Block Just One Copy of SA

[DataMedics]

So I'm working on this WD Red drive that has major firmware issues (among the other problems we already fixed like bad PCB and heads). I've managed to get a working SA constructed on H0, and by disabling all other heads in RAM I can get the drive to ID, and access sectors. The problem comes up that if I set the headmap back the drive becomes unstable (I'm guessing from the other SA copy).

Is there a way to tweak the ROM to only look for SA on head 0 so I can stabilize this drive and still read the data from all heads?

[300ddr]

The problem comes up that if I set the headmap back

What are you setting back to? If it was 012345 and 1 is bad, did you change back to 002345?

[DataMedics]

I was doing that to image most of the heads, however I can tell that head 1 is actually able to read data. Just that it was making the drive go unstable. Turns out head 5 was also a problem, and by disabling it I'm able to stabilize it enough to read head 1 now. Looks like it'll be a two donor double head swap job.

[Maxim_TS]

DataMedics, to avoid the SA reading by both copies you can spare the regions in Work with ROM menu, set both system regions to 0, and restart the drive.

[DataMedics]

Source of the post DataMedics, to avoid the SA reading by both copies you can spare the regions in Work with ROM menu, set both system regions to 0, and restart the drive.

Thanks!

[lcoughey]

Great timing on this. I have a WD3200BEVT-26CT0 that stays at BSY. I can block SA and gain access to SA copy 1, but head 0 does not read or write. Because it would never come ready, couldn't do head map in RAM trick. By changing the SA copy 0 to point to SA copy 1, drive loads up almost instantly. Head 0 is still dead, but at least I can image heads 1,2,3 while I quote the client.

Thanks Maxim!

[Amarbir[CDR-Labs]]

Hi Both Of You ,
This Trick I Have Been Using in Other Tools Also And It Works Flawlessly

[lcoughey]

Hi Both Of You ,
This Trick I Have Been Using in Other Tools Also And It Works Flawlessly

In 15 years of doing data recovery, this is the first time that I have encountered a situation like this where other methods would not work.

That is what I like about this job...every job is something new.