[jaclaz]

Six862m6, on May 11 2009, 08:31 PM, said:

Could this still be the busy lock up error, or worse? Any info would be very appreciated.

Think a bit.

How many probabilities there are that a firmware bug decides to break loose in the split second that the disk is falling for 8"?

jaclaz

This post has been edited by jaclaz: 11 May 2009 - 01:41 PM

[vazuhovich]

One question, please:

My drive ST31000333A8 has already failed too. What if I replace the old control board with a new one (from the same drive manufactured recently)?

[Deviat]

My 1Tb failed recently completely full of data, i contacted seagate recovery and they wanted to charge $700+. How else could i get the data back, like if i updates the firmware would the data still be there n accessible ?

thanks

[Lippy]

See this thread on how to recover your Seagate. If you can't afford to pay the big data recovery firms, I'm afraid this is your only option. It's fairly easy to do though once you get your head round it.

If you fix it using the solution in that thread, all your data should still be there just as you left it. I literally stuck my once dead Seagate back in my main computer after sending the last command through the terminal, and booted right off it. It worked as if nothing had ever gone wrong with it. Then you can safely transfer your data to another drive before you update the firmware on it so that it won't fail like that again.

[Deviat]

I'm not too sure about going through that fix, is there anyone in australia, melbourne in particular that is confident in doing this kind of fix. If so would i be able to post it too you and pay for your help

[Deviat]

thanks, just let me know, and give me contact details.

[EddieDog]

OK, guys, had the same bsy probs as others. Did the RS232-TTL thingy but with no success. When I get to the U command, it takes 6 mins, then generates 'Spin Error'.

I Previously had changed logic boards with similar drive but no luck. Have not done the TTL thing with dif logic board as I reckon it will not work. At Any other instructions I can send?

For those in Australia who need an RS232-TTL converter, RS of Melbourne
http://australia.rs-online.com/web/search/...vc=av_au#header

 cable.jpg (49.34K)
Number of downloads: 24

I'm in Perth, ordered via phone early afternoon, flown in and delievered NEXT DAY!
Cable works great, and on my sys had to select COM3, but very easy. As was the whole process. Just a pity it failed.

Seems nothing short of swapping platters, which I can't do, will get my data back. Not critical but heaps of stuff that now requires re-scanning.

Drive had been an external one. Advice to anyone else with sim prob. Don't wait, don't use drive more than necessary, do the TTL thing immediatley. I think my drive may have died totally owing to hardware failure following the BSY thing.

Oh, one last thing. On some posts, they recommend putting card only under Logic to drive connection, on others, both drive and motor connection. however, if I do only the drive and not the motor, I get errors and it will not process.

Eddie

[Cannon_Fodder]

EddieDog, on Jun 16 2009, 09:55 AM, said:

OK, guys, had the same bsy probs as others. Did the RS232-TTL thingy but with no success. When I get to the U command, it takes 6 mins, then generates 'Spin Error'.

I Previously had changed logic boards with similar drive but no luck. Have not done the TTL thing with dif logic board as I reckon it will not work. At Any other instructions I can send?

For those in Australia who need an RS232-TTL converter, RS of Melbourne
http://australia.rs-online.com/web/search/...vc=av_au#header

cable.jpg

I'm in Perth, ordered via phone early afternoon, flown in and delievered NEXT DAY!
Cable works great, and on my sys had to select COM3, but very easy. As was the whole process. Just a pity it failed.

Seems nothing short of swapping platters, which I can't do, will get my data back. Not critical but heaps of stuff that now requires re-scanning.

Drive had been an external one. Advice to anyone else with sim prob. Don't wait, don't use drive more than necessary, do the TTL thing immediatley. I think my drive may have died totally owing to hardware failure following the BSY thing.

Oh, one last thing. On some posts, they recommend putting card only under Logic to drive connection, on others, both drive and motor connection. however, if I do only the drive and not the motor, I get errors and it will not process.

Eddie

Yo, did you try with the PCB totally off the drive?

i'm in perth and did two drives yesterday for a mate n they worked sweet. coulda done a third but they had already paid $1200 to sum recovery place.

[EddieDog]

Cannon_Fodder, on Jul 2 2009, 10:22 AM, said:

EddieDog, on Jun 16 2009, 09:55 AM, said:

OK, guys, had the same bsy probs as others. Did the RS232-TTL thingy but with no success. When I get to the U command, it takes 6 mins, then generates 'Spin Error'.

I Previously had changed logic boards with similar drive but no luck. Have not done the TTL thing with dif logic board as I reckon it will not work. At Any other instructions I can send?

For those in Australia who need an RS232-TTL converter, RS of Melbourne
http://australia.rs-online.com/web/search/...vc=av_au#header

cable.jpg

I'm in Perth, ordered via phone early afternoon, flown in and delievered NEXT DAY!
Cable works great, and on my sys had to select COM3, but very easy. As was the whole process. Just a pity it failed.

Seems nothing short of swapping platters, which I can't do, will get my data back. Not critical but heaps of stuff that now requires re-scanning.

Drive had been an external one. Advice to anyone else with sim prob. Don't wait, don't use drive more than necessary, do the TTL thing immediatley. I think my drive may have died totally owing to hardware failure following the BSY thing.

Oh, one last thing. On some posts, they recommend putting card only under Logic to drive connection, on others, both drive and motor connection. however, if I do only the drive and not the motor, I get errors and it will not process.

Eddie

Yo, did you try with the PCB totally off the drive?

i'm in perth and did two drives yesterday for a mate n they worked sweet. coulda done a third but they had already paid $1200 to sum recovery place.

Hi, I did not try with the board totally off the drive. Will try that soon
Eddie

[Caronte]

Well, my drive failed... won't spin up.

ST3500320AS Seagate 500Gb 7200.11 SD35

Attached File(s)

•  FreeAgent_Failure.mp3 (51.43K)
  Number of downloads: 19

[buddertoast]

Hello!
Just wanted to say thanks to all, who compiled this information here.
I have successfully recovered my Seagate 7200.11 500GB from BSY-state following the steps of Gradius2's direct guide and using the Schmartboard+Jumper-Cable suggestion of fatlip, so I didn't have to solder anything (never done that *cough*).

Just one thing, maybe I've missed it here, because there are so many replies, but you MUST NOT press Ctrl+Z after removing the plastic/paper card (and thus reconnecting the PCB board contacts). You only have to press Crtl+Z at the beginning and after the 10 second ON/OFF of the HDD.

Thanks again, saved all my data with a very nice do-it-yourself internet guide (even though the pictures at the direct guide don't seem to work, even after log in)

This post has been edited by buddertoast: 10 August 2009 - 01:34 AM

[omid_ghasemi]

Hi everyone

I have a problem with my Barracuda 7200.11 500GB that is like a bad sector problem.
I could recover many of my data but my most valuable data didnt be recovered.
The problem is almost exactly in the half of the hdd (I mean bad the 2% sectors starts about 49% to 51% of the capasity)
When I want to recover those files The system hangs or I have the blue page.
What can I do myself? Is there any hardware I can create and read sectors by that hardware?
or any strong software?

Best Regards

[jaclaz]

omid_ghasemi, on Sep 11 2009, 02:28 PM, said:

What can I do myself? Is there any hardware I can create and read sectors by that hardware?
or any strong software?

I doubt there is anything you can do.

If a sector is bad, it is bad, if only a few sectors are bad and this prevents reading a bigger chunk of otherwise good sectors, you have some probabilities.

You can try a "file based" recovery, PHOTOREC:
http://www.cgsecurit...g/wiki/PhotoRec

Or a sector based DD:
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...ic=7783&hl=
the latter has more chances, due to it's interesting approach, but still don't expect a miracle.

jaclaz

[theflex]

guys, i have the same probs with my seagate. i think the bsy-thing.

is here someone who can give me some information where i can get this tll232-converter in germany?

maybe i can find someone who want to sell his equipment, plz message me

[Sneakybob]

looks like I joined the many,my 1TB 7200.11 failed a couple of days ago.

I have emailed support and they told me to return the drive for replacement. I told them that I would take the drive out of the box to attempt recovery, I was told that I was ok to do this.

I have since read the full thread and am trying to get Seagate to do free data recovery.

I'll keep you posted on how I get on with them and in the meantime I will be sourcing the parts for the fix.

Thanks for all the hard work that's gone into this thread guys.

Steve
UPDATE 17th September 2009

I have today spoken with Seagate again Via instant chat ans thelephone, UK Based phone number 00800 472 4283
Seagate are assuring me that although my drivr failed in exactly the same way other with the not recognised in bios have described that my drive is not within the serial number range of the affected drives and will therfore not recover my data free of charge.

I've included a copy of my chat with Seagate.

Please wait while we find an agent to assist you...
All agents are currently busy. Please stand by.
Hello. How may I help you?
Stephen Tansley: I have an issue with my hard drive failing, it failed as is evident on the much documented problem with the seagate 7200.11 range
Eli S: How did the drive go out?
Stephen Tansley: I was told by David Fields that my particular drive was not affected by this issue
Stephen Tansley: drive was working fine up till shutdown, then at reeboot drive was not recognised in bios
Eli S: And what is the serial number, Mr. Tansley?
Stephen Tansley: S/N 9QJ0LQ8B
Stephen Tansley: David told me that Seagate would exchange the drive but would not cover Data
Eli S: and this is a FreeAgent Desk?
Stephen Tansley: it is
Eli S: ok. What the agent told you previously is correct. That issue only affected internal drives, not ones that were earmarked for external drives
Eli S: Do the plates still spin in the enclosure?
Stephen Tansley: IHow can this be? a drive is a drive, inside this is still an ordinary OEM drive
Stephen Tansley: the plates appear to spin for 1 second then idle for 2 seconds
Eli S: Have you opened upt he drive, or?
Stephen Tansley: I have opened the outer box to allow access to the drive to enable me to connect to pc via sata to try to recover data
Eli S: Ah, I understand
Eli S: Was the drive recognized?
Stephen Tansley: no, bios still fails to recognise drive
Eli S: Have you checked that the controller is enabled in Bios?
Stephen Tansley: all sata controllers enabled in bios, bios recognised other 2 sata seagate drives 9both 7200.10)
Eli S: one moment, let me check one more thing
Stephen Tansley: ok
Eli S: I've checked a couple of other things, and it is not affected by firmware, thus it has to be some other issue
Stephen Tansley: will Seagate recover the data at no cost to me?
Eli S: I could give you information about a data recovery group, if you are interested in recovering your data, Mr. Tansley
Eli S: No sir. Data recovery is not covered by the warranty
Stephen Tansley: I will not be using a paid service to recover my data, if Seagate will not do this free I will use an rs232 device to recover the drive myself as I strongly believe this problem is caused by the firmware issue
Stephen Tansley: I have read other documented cases where seagate have said this issue did not affect a drive and when checked the drive was suffering from the documented issue
Stephen Tansley: I believe Seagate are still unsure which serial no range is in fact a problem
Stephen Tansley: I also belive this drive was shipped by seagate knowing that there was an issue
Eli S: I do apologize you are having this issue today, Mr. Tansley
Eli S: But is there anything else that I could assist you with today?
Stephen Tansley: could you give me a UK contact phone number as I wish to take this issue further
Eli S: One Moment
Stephen Tansley: also do you have a complaints or legal department that i could contact
Eli S: 00.800.4732.4283
Eli S: That is the number for the UK, Mr. Tansley
Eli S: Is there anything else I could assist you with today?
Stephen Tansley: Thank you for your assistance, I shall phone the number you have given me
Eli S: You're welcome. Have a nice day, Mr. Tansley.

I am just about to place an order for an rs232 device which I think will do the job

http://www.virtualvillage.co.uk/usb-to-rs2...r/sku003602-010

Steve.

This post has been edited by Sneakybob: 17 September 2009 - 05:05 AM

[firescalp]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a Seagate barracuda PCB:

barracuda 7200.11 1000 Gbytes
- S/N: 9QJ1TT42 - ST31000340AS
- P/N: 9BX158-335 - Firmware: SD15
- Date code 09074 - site code: KRATSG
- WWN: 5000C5000DAAD518

if someone know were is one just mail me!!

Thanks too all!

[amit_talkin]

I didnt know about this problem until I read this thread! Seems they had fixed it in later firmware version. I have SD46 firmware revision on my ST3500320AS 500GB HDD. Havent faced any problem from the day I have purchased it .

[hubb_99]

my seagate 7200.11 just stopped working. It's really odd though, it will recognize at first and I can scan with some recovery programs and then all of a sudden it will just disappear and nothing can see the drive anymore. I was using this as my backup drive....I had images....music....movies.....everything on it. I will never buy another seagate product again. I work as a network admin and you better believe I know a lot of people and will tell everyone I can the same thing. I guess seagate really doesn't care about us consumer based customers though. Ohhh and Seagate apparently says that according to my serial number I am not in need of the firmware update.

This post has been edited by hubb_99: 05 December 2009 - 03:05 PM

[hubb_99]

I just did the procedure to recover data on my seagate and it actually worked (thank you very much to the author)

my question is:

has anyone continued to use the drives after this procedure?

I am pulling all my data off of it and putting it on my new western digital hard drive but am just curious if anyone has continued to use these with any success.

[jaclaz]

hubb_99, on Dec 7 2009, 05:19 PM, said:

I just did the procedure to recover data on my seagate and it actually worked (thank you very much to the author)

my question is:

has anyone continued to use the drives after this procedure?

I am pulling all my data off of it and putting it on my new western digital hard drive but am just curious if anyone has continued to use these with any success.

Yes.

The problem is seemingly in the actual firmware.

Some details are in the main thread, starting here:
http://www.msfn.org/board/seagate-barracud...-page-1007.html
for roughly three pages.

The issue in itself is stoopid enough:
when you power on the drive and internal LOG was left to entry 320 or any value satisfying the expression 320+n*256 the drive bricks itself.

• IF you have a working drive AND you upgrade it's firmware AND the firmware is NOT bugged, the drive will last on average like any other one.
  The fix is made in two steps:
  
• unbrick a bricked drive making it working
  
• loop to 1. above

Point is that due to the TOTAL and UTTERLESS lack of any form of brightness, courtesy, politeness and open-mindedness from the Seagate people, BOTH in the Technical and Support services AND on their Forum, there is NO way to know for sure:

• IF any given new firmware is appropriate to the specific drive
  
• IF any given new firmware release solves the problem (without introduceing OTHER bugs)

What they tell people with a bricked drive is more or less:

• you are NOT affected by the problem (which means in plain English: you are a liar, your drive is not bricked)
  
• if you send the drive in we will replace it, should we find it to be defective
  
• under the Warranty Terms, recovery of your data is not provided, you should have backed it up
  
• if the drive gets lost on the way to us or on the way back it's your problem
  
• we may send you back at our exclusive discretion (and we won't tell you in advance whether you will get back):
  
  • your drive revived with all data intact (not because we will recover the data, but only if the data happens to be there, and we won't even tell you if this is likely to happen or not)
    
  • a refurbished drive
    
  • a new drive
  
  
• Since we won't admit that there is a problem, it is obvious that we cannot tell you that firmware xxxx will fix that problem (that only exists in your mind)

As I see it the product is not worse or better than that of the competitors, every firm has had (or will have) a "badly born" model or series, but definitely the Support sucks.

Reality (and as proven by the number of reported successes) is:

• an average technician can fix the issue in no more than 15 minutes and NO data will be lost
  
• a complete n00b can fix it in a few attempts/several hours and NO data will be lost
  
• it is utterly stoopid to send drives back and forth if not actually needed (have you ever seen the delicacy with which UPS or FedEx - or any other courier for that matter - manage parcels?) as you have the concrete risk of damage or loss during this stage

In my opinion if they had

• printed DON'T PANIC in large, friendly letters on their Web Site
  
• told people not to worry, that their data and drive could be recovered allright
  
• admitted the hiccup
  
• apologized for the inconveniences
  
• provided documental evidence of the reason of the problem and of the way they fixed it in later releases
  
• outsourced the recovery to local (say) TV repairers or Computer Shops for (say) US $10 apiece, asking Customers to bring personally the drive in the shop, and collect it after a couple of days, they would have :
  
  • saved lots of money
    
  • saved lots of fuel and packing/shipping costs (a small contribution to the fight against entropy)
    
  • had a plethora of admired Customers that would have LOVED them for the rest of their life (no matter if their drive is good or not)

The way they chose they have had ALL their sentient customers really, really mad at them (again no matter if their drive is good or not).

jaclaz