Please do not post replies here. Create another thread instead.
Q: What hard drive is in the Z1?
A: The drive in the Z1 is a Toshiba MK3029GACE. This is an automotive quality drive and is little more than a laptop drive enhanced to handle the additional shock of being installed in a moving vehicle.
This is from the Toshiba Website:
The MK3029GACE can withstand operational shock of 200g and non-operational shock of 800g, providing a rugged and dependable option for cars and SUVs as they travel through extreme temperatures and terrains across the globe. The MK3029GACE is ATA-6 compliant, supporting high transfer rates of up to 100 megabytes per second.
Q: What is on the Z1 HDD?
A: The HDD contains 4 partitions. These partitions are named:
LDATA
SDATA
MSV
USER
At this time we do not know fully what the partitions contain as there are thousands of files and folders to dig through. Here are some brief descriptions:
LDATA: This contains the mapping data, voices, Gracenote database and much more. This partition, although not read only, does not appear to be changed when you perform user functions to your Z1. Navi background images are here but not the ones you upload. This is where the opening “Pioneer” splash screen is located.
SDATA: There are some programs here such as the Navi and AV core files. Graphic images for XMBackups of these programs are also here. I assume the Z1 compares files or file signatures and attempts to “fix” itself if needed.
MSV: This is where uploaded music is stored. There is the folder structure to store 1000 different CD’s.
USER: The database for your music and custom changes you have done to your Z1 are stored here. Uploaded wallpaper is here too.
Q: I’ve heard the Z1 runs on Windows. Can’t we just load our own windows programs on it?
The operating system in the Z1 is Windows Automotive and is not on the system HDD it is embedded within the Z1. It is likely on flash memory. The drive is used for data. Mostly maps, uploaded music and the Gracenote database. Windows Automotive is a version of Windows CE. In theory if you can write a program for this OS and processor, load it to the HDD and get the Z1 to run it then Z1 will behave like a low powered computer or PDA.
Q:Can I connect my Z1 drive to my PC?
A:Yes and no. To connect the Z1 HDD to your PC you will need a 2.5” to standard IDE adapter or a USB to 2.5” adapter. Here is an example of the 2.5" to IDE adapter: http://www.mycablesh...5.htm?x=18&y=28. This one has brackets but any of this type of adapter should work. Both this and the USB adapters have their purpose when working with this drive. You can do everything with the NON-USB adapter but this becomes a pain since you must reboot your PC often. The USB adapter can read and write to the HDD and is hot swappable. That is the Yes part.
The No part is more complicated:
The drive is protected by using the ATA lock standard that has been around for many years. As of the writing of this FAQ the drive can only be unlocked by a drive unlocking service. There is an untested method of swapping the drives while the drive is attached to power which has been discussed elsewhere on this board. I will only be outlining what has been tested to work here.
ATA locking is common in laptops and was very secure until recently. It uses a 32bit password to lock out the user from accessing the drive platters. The password is contained on both the board and the drive platters so drive “surgery” does not work to gain access.
There has been one report of a drive being unlocked from the factory and several reports of the drives being locked. I will assume all drives are locked and the one that wasn’t was the odd case.
Q:How does the Z1 use this lock?
A:The Z1 sends the unlock command with a password to the drive at boot up. This is done before you see the “Pioneer” blue startup screen. We know this because the graphic for startup is located on the hard drive.
The Z1 also does something nasty. It sends the change user password command to the drive also. This has the effect of locking any drive inserted in the Z1 that supports ATA locking. I speculate this is done so that if somebody is sent a replacement drive it will become locked after it is installed. I also speculate this is so each Z1 can have a different ATA password thus preventing the password from being discovered and used elsewhere.
Q: How can I unlock my drive?
A:Power up your Z1, power tilt your screen all the way down like you are going to insert a CD then turn off the power to the unit (turn off the key in your car). The hard drive is located beneath the CD slot. The screw size it T8 torx. Lay a soft cloth on the touch screen to protect it from you. Loosen the 2 torx screws and remove the plastic cover trying not to drop it on the screen. Don’t drop your screwdriver either. Set this aside. The screws are locked into the cover so you should not have a problem with losing them but don’t take chances. The hard drive sits in a metal tray that slides in/out of the opening you just revealed. There is a flexible plastic tab that you can grab with your fingers and pull. The drive will slide out. It fits snuggly but doesn’t require much effort to remove. Turn the drive over and set it on your desk, counter, whatever but use one of those soft cloths (I believe in being nice to this drive since without it I have a very expensive doorstop). There are 4 #1 phillips head screws. Remove them carefully. Do not crush the drive. Do not squeeze the drive with your fingers in the center; you can kill it this way. These are fragile to physical pressure (all laptop drives are). Always handle the drive from the sides.
If you have done everything correctly you should have a 2.5” laptop style drive ready to connect to an adapter to connect to your PC using the NON-USB adapter type specified above.
You will need to connect the drive to your PC (use something like this http://www.hdd-tools.com/products/rrs/ Do not use their cheaper HDD unlock wizard service. This will erase your drive. The repair station will unlock it and leave it intact. You can load up their free drive info tool to verify you have connected the drive to your PC correctly.
The repair station program will check the drive to verify they can unlock before you pay anything.
You will be connecting the drive as a master drive on the second IDE channel. Make sure it is the only device connected to this channel.
If all goes well you will now be able to reboot your computer and see 4 new drive letters.
DO NOT PUT YOUR Z1 DRIVE BACK IN YOUR Z1 AT THIS TIME OR IT WILL BE RELOCKED INSTANTLY
Q: How do I disable the lock on my HDD
A: You need to use a drive editing program. I prefer to use MHDD http://hddguru.com/c...nt/en/software/. Download the Magic boot disk and create a boot floppy. You can do this to any hard drive that supports drive locking. If you are increasing the size of your HDD do this to the replacement drive as well or the Z1 will lock it for you. Yes, even a drive you paid for seperately will be locked if inserted in the Z1. The drive doesn't even have to be setup to work in the Z1 to be locked. Connect your HDD to your PC using the IDE adapter (not USB). Connect it to the secondary IDE channel. Disconnect all other drives in your PC just to be safe (you want to be sure you are modifying the correct drive). Boot from the magic boot disk you downloaded. The only drive in your system should be displayed. In my case it is drive number 3. Press 3 and enter.
If no drives are displayed press shift F3 and the list should come up. Now press the number next to your drive.
You should be at a command prompt named MHDD>
Type MHDD and press enter.
Now type EID and press enter.
This should display a log of information about your drive.
Here is the info from the stock drive.
TOSHIBA MK3029GACE LBA:58,605,120
SN:26TPxxxxx FW:RB102A
Supports HPA LBA MS16 DMA (UDMA5,MWDMA2)
SMART: Enabled Selftest: Suported ErrorLog:Supported
Security: high, OFF. Size = 28615MB
You should be back at the MHDD> prompt.
Type config and press enter
If the drive you have is configurable you will see the "CHANGEABLE PARAMETERS" list.
The item in the list you want to see is "Security feature set is supported"
First question: Do you want to apply any changes to your drive? y/N Press Y and Enter
The next set of steps will be different depending on what features your drive supports. Each question defaults to the current setting. Just press Enter at each question (you do not want to make changes to anything else or you will HURT your drive).
Do you want to switch SECURITY support off? y/N Press Y and Enter
Continue to press enter until you are finished with config.
You should see:
Calculating new checksum...
Writing changes to the drive...
Done.
Type EID at the MHDD> prompt and you should no longer see the security settings.
Type Exit and press enter.
Leave everything hooked up the way it is and shutdown your computer completely. Power off and then restart it. Let it go back into MHDD.
This is just to remove power from your drive and force it to do a complete reset just to be sure.
Get to your drive again as above to the point where you type EID and press enter. Verify the security settings are gone.
Now we will double check that security is disabled.
Type PWD and press enter. You should receive a message that says "This drive does not support security features"
You can now type exit and press enter. Your drivelocking is now disabled.
Special notes reported by users:
One user has reported his HP computers do not work well with MHDD.
I personally have had an issue changing the settings on a Fujitsu MHV2080AH drive. It reported an error when saving the config settings and failed to save them. This was on an Intel dual core P4 running on an Intel motherboard. The same drive running on an X-PC generic P4 system worked fine when I tried to config it. The motherboard seems to make a difference. If you have issues on your PC try another if you have the resources. This is a freeware utility we are using so it may not work for everybody on every computer.
For those interested in the ATA security features here is a basic doc explaining them. Ironically, had I found this earlier it would have saved countless hours of searching and learning. LOL
I have delayed writing up the partitioning instructions as another member has unlocked his drive and is having problems with the replacement drive crashing. We have been working offline to resolve the problem and see if it is drive related, PC related or procedure. Hopefully I do not just happen to have a "lucky" combination working here. I have imaged and reimaged my drive a couple of times so it wasn't a one time thing but to be responsible I want to be sure.[/b]
Attached Files
-
harddisk_ata_security_v1.1-1.zip 215.9K
1719 downloads
