You can view the DFL case studies and FAQs here so that you can understand how to use the DFL data recovery tools better

There’re more and more SED hard drives used in the pc market and when these SED protected hard drives are damaged, users need to diagnose the failure causes, unlock the firmware area, backup firmware modules and then recover lost data.

To repair Seagate SED hard drives, users need to unlock the firmware area first. To unlock the firmware area, users need to backup rom and generate unlock rom. To generate unlock rom, users get three options:

01:  MODE 1
02: MODE 2 (AF, 91, CF)
03: MODE 3 (AF)

MODE 1 is for standard Seagate F3 SED hard drives, Mode 2 is for new generation of AF, 91 and CF families, MODE 3 is for old generation of AF family.

After generating and writing the correct unlock ROM, the DFL Seagate firmware repair software sends unlock key and unlocks the firmware area successfully.

Video instruction of How to Repair and Recover Seagate SED HDDs

 
Any question is welcome to [email protected] or add Dolphin Skype ID: dolphin.data.lab

More and more data recovery engineers are using Dolphin DVR data recovery software to recover their lost valuable videos.

For some new users, they may meet one issue: when users are trying to open the CCTV/DVR data recovery module, digital camera recovery module, video recorder recovery module and video repair module, only CCTV DVR recovery module works but other modules keep silent and doesn’t respond. This issue is caused by the lack of software running environment below:

X64-VS2015-running-environment.zip
X64-VS2017-running-environment.zip

Users just need to download above files and install them on computers and then Dolphin DVR users can use all software modules successfully.

Any question is welcome to [email protected] or add Dolphin Skype ID: dolphin.data.lab

This is one successful Western Digital hard drive data recovery case study from one DFL user in Canada.

The patient HDD ID:

Model number: WD10EZRX-00A3KB0
Family:Trailxlb
Capacity: 1TB

Failure Symptom:
Undetected hdd;
Spin up and down

Hdd repair tool and data recovery tools used in this case study:
DFL-WD hdd repair tool
DFL-DDP data recovery equipment

hdd repair and data recovery steps:

01: Short to enter DFL-WD hdd repair software;
02: Backup rom and disable 02;
03: Firmware restart and re-enter the software;
04: Backup important firmware modules;
05: Fix slow issue;
06: Fix spin up and down issue;
07: Enable 02;
08: Firmware restart;
09: Enter DFL-DDP data recovery software and all the lost partitions and folders were recovered.

Any question is welcome to [email protected] or add Dolphin Skype ID: dolphin.data.lab

This is one successful Seagate hdd data recovery case study.The patient HDD was detected but the data area was not accessible.

ST500LT012 1SDM1 Data Encryption Data Recovery Steps Youtube Video

Patient HDD ID:
Model number-ST500LT012-1DG142
Family: Yarra_5400(75)
Capacity: 500GB
Firmware: 0001SDM1

With DFL Seagate hdd firmware repair tool, users can easily access to the firmware area, backup the rom and important firmware modules.

When trying to access the data area, all sectors were colored as purple and this meant the data area was encrypted.

The user tried some traditional methods and steps to repair the encryption issue but failed.

Next Dolphin engineer tried one unique firmware repair solution within DFL Seagate hdd repair tool-Remove Password 2(different from the standard password removal function).

Next the engineer powered off and on the patient drive, the data area was fully accessible.

Any question is welcome to [email protected] or add Dolphin Skype ID: dolphin.data.lab

This is one successful data recovery case study of Seagate ST10000NM0016 patient hard drive for one Dolphin user in Austria.

Drive Identification
Model: ST10000NM0016
Family: Tatsu (97)
Firmware: SND0
Capacity: 10TB

To fix the firmware corruption, users need to do the following:

01: Connect patient hdd to DFL Seagate hdd repair hardware and connect COM cable correctly;
02: Backup original rom;
03: Generate unlock rom by mode 2;
04: Write unlock rom, power off and on and send unlock key;
05: Backup nglist, SYS1B, 28, 93, 346, etc;
06: view V40 to find out the returned entries, clear glist and then regenerate translator.

For some data encryption cases, users need to use some other functions within DFL Seagate hdd repair tool.

Any question is welcome to [email protected] or add Dolphin Skype ID: dolphin.data.lab

This is one Seagate ST2000LM009 hard drive capacity 0 firmware repair and data recovery case study.

This patient drive was not properly detected and the capacity was 0 and no data is accessible and there’re no typical com terminal messages of head damage.

To fix the capacity 0 firmware issue, users need to fix the translator corruption.

Before translator repair, users need to backup the rom, generate unlock rom, write unlock rom, power off and on, send unlock key to unlock the firmware area and next users need to back up the most important nglist.

Next users need to clear glist and regenerate translator. If com terminal repair doesn’t work, users can regenerate translator in ATA mode.

Next users need to fix the data encryption issue by DFL-Seagate hdd repair tool.

Any question is welcome to [email protected] or add Dolphin Skype ID: dolphin.data.lab

Users have different options to read and write ROM from Seagate and Western Digital hard drives.

For many hdds, users can use firmware repair tools to read and write ROM directly.

For some new hdds, firmware repair tools don’t support to read or write ROM due to SED lock, MCU lock or other PCB issue or ROM chip issue. At this situation, users can only use flash programmer to read and write rom from the ROM chips.

For traditional flash programmers, users need to solder the ROM chips off and put the ROM chip to the chip holder to read and write rom.

Not all engineers have good soldering skills and Dolphin team offered Chip-on HDD Flash Programmer Smart, users just need to remove the PCB and then users can use the pin reader to read and write rom without soldering the rom chips off.

Now users don’t need to remove PCB, don’t need to solder the ROM chips off, users just need to install the HDD ROM programming clip adapter to the HDD and then users can use Chip-on HDD Flash Programmer Smart and its software to read and write ROM easily.

Users can read details of HDD ROM programming clip adapters here.

Any question is welcome to [email protected] or add Dolphin Skype ID: dolphin.data.lab

Seagate hard drive translator regeneration is one very important firmware repair function within all Seagate firmware repair tool.

There’re two modes for Seagate hdd translator regeneration:
01: Translator regeneration in ATA mode;
02: Translator regeneration in COM mode.

Within COM terminal, users need to enter F3 T> to use m0,6,3,,,,,22 command to regenerate translator. But please note: users need to think carefully before using the command. Users need to clear g-list, need to reset smart, need to check the HDD failure symptoms, need to backup important firmware modules, etc.

In some cases, translator regeneration may cause partial sector access issue or data shifting issue and in many cases, users don’t need translator regeneration to fix the cases and recover the lost data. So don’t always use the translator regeneration command.

In some heads read-only cases, users need to use translator regeneration in ATA mode and access to the data area.

Within DFL Seagate hdd firmware repair tool, users can easily use the ATA translator regeneration under defects management and this one is very helpful.

Video instruction to use translator regeneration in ATA mode:
Seagate LM Rosewood Heads Read only Firmware Repair and Data Recovery

Any question is welcome to [email protected] or add Dolphin Skype ID: dolphin.data.lab

Seagate hard drive firmware repair tool-DFL-Seagate
Section 1:
HDD Working Modes
Engineer can work in both ATA and COM terminal mode to diagnose and repair the HDD.

Section 2: Repair Modes

DFL Seagate firmware repair tool can do both hdd repair and hdd refurbishing, hdd repair is to fix firmware failures without affecting data but hdd refurbishing will remove bad sectors and destroy data.

Section 3: Number of HDD Supported by the DFL Seagate Hardware

Users can connect 3 drives to SRP portable Seagate hdd repair tool and 4 drives to PCIe Seagate hdd repair tool.

Section 4: Operating System to Install the software

Win 7, Win 8, Win 10, any of them is ok. DFL tools have unique driverless technology, no need to install device drivers.

Section 5: Biggest Advantages over Competitors

Easy to use and install on any pc, powerful with best technique support and data recovery resources.
Free data recovery training videos here: https://www.youtube.com/user/datarecoverytools

Section 6: What Kind of Seagate HDD Failures DFL Seagate can Fix

01: Seagate HDDs with many bad sectors;
02: Seagate HDDs with SA locked;
03: Seagate HDDs with ATA locked;
04: Wrongly detected Seagate hard drives;
05: 0 capacity detected Seagate hard drives;
06: Undetected/Busy Seagate hard drives;
07: Dead Seagate hard drives, to fix this kind of dead Seagate drives, users need to have ROM chip reader, donor PCB sources or physical head and platter swap tools to work with DFL Seagate firmware repair tool;
08: Seagate patient HDDs with LED status;
09: Seagate patient HDDs with weak heads;

Section 7: Common Seagate HDD Firmware Failures-Quick Fix

01: Busy fix;
02: Capacity 0 fix;
03: Ready then Busy Fix;
04: DWF fix;
05: Sim 1002 fix;
06: Sim 1009 fix;
07: MCMT corruption fix;
08: Dos fix;
09: SMART fix;
10: LED fix;
11: Partial sector access fix;
12: Clear NG;
13: Remove password;
14: SMR HDD Format fix;
15: SSHD non-spin fix;
16: Clear media cache;
17: Load ATA/APP for old Seagate drive(Barracuda 7200.7-.10);
18: CELOG fix;
etc

Section 8: ROM Operations-Firmware on PCB

01: Read ROM by ATA or COM;
02: Write ROM by COM at any defined baud rates;
03: Head adaptive ROM;
04: CC49 ROM;
05: Edit head map in ROM;
06: Terminal/firmware unlock by generating and writing unlock rom;
07: Edit ROM;
08, Cut head in ROM;
09, Adjust Heads’ Working Temperature;
10, Disable Subsystem to fix LED issue;
11, Change ROM modules, write key original rom modules to donor ROM;
12: Nohost fix ROM generation;

Section 9: Service Area Operations-Firmware on Platters

01: Read/write firmware modules;
02: Read/write tracks;
03: Read/write/Edit SYS files;
04: Repair unknown firmware failures by tracks;
05: Repair unknown firmware failures by ABA;
06: Read/Write LOD;
07: Read/write SA;
08: Scan and record bad sector locations and add bad sectors to P-list;
09: Edit HDD ID (Model number/ LBA /SN number) and remove password;
10: Test SYS files;

Section 10: Service Area in RAM

01: Edit head map in RAM;
02: Load ATA in RAM;
03: Edit ID in RAM;
04: SAP Control flag;
05: Load translator to RAM;
06: Load ROM to RAM (for hot swap purpose);

Section 11: Defects Operations

01: Read/write/Edit G-list, P-list, NG list, Smart;
02: Delete non-SF defects in P-list, very helpful for fixing some sector access problems;
03: Delete specific defects on specific heads, this is usually used to cut heads for hdd refurbishing purpose;
04, Translator Clear and regeneration;
05: Translator Auto fix;
06, Format with Glist/Plist;
07: Offline bad sector repair;

There’re many Western Digital patient hard drives suffering bad sectors in the service area and users cannot operate on the firmware modules properly. At this time, if the firmware modules are corrupted, the patient drives become undetected, the data area becomes inaccessible, what to do to get the lost data back?

For some WD hdd recovery cases, users can swap the heads and the firmware area can be read properly. Some heavy drives or drives with multiple platters require adaptive rom to write to enhance heads’ read and write capabilities.

For some WD hdd recovery cases, users can use hot swap method by DFL-WD hdd repair tool to read original firmware modules and then use hot swap method again to recover lost data from original drives. The key is to find one good donor drive.

For some WD hdd recovery cases, users need to change the module size by DFL-WD firmware repair tool to bypass the bad sectors, this one is very helpful, no need to find donor head or donor hard drive;

For some WD hdd recovery cases, users can shift the bad sector firmware module by DFL-WD hdd firmware repair tool to one free good track without bad sectors and users can write the good module to the new track selected.

Any question is welcome to [email protected] or add Dolphin Skype ID: dolphin.data.lab