Problem with WD Marvel Demo

[wdnivek23]

Any idea if this is recoverable? Thanks

[Vlad]

You can not just change head map in ROM, drive FW on media configured to old head map
Return original head map and check all modules in SA

[Healso]

Hi,

I was running your WDMarvel full version software ARCO tests on an older drive about 2 weeks ago (10/30/17). I let it run overnight. When I turned my monitor on the next morning on I saw a BSOD. (I rarely get these.) So, I restarted my computer and I noticed my main hard drive wasn't spinning. I tried resetting the cables, and it still wasn't spinning. I'm not skilled at soldering the small U12 chip and do have some important data on the drive. So, I immediately sent my PCB for that drive to a reputable PCB provider. They told me the ROM chip is corrupt and they want me to send in the whole drive for data recovery. ($$$)

Now, I don't know how this happened. I've never had a problem like this before with one of my HDD's.
Is it possible that WDMarvel accessed the Primary SATA channel and erased the ROM on the main drive by mistake? Maybe the ARCO commands for the secondary SATA channel went to the Primary HDD? I know during ARCO tests it's constantly updating the ROM modules.

The good news is the drive is actually a clone of my real MAIN HDD. However, there are some photo's and other important data which I've added over a three month period since it was cloned...

I've since purchased a proper replacement PCB. However I don't have the original ROM of course.
The drive model is WD20EADS-00W4B0 2TB. It's not a popular model. I was able to find some ROM's online for this model but I don't know if it will help with getting access to the data area.
I'm pretty sure drive is still readable.
I would like to know if anyone has suggestions for me to able recover the data?
I'm looking to this myself and not pay the high cost of data recovery.

I really like your software but I've not been able to use it since I had this problem on 10/30/17.
I would like to use it again but I will make sure to install it on a Samsung HDD just to be safe.

Thanks, and I look forward to hearing any of your suggestions.

[Vlad]

Did you connect your drives as Master and Slave on the same channel?
You need to flash ROM with same FW version as was in original
The try find module 47 from donor with which drive start to work

[Spildit]

If you run ARCO on the wrong drive then data is gone ....

I'm assuming you were running your OS/WDMarvel on the primary drive and then you used WDMarvel to run ARCO on that same drive. This would cause the BSOD and replacing the PCB and getting a donor ROM will not help you out recovering data as ARCO by now have already deleted it almost for sure ....

[Healso]

Did you connect your drives as Master and Slave on the same channel?
You need to flash ROM with same FW version as was in original
The try find module 47 from donor with which drive start to work

Hi,
Do you know how I can find out what the original firmware was?
I really don't know. Thanks for your help.

The drives were both running on separate channels as Master and Slave.
The primary drive was on the primary IDE channel and the second drive was on the secondary IDE channel.

[Healso]

If you run ARCO on the wrong drive then data is gone ....

I'm assuming you were running your OS/WDMarvel on the primary drive and then you used WDMarvel to run ARCO on that same drive. This would cause the BSOD and replacing the PCB and getting a donor ROM will not help you out recovering data as ARCO by now have already deleted it almost for sure ....

Hi Splidit!

No, I didn't run ARCO on the main drive. I was running ARCO tests on the second drive overnight.
I made sure I checked carefully before running. Some sort of way, I think one of those ARCO ROM commands were sent to the main drive by error. I know it sounds strange, but that's what I think may of happened. The data should still be there.

[Vlad]

Hi,
Do you know how I can find out what the original firmware was?
I really don't know. Thanks for your help.

The drives were both running on separate channels as Master and Slave.
The primary drive was on the primary IDE channel and the second drive was on the secondary IDE channel.

If drives was on different channels, this is impossible that command were sent to another drive by error
May be your drive simple has died due to another reasons?
Find any ROM that allow you to read SA and read module 11, it contain original FW version

[Healso]

Hi,
Do you know how I can find out what the original firmware was?
I really don't know. Thanks for your help.

The drives were both running on separate channels as Master and Slave.
The primary drive was on the primary IDE channel and the second drive was on the secondary IDE channel.

If drives was on different channels, this is impossible that command were sent to another drive by error
May be your drive simple has died due to another reasons?
Find any ROM that allow you to read SA and read module 11, it contain original FW version

Vlad,

No, It didn't die!
I want to thank you for the advice. I flashed 3 different ROM versions for the model to the donor PCB, The first 2 showed nothing in the SA and FM_ERR_HEADER_II_SIGNATURE_INVALID. The last ROM version I tried just worked! All the data is still there like I thought and there's no problem reading it. How likely is it that firmware just works? I heard it's not easy to find a ROM that just works without any adjustments. Since each drive is different.

I'm currently copying some of the important data which was stored on the disk.
I still don't know how the ROM was originally corrupted.
I'll check the WDMarvel log file later and see if there's any log of the problem.

Also,
I would appreciate if you extend my license for 2 more weeks. Since I was not able to really use your software for the whole month. I will most likely buy the lifetime license in the near future. Since I do plan on working some other WD disks. Thanks.

[Vlad]

Ok, extended till end of this month