PC-3000 Forum

Hi All,

I have this one that drives me crazy.
It's a 4TB Giant.

It came in clicking. I changed heads and drive would spin up fine and ID but report that it's SED locked.



I followed usual procedure and PC-3000 correctly sees the SED key.


After selecting this, sectors 0 and 1 would look like this:



In DE, I can see partition with full structure.


I imaged the partition without problems, but when I try to open the files, they do not work.


However the map of that particular example file looks ok (no bad sectors).


This is the case with 99% of the data. Some of the data DO work.
Is it shifts related? I noticed that the files that DO work are located at the very beginning of the drive, BUT there are a few that are in the middle that do work as well.

Has anyone seen this?

did you clear module 02 - in some cases this causes 'shifting' in the data (not certain it affects GIANT models?) How does it look with SED reactivated - can you see good data without decryption?

Try to restore module 02 and re-check some files that were bad before (maybe create new task for testing).

Probably you already looked into this, but its the most obvious thing to look at from the problem you have.

Thanks mate.
Yes I have cleared 02 but I've done it after I came across the problem. In any case, original 02 and cleared 02 --- no change.

I've also reactivated SED and without decryption (on a new task) I can see the exact same behavior, ie. I've opened the same file and still it doesn't work, even though I can read it (all sectors green).

northwind wrote:Source of the post Thanks mate.
Yes I have cleared 02 and the problem persists

What I mean is that the process of clearing 02 in some families causes these shifts - try to restore original 02 prior to any changes. Maybe it wont help, Im not sure about this family (problem is present in TRailsXLS as example, not certain about GIANT).

Short of this, I dont really have any suggestions apart from more obvious things like 512e vs 4K etc which I guess you already chose correctly (or no structure would be possible).

Yeah, I realised what you meant after I posted my reply and have edited it:
I did modify 02, but that was after I saw there is problem with the data. In any case, original 02 or modded 02 ---> No change.

I'm starting to think this is going to need a virtual translator, and A LOT of manual work

I, too, have no more ideas.
Once again, thanks for the heads up.

northwind, please send the original 02, we will try to fix it.

Hi Maxim

Sure, here's original 02.
You think this is responsible for shifts/destruction of data?

Anything?

If you open up the files in a hex editor and skip ahead a few sectors do you see the normal opening signature? It could be something as simple as a 1 or two sector shift in which case you can probably fix it by just creating a couple manual regions and JBOD'ing them together.

If you can find correct position of file or folder relative to relative position that is being referenced, you can create a translator within DE that takes into account these shifts. If I remember correctly this option was automated in older versions, but worked well for FAT but not sure how reliable it is in other systems. The option to do this manually is still present, but can be very time consuming and difficult and for many cases it may not be worth the time - unless I never really figured it out and I am missing something with it.

Did you try to replace 02 with one from a close donor of same SA version? If there is simply some flag that is missing that is present in a similar model maybe this would be enough?

Thanks guys.
@DataMedics -- I checked and it is not that simple unfortunately. It all looks messed up to me.
@AJ2008 -- yeah I recall the option you mean, I never understood why Ace removed it by the way. What is crazy enough, is that some files (~1-2%) do work and they're located at random places. The rest of the files are garbage
I did not try to replace 02, I'm currently waiting for Ace to modify the one I sent them. Let's see.

northwind wrote:I did not try to replace 02, I'm currently waiting for Ace to modify the one I sent them. Let's see.

I think this is the best option, hopefully they can do something with it.

Sorry for delay guys. New 02 has been sent to northwind, let's wait for result.

I'd like to thank Maxim, the problem is now resolved.
It was indeed due to a problematic 02, and Maxim's file fixed the problem.
I will have to re-image the drive, but it's better than nothing.

Thank you Maxim!

Great job Maxim