Crack open both SSDs and check the main controller and nand chips (sometimes the exactly same SSD have different controllers and nand chips). I had some success in the past recovering bricked phison and sandforce based SSDs.

The drawback is that the process is a little complicated and the majority of documentation are in russian.

Mut wrote on 2021-02-09, 19:05:

Crack open both SSDs and check the main controller and nand chips (sometimes the exactly same SSD have different controllers and nand chips). I had some success in the past recovering bricked phison and sandforce based SSDs.

The drawback is that the process is a little complicated and the majority of documentation are in russian.

Unless you are just very unlucky with the SSDs, my guess is that your RXD-629A7-7 has developed a strange fault that is killing the said SSDs .

Another, much less likely, scenario is that something is off with your PSU's 5v rail which is killing the SSDs but is somehow not causing other devices (motherboard, other drives) any apparent issues .

EDIT : just noticed you have already tried another RXD-629A7-7 with the same results. Are they both units that you have just started using ? Could it be a faulty batch ?

How would I check the chips inside the SSD?

I bought 3 brand new RXD-629A7-7 and 3 identical refurbished X400 SSDs at the same time. No problems with the first pair in the Athlon XP machine.

It could be a PSU issue, it's using the original PSU still. I'll check the voltage when I get home. This is my Voodoo II SLI machine, so I sure hope the power is in spec.

Seems like the general consensus is that these RXDs are crap. I'm looking for more cheap SSDs to try with a different adaptor. Makes me a little nervous about the one in the XP box.

Have you tried powering the SSDs without the data cable connected for a couple of hours?
This supposedly triggers some kind of factory restore on many drives that aren't physically damaged.

I never heard of that. I will definitely try, thanks!

Hatta wrote on 2021-02-09, 20:19:

How would I check the chips inside the SSD?

I bought 3 brand new RXD-629A7-7 and 3 identical refurbished X400 SSDs at the same time. No problems with the first pair in the Athlon XP machine.

Some SSDs uses a plastic shell , only needs to pry some plastic clips (with care).

If the SSD is refurbished probably is a drive prone to brick that have failed (and unbricked) in the past.

Most drives have 2 unpopulated pins on the board. Soldering a jumper on those pins enable you to put the SSD in rom mode during the boot process.

Check for signals of soldering on those two pins, if someone soldered this jumper in the past the SSD was ressurrected.

Doornkaat wrote on 2021-02-09, 20:39:

Have you tried powering the SSDs without the data cable connected for a couple of hours?
This supposedly triggers some kind of factory restore on many drives that aren't physically damaged.

I never heard of that too. Some source?

AFAIK most would require aforementioned jumper to reset SSD into factory mode.

I found some references to the power cycle procedure. It certainly can't hurt.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comment … _do_this_power/

Supposing this doesn't work, how does jumping the reset pins work? Just solder a wire and secure erase? Or solder, power cycle, desolder, secure erase?

If your SSDs are SandForce-based, this is a know issue for SandForce 2000-series controllers. Did you have any luck with the power cycle procedure?

I have recently encountered the same, my Vertex3 was recognised as SandForce{200026BB} in the BIOS . I tried with the power cycle procedure with no results, then found an English guide on how to force a new firmware on the sandforce controller:

https://www.computerlounge.it/posts/how-to-un … k-sandforce-ssd

My SSD is back now, but I lost all data. I shall say, the procedure is quite lengthy and complex. However if you are just looking to have a working drive, it should do the job!

bios wrote on 2021-02-21, 17:02:

If your SSDs are SandForce-based, this is a know issue for SandForce 2000-series controllers. Did you have any luck with the po […]
Show full quote

If your SSDs are SandForce-based, this is a know issue for SandForce 2000-series controllers. Did you have any luck with the power cycle procedure?

I have recently encountered the same, my Vertex4 was recognised as SandForce{200026BB} in the BIOS . I tried with the power cycle procedure with no results, then found an English guide on how to force a new firmware on the sandforce controller:

https://computerlounge.it/how-to-fix-a-broken … -sandforce-bug/

My SSD is back now, but I lost all data. I shall say, the procedure is quite lengthy and complex. However if you are just looking to have a working drive, it should do the job!

I can't find anywhere to download Ready_Vertex3.7z without either installing special software or registering on an unknown site.

debs3759 wrote on 2021-02-21, 18:28:

I can't find anywhere to download Ready_Vertex3.7z without either installing special software or registering on an unknown site.

When I did download it, three days ago, it said the download "reach its maximum limit", so I had to sign up to Yandex. I was not too skeptical about it, although now that I check it seems to be a pretty popular cloud storage service in Russia. Have you maybe tried typing in "Ready_Vertex3.7z" on google to see if any other direct links are available? I'll double check, though, I may still have that folder on my Fedora installation.

Yes, I tried googling it and all results seem to end up at the same place. I know you can't reply yet, as a new member, but I have messaged you about this. Even though sandforce no longer exist, the site rules disallow posting leaked software here.

debs3759 wrote on 2021-02-21, 20:41:

Yes, I tried googling it and all results seem to end up at the same place. I know you can't reply yet, as a new member, but I have messaged you about this. Even though sandforce no longer exist, the site rules disallow posting leaked software here.

All done, though Yandex should be reliable enough. Which hard drive are you attempting to recover? Let me know how it goes...

I had an agility 3 fail some years ago, so at some point it will be nice to see if this will help. Can't remember the nature of the failure though, but it's always good to be prepared 😀

On your main machine... Windows 7 - Windows 10, try running an admin command prompt and use diskpart to "clean" the drive.

Diskpart
List disk
Select disk (whatever to disk number is)
Clean
Create partition primary

I recently discovered techpowerup makes a ssd tool called ssd-z I am by no means a ssd expert and don't know what all their tool can do but I have found many of their tools very handy in the past. maybe worth checking out?

cyclone3d wrote on 2021-02-22, 03:44:

On your main machine... Windows 7 - Windows 10, try running an admin command prompt and use diskpart to "clean" the drive. […]
Show full quote

On your main machine... Windows 7 - Windows 10, try running an admin command prompt and use diskpart to "clean" the drive.

Diskpart
List disk
Select disk (whatever to disk number is)
Clean
Create partition primary

IM-Magic can do it from windows if OP is uncomfortable with cmd prompt. free program, been using it recently.

cyclone3d wrote on 2021-02-22, 03:44:

On your main machine... Windows 7 - Windows 10, try running an admin command prompt and use diskpart to "clean" the drive. […]
Show full quote

On your main machine... Windows 7 - Windows 10, try running an admin command prompt and use diskpart to "clean" the drive.

Diskpart
List disk
Select disk (whatever to disk number is)
Clean
Create partition primary

I do that on drives with efi partitions or others that I can't remove in disk manager. Useful tool. Never tried it on dead drives though, worth a shot 😀

Sphere478 wrote on 2021-02-22, 08:20:

I recently discovered techpowerup makes a ssd tool called ssd-z I am by no means a ssd expert and don't know what all their tool can do but I have found many of their tools very handy in the past. maybe worth checking out?

I actually used SSD-Z to check my drive after recovery and I found it to be a great tool! Though I am not sure it'll do much with a SandForce-bricked SSD, as the controller will reject all read/write commands.

Same goes for diskpart (or its osx counterpart diskutil)... I had tried both before flashing the controller, but they ended up with some "permission denied" error.

I have not tried IM-Magic, but again, if the problem resides in the controller (and that can allegedly be assessed by having the drive detected as SandForce {200026BB} ), I think the only hope is flashing...

debs3759 wrote on 2021-02-21, 18:28:

I can't find anywhere to download Ready_Vertex3.7z without either installing special software or registering on an unknown site.

Hello, not sure if you aware, but the Ready_Vertex3.7z archive originated from this guy - https://dizelyator.ru/kompyuternoe-zhelezo/pr … tsya-v-bio.html

He basically had a cluster brainlove with his ssd, described the whole journey in that article and attached the Ready_Vertex3.7z as a pack of soft and stuff he collected on his way.

I tried to find the archive too to restore my Kingston V200 on SandForce 2281, and also didn't find it anywhere else except the Yandex, which is not a good option for me (all is good with Yandex, I'm just in Ukraine, so I have to find workarounds to download from russian files storages, which is a pain).

So I continued the research and found this russian forum - http://forum.ru-board.com/topic.cgi?forum=84& … 5360&start=1280 - where another guy has shared via Google Drive what he has collected to restore his Kingston SH103S3. Here is the link to GD - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QLpQB … l5ExZDtbN5kyQRH

It appears to me, by comparing what the author of the Ready_Vertex3.7z archive has written in his article and what is in the collection on the Google Drive, those are basically same things. The GD collection even containg the Fedora 14 live DVD image everyone are talking about.

I didn't try the thing on my own since I've just found it and will be able to try only somewhere within next 2 weeks. Just thought it helps you.

Sorry, I won't be able to help with any steps form the article (unless you just need a help with translation) since I'm a total newbie in ssd restoration.

Have a great day/night everyone.

P.S. In case anyone can download that Ready_Vertex3.7z archive from Yandex and reupload it to Google Drive, I'll very appreciate that. Considering the mission of the Vogons, I'd say that would be nice if that stuff is preserved.