It is now possible for DFL users to unlock the WD SMR HDDs firmware area on the original PCB without special firmware unlock PCBs.
The new solution for WD SMR HDD firmware unlock is available within DFL-WD hdd repair tool and to use this solution, users need to have DFL HDD ROM chip pin reader(Many users have already had this one.) and the steps are as below:
1, Remove the original PCB from data drive;
2, Read the original ROM from original PCB by the HDD rom chip pin reader set without soldering rom chip off;
3, Generate firmware unlock ROM;
4, Write unlock rom to original PCB by the HDD rom chip pin reader set without soldering rom chip off;
5, Install the original PCB to data drive and users can see the firmware area is already unlocked successfully;
6, Users can use DFL-WD hdd repair tool to backup important firmware modules, specially the module 190, smrzone, T2data, etc;
7, Users can image the HDD or extract lost data directly if users have DFL-URE or DFL-UREP by using DFL latest T2 auto loading tech;
8, If the original PCB is physically damagaed but the Main chip and ROM chip are still good, users can use the special firmware unlock PCB and then move the original main chip to the firmware unlock SATA PCB and write original ROM to the firmware unlock PCB for disk imaging or file extraction;
9, In some cases, users need to repair the damaged firmware module 190 or repair the SMR HDD slow issue to continue for data recovery.
The WD SMR HDD firmware repair and data recovery solution is more and more complete and successful and DFL users will be able to fix more and more new data recovery cases.
Please note: the new solution supports 800066, 67, 69, 77, 11, etc but doesn’t support 810033 and 810035 which have quite different rom structure and algorithms. For WD 810033 and 810035, users still need to get the special firmware unlock PCBs for firmware unlock.
Any question is welcome to sales@dolphindatalab.com or add Dolphin Skype ID: dolphin.data.lab
This is one patient WD SMR Charger HDD from one DFL user in China who has other data recovery tools but failed to get the lost data back due to the 190 loading issue.
HDD ID:
WD20SDRW-11VUUS0
Family: Charger
4 Heads
Microcode: 6008J
SPT: 1860
This DFL user contacted Dolphin team and bought DFL PCIe data recovery express recharge version and DFL-URE Plus and applied for remote support.
By DFL PCIe data recovery express, the user had safely backup the rom and firmware modules and tested the firmware modules and found the modules 189 and 190 are corrupted with checksum errors. At this time, the engineer had to backup the 190 by ATA but still some sectors failed to be read in module 190. The engineer repaired the module 190 by DFL-WD 190 repair solution and got new 190 and at the same time, the T2 data was extracted as one important part of 190.
By DFL-URE Plus, the engineer could connect the Charger USB HDD directly, before loading T2Data, all sectors were found as 0, next the engineer selected the menu ‘Edit Head Map in RAM and Load T2’ and the engineer loaded the T2 data automatically.

After T2 auto loading after power reset, the engineer went to check data area again and the hex data becomes normal.
Next the engineer went to file extraction and the lost partition, folders and files were perfectly listed and finally all lost data was recovered.
Watch the video here on How to use DFL URE UREP to Recover Lost Data Easily from WD SMR HDDs Suffering All Sectors Zero:
Any question is welcome to sales@dolphindatalab.com or add Dolphin Skype ID: dolphin.data.lab
Slow problem is very common firmware failure in western Digital hard drives, it is also the same situation for WD SMR hard drives. But please note: Slow issue can also be caused by physical weak head or weak platter surface. It’s not possible before to fix the SMR HDD slow issue by the traditional ‘slow fix’ solution.
Within the latest DFL all in one data recovery tool V2.3, users can easily fix the slow issue without affecting the data and the solution has helped many DFL users to get lost data back from the WD SMR HDDs.
The WD SMR HDD slow fix solution is available within DFL-DDP data recovery software.

All users need to do is to activate TLER, click to modify module 01 and 02(helps to reduce the time of loading unnecessary firmware modules) and input the read and write response time.
Besides, users can try to lock UA writing, repair 190, disable reallocation, etc to get the WD smr drives working faster. Pls. note firmware testing is very important and users may need to repair some other modules too.
But if the slow issue is caused by weak heads or downgraded surfaces, users need to backup the SMRzone and module 190/T2 for running selective head image.
The following are some relevant videos and tips about how to fix the WD smr hdd slow responding issue:
WD15SMRW 11YNDS0 WD SMR HDD Slow Data Recovery Steps
How to Backup WD SMR HDD Module 190 Successfully
Special Warning on WD SMR HDD Data Recovery Cases
Any question is welcome to sales[@]dolphindatalab.com.
Here is one more successful data recovery case study for one DFL user in Italy.
HDD ID:
Model number-WD20EURX-64HYZY0
PCB: 1945
Family: DIABLO3S
SPT: 1740
4 Heads
HDD Failure Symptoms:
Wrong SN number: WDC-ROM SN#XYZ—
Capacity: 0
HDD repair tools and data recovery tools used in this case study:
DFL-WD hdd repair tool
DFL-DDP data recovery tool
HDD repair and data recovery steps are as below:
1, Connect the patient HDD to DFL-SRP data recovery hardware;
2, Open DFL-WD hdd repair software by the DFL Control Panel;
3, Enter program, get module list, backup ROM and important firmware modules;
4, Test firmware modules;
5, Common repair>Slow Fix;
6, Power off and on but the failure was not fixed;
7, Hex>LBA read>sector 0 and sector 0 was normal and ok but capacity was still 0 and the recovery was not possible;
8, This step is available in Dolphin user-only forum here;
9, Power off and on, check the data area and the data area was fully accessed;
10, Open DFL-DDP data recovery tool, set up one new data recovery project and all lost folders and files were listed and finally all lost data was recovered perfectly.
Any question is welcome to sales@dolphindatalab.com or add Dolphin Skype ID: dolphin.data.lab
This is one PCB damaged and firmware corrupted WD5000BMVW-11AMCS4 patient hard drive and its PCB number is 771820.
This patient PCB is for one DFL user from Italy. When the user got this patient HDD, the original PCB was damaged, the ROM chip was burnt and the HDD didn’t spin up at all.
To fix this patient hdd and get the lost data back, users need to have DFL-WD hdd repair tool and DFL DDP data recovery tool and the data recovery steps are as below:
1, For these non-spinning drives, the very first step is to get the patient drives spinning again by getting one donor PCB with the same PCB number;
2, Enter DFL-WD hdd repair tool, get the module list and check the microcode from module 11 or other overlay modules;
3, This step is available in Dolphin user-only forum;
4, Enter DFL-WD hdd repair tool again(if users cannot enter program successfully, users can try to short connect tv9 and tv10), test all firmware modules and found out module 02 was corrupted, the HDD was still not detected;
5, This step is available in Dolphin user-only forum;
6, Power off and on and the patient HDD was detected perfectly;
7, Enter DFL-DDP data recovery tool, all lost data was recovered successfully.
Any question is welcome to sales@dolphindatalab.com or add Dolphin Skype ID: dolphin.data.lab
Dolphin Data Lab has upgraded the Seagate HDD repair and data recovery solution and for all Dolphin DFL users, they can get the latest DFL Seagate hdd repair software from the user-only forum and repair and recover lost data effectively from the Seagate New ST8000NM000A 8TB B5 Cimarron family hard drives.
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Cimarron.SATA.Combo.Default5xxE.MynaPlus2.1.Cust.KB1A
Product FamilyId: B5, MemberId: 01
HDA SN: WKD0ELXS, RPM: 7202, Wedges: 1A0, Heads: A, OrigHeads: C, ActiveHdMap: 03FF, Lbas: 000074795956, PreampType: 82 50
Bits/Symbol: C, Symbols/UserSector: CC9, Symbols/SystemSector: CC8 HostBlocks: 0x8, HostSectorSize: 0x200, SystemSectorSize: 0x1000
PCBA SN: 0000E03782WB, Controller: MYNAPLUS_2_0_SATA(1D20), Channel: Unknown, PowerAsic: Unknown Rev 00, BufferBytes: 10000000
SF ID: 9D 70, SF Part Size: 800, Flash Used: 3C0
Package Version: CRAEA1A06.SDN1.AB0462.SN02 , Package P/N: 100864930, Package Global ID: 00699153,
Package Build Date: 01/21/2020, Package Build Time: 13:26:54, Package CFW Version: CRAEA1A06.SDN1.AB0462.01847935.00699153.SN02 ,
Package SFW1 Version: B632, Package SFW2 Version: D632, Package SFW3 Version: —-, Package SFW4 Version: —-
Controller FW Rev: 01211326, CustomerRel: SN02, Changelist: 01847935, ProdType: CRAEA1A.SDN1QC, Date: 01/21/2020, Time: 132654, UserId: 00699153
Servo FW Rev: D632
Parallelism Identity: Single
TCG IV Version: n/a
Package BPN: 161
RAP FW Implementation Key: 22, Format Rev: 0003, Contents Rev: 01 13 C0 2F
Active BFW Container: 1
4K Sys Area: 1
TOTAL TTR = 00004F5F
Features:
– IOEDC enabled
– IOECC enabled
– DERP enabled v. 7.0.00.0000000000000000
– LTTC-UDR2 compiled off
– SuperParity 2.5 enabled
– Humidity Sensor enabled
– Media Cache Partition enabled
– Torn Write Protection enabled
– SweepSeek 2.0
– SubRelease:0
– Critical Event Log v. 1
– FAFH 42.4 enabled
– EWP:1
– DRAM Mirror:1
– MiniZones Serpentine Media Layout
By the DFL Seagate HDD repair tool, users can easily unlock the firmware area, backup the important firmware modules, fix the damaged firmware modules and then recover the lost data with DFL DDP data recovery hardware tools.
Any question is welcome to sales@dolphindatalab.com or add Dolphin Skype ID: dolphin.data.lab






