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Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 Troubles


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Since I am getting a replacement drive if it has SD15 firmware would it be possible to update it before it dies?

Yeah I was wondering the same thing. I think the store is going to replace my whole rig which will leave me with same HDD models, and I have to deal with HP personally as for getting the HDDs changed since it was from costco they just distribute them. Obviously if replacement is a pain I don't mind spending a bit to get drives working should they fail again (and again and again hehehe like the antipode of those old 1980s memorex ad claims).

I think I might compose a serious letter (with my tongue firmly in cheek) to seagate with suggestion of marketing the .11 line with "reliably unreliable" ad pitch and the choice of professionals when data integrity means so little. Hehe I always liked that guy who wrote joke letters to companies with such suggestions and compiled them in a book, many not so funny but the "waspard" mustard made from wasp secretions is classic hehehehe.

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If the moral of the story is true then everyone would have to spend double on storage because thay would have twice the amount of data (back ups).

There is no way around that. Be prepared to lose anything that isn't backed up. It will happen some day. In fact, you could do more than 2 copies (I have 1 copy at home, and another "off-site"). But it's not like you have to backup *everything*. I couldn't care less if I lost my Windows install, VMs I can recreate in mere minutes, and stuff like that, due to a dead drive or whatever. As long as my *important* data is backed up (again, things like family photos -- your kids won't get younger again, no chances to re-take those pics, ever)

I would really like to know how to build the serial -> SATA interface to connect to the hard disk.

It's just a very simple circuit that does level shifting on the serial port (to have "proper" rs232 voltages towards the PC, and TTL level signals towards the drive). It's really nothing special at all: it's a TTL level serial port, like found on almost all embedded controllers (the only "hard" part here, is knowing which pin is TXD/RXD, which is still quite easy). A plan old max232 chip or any equivalent will do, but then again, most serial ports these days will work at TTL levels just fine (still gotta invert it though -- a pair of plain old GP transistors works fine or even a ghetto old 74LS14 or 04, and also clamp the voltage not to fry the drive's controller). You could even make a USB version of it using a FTDI series chip (or any of the other common ones like cypress and others). Or then again, you can buy such pre-built devices from dozens of sites (they're actually very common devices).

its very easy to mess up any chance of recovering your drive.

Exactly. The old drive can still be RMA'ed. And removing BSY alone will likely not bring it back to a "functional" state (i.e. in a state where you can recover your data). As the video Fuzzy_3D posted shows, there's quite a bit more to it. A minor screw-up in connections can easily fry the controller or worse (it's simple stuff, but some people shouldn't be near electronics...) And the whole thing still relies on you entering the right commands (which are poorly documented at best) and where any minor mistake may have unfortunate consequences...

Either ways, good luck :)

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The circuit 1 looks like it's for IDE hard disks. Does it work with SATA?

Hi all and especially Fatlip if you are here,

I would really like to know how to build the serial -> SATA interface to connect to the hard disk. I was searching more and more about this and I have found a document which lists down the exact steps/commands to free up the BSY mode. You DO NEED TO DISCONNECT the PCB from HDA before doing it, just as I suspected back in the Seagate forum.

However, I'm not sure if the steps alone will totally free it up or it will leave it detectable by BIOS but with 0 size (the second problem faced by others). If it's the 0 size, then it's something else that we need to search for further, but at least we can unset the BSY mode.

But I need to know how to connect to the SATA interface....

If you live near a Frys Electronics you can buy a interface board from them the info needed is in this link Frys Interface Board

I have found two other interface circuits Circut 1 Circut 2

I have connected to my drive with the Frys interface board and was able to see the error code. I was not however able to enter command mode so I was hoping to hear from Fatlip to make sure I was connecting things right.

One other thing the com port setting seem to be 38400,n,8,1

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I think the best solution for this is seagate calling back the drives or giving out firmware updates so it does not happen in the first place. But noooooo that wouldn't be as good as just RMAing every drive that dies would it seagate?

Edited by RiderZen
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Lol sounds good :ph34r:

Trouble is I don't have any cash to spend on another HDD unless I get a refund then I can buy a Samsung or WD.

Hmm I don't trust samsung, never used on basis of friends had casualties with them and seeing a high number of "deaths" on boards compared to other brands (death of HDD not the owners), higher rate than some others anyway. All manufacturers have some issue though. I always use WD in selfbuilds and always have. Not many have died before time (often going strong past expected life) but some WD are unacceptably short lived due to design. If you do, go with good model (goes without saying I know). I personally like the blacks but some of the others are ok. Still WD are not without issue either and have had fair share of problem (with interface board issues and so on) but IMO a safer bet than samsung.

Unfortunately it's the nature of the technology, it seems to get less reliable over time too because bigger storage space means compromise in many areas. Obviously enterprise drives tend to be better but they also cost more and for many it might not be worth it.

Edited by seahateHDD
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Hi all,

I'm not sure if it's appropriate to post the BSY fix out here, so those who wants the exact steps, please send me a message and I'll reply directly with the info I have found - all via google :) I'll send a message to Fatlip as he is our hope now! :)

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Hi all,

I'm not sure if it's appropriate to post the BSY fix out here, so those who wants the exact steps, please send me a message and I'll reply directly with the info I have found - all via google :) I'll send a message to Fatlip as he is our hope now! :)

Great but once you have removed the bsy stuff will the HDD work as normal?

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I always use WD in selfbuilds and always have. Not many have died before time (often going strong past expected life) but some WD are unacceptably short lived due to design.

As far as anecdotal evidence goes, I've seen plenty of dead WDs (and not just in computers either). I stopped buying them in 2001 (for a few years anyhow), after having 4 of them (big & expensive ones) die on me within 2 weeks... I have some now, no problems with them yet.

All manufacturers have some issue though.

That's pretty much it. Quality goes up and down, different bugs appear, manufacturing problems, QA problems and what not. No manufacturer is perfect, and it's always a bit of a gamble.

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Won't know for sure, but the steps are in a manual that came with a data recovery solution. I would presume that it should work. Anyway, I have sent you a message on where to get this doc. See for yourself and decide :)

Hi all,

I'm not sure if it's appropriate to post the BSY fix out here, so those who wants the exact steps, please send me a message and I'll reply directly with the info I have found - all via google :) I'll send a message to Fatlip as he is our hope now! :)

Great but once you have removed the bsy stuff will the HDD work as normal?

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After this horrifying experience, I'm planning to do this:

1. Get a cheap RAID card such as the Promise TX2300

2. Get another 500GB hard disk, non-Seagate, probably WD

3. Make a RAID 1 out of the 500GB Seagate + WD and store my data in there

4. At the same time, use Mozy or some form of online backups (I have Mozy backups of some of my data in the Seagate 7200.11 but not all, e.g. huge video files)

5. Backup certain key data into 2-3 DVDs (high quality DVDs)

Now if the Seagate shows this same problem again, at least I will have the WD. Can't be that bad luck that both the Seagate+WD kaputs at the same time... or if the Promise TX2300 dies then I guess my data might be compromised too.

But more important than all, this experience has taught me what faceless huge corporations might do (or rather might not do) to help their individual customers when hit with such 'firmware' defects. I personally have worked for 2 huge corporations much larger than Seagate, and I cannot imagine myself/us doing this to our customers....

I always use WD in selfbuilds and always have. Not many have died before time (often going strong past expected life) but some WD are unacceptably short lived due to design.

As far as anecdotal evidence goes, I've seen plenty of dead WDs (and not just in computers either). I stopped buying them in 2001 (for a few years anyhow), after having 4 of them (big & expensive ones) die on me within 2 weeks... I have some now, no problems with them yet.

All manufacturers have some issue though.

That's pretty much it. Quality goes up and down, different bugs appear, manufacturing problems, QA problems and what not. No manufacturer is perfect, and it's always a bit of a gamble.

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