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TTX4 How do I clone the hard drive?

mikudayou

mikudayou

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The TTX4 (Love Live) system I got is a windows 8 embedded system with bitlocker enabled I'm assuming. Or could it be bios encrypted? I just want to clone the drive to an SSD for faster boot times and for a backup just in-case it dies.

Popping it into my arch linux system just results in the drive waiting. The OS doesn't detect it.
 
mikudayou said:
The TTX4 (Love Live) system I got is a windows 8 embedded system with bitlocker enabled I'm assuming. Or could it be bios encrypted? I just want to clone the drive to an SSD for faster boot times and for a backup just in-case it dies.

Popping it into my arch linux system just results in the drive waiting. The OS doesn't detect it.
Click to expand...
Given how Linux is reacting its probably ATA locked. In this case fdisk will show an IO error, but, smartctl should still show the vendor and serial of the drive.

if you can't find info a SATA analyzer which can intercept the hex unlock at boot is your key to making a backup. hdparm in Linux can take hex strings for security lock and unlock, but don't mess up ;)
 
Interesting, I had no idea you could do that with SATA. I'd say that method is the last resort lol, just seems dangerous/expensive.

There's gotta be a safer way right? How would I just get into the Windows 8 system? I mean, c'mon, it's windows 8 embedded, it's gotta vulnerable. Is there some exploit, or maybe it has some ports open (I still haven't done a port scan, I'll do that soon in a bit; need to clean my workspace off)?
 
Albeit not cheap, that is the safe way... the unsafe way is to boot the system and hot swap the data cable. I'm far less comfortable doing that than using a tool meant for the job. If you can find someone with the right tool it's a few minute job.

I do like your idea of exploitation but I believe that system is too new to discuss that here.

For reading the data is one thing, creating a working backup from that image is another. You may need the exact same hdd model number or an SSD capable of having that data set as it's manufacturer and serial.

Keep in mind arcades are $$$ and these companies have engineers paid to protect this stuff. While it is an arcade PC you may be liable to find interesting stuff (i.e. on sega ring systems if you unlock the hdd the game partition is still truecrypted). The history of arcade bootlegging back to pre JAMMA and especially in JAMMA/MVS days is fascinating. People fabricating whole pcbs to clone a game. Companies like Capcom making the suicide batteries... the list goes on.

Anyway best of luck, I'm not sure how much more help I can offer personally as I don't have the system in hand.
 
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From what I've read here and there, the drives are encrypted, you can't even format them for reuse.
Maybe no one has really looked into the question because 320gb these days is small.
 
mikudayou said:
Figured out how to boot into development mode which let me live boot from a USB stick, now I'm currently rsync-ing the filesystem to my NAS lol (just finished a full dd dump too). Thanks for the help everyone!

This was the most useful: https://github.com/ArcadeHustle/X3_USB_softmod/issues/6
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Hello! I was able to get into developer mode and boot up a USB with Clonezilla. I am still unable to access the contents of the hard drive to make a backup copy of the image. What OS did you use on your USB to access the hard drive?

Thank you
 
Hello again! I was able to copy the harddrive. I ran into some further issues with the copied ssd. The first issue is when I put the system from "Developer Mode" back to "Operation Mode", I get an Error Code: 07. I am assuming it is because the copied hard drive doesn't have the ATA encryption section or it does not recognize the HDD serial name?

Below is a picture.

1000016886.jpg


sda is the new ssd while sdc is the original ssd.

I know in this picture the partitions on the copied ssd, (sda), are doubled and thats because I asked clonezilla to clone proportionally. I tried exact clone before this attempt and it also resulted in the same Error Code: 07.

I then changed the system back to "Developer Mode" and this does let me boot the game, however after the windows loading screen, I am presented with a blue screen reading "System Error 2703". I think thats the correct System Error number, I'd have to reinstall the copied ssd to confirm. It gave me this error whether I did proportionally clone or exact clone.

My goal here was to make a backup without the the ATA encryption so that when the drive fails, I am able to use the back up.

I do also want to point out the other reason. I have another ttx4 with the same game. This one got an Error (Code: 03). From the little info I was able to gather on this I believe it is a ssd decryption issue.

I can confirm it is not the stock ssd given problems because I am able to swap ssds between the two different units and it boots fine. I guess they use the same encryption key?

I am only guessing here, but I believe the decryption info is stored in the motherboard, (there is no usb key). When the voltage on the CMOS drops too low all the data is lost in the decryption chip. I replaced the CMOS battery on the machine with the Error (Code:03) but it did not bring it back to life. The only way to get it back up is to get a ssd that has no encryption or an encryption thats the same as what ever encryption key the ic chip defaulted to, assuming it still works as an encryption ic after replacing the CMOS. The other would be to download and re-upload the encryption key from a working machine to the non-working machine.

I am thinking of powering on the working machine and replacing the CMOS while it is on to prevent it from killing itself when the battery does run out. I feel like this is happening very soon because I have a third ttx4 with the same game that also got a Code (Error: 03) at about the same time as the 2nd one mentioned earlier. They might be part of the same batch? And yes all three ssds work on the working ttx4. It further confirms that the ssds encryption are the same.

If there is anything you guys think I should try please let me know. Hope this info helps anyone else that might need it.

Thank you again for the info you guys have given me!
 
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