[Shield Android TV General] dmfh:
Hello everyone. Thank you for all the information and all the time put into this subject.

If I am supposed to write this in a new thread I am sorry and didn't mean to break rules/guidelines on purpose.

First off, I am sorry about this long post. Since I don't really fall into either the "dead hdd" or "clonable hdd" maybe these questions will help others that are exp the same issue(s) as I am.

If anyone has the time to give advice that would really rock.

Confused about recovering keys and if I need to be able to factory reset before attempting this recovery.

Been reading the posts regarding the SSD swap (literaly this thread) and the Guide [Linux] [Windows]: Migrate to SSD HDD of any size......over and over.

Here's the story which might shed light as to why I am confused:

I have a 2015 Nvidia Shield Pro 500GB (rooted years ago via guide on XDA) whos original HDD suffered from stuck heads. Could only see APX on windows machine (remembered I turned off USB debugging) so I opened the HDD while under a laminar flow hood and unstuck the heads.

Attempted to clone via hardware drive cloner but it runs for a few seconds and states it's done, which means it must detect damage of some sort.

So I put the HDD drive back in the shield and got it to boot, turned USB debugging back on, removed original HDD so I can try to use dd in the ubuntu vm to recover keys (which I am confused about). Also am worried that if I try to factory reset something else will break because of the state/condition of the original HDD. Not sure I should even be trying to factory reset but the guides all state that a fresh factory reset device is desirable.

I am trying to replace the original HDD with a 500GB samsung SSD so I was going to follow the guide for using larger disks since everything is explained on the first page of the post and I would be sure to get the right calculation for the lastpart.bin.

Per the above posts I have read: using dd to create the firstpart.bin is where/when the key recovery takes place. The lastpart.bin stores the partition information and both created files are to be placed on the new SSD. Then fastboot mode is used to flash the rooted developer image (assuming I would use the newest rooted recovery image 9.0 since the shield in question is updated up until a few weeks ago).

Been nervous about doing this because of the key issue and the issues people have had upgrading past 8.2. Not sure if it matters but since I would be trying to use the 9.0 image from Nvidia....do I need to worry about the blob file causing issues when updating past 8.2?

Any feedback/help is greatly appreciated. I just want to avoid any problems caused by my lack of understanding something or missing a part or even overthinking this. Have been stuck for a week trying to read those posts over and over to be sure they apply to me since I don't technically have a completely dead HDD and I am also not going to a larger capacity with a clonable HDD. Videos on this subject are a little iffy on YouTube so I think XDA has the best information to follow.

All of this happened when I clicked on the GameStream Fortnite icon, instead of the GeForce Now Fortnite icon, which were right next to each other....ooops! It bootlooped my PC (which I recovered) and locked up the shield (which just happend to get it's heads stuck at that exact moment).

I want to thank any and all of you and also wish the best of luck to anyone

dealing with shield hdd issues....not much fun to deal with. My kids are sad they can't play Fortnite on the Shield and my wife is not happy since we lost IPTV function on the living room TV.

Thanks again for any help and time. This forum and its people rock.

*edit*

So I attempted to create the firstpart.bin file using the dd command and received input/output error:

root@ubntuvm64dsktp:/home/dmfh# dd if=/dev/sdb of=firstpart.bin count=6899870

dd: error reading '/dev/sdb': Input/output error

90848+0 records in

90848+0 records out

46514176 bytes (47 MB, 44 MiB) copied, 7.46996 s, 6.2 MB/s

***Since there are errors should I attempt ddrescue or cross my fingers and continue to copy the firstpart.bin to the new ssd?

Also the lastpart.bin failed completely so I was going to try and find one that is available for dl.

**second edit**

I found a lastpart.bin file from HERE

Also found information on where the widevine keys are in a post on the Nvidia forum which explains where to find the keys in a Hex Editor Nvidia Forum Post Here

It's under instruction set 2A in that forum post.

At least it looks like my keys were recovered. I am moving on with copying the .bin files to the new drive and will see if I can get into the fastboot menu to reset the /user partition as stated in one of the 100's of posts I have been through. Hope this helps someone else in the future....(the only reason for me keeping my post updated).