.ws/WD10TMVW/WDR-Data.zip ("Connected" folder).

I think that the drive hangs due to reading problems on SA modules that make impossible to start the disk...
Is there anything I can do now?

The good news is that I recovered most part (the important part) of my friend's data from his "old" data disk that was formatted and used few times with small files. It was much more easy to recover from that drive

Any advice is welcome!
Best Regards
Paolo

You can read both Roms (U8 and U12) using terminal output (Rx-Tx) ,how exactly, was mentioned about that few times on this forum .
About your drive , when you soldered SATA output, have you unsoldered 4 capasitors ?( C90...93 )

I don't know enough to help you. Sorry.

The id.bin file represents the 512-byte information block returned by the drive in response to the ATA Identify Device command. AIUI, at least some of the data comes from MOD 02 in the SA and MOD 0D in flash (aka ROM).

Now I'm not so sure that the serial number reported by UVCView (575838314143304830303131 = WX81AC0H0011) actually comes from the bridge EEPROM rather than the drive itself, as I stated earlier. It would be interesting if you could run UVCView once again while the SATA lines are open. This might tell us where the serial number is coming from.

As for the device reader/programmer, you should be able to find something similar for less money. You would also need an SOIC clip.

See http://malthus.zapto.org/viewtopic.php?f=110&t=85

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

The "My Passport 0730" product ID comes from the bridge EEPROM. It could be that the serial number comes from there, too. Of course SA MOD 02 would also have a serial number, probably the same one. I would compare the serial number on the label of the external enclosure against the number on the drive itself.

As for making NazYura's tools work via USB, that's not possible AFAICT. In any case the OP has already done the USB-to-SATA conversion, AIUI. Otherwise how would he have read the ROM and the codepages?

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

The key to repair / recovery is accurate diagnosis, which is hard to do reliably without the proper tools. I don't think the OP can work around this, unless he buys the tools or knows someone who has them. But with WD -- like all drives -- knowledge & experience are even more important; a wrong move and it's game over.

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First of all thank you all for your replies!

I've made big progress last few days...
I've read a lot of other posts trying to do a better diagnosis and understand what could make the drive hangs.
I've understood that at least some SA modules have been read because the drive showed his serial so my question was: "what is the next step the drive make after reading SA?" I've found that the "Translation table" is loaded after reading SA modules then I tried to Recalculate Translators:
http://utils.ruggero.ws/WD10TMVW/Recalc ... or-001.png
http://utils.ruggero.ws/WD10TMVW/Recalc ... or-002.png

After having recalculated translators the drive become ready and showed more information on "Identify".
At this point I've rebooted and for the first time the disk was seen from the Bios and also from the OS
Obviously I could see only the encrypted data but I've suddenly started to make a copy with ddrescue.

I was not so lucky with ddrescue, first I had problem one wire of the SATA bypass and I needed to solder it again, than with no errors the copy became slower and slower... After 417GB the linux kernel told me that the SATA channel was unresponsive and the disk stopped working at all !
May be the board was already dying and after a while died at all!?!
I've tried to remove and make again the SATA bypass but the board is actually not responding on SATA either when it's detached from the disk, so I'm almost sure it’s gone! On WDR the status register says: BSY and WFT.

Not too bad, there's a new board on the way, and I've got a copy of the ROM so I should be able to fix.
I think I'll need to have the external ROM programmer because I don't think that I could program the ROM via USB with free tools and I would like to avoid make SATA bypass on the new board.

I'll need also to copy the U8 with the decrypting algorithm/key because the board revision is not exactly the same.
The better happened when I've connected the new disk with the partial copy to the USB bridge of patient board and I've seen the complete content of the drive
Of course all the files that are not on the first 417GB part of the disk are garbage, but It's a beautiful beginning!

I'll write again when I'll have the new board and the programmer.
Thank you for your assistance

Best Regards
Paolo

P.S.
@microsoftengineer: I cannot understand of what "terminal output (Rx-Tx)" are you referring to... I guess SATA for U12 but I don't think that it's possible to read U8 using SATA... may be you're referring to USB? Of course I've removed C90-C93 capacitors

Hi, i have similar problem, ill explain things in order now:

My friend gave me WD10TMVM-11ZSMS1 drive, it was spinning up and running without any werid noises BUT drive was not recognized in any way, led was not flashing.

I ordered a PCB for swap and transferred U8 and U12 chips to new pcb - now drive is recognized, led is flshing but drive IS NOT spinning, it do not make any noises at all.

Why is drive not spinning and what are my options now?

Perhaps bad soldering?

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hello,
i have problem with hdd WD5000BMVW. I need to change to build bridge from usb to sata. how you know where to solder to change from usb to sata? can you send info. about this?