JMS579 - Trying to find a workaround for bypassing 2021 WD MyBooks HDD DRM - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Darthsternie
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 22, 2021, 11:13:11 am
content: Hi everyone,Some of you may also know the WD MyBook line and that it's often used for shucking (taking out the HDD to use it internally since it's cheaper). The Enclosures are then often placed somewhere to gather dust since there's no use for them.I wanted to use one of mine yesterday to find out that the WD Firmware won't allow any other HDDs other than WD and HGST. On older WD MyBook Versions with an asmedia asm1151w chip this was bypassed by either breaking pins 7 and 8 of the winbond 25X20CLVIG or by directly desoldering it. WD has since changed the chip to a JMS579 and on this chip, the workaround no longer works.Here are some Pictures of the WD MyBook PCB with the JMS579 chipIf both Pin 7 and 8 are disconnected the Drive does exactly nothing. It doesn't even show up in the Device Manager at all.Same if only Pin 7 is disconnected.If Only Pin 8 is disconnected a WD Drive Management Device is found in the Device Manager but no HDD is found. You are asked to Initialise an HDD but a Hardware Fault Error is returned once you try it.If all Pins are connected it's the same error as if only Pin 8 is disconnected.I've tried to desolder the 25X20CLVIG and failed since I forgot to use my hot air station. So I sadly don't have a dump that I could compare to that of the asmedia asm1151w chips.Flashing a JMS567 or JMS578 ROM (from the odroid wiki) to the winbond 25X20CLVIG sadly does nothing (but would've also been too easy if it would've just worked).Maybe one of you guys has another idea what I could try to save this HDD ENclosure from being thrown in the trash because of WDs HDD DRMHere is also my reddit Threadwhere I first asked about this type of chip in the WD MyBook Enclosuresand another one which I foundbut sadly without answers.

author: abyrvalg
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2021, 06:15:12 pm
content: Have you saved the original W25X20 content before flashing other ROMs?

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2021, 07:49:41 pm
content: Quote from: abyrvalg on August 22, 2021, 06:15:12 pmThis. Please post it if you have, I bet the drive ID or serial number (IDENTIFY DRIVE response, basically) may be hardcoded in it.

author: Darthsternie
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 22, 2021, 09:15:06 pm
content: Sadly not. I've wanted to save it and desoldered by using my soldering station. I then broke a pin (Pin 8 - VCC), and even by scratching with a scalpel I couldn't find a good enough trace to recover the original W25x20. I then took my hot air station, remembering that I've bought it, and took a W25x20 from one of my asmedia boards and tried flashing those with the different JMS579 Firmwares.So I only have copies of 5 different asmedia W25x20 ROMs sadly.I'm trying to contact a friend that also has an enclosure to see if he also has a JMS579 version.

author: darkspr1te
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2021, 08:46:28 am
content: Maybe try this FWhttps://goughlui.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/jms578-2mbit.zipor this onehttp://station-drivers.com/index.php/en/driverss/func-startdown/2471/lang,en-gb/darkspr1te