Anyone successfully clone a Designjet hard drive?

wav · 10-25-2023, 07:11 PM

Re: Anyone successfully clone a Designjet hard drive?

just found a whole html file with the system error codes
#

0x20107006

LOPES_EH_BSL_FILL_CHAR_BLOCK_TIMEOUT

Internal Software error.

79:04

Assertion

Update system software (firmware).

STRING_POWER_OFF

wav · 10-25-2023, 07:08 PM

Re: Anyone successfully clone a Designjet hard drive?

Hi - i have managed to copy the hdd for a z5600 that's new. - there's lots of partitions named ex3- 1-3 - ect..

in the folder i found PUMA_01_03_00.1.unsigned.fmw.sig - - this is the signature file .
is this possibly be the first firmware this machine was shipped with
if anyone want me to find certain files or folders on the hdd -

Samir · 10-23-2023, 11:42 PM

Re: Anyone successfully clone a Designjet hard drive?

New to the party, but I have a lot of experience with hard drive cloning and whatnot so I'll share what I know.

First, If it's an IDE drive and you want to replace it with a compact flash card, that should be a very easy fix since CF cards are native IDE. You simply need an adapter like this one from startech that doesn't do any type of translation or funny stuff:
IDE 40 Pin to Compact Flash SSD Adapter - Drive Adapters and Drive Converters | Hard Drive Accessories | StarTech.com
40/44 Pin IDE to CF SSD Adapter - Drive Adapters and Drive Converters | Hard Drive Accessories | StarTech.com
3.5in Drive Bay IDE to CF Adapter Card - Internal Card Readers | Hard Drive Accessories | StarTech.com

Note the connector that goes into the drive interface/cable. Depending on the situation and space, you may want to use the bay version to mount it like the hard drive was. These adapters should be completely transparent to the machine and appear as a genuine IDE drive. (They're also used often for retro/vintage computers to replace those hard drives too.)

Second, let's talk about cloning. If you have an existing drive and want to clone it fast and dead simple on the spot when you suspect it's just a bad drive, a cloning dock does the job fast and easy. I have this one by Startech, but they make newer ones too:
Dual Bay SATA Hard Drive Duplicator - HDD Duplicators - Hard Drive Cloning/Copying | StarTech.com

Newer ones:
SATA HDD Duplicator Dock - eSATA USB - HDD Duplicators - Hard Drive Cloning/Copying | StarTech.com

Standalone Hard Drive Duplicator, Dual Bay HDD/SSD Cloner/Copier, USB 3.1 (10Gbps) to SATA III HDD/S

https://www.startech.com/en-us/hdd/sdock2u313r

Dual Bay Hard Drive Duplicator 2.5/3.5" SATA HDD/SSD Cloner

This one would be the ultimate if you run into a lot of IDE drives, but it's now discontinued and expensive even used:

USB to IDE SATA Standalone HDD Hard Drive Duplicator Dock

https://www.startech.com/en-us/hdd/unidupdock

Clone any combination of 2.5in or 3.5in IDE or SATA hard drives

But startech as these adapters for their sata docks for IDE drives:

Just a moment...

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1016909-REG/startech_sat2ideadp_sata_3_5_2_5_ide_hdd.html

If you want to go the computer route for cloning, there's only one thing I recommend--Clonezilla Live CD. It's a simple booting CD that will allow you to clone any drive to a drive, or a drive to an image, or an image to a drive (including USB drives so you can use your dock that way to write an image if you want). I've been using this for years. You can even use it over a network drive, like to a NAS. So you can easily clone or restore images to a drive from a central repository if you have one.

Of all these options, I prefer the cloning dock because it is the most accurate by far since it doesn't attempt to access the source drive in any way except to read its sectors. Clonezilla attempts to do the same thing, but hardware implementations are usually better (and faster) than software hence my preference for the dock. Plus, with a dock you can literally do it on the spot--and fast!

Also, I need to mention the importance of quality. Notice I recommended only Startech branded products even though there's probably 100x clones out there? These a simple reason why I did--quality. You won't have a problem down the line because an IDE CF adapter stopped working or a drive clone wasn't done right. It. Just. Works. I think almost everything I have from startech is still working 10yrs+ later.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask questions!

Kazzy · 10-08-2023, 12:03 AM

Re: Anyone successfully clone a Designjet hard drive?

I will throw in my $ 0.02 to this. I will be attempting to clone a working Designjet 4000, 40GB drive that has only 8GB left... No jobs stored whatsoever. I have a spare HDD and an SSD. The firmware version is 5.5 and honestly I might upgrade it via EWS once. I read somewhere that the formatter board doesn't have a controller for SSDs installed in any HP Designjets... A Russian guy on YouTube proved me wrong. I will attempt both and will share my results here. I'm quite happy to get the nozzles in majority back to operating condition. Machine sat for around 5 years from what I seen on the error logs and the dust cover.