Re: WD45AA drive is detected as WD75AA

Previously Oliver Friedmann <ofriedmann@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi,

I'm trying to recover the data on a WD45AA (45 GB) hard disk a
friend of mine gave me. I've seen many damaged hard disks, but this
particular one is quite interesting, because the bios (and the data
lifeguard tool from WD which is generally supposed to work without
caring about any bios options) both are detecting this drive as a
WD75AA (7,5 GB). I'm not able to access any data, but I'm wondering
where the string "WD75AA" comes from. Obviously the bios cannot
contain a table of all hard disk drive descriptors, thus the drive
itself claims to be a WD75AA (which is not true). That brings me to
the conclusion that either the controller card on the drive is a
"mass production" that can handle different WD drive types and is
internally configured (by a jumper, an eeprom or whatever) or the
drive parameters (descriptor, but also cylinders, heads and so on)
are stored within a writeable eeprom (maybe in order to be able to
apply firmwares) that is corrupted. How can that be? Maybe a virus

Sorry, but that is nonsense. A simple bit error in the eeprom is
far more likely.

that writes to such a firmware, but I doubt so, because a virus
wouldn't change the model of a specific hdd (WD45AAA to WD75AA) but
just destroy any relevant firmware data. Maybe there is an internal
jumper on the inner side of the controller card that specifies which
model the controller card has to handle that has been fallen off.
What do you guys think?

Also unlikely. Most of the drive's firmware is actually on disk.
Only the mots basic parts are on the controller card, to allot the
drive to boot itself up.

Arno
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: WD45AA drive is detected as WD75AA
    ... I've seen many damaged hard disks, ... but this particular one is quite interesting, because the bios ... "WD75AA" comes from. ... Yes, its much more likely that the config data, wherever its stored, ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage)
  • Re: 200G Hard Drive
    ... Someone suggested that I use some sort of controller card. ... The preferred solution is to upgrade your BIOS. ... help once your system is booted and Windows can take over. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: Fitting a SATA disk on pre-SATA motherboard
    ... If so, the controller card will need an onboard BIOS, which many have, and he ... I think that he will use it as a data disk. ... Presumably the controller card will come with a disk for the drivers. ...
    (uk.comp.homebuilt)
  • Re: BTX halted when installing on a HP Proliant DL360 G3
    ... > I've tried various BIOS options, but the boot always goes like this: ... > Attempting Boot From CD-ROM ... > Building the boot loader arguments ... it looks like it's when it hunts for hard disks. ...
    (freebsd-questions)
  • Re: 200G Hard Drive
    ... Someone suggested that I use some sort of controller card. ... The preferred solution is to upgrade your BIOS. ... help once your system is booted and Windows can take over. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)