I'm and idiot. I tried to transfer my Firmware Chip. Maybe Fried It. Now What?

[NeedsPractice]

My advice is to stop thinking about saving the hardware, and focus on how important the data is to you, in terms of $$. If the hardware happens to work when you're done, don't use it for anything you care about.

The answers to most of the questions you're now asking are easy google searches. You'll find that PC3000 and MRT Lab are both expensive pieces of software, north of $5000 each....I don't even have to do a search to tell you that.

As for "they", I suspect they did exactly what you asked for (save this ROM), not what you really wanted (save this drive). And now you're a squeaky wheel they don't want to deal with anymore. Can't blame them.

So what do you recommend at this point?

[james_s]

So what do you recommend at this point?

One of the following, depending on your budget and how valuable the data is to you:

1. Hire a professional data recovery service to recover the data.

2. Locate an identical working drive and try swapping the boards, maybe you will get lucky and that will allow you to read back at least most of the data.

3. Give up, write off the data as a lost cause, put the drive away in a drawer somewhere in case you later change your mind, and use it as a reminder to make frequent backups of important data.

[NeedsPractice]

So what do you recommend at this point?

One of the following, depending on your budget and how valuable the data is to you:

1. Hire a professional data recovery service to recover the data.

2. Locate an identical working drive and try swapping the boards, maybe you will get lucky and that will allow you to read back at least most of the data.

3. Give up, write off the data as a lost cause, put the drive away in a drawer somewhere in case you later change your mind, and use it as a reminder to make frequent backups of important data.

Who do you recommend for a professional data recovery service?

[james_s]

Sorry I've never had a need for such a service so I don't have a recommendation. Perhaps somebody else here does have some direct experience.

[NeedsPractice]

Sorry I've never had a need for such a service so I don't have a recommendation. Perhaps somebody else here does have some direct experience.

Recap:

1-Looks like my original bios was erased.
2-Looks like my original bios was only partially copied over to the new rom.: 512K worth.
3-I have one PCB Donor Board that boots up the hard drive and keeps it running but o/s can't read the data.
4. Data Recovery Place that transferred my bios to another PCB Donor Board, said they don't back up roms and they don't have my rom to email me.

What are my options?

[Microdoser]

Have you considered something like this?



I mean, at some point very soon you might have to really give a hard think to the actual final value you place on this data.

Then find a place that will charge you less than that and give you your data on a new drive.

If the value you place on the data is less than the price of a new drive plus a new donor drive to use as parts and then a realistic amount for the time required to get the data from a drive which is effectively dead at this point then just give up and save your time.

I know that generally at Rossman for example there is a flat fee of $250 for board level repairs, I imagine hard drive recovery is more than that. The minimum I would guess is the price of two drives plus $250.

Relevant to your situation:

Here, Steve explains why he doesn't replace the PCB to solve the problem with a drive that was sent in requesting PCB replacement. As is almost always the case, the problem the customer thinks they have, is not the problem they actually have.

[NeedsPractice]

Have you considered something like this?



I mean, at some point very soon you might have to really give a hard think to the actual final value you place on this data.

Then find a place that will charge you less than that and give you your data on a new drive.

If the value you place on the data is less than the price of a new drive plus a new donor drive to use as parts and then a realistic amount for the time required to get the data from a drive which is effectively dead at this point then just give up and save your time.

I know that generally at Rossman for example there is a flat fee of $250 for board level repairs, I imagine hard drive recovery is more than that. The minimum I would guess is the price of two drives plus $250.

Relevant to your situation:

Here, Steve explains why he doesn't replace the PCB to solve the problem with a drive that was sent in requesting PCB replacement. As is almost always the case, the problem the customer thinks they have, is not the problem they actually have.

Awesome. Yea, I think I am real close to having to go this route. I have a couple of pros that might have one last ditch effort to maybe do something with my bios, but not sure what they can do. I know one of them can actually code so we shall see. If not, you are exactly right. I will have to evaluate and see how much this data means to mean.

[Microdoser]

After watching part 2 of the second video it seems likely that the donor board you put into the drive did not have the correct micro-stepping values and that it is unlikely for a random donor board to work.

[NeedsPractice]

After watching part 2 of the second video it seems likely that the donor board you put into the drive did not have the correct micro-stepping values and that it is unlikely for a random donor board to work.

Thanks for trying but I am ready to give up. Yea, I need my original bios information which was erased on purpose by a recovery company to hold my repair hostage.

[NeedsPractice]

Well, looks like this is where my journey ends. For everyone that has been thoughtful and kind. Thank you. Looks like with the unexpected crash of this hard drive and the mistakes that I have made, I will not be able to retrieve this data. I will hold onto this drive-in case technology changes in the future or if I become independently wealthy and can afford a “professional recovery service”.


To all the negative people out there. Humans are human. We make mistakes even when we know better. My father has been in computers for over 50+ years in the military. I know a lot about computers and backups. Life got in the way. I have a lot going on right now and the last thing I need is smart aleck comments about backing up data.


Anyhow, I hope everyone has a wonderful day and wish all of you the best of success in life.

[NeedsPractice]

    fzabkar said:
    I found the problem. There is a stuck bit at this location:

    Code:

    Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

    00025C10  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00
                                                  ^^

    When I change the 8 to a 0, the CRC becomes 0x0000.

    F3RomExplorer is happy with the edit. If you can reprogram your ROM after making the change, then hopefully you will recover your data.

    I use HxD (freeware hex editor).

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/seagate-archive-hdd-failure-no-crash-no-spin-silent-troubleshooting-advise%E2%80%A6.3699522/

FZABKAR

OH MY GOODNESS! YOU ARE AMAZING! YOU DID IT! PRAISE GOD! YOU ARE A SAINT!

2.82 TB - 3,106,287,262,945 BYTES - 748,329 FILES, 57,259 FOLDERS

TAKING (1) DAY TO COPY! IT'S COPYING RIGHT NOW!

YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS MEANS TO ME! THIS WAS MY MAIN BACKUP DRIVE THAT I BACKED EVERYTHING UP TO RIGHT BEFORE IT DIED. I WAS MOVING STUFF AROUND AND PICKED THIS DRIVE TO BACKUP STUFF TOO. I WAS GOING TO ORGANIZE EVERYTHING WHEN I PLUGGED IT IN AND ALL OF A SUDDEN IT WAS GONE.

THIS IS INCREDIBLE!

[james_s]

Holy crap, that fixed it? Buy that guy a beer.

[Microdoser]

Well that is fantastic!

I have to admit, I felt like I was looking at a patient that had flatlined. There is no hope... but wait!

A crazy maverick comes in at the last second and saves the day!

EDIT:

Now, what lesson did we learn today?

Always keep at least 2 copies of every bit of data you value. Make sure at least one of those copies has redundancy like a RAID 0, also make sure that the two copies are not on the same machine.

Some people say to make sure they are not in the same building (in case of fire, flood, pestilence, or famine)

Any data that is not backed up is data you are planning to lose.

[amyk]

Great to see a happy ending. fzabkar is also a member here and at the HDDoracle forums.

[james_s]

I thought the name sounded familiar. Couldn't remember where I'd seen it though.