How can I access Service Area (SA)?

[manutd1]

Hello Leute,

I want to get access to Service Area of the hard disk, I have

Seatgate (ST 3120026AS), (ST380815AS) , (ST3500418AS),
WD 2500KS-00MJB0 and Samsung HD103SI

at my disposal for this experimentation.

ANy tips/ pointers will be highly appreciated

[AJ2008]

When working with the PC3000 utilities, they will attempt to access service area information by default. Within the menus you will see options to 'View and edit resources' - these resources can will all relate to the service area. Within the Work With Service Area feature at the toolbar you will see numerous options all relating to working with the service area. There are opportunities to work with SMART and defect tables, all located within the service area.

Probably the most simple change to the SA you can make is to select 'Edit HDD ID' on the WD and change the model number. Save these changes, then the drives identification will have been changed - these changes are made within the service area.

What are you trying to achieve, or what do you want to learn about?

[manutd1]

I read a research paper about Service Area present on the PCB of a hard drive and it sparked my interest. I have collected all the spare hard drives from my friends to experiment, I consulted one of the professor about it and his reply was "Try to get the firmware -> Look for the Vendor Specific Commands (VSC) -> Use the VSC to get access.

I am a student and I can't afford PC 3000 U devices :'(

P.S. He is the one who referred me this site, maybe he is a member and looking carefully at this question.

[AJ2008]

You will have great difficulty in identifying the vendor codes you would need, you would also have some problems implementing them in an environment you can work within. You would need at least mediocre skills in reverse engineering / programming to help in what you want.

Personally, if its is just for interest, you should look at accessing SA via a Terminal via the serial port of a drive such as Seagate. You can access with TTL cable and Hyper-terminal and there are lots of documented processes and commands easily searchable at this and a variety of other HDD related forums.

[manutd1]

You will have great difficulty in identifying the vendor codes you would need, you would also have some problems implementing them in an environment you can work within. You would need at least mediocre skills in reverse engineering / programming to help in what you want.

Personally, if its is just for interest, you should look at accessing SA via a Terminal via the serial port of a drive such as Seagate. You can access with TTL cable and Hyper-terminal and there are lots of documented processes and commands easily searchable at this and a variety of other HDD related forums.

I can program in Python and understand C, ARM instruction code. I believe I can reverse engineer the firmware atleast I would like to try
I would be grateful if you could help me with some pointers...