Recovering WD SA510 Firmware 5215100

README.md

Recovering WD SA510 Firmware 52015100

Issue

WD SA510 defaults to having firmware version 52015100 which self-destructs itself, preventing further access to the drive and preventing updating it.

Failing Attempts

Following attempts were tried and failed

• Reading the data under Linux (some partitions showed some dir others did not)
• Rescuing the data using ddrescue (all kinds of errors and bad sectors showed up)
• Reading the data under Windows (the drive was not identifiable)
• Official upgrade through WD Dashboard utility (The tool breaks when tries to communicate with the SSD)

Diagnoses

The firmware needs to be upgraded, but the official methodology to update was not working because the firmware is failing.
I also noticed that the smartctl utility on the device worked when I left the drive for some time and tried to open it later. Suggesting that may be the freezer trick (keeping the drive in freezer for some time, in my case ~5 min) would give us some time.

Working Attempt

Following this guide of Trying to update the firmware using the Linux based Embedded Toolkit by Western Digital, here are the steps for the upgrade:

Preparation

• Format a FAT32 USB stick (which we would boot from)
• Download the firmware file 52046100.fluf based on the broken SA510 device
  • 250GB: https://wddashboarddownloads.wdc.com/wdDashboard/firmware/WD_Blue_SA510_2.5_250GB_SSD/52046100/52046100.fluf.f>
  • 500GB: https://wddashboarddownloads.wdc.com/wdDashboard/firmware/WD_Blue_SA510_2.5_500GB_SSD/52046100/52046100.fluf.
  • 1TB: https://wddashboarddownloads.wdc.com/wdDashboard/firmware/WD_Blue_SA510_2.5_1000GB_SSD/52046100/52046100.fluf.
• Download the embedded Linux Updater from https://wddashboarddownloads.wdc.com/wdDashboard/application/EmbeddedLinux.zip
• Extract embedded-linux.zip
• Copy the content inside img/to-esp to the newly formatted stick
• Copy the firmware file to the newly formatted stick (next to the previously copied content)
• Create an empty file named embedded-toolkit.cfg in the newly formatted stick (next to the previously copied content)

Firmware Upgrade

• Frozen the drive for 5 min

• Booted from the USB stick

• Click select device and choose the broken SSD CAUTION to be taken for this step

  • In my case, I had the device disconnected, and in the first scan I was able to locate the previously connected drive that I don't want to wipe
  • Then I externally connected the drive I want to upgrade the firmware using an enclosure
  • Then I chose to rescan
  • Then the newly appearing drive was clearly the one I want to wipe

• Enter the firmware file name in our case it's 52046100.fluf

• Then start the upgrade, if it completed succussfully you would be able to capture the data from the device. In my case I kept it connected, booted from a Linux machine with the enclosure connected then I was able to copy all the data before trying to do any operation

Appendix

The firmware link was known by following those steps

• Find the firmware sublink in https://wddashboarddownloads.wdc.com/wdDashboard/config/devices/lista_devices.xml
• Compile the following link https://wddashboarddownloads.wdc.com/wdDashboard/firmware/WD_Blue_SA510_2.5_1000GB_SSD/52046100/device_properties.xml to get further data about the firmware
• Compile this link https://wddashboarddownloads.wdc.com/wdDashboard/firmware/WD_Blue_SA510_2.5_1000GB_SSD/52046100/52046100.fluf

@djfaktor I'm having the same problem. I found a video on YT and he suggested to try reformatting the USB drive and changing the allocation size. Also to try a different method of creating the embedded-toolkit.cfg file. I'm guessing you created a txt file and renamed it. Try searching in your system for an existing cfg file, copy it, delete all text in it through notepad and rename it (this is what worked for him).

So far I have tried the two different methods of creating the cfg file and both failed. Next I'm going to reformat at different allocation sizes. Hopefully something works!! I'll update here if I have good news.

@spizzlo Let me know how it went. I'm facing the same issue and will try contacting WD first thing on Monday.

@djfaktor
Same error message here (and @spizzlo, no, it is not due to any issue with the USB drive formatting, or the embedded-toolkit.cfg file, i.e. yes, a renamed empty text file will do just fine).

With the same embedded-linux USB stick (a 64GB one, single GPT partition formatted with 'mkfs.vfat' under Linux), I could update the firmware for one SA510 that was not yet bricked, but could not update the one which is locked in read only mode. With that second drive, I could however recover the data for each partition, without any read error, using 'dd' under Linux, but I cannot write any more to that drive (which makes Windows throw a BSOD on boot), and cannot either do a SMART self-test ('smartctl' can read the drive data, but cannot trigger any operation on it).

This is infuriating, seeing as this drive did not even have 10 hours of online time (it replaced a HD in a secondary PC, for the Windows partitions, and I use this PC only once in a blue Moon).

I cannot even return it even though it is still under warranty, because I cannot erase the data on it (also tried secure erase with 'hdparm' and the embedded-linux USB stick, to no avail), and there is private and sensitive data stored on it.

Cannot get the USB to boot, says no operating system found.

The download is no longer available, could someone upload it please?

I forgot to update if anyone is interested - I contacted WD/Sandisk support and received a new drive after they received the faulty one. It was also free of charge, they paid for the UPS label as well. Worth a go.

Unfortunately @pipefunk I don't have it anymore.