cgsecurity.org

Hi guys,

I have a WD disk, with a broken head. So I ordered a spare, and replaced it. I've created a homemade tool to keep the heads from touching each other. I also replaced the PCB. Drive spins up normally again, without nasty clicks.

The drive failed to initialize in Windows, so I tried TestDisk. The weird thing is the size of the disk. TestDisk displayed it as 11TB. It should be 500GB. I must admit that the spare-drive didn't match exactly with the broken one. The model was ofcourse correct, but the DCM, DCX and LBA differs. Maybe that's causing the problem with the size?



It didn't show any partitions, so I did a Quick Search. Read errors keep counting up. I calculated the current search-speed and it should finish in about 11 days...



Do you think I have any chance in getting my data back? Is there any other method I should try?

Thanks!

Muloza

If disk size is not recognized correctly, storage management (LBA) often doesn't fit either.
That's why you get read errors.
To achieve best results, your spare disk should match exactly, also the board should have the same revision.

Fiona

Thanks for the reply Fiona!

Do you think I should keep the scan going?

Edit: I just checked the stickers on the drives again, and LBA matches, I was wrong. Only DCM doesn't match.

Original: HBNTJBB
Spare: HHCVJBB

If your scan gives out read errors only, you can stop it.
Stressing your disk should be avoided.
For best results you should have exactly the same disk and revision.
Often ebay helps and you can ask for board revision etc.. before you buy it.
Here a pretty old case especially about DCM:
http://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?t=6488

Fiona