Hard Drive Hot Swapping


I just completed a hot swap on a Samsung drive using all of the tips and tricks I learnt off the http://techgeek.posthaven.com blog. Going through the process, I kept track of the different steps that were completed. There are many great examples and recommendations on the Techgeek blog, so I figured that it would help others by combining those steps into one page for a step by step reference. I tried to upload this as a document; however, those types of attachments were not permitted (.doc, .docx, or .pdf).

Keep up the good work everyone!

Hot Swap PCB on Samsung Hard Drives

Donor should be same model and heads map should match on patient and on donor.

Steps for hot-swapping all Samsung drive families (go to http://www.blogster.com/diskdriverepair/ for a step by step guide):
1. Power on donor and run the utility.
2. Perform a HDD resources backup and reading modules (see http://datarecoverymagic.doomby.com/) for a run down on how to do this). Accept the default HDD Profile Folder
3. Reread modules; however, append Donor to the Path (Backup copy of the modules).
4. Wait until initialization is complete and place drive into sleep mode (Standby).
5. Unscrew the PCB from donor and install it on patient drive. Screw the screws back on and perform recalibration.
6. Wait until the drive enters the ready state, and then read the modules from the drive except some “large size” log modules and Overlay. If the drive becomes not ready (BSY, DRD, DSC) then disable the module which follows the last correctly read module (OK). Then read the modules again, unchecking modules as needed.
6.a. Example a Samsung F3 HD:
03 FIT2 OK (This module was Read, but then the process hung).
63 RCO_LOG (was the next module to be read but the system hung on this, uncheck this one)

6.b. System continues to read modules
01 FSI2 OK (This module was Read, but then the process hung)
3D ELOG (was the next module to be read but the system hung on this one, uncheck this one)

6.c. In some cases the overlay is damaged. This module can be replaced; however, the PCB should now be used with the patient HD (permanently).

7. Verify that all adaptives are good.
8. Power off donor PCB and swap it on donor HDA.
9. Write all necessary modules, except Overlays (See Modules for the Families) from patient to donor drive. Then switch the drive’s Power off/on.
10. Press Sleep and Swap the PCB from donor drive to patient HDA.
11. Fasten all screws onto the PCB and do the recalibration. The patient drive is “hot-swapped”
12. Minimize the Utility window and open the Data Extractor. Try to access the data on it. It is recommended to make a data copy while working with the patient drive.
12.a. It is recommended to copy the customer’s important data first (i.e. C:Documents and SettingsusernameMy Documents), and then copy the customers nice to have data.
13. During the recovery, the drive may lose readiness
13.a. Power off the hard drive (in Data Extractor)
13.b. Remove PCB from patient and attach it to the donor drive.
13.c. Switch to the Utility window, power on the donor drive
13.d. Recalibrate the PCB then place system in standby.
13.e. Swap the PCB to the patient HD
13.f. Recalibrate and wait for the system to become ready
13.g. Continue retrieving the data.
14. Troubleshooting problems during the Recovery (Loss of Readiness). There are many things that effect the drive, so you most likely will have to adjust the Parameters within the Data Extractor window to recover the data:
14.a. Copying Tab: Recommended are the default settings at first, then try changing the following:
14.a.i. Initial and Final LBA: If data is located in a particular partition, determine the Initial LBA and Final LBA of the partition and place those numbers into the Parameters
14.a.ii. Direction: You may have to switch between Forward and Back to recover the data.
iii. Single sector access: The system attempts to read the sector once and then continues (default is three read attempts)
14.b. Command to Read: If you cannot read the data anymore, then try switching to another command.
14.b.i. Read, use UDMA66, than try
14.b.ii. Use hardware retries
14.c. Error Handling
14.c.i. Jumpsize: If there are many errors in reading (bad sectors). Start out with a large jumpsize i.e. 1,000,000. After the hard drive has been read, then lower the number i.e. 100,000 and reread the jumped sectors.
14.c.ii. Disable AutoRelocation while reading (HDD RAM) (check)
14.c.iii. Disable read look-ahead (check)
14.d. Heads map: if there are failing heads or the system hangs continually in certain areas, one may have to disable certain head(s) of the drive. In Data Extractor in the Operation field, the head being currently used is displayed after the LBA. This is a good starting point.
14.d.i. With the Samsung Utility still open, in the Data Extractor window select ServiceBuilding heads map.
14.d.ii. After the head map is built try disabling certain heads and then attempt to recover the data.
14.d.iii. Go to Task ParametersHead map and remove all ticks by the heads except the first head in the list.
14.d.iv. Press OK and go the main task screen and press the Execute button. Looks like a play button on a CD Player.
14.d.v. When the system finishes copying the data, select another head and continue copying

Modules for the families V11P, VICTOR, PUMA, VICTORPLUS, VERNA, VERNALITE:
“UNITABLE”
“SLISTHDR” (except V11P & VICTOR)
“SLIST”
“TLIST”
“ALIST”

Modules for the families: PALO, PANGO, VANGOPLUS, VELOCE, RUBICON, P80A, P80M, DELPHI, POSEIDON, CAESAR:
“06 CONFIG”
“10 SLISTHDR”
“11 SLIST”
“12 TLIST”
“13 ALIST”
“5D CONFIG2” (if it exist in modules table)
“62 ALISTHDR” (except PANGO, VANGOPLUS, VELOCE, RUBICON, P80A)

Modules for the families: TRIDENT, T166(S), STORM2(S166), TRIDENT3(S250):
“05 SRVTBL”
“06 CONFIG”
“0C ARCOTBL”
“0D GEO_TBL”
“10 SLISTHDR”
“11 SLIST”
“12 TLIST”
“13 ALIST”
“17 SRVTBL2”
“18 ARCOTBL2”
“62 ALISTHDR”
“6E 10SOFS”
“71 VFY_PATT”
“80 SCT_DATA”
“9B HSC_RST”
“9C FOD_NRRO”
“9D FOD_HSC”
“9E HSC_DT”
“9F HSC_RST”
“A0 FOD_NRRO”
“A1 FOD_HSC”
“A2 HSC_DT”
“A3 HSC_CYL”
“A4 IN_SITU”
“A7 FOD_HRLR”
“B3 AVSCAN”