Comments on: Data Recovery 101: Firmware

By: Hard Disk 3F0 Error Data Recovery Case Study | Gillware Data Recovery

Hard Disk 3F0 Error Data Recovery Case Study | Gillware Data Recovery — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 14:08:10 +0000

[…] we must first understand how the hard drive identifies itself in the first place. Hard drive firmware contains all sorts of personal information about your hard drive. When the drive’s read/write […]

By: PGP Encrypted Hard Drive Recovery Case Study: Laptop Not Booting

PGP Encrypted Hard Drive Recovery Case Study: Laptop Not Booting — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 15:42:17 +0000

[…] with our engineers. Normally, when a hard drive powers on, its read/write heads find the firmware, read it, and store the data in the drive’s RAM before continuing its normal operations. The […]

By: Western Digital HDD Repair Case Study: Winter is Coming | Gillware Inc.

Western Digital HDD Repair Case Study: Winter is Coming | Gillware Inc. — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 15:30:54 +0000

[…] Hard drives are naturally noisy creatures, although most modern ones are relatively quiet. (Old Maxtor and Hitachi hard drives especially can make quite a racket, though, even when they are healthy.) When a hard drive’s read/write heads unpark and position themselves above the spinning hard disk platters, a single click usually accompanies the movement. Our engineers sometimes refer to this as the “happy sound” because it means that the heads have positioned themselves properly over the firmware sectors and made a handshake with the drive’s firmware. […]

By: Intel SSD 8MB Bug Data Recovery Case Study: 320 Series | Gillware Inc.

Intel SSD 8MB Bug Data Recovery Case Study: 320 Series | Gillware Inc. — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 15:19:03 +0000

[…] Just like traditional spinning disk hard drives, SSDs rely on complex firmware to manage the flow of…. When the 320 Series goes bad, an interesting quirk manifests itself in the firmware. When asked to report its capacity, the SSD responds by listing itself as having a whopping grand total of eight megabytes of storage space in its NAND chips. (For reference, the ancient ST-506 had a five-megabyte capacity—talk about a blast from the past!) […]

By: SanDisk SSD Recovery Case Study: A110 SSD Firmware Issue | Gillware

SanDisk SSD Recovery Case Study: A110 SSD Firmware Issue | Gillware — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 14:58:44 +0000

[…] the fact that they both hold your data, of course). In both hard drives and solid-state drives, firmware acts as the drives’ “operating system”. It manages your computer’s access to the data on […]

By: Unreadable Hard Drive Recovery: When Your Heads Can’t Shake Hands

Unreadable Hard Drive Recovery: When Your Heads Can’t Shake Hands — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 14:20:27 +0000

[…] computer’s pace. The heads’ faltering performance had also created a glitch in the drive’s firmware, the “operating system” of the hard drive with which the read/write heads must “shake […]

By: Samsung SSD Recovery Case Study: Form Factor Fricassee | Gillware Inc

Samsung SSD Recovery Case Study: Form Factor Fricassee | Gillware Inc — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 13:52:34 +0000

[…] hard disk drives, SSDs have firmware of their own to deal with the flow of data in and out of the device. SSD firmware is a complicated […]

By: VHD Recovery Case Study: Breaking the Boot Cycle | Gillware Inc.

VHD Recovery Case Study: Breaking the Boot Cycle | Gillware Inc. — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 13:35:59 +0000

[…] engineers found, upon evaluation, that the hard drive had suffered a failure of its firmware. Hard drive firmware acts as the drive’s “operating system”. Like this client’s Windows 10 […]

By: NAS Recovery Case Study: Drive Prompts for Reformat | Gillware Inc.

NAS Recovery Case Study: Drive Prompts for Reformat | Gillware Inc. — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 21:12:53 +0000

[…] Hard drive firmware does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to your hard drive’s daily functions. In fact, it works like the “operating system” of your hard drive. Just as your computer’s O/S brings all of the separate components of your computer together to make it work, hard drive firmware brings all of your hard drive’s components together. […]

By: Seagate NAS Recovery Case Study: Firmware Foibles | Gillware Inc.

Seagate NAS Recovery Case Study: Firmware Foibles | Gillware Inc. — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 20:56:46 +0000

[…] Hard drive firmware fulfills a crucial function, and when it develops a fault, it can make the drive completely unusable. Put simply, hard drive firmware instructs the hard drive on how to “talk” to the data on its hard disk platters. […]