Toshiba DT01ACA050 copying too slow , is FW recovery possible

[samntha fox]

Hi Guys

I have got this Desktop 500GB hard disk.

This is one of its kind I think Labelled "Toshiba" but actual Hitachi and Manufactured in WD fascility (pls. correct me if wrong)

Task is to recover 51GB Data, It has 0% health and copying is too slow.

I tried active PC3K mode but no improvement is visible,

Is it possible to speed up disk on firmware level ? How can we check head (it has single head)

Will head transplant help ?

Thank you

Regards

Ritesh

[Desert Data Recovery]

Ritesh, why do you call yourself Samantha Fox?

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[jol qwerr]

Yes it's Hitachi 

Try

1. Remove autureassign (edit HDD ID)

2. Upload PSHT and RDMT in RAM

3. HSA replacement (easy 1H, very forgiving drive)

[samntha fox]

Great Thanks a lot Dear.

I am sure this will work. Unfortunately HSA replacement I will have to outsource as I don't have clean room .

Thanks 

[jol qwerr]

Before HSA replacement there 2 more options to choose

Any FW modules damaged?

[samntha fox]

It was assigned & I didn't change , thanks for reminding , I will change it right away.

[Ritesh]

No all modules are fine no p-list / G-list damage as well. I have to switched off auto reassign & created translator but there is not much improvement. Now trying reading through active pc3000 utility , Its not possible to recovery with few kb/sec

[t...@desertdatarecovery.com]

If you are imaging using the utility, Select a few files, image them, then see if they open. Quite often using the utility will get you corrupt data.

 

Tim Homer - Lead Engineer

Desert Data Recovery

+1 (602) 686 2622

t...@desertdatarecovery.com

www.desertdatarecovery.com

 

From: datarecovery...@googlegroups.com <datarecovery...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Ritesh
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2025 8:26 AM
To: DataRecoveryCertification <datarecovery...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Toshiba DT01ACA050 copying too slow , is FW recovery possible

 

No all modules are fine no p-list / G-list damage as well. I have to switched off auto reassign & created translator but there is not much improvement. Now trying reading through active pc3000 utility , Its not possible to recovery with few kb/sec

On Tuesday, October 28, 2025 at 8:34:52 PM UTC+5:30 jol qwerr wrote:

Before HSA replacement there 2 more options to choose

 

Any FW modules damaged?

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[Ritesh]

Oh yes I didn't checked , will check file integrity before further imaging.

Thanks Tim

[Ritesh]

Guys I tried all options but in vein , reading speed is better in Active utility mode only. I think Defect list ,translator etc are fine so is this caused by weak heads ? Will healthy heads improve speed or is it because of surface defects .

Can you pls. guide so that I can update customer.

Thank you.

[jol qwerr]

If it's a weak head then of course replacing it will improve the speed 

[Ritesh]

Good Morning ,

Thanks a lot .

Sometimes in a flash for seconds read speed increases to 1Mb/sec , I don't have any practical knowledge of heads & its signalling .

Better I will send disk for transplant.

[Ritesh]

Update to this case

After head transplant 100% Data recovered (only few video files in iproblem but they were also working ) so the issue was in weak heads.

Thank you all of you for valuable support.