Load Western Digital hard drive firmware images into IDA for analysis.
Unpack or decrypt firmware files from various HDD and SSD models using utility scripts.
Study documented firmware commands and internals via the project's wiki.
| grimdoomer/hddtools | bhartiyashesh/purelymailcalendar | equality-machine/claude-p | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stars | 55 | 55 | 55 |
| Language | Python | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | hard | moderate | easy |
| Complexity | 4/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 |
| Audience | researcher | general | developer |
Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.
Requires a licensed copy of IDA Pro (tested with version 9.0) and familiarity with reverse engineering workflows.
HDDTools is a collection of Python scripts for analyzing the internal firmware of hard drives and solid state drives from different manufacturers. Firmware is the low-level software built into a storage device that controls how it operates, and this project is aimed at people who want to look inside that firmware and understand how it works, typically for reverse engineering purposes. The repository also links to a wiki that documents internal workings, commands, and other technical details useful for that kind of research. There are two main parts to the project. The first is a set of loader scripts for IDA, a popular disassembler and reverse engineering tool, which help load firmware images into IDA so they can be examined and analyzed there. Right now, the README confirms support for Western Digital hard drives that use the Marvell or ROYL chip family, noting that other drives may work too but have not been confirmed. These loader scripts have been tested with IDA version 9.0. Installing them means copying the contents of the IDA folder into your IDA installation directory, merging folders if prompted, and then copying a specific folder into IDA's loaders directory. Once installed, opening a supported firmware image in IDA should show the matching loader available for use. The second part is a set of utility scripts that can unpack, decrypt, or display information from firmware files across various HDD and SSD types. The README points to the project's wiki for the full list of these utility scripts and instructions on how to use each one, rather than listing them directly in the README itself. This project would be useful to security researchers, firmware engineers, or hobbyists interested in understanding how storage device firmware is structured, particularly those already familiar with IDA and reverse engineering workflows. No software license is mentioned in the README.
A collection of Python scripts and IDA loaders for reverse engineering hard drive and SSD firmware.
Mainly Python. The stack also includes Python, IDA Pro.
Setup difficulty is rated hard, with roughly 1h+ to a first successful run.
Mainly researcher.
This repo across BitVibe Labs
Verify against the repo before relying on details.