hi all hdd guru,
I have problem with my customer WD Harddrive. it's a part from Compaq Presario PC Desktop. detected in BIOS well, spinning Well, I try many DR programs for recovery to retrieve the data, but cannot see any data inside.
when I scan it using MHDD, the "S" sign appear in every sector and IDNF is appear.
then I try using Copyr.DMA to clone the drive, it also appear IDNF for every sector.
what is wrong with the harddrive ?? I already try to read the ATAmanual from T13.org, but cannot understand a lot. It's said that the data location and phisical location is not the same ( Am I right ??? )
Please Help me.. to learn more about this case...

thanks

You are right
Drive had bad translator
You must go to data recovery firm if you need data from drive

this case is easy ??? but be carefull. If you dont understand how to do. You will make the data dead forever....

thanks for the reply.
special for prodata. can u explain to me how can I retrieve the data ?? cause you said easy ...
I have pc3000 and HRT. but I dont know if I can just replace the 21th - 25th firmware module (translator). cause when i read in the manual, it said dont replace it..
very thanks if you can help me..
I will PM you .
regards
Tony

Don't replace any of 21-25th modules It would be a HUGE mistake

thanks BGman for the info.
yes I also read the manual that said dont replace any of 21-25th modules.
I using PC3000 to read out the firmware structure.
it have ERROR in 44th (G-list), 21th(translator), 29th (smart) and 2D (smart).
how can I fix this WD ??
hopefully you as hdd guru can share your knowledge to newbie like me

first try to replace module 29 and 2D

power off/on

and check again all modules....

gsimon:

i need help to solve this weird 40GB WD Caviar problem:

HDD initializes fine, but only 4.3GB is detected. MHDD reports that HPA is active, but i always get an ERR status when trying to NHPA.

also diagnosed this drive with pc3k isa, but none of the modules are corrupt, so now i'm stuck how to restore this drive to full LBA capacity.

have tried changing the CHS figures under pc3k Drive ID utility to correspond to full LBA capacity, but nothing happens after I save the changes.

have tried rewriting Module #42 (Configuration Table) using module from a good drive of same firmware version and model, NO JOY!

any idea?

problem solve....
thanks to all that help...special thanks to gsimon