Hard drive recovery

[Hondaman]

Hi all,

I would like to hear from people who have used drive recovery services. Sorry, but it looks like my 1.5 TB WD Black SATA received "video card voltage" because I used the wrong plug on a semi-modular PSU, since I have several semi-modular PSUs and sets of cables on hand.

I used Ontrack years ago when I had a head crash on a 2.5 GB drive. About $1300 to recover what could be recovered. They send some CD-Rs with Windows and Linux filesystems, containing my files. This time, I would need to send them a new hard drive along with the disabled one.

The failed drive is about 4.5 years old. Am I right that this is likely an electrical issue with the board?

I found "Drive Recovery Services" in Indianapolis, Indiana. They charge a flat $500 for a board issue, but I don't know how much they charge to put the platters on a donor drive in the clean room and transfer data to a new drive (but this might not be needed). Ontrack charges $695 to $1295, depending on complexity, and says they always use the clean room. With the many partitions I have, Ontrack will probably charge $1295.

The good news is that 48 hours after this post, I'll have a new, blank 3 TB drive, and Win 7 Pro 64-bit will be reinstalled, with the same key as the 1.5 TB drive (same hardware). And 2 weeks ago, I finally built the server mentioned in this thread:

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=53494

I only had time to back up about 70 percent of my data before this drive failure.

Does anyone have experience with recovery services?

I'm sorry I have to use them, but please let me know your experiences. Thanks!

[Per Hansson]

Re: Hard drive recovery

Never used them but can you describe what happened in more details, maybe we can help you fix it?
"Video card voltage" is 12v, this is what a harddrive expects too for it's spindle motor.
It also needs 5v for the logic board.
Can you trace back what went wrong exactly, maybe if you are lucky it's just some protection devices on the PCB that have done their job...

[diif]

Re: Hard drive recovery

I've used Ontrack in the past. They will insist on using their hard drive not yours to recover the data to.
As above, check the TVS diodes, there are two of them, one on the 5v and the other the 12v.

[Hondaman]

Re: Hard drive recovery

Update: I took the board off the drive. There are 3 chips on the platter side of the PCB, all SMD. The Samsung chip (rectangular) is the 64K cache, the Marvell chip (square) is the controller, and the "Smooth L7251 version 3.1" has burned. No other burn marks, though parts can fail without showing signs.

This board (WD part number 2060-771624-003) can be found at hddzone, used, for $36. Special BIOS means the main controller chip AND BIOS must be changed. Information about tracks, etc. is specific to this exact physical drive and it must be preserved.

I do not have the skills for soldering SMD stuff, especially when my files are at risk. Perhaps I should hire the firm in Indianapolis. Their board repair is a $500. This is a lot of money, but it is cheaper than $1300 for Ontrack, and I know I cannot do this myself.

RELATED QUESTION: If I pierce the wires of the PSU power cable I used that night with my voltmeter's leads or a sewing pin (Fluke model 16), can I test the voltage without triggering the PSU's short circuit, undervoltage, etc. protection?

EDIT: Sorry, no pictures. Photoshop Elements 5 is not reinstalled yet. Also, Windows 7 is ignoring my phone plugged into the USB port (perhaps I DO need to use the driver CD that came with the motherboard). My XBMC/Kodibuntu machine is also ignoring the phone plugged into the USB port.

[ozzy214]

Re: Hard drive recovery

Try and swap the board into the drive. Might still work long enough for you to retrieve data.

The other option is find the same exact drive and swap platters from dead drive into the good one. Thats what the big boys do.

But I think if you find the exact same hard drive with firmware revision then you can swap boards.

I have a dark secret. I actually sell hard drives on ebay. A lot of the hard drives that come to me purposely have damaged pcbs to prevent data retrieval.

A lot of times I buy the pcb off of ebay, install, and resell the drive. I have had a 98% success rate swapping pcbs and bring the drive back.

I have have 1 2gb sata drive Im using for myself. Damaged pcb. Replaced it and using it for storage.

ttheres another reason I do this is illegal activites. I constantly find stuff like child porn and illegal shit. So I send the drive to the cops for my good deed of the day. Its fun expploring what people hide!

[Hondaman]

Re: Hard drive recovery

Yes, I could get a board for swapping -- HDDzone listed model numbers this board was used with - it looks like many 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 TB drives had this board, and it's only $36. But I'm not able to transfer and solder SMD chips onto the good board that have data specific to my drive. My eyesight, fingers and soldering tips just aren't good enough.

25 years ago, people formatted their IDE drives* with a special super-low level format and ruined them, because that could only be done by the factory. Perhaps people used their hard drives in a vertical position and the cylinders began to "creep" when heads were affected by gravity. Some people probably formatted deliberately to fix the problem of read errors and lost their data forever. Perhaps some people did this accidentally. But the drive was ruined, and the data was gone.

Now, things are much, much more exact and this data is on chips that must be transferred. And swapping platters is way, way beyond my skill level. As long as the board did not cause head or motor damage, the data can be rescued by fixing the board and leaving the platters in their safe, clean environment.

* Does anyone remember the mechanism used in these drives? I think it was before "voice coil". It might have been called "rotary something" or "stepper motor head actuator". I think these platters had a track parallel to every cylinder on the hard drive that would let the drive know if the head was positioned precisely enough to read the data on that cylinder. Does anybody remember the name of the mechanism?

Now, can I test that PSU voltage with the PSU running?

[Hondaman]

Re: Hard drive recovery

I thought I smelled something burning when I plugged this drive in. Clearly I did.

Time for some pictures. Enjoy!

[kevin!]

Re: Hard drive recovery

One thing to keep in mind in the WD, firmware and serial number is within the disc and the MCU, if the numbering does not match will not start.
If the MCU is also burned, and you can not do anything, you have to send the disk to recovery.

Bye

[fzabkar]

Re: Hard drive recovery

If the 5V TVS diode is damaged (check D3 and R67), then there is a high probably that the preamp on the headstack has been damaged.

TVS Diode FAQ:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=86

Catastrophic failures in Western Digital PCBs:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=1119

A straight board swap will most probably not work. That's because the PCB contains unique, drive specific calibration data in flash memory, either in a serial SPI flash IC, or embedded within the MCU. These "adaptive" data need to be transferred to the replacement PCB.

If the following is your board, then the ROM location at U12 is unpopulated, which means that your firmware is embedded in the MCU:

http://www.dhresource.com/albu_82120...060-771624.jpg

Looking at your photo, it appears that the damage to the SMOOTH IC is on the +5V side, in which case the preamp is most likely dead. :-(

I would not waste your money on a replacement PCB.

FYI, here is what a typical drive looks like on the inside:
http://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html

This is the preamp:
http://en.rlab.ru/doc/images/hdd_main_parts/preamp.jpg

[fzabkar]

Re: Hard drive recovery

Never used them but can you describe what happened in more details, maybe we can help you fix it?

These "modular" PSUs have cables with non-standard pinouts. When people switch cables between different PSUs, they will often end up with +12V on the +5V pins. This is what appears to have happened to the OP.

[eccerr0r]

Re: Hard drive recovery

I hate getting those "modular" PSUs. I just leave the extra wires dangling on regular PSUs, not like I see them... they're inside the case!

So why do I hate those modular PSUs? When someone gives one to me, I invariably don't get the extra wires and then can't really use the PSU... GRR!

[Hondaman]

Re: Hard drive recovery

Fzabkar is correct. There was an overvoltage; I suspected this also. Most modular PSUs have 6 and 8-pin sockets that deliver 12 volts only, for PCI-E video or for CPU connectors. The 6-pin socket on my OCZ Fata1ity 550W (2010 version not the 2014 model) delivers only 5 volts and 3.3 volts. So the OCZ cable, plugged into a Seasonic PSU, delivered nothing but 12 volts to my hard drive. "Video card voltage" -- it was just as I suspected.

I looked for the correct cable before I plugged the hard drive in, I really did. But I am not very organized, and have lots of modular cables.

The OCZ power supply (and its cabling) appears to be the only modular PSU I own with this weird arrangement. It will be retired forever by the time you read this posting. I will probably buy the Seasonic SS-460 FL2 platinum fanless modular PSU immediately. It seems to obey a standard pinout.

I'll just send the dead drive to Kroll Ontrack -- they are expensive but I have used them before. They can solder the SMD chips with data specific to my drive. They said I can send them my new drive, and they'll transfer the data onto it and send it to me.

And yes, if you are careful, you can check the voltage on a running PSU.

Thanks for all of your help!

[ratdude747]

Re: Hard drive recovery

Not to be a dick, but this is why one should always back up important data... that way if one has this happen you haven't lost anything irreplaceable.

[fzabkar]

Re: Hard drive recovery

I have no love for the data recovery profession, but there are a LOT of cheaper alternatives than Kroll Ontrack (visit the HDD Guru forum).

What should really make you angry, though, is the fact that you would simply be removing a shorted 5V TVS diode, with subsequent full access to your data, if your drive were anything other than a WD. WD's stupid engineers don't understand the concept of a fuse -- a fuse should go in SERIES with the supply, NOT in PARALLEL. That's why you are facing a bill of $1K - $2K instead of a simple, zero-cost, 2-minute, DIY fix.

My advice to anyone with a WD drive is to a flow a blob of solder over R67 and R64 (the zero-ohm resistors attached to the 5V and 12V TVS diodes). This will enable the TVS diodes to protect your drive in the event of an overvoltage.

[Hondaman]

Re: Hard drive recovery

Not to be a dick, Ratdude, but I've been working for the last 20 years to find a good personal storage solution. I only got the NAS4Free machine and the Kodibuntu server [with SMB] working in the last few months. Travan tape cartridges were expensive and kind of a joke. Burning CD-Rs are nice, but I just can't force myself to stick to a schedule (Asperger's). And now, I'm working 10 hours of overtime most weeks of the year, on the night shift, and maintaining a house. As a bachelor. Alone.

I don't know how I got the NAS4Free machine working, but I finally did. Now I have a Kodibuntu machine with Samba running in its place. Both of those were a miracle, since half the secrets of getting *nix to work have never been written down, tutorials are out of date [they don't mention GPT parititioning for drives over 2 TB], and "rc" files and the boot process are seldom explained. You're just expected to know. Even today, I can ask for help with a compiler error, and nobody on any computer forum will respond. (I could have used Windows 7 and Kodi, now that Win 7 licenses are cheap on eBay.)

My Kodibuntu 16.04 server has a 240 GB SSD boot drive and twin 3 TB drives for storage as follows:

/dev/sdb1: 125 GB RAID-1
/dev/sdb2: 2.7 TB LVM
/dev/sdc2 125 GB RAID-1
/dev/sdc2: 2.7 TB LVM

Both LVM partitions are just one big "JBOD" storage area for ISOs of television shows. (Windows calls this "Dynamic Disks: Spanning" and it is included in Windows 7. RAID-1 and RAID-10 are included with Win 7 too -- but not RAID-5.)

Now that I have a machine working, some say RAID-1 isn't really a backup. If that's the case, maybe I'll just have to go back to burning CD-Rs "whenever I get around to it". Basically this would be financial files and home maintenance records.

Not to be a jerk, but I did get a backup solution after years of effort. I'm sorry that only 70% of the important files were backed up -- but I was trying to copy more files to the server when this happened.

EDIT: And someday, I'll rebuild the second motorcycle (the Honda in my avatar). Also, the 6-pin socket on the side of the Fata1ity PSU must deliver 12V on one of the pins, but I did not see which one. SATA hard drives need 3.3V, 5V and 12V apparently. Not 12V exclusively, that destroys them.

[ozzy214]

Re: Hard drive recovery

I personaly dont see what the isuesue is. I have never ever once changed a chip. All I changed was the board and the poof, drive access restored. A 30 gamble is lot better than 1k. Buy he board and stick it on. You might be surprised. As I said I resell drives on ebay I "fixed" by changing the pcb. I never once reporgrammed it to match the drive or nothing.

In fact I got a 2tb drive sitting here that I may build a nas with. They broke the connector off to prevent retrieval. I stuck a new board on it with no chip change or reprogramming. Drive is working flawless. Only bad thing is since I cant figure out to reprogram the smart data, drive says bad. But thats probaly from the drive that the board came from.

If I can figure out how to reset smart, the fine. But I been running mad bench marks on this drive and doing fine. Its not going to do anything critcal other than storage of my steam library. which can always be downloaded again!

[Hondaman]

Re: Hard drive recovery

Oops, a mistake did not get corrected. The above should read:

/dev/sdb1: 125 GB RAID-1
/dev/sdb2: 2.7 TB LVM
/dev/sdc1: 125 GB RAID-1
/dev/sdc2: 2.7 TB LVM

(Maybe I can add the software for the HDHomeRun Dual, in addition to Kodi, and have an even better Ubuntu media center PC.)

EDIT Guess what? The OCZ Mod X-Stream Pro is just like the Fatal1ty, so the Fatal1ty is un-retired. The 6-pin sockets on both units provide 3.3V, 5V, and 12V, not 12 volts exclusively. I guess I'll have both pinouts in my house and I'll just have to be very careful when hooking up PSUs.

I'm not sure if I can cancel the fanless PSU I just ordered at Newegg, and I'm not sure I want to. I've always wanted a nice fanless PSU.

And I'm sorry to say this, but this world is full of bad engineering designs. These mistakes cost us time and money every day, and most people don't even know about them.

[fzabkar]

Re: Hard drive recovery

In fact I got a 2tb drive sitting here that I may build a nas with. They broke the connector off to prevent retrieval. I stuck a new board on it with no chip change or reprogramming. Drive is working flawless. Only bad thing is since I cant figure out to reprogram the smart data, drive says bad. But thats probaly from the drive that the board came from.

Please tell us the model number. If it's a Samsung, then there is a chance that your donor firmware matches the patient. Samsungs don't store "adaptive" data in ROM whereas most other manufacturers do.

For example, no Seagate drive since 7200.11 (F3 firmware architecture) can be recovered with a board swap, unless the ROM is transferred. In fact a damaged ROM usually renders the drive unrecoverable. Toshibas and Hitachis also require ROM or NVRAM transfer, while WDs require that U12 be transferred, although you can get lucky with WD (the donor and patient may have similar adaptives).

As for SMART data, they are stored in the reserved, hidden System Area (SA) on the platters, not on the PCB. In all cases you MUST match the firmware on the PCB with the "discware" in the SA.

See ...

newbie info, from and for newbies About firmware, SA, etc:
http://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6562

[fzabkar]

Re: Hard drive recovery

Well, it looks like we're not going to find out which 2TB drive doesn't need a chip swap.

FYI, here is a demo by a DR shop which shows why a straight PCB swap for a WD drive probably won't work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRO_...youtu.be&t=555

Here is a thread which explains why straight PCB swap for a Toshiba drive won't work:

http://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?t=33845