[pichi]

Aerozo, on Jan 4 2009, 05:59 AM, said:

seahateHDD, on Jan 4 2009, 02:40 AM, said:

...will do, I will check at my local electronics store too as they have tons of stuff dirt cheap, near or same internet prices...

Awesome :
Let me know if you find anything useful, I've already got a list of commands and a good idea on which ones to use, but without an actual terminal I can't be certain.

seahateHDD, on Jan 4 2009, 02:40 AM, said:

...NOTE: For benefit of none UKers maplin is our main chain store for electronics that replaced most the smaller and independant ones...

Tell me about it! I looked up the RS232 on there and their search showed me a serial cable... FOR £13!!
They're con-men I tell you!
Haha

If you want a cheap adapter, you have a soldering station and you understand electronics circuits:
http://cgi.ebay.es/Brand-New-USB-to-RS232-...emZ110332604457
Only cost 2.80$, plus two 1K resistances 0.10$ and two or three weeks lead time.
Cut rubber of RS232 adapter, soldering the 1K resistance extreme between 2 chips on RX line (and TX line to), cut a track with a cutter.

[CoffeeFiend]

If you want cheap, have a soldering station and you understand electronics circuits, then you could use 2 transistors from your miscellaneous parts bin (or even reused parts from old electronics) and some common resistors and make a simple inverter. Even if you had to buy all the parts, you could build it for under $1 (and in about 5 minutes). That's assuming your serial port "understands" TTL levels, but pretty much all of them do these days.

[Aerozo]

pichi, on Jan 4 2009, 05:36 AM, said:

If you want a cheap adapter, you have a soldering station and you understand electronics circuits:
http://cgi.ebay.es/Brand-New-USB-to-RS232-...emZ110332604457
Only cost 2.80$, plus two 1K resistances 0.10$ and two or three weeks lead time.
Cut rubber of RS232 adapter, soldering the 1K resistance extreme between 2 chips on RX line (and TX line to), cut a track with a cutter.

You sir, are a GENIUS!
I'll definitely be looking into that!

Does anyone have a terminal and a broken 7200.11 to hand by any chance?
I just have some non-destructive commands that need testing...

[ToKuRo]

seahateHDD, on Jan 4 2009, 12:36 AM, said:

...looking around this seems to be becoming common. SD17 and SD18 seem to have same issues...
...I presume it's just SD15 renamed or minor changes...

Am I the only one until now who have the same no disk at boot error (bsy state) and have an ST3500320AS from Thailand with firmware SD81 (yes i'm sure it is EIGHTYONE).

Greetings, ToKuRo.

This post has been edited by ToKuRo: 04 January 2009 - 12:38 AM

[poolcarpet]

Riderzen,

I suppose not, but lightning can strike twice Also, you wouldn't want to put the WD + seagate + flash in the same physical location. For example, if there is water leakage and all three get washed, that's it

RiderZen, on Jan 4 2009, 01:20 PM, said:

Fuzzy_3D, on Jan 4 2009, 02:11 PM, said:

RiderZen, on Jan 3 2009, 06:43 PM, said:

I will also from now on backup family photos to my new 16gb kingston usb stick.

Do NOT backup anything onto flash media. It's the most volatile of all storage methods. Unless its a micro drive.

If I have my photos backed up to the WD, seagate and flash what is the chance I will loose something??? I have used usb memory sticks for years and chucked them around alot and have never lost anything.
Oh yeah and I don't want to use the seagate as my main drive because then I would have to reinstall everything...

[poolcarpet]

Anyone dare to try this? (For those that has gone beyond the disk not detected in BIOS, and are stuck in the 0 LBA problem)

http://www.salvationdata.com/data-recovery...gate-rapair.htm

btw, I checked, that's not a typo, the page html is really spelled that way...

[poolcarpet]

ToKuRo,

So far, I've seen only yourself with F/W SD81..... the rest of us have mainly SD15.

ToKuRo, on Jan 4 2009, 02:36 PM, said:

seahateHDD, on Jan 4 2009, 12:36 AM, said:

...looking around this seems to be becoming common. SD17 and SD18 seem to have same issues...
...I presume it's just SD15 renamed or minor changes...

Am I the only one until now who have the same no disk at boot error (bsy state) and have an ST3500320AS from Thailand with firmware SD81 (yes i'm sure it is EIGHTYONE).

Greetings, ToKuRo.

[Zenskas]

@Poolcarpet
The flash drive with the most important data will be at school most of the time. Seagate drive will be in my cupboard. WD drive will be in the comp But I hear the WD green drives are very efficient, reliable, and almost as fast as my old seagate. Im gonna get one of the 640gb ones. Even more storage that the old one

[Zxian]

For what it's worth, off-site backups are the only way to know that your important data is backed up safely. RAID is not a backup solution, and should never be treated as such.

My backup procedure has become as follows:

• Sync folders from workstation to RAID5 array in file server
  
• File server makes a nightly sync to an external 500GB drive of the important files (pictures, documents, music). External drive is purely for backup purposes
  
• Every two weeks, I make a copy of my files from the external onto a portable external drive that I then take to work and copy to my NAS.

One copy, two copy, three copy. Yes, it costs a bit more in terms of hardware, but like crahak said, some data is priceless. I honestly couldn't imagine losing some of the pictures I've taken or the documents and work I've done in the past few years (the past year and a half of my thesis included!). The only way that I would lose more than two weeks worth of data is if an entire EMP were to hit Vancouver, or some other large scale natural disaster.

[poolcarpet]

You can consider sending a copy of your data to me here, I'll keep them safe half the world away. Should be very very safe... Well, unless an asteroid hits earth........

Zxian, on Jan 4 2009, 05:27 PM, said:

For what it's worth, off-site backups are the only way to know that your important data is backed up safely. RAID is not a backup solution, and should never be treated as such.

My backup procedure has become as follows:

• Sync folders from workstation to RAID5 array in file server
  
• File server makes a nightly sync to an external 500GB drive of the important files (pictures, documents, music). External drive is purely for backup purposes
  
• Every two weeks, I make a copy of my files from the external onto a portable external drive that I then take to work and copy to my NAS.

One copy, two copy, three copy. Yes, it costs a bit more in terms of hardware, but like crahak said, some data is priceless. I honestly couldn't imagine losing some of the pictures I've taken or the documents and work I've done in the past few years (the past year and a half of my thesis included!). The only way that I would lose more than two weeks worth of data is if an entire EMP were to hit Vancouver, or some other large scale natural disaster.

[sarahcoco]

poolcarpet, on Jan 4 2009, 07:53 AM, said:

Anyone dare to try this? (For those that has gone beyond the disk not detected in BIOS, and are stuck in the 0 LBA problem)

http://www.salvationdata.com/data-recovery...gate-rapair.htm

btw, I checked, that's not a typo, the page html is really spelled that way...

Hi poolcarpet,

After reading the pdf file, this tool disallows to resolve the problem on st3500320as.

[sarahcoco]

Fuzzy_3D, on Jan 4 2009, 01:46 AM, said:

Now that we're not under the heel of seagate or the corporate data recovery shills, I think it's time someone re-posted this:
http://members.shaw....000_BSY_Fix.avi

This is the PC3000 seagate BSY fix. I found this on some Russian site through google.
Just so you can see how trivial this fix actually is, if you have the right hardware.

It's encoded in x264, so use VLC if you can't watch it as is.

thx fuzzy_3d,
It seems to be the best solution to our problem, this video concerns st3500320as with sd15 firmware. Do you the price of this tool ?

[poolcarpet]

I've asked the price of both PC3000-UDMA and SalvationData HD Doctor for Seagate. The PC3000-UDMA costs close to euro 3000, while the SD costs USD500. However, I'm not sure if the SD one comes with the hardware as well or it's just the software.

USD500 is still a lot to me (I bought the dang Seagate 7200.11 for about USD60!!!) so I'm keeping that option as a last resort. Have to find out from them as well whether USD500 is just for the software or the interfaces and hardware components as well.

sarahcoco, on Jan 4 2009, 10:02 PM, said:

Fuzzy_3D, on Jan 4 2009, 01:46 AM, said:

Now that we're not under the heel of seagate or the corporate data recovery shills, I think it's time someone re-posted this:
http://members.shaw....000_BSY_Fix.avi

This is the PC3000 seagate BSY fix. I found this on some Russian site through google.
Just so you can see how trivial this fix actually is, if you have the right hardware.

It's encoded in x264, so use VLC if you can't watch it as is.

thx fuzzy_3d,
It seems to be the best solution to our problem, this video concerns st3500320as with sd15 firmware. Do you the price of this tool ?

[sarahcoco]

I receive a quotation for HDD Doctor utility (hardware and software tools) from Salvationdata. I'm waiting on an answer of my company to get this product.

[pichi]

You can see all commands of your 7200.11 disc with this:
Ctrl+z
F3 T>/C
F3 C>Q
(List all commands of your hdd)
I have made all steps for pass from BUSY state to READY state, but I think that I haven't the BSY problem.
Before it, I haven't BSY flags. You can test this flags with Victoria for windows 4.46f or MHDD boot iso.
Non destructive test that I have made:
Ctrl+z
F3 T>V
F3 T>V001
F3 T>V002
...
F3 T>V1FF
Some of these list are P List, GList, Primary DST, etc.
-----------------------------------------------------------
I use Tera Term too because it has log.
http://hp.vector.co....16/ttermp23.zip
It is freeware, install and use:
COM1
Setup->Serial Port-> COM1 38400 8 N 1
File->Log->Unmark append and create a file
Log all received bytes.
To finish log pushbuttom "Close"

[Styleman]

How much was the quote for hardware and software?

sarahcoco, on Jan 4 2009, 08:38 AM, said:

I receive a quotation for HDD Doctor utility (hardware and software tools) from Salvationdata. I'm waiting on an answer of my company to get this product.

[fatlip]

pichi, on Jan 4 2009, 07:44 AM, said:

You can see all commands of your 7200.11 disc with this:
Ctrl+z
F3 T>/C
F3 C>Q
(List all commands of your hdd)
I have made all steps for pass from BUSY state to READY state, but I think that I haven't the BSY problem.
Before it, I haven't BSY flags. You can test this flags with Victoria for windows 4.46f or MHDD boot iso.
Non destructive test that I have made:
Ctrl+z
F3 T>V
F3 T>V001
F3 T>V002
...
F3 T>V1FF
Some of these list are P List, GList, Primary DST, etc.
-----------------------------------------------------------
I use Tera Term too because it has log.
http://hp.vector.co....16/ttermp23.zip
It is freeware, install and use:
COM1
Setup->Serial Port-> COM1 38400 8 N 1
File->Log->Unmark append and create a file
Log all received bytes.
To finish log pushbuttom "Close"

Hey all,
pichi is the guy that I have been talking with over the last few weeks. I would say he is now the main guy on this. He has successfully unlocked his drive from BUSY mode and is now doing most of the research on the commands.

Thanks,
G

[Aerozo]

Pichi and Fatlip, check your PMs plz!

[pichi]

You can see all commands of your 7200.11 disc with this:
Ctrl+z
F3 T>/C
F3 C>Q
(List all commands of your hdd)

My test from BSY to RDY:
------------------------
(Unscrew screws)
Ctrl+z
F3 T>/2
F3 2>Z
Spin Down Complete
Elapsed Time 0.158 msecs
F3 2>
(Hold power on and screw screws)
F3 2>U
Spin Up Complete
Elapsed Time 6.777 secs
F3 2>/1
F3 1>N1
F3 1>
(Power off)
If you was BSY you now are READY.

The next steps would be:
1.- SMART erase.
2.- Clear G list.
3.- Check traslator.
4.- User Partition Format repair.
5.- Translator regeneration.
6.- SetMax capacity (check NHPA and HPA).

See SMART List and G-List relation on:
http://www.hdddoctor.com/
(Show some problems)

With the list of commands and this webpage:
http://forum.hddguru.com/seagate-terminal-...ands-t6411.html
I can try a lot of commands, but I don't know the correct commands that I have to put.
Some commands can be trough SATA controller: ATA commands or SCSI commands.

SOFTWARE:
---------

For do all secure, download a PC emulator:
http://mobalivecd.mo...LiveCD_v2.0.exe
It not need install, it is a standalone executable.

Tera Term windows terminal, it has log.
http://hp.vector.co....16/ttermp23.zip

Victoria for Windows 4.46b:
http://hdd-911.com/index.php?option=com_do...mp;ascdesc=DESC

MHDD (for boot diskette or CD):
http://hddguru.com/download/software/mhdd/...32ver4.6iso.zip

Smartmontools:
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/smartmont...mp;big_mirror=0

TAFT (for boot diskette or CD):
http://www.vidstrom.net/stools/taft/

HDAT2 (for boot diskette or CD):
http://www.dat2.com/

DISCWIZARD (English or Spanish):
http://www.seagate.com/support/discwizard/...ardSetup.en.exe
http://www.seagate.com/support/discwizard/...ardSetup.es.exe

HELP! HELP!
Two or three months ago:
I remember that DiscWizard wrote in my unformattable hard disc the first time. Later, it appeared with 500 GB, one partition and formattable. Can anybody say the previous parameters of a "totally new HDD" without DiscWizard? I do not remember if it appeared with 0GB or not?
Is DiscWizard the traslator that writes SA?
Does DW format the HDD?, or only writes SA and MBR to create the partition?
(Seagate DiscWizard and Maxtor MaxBlast 5 are essentially same piece of software which is an OEM version of Acronis True Image 10 Home edition version 10.0.0.5077.)
Is there anybody that remember exactly these steps?

[Styleman]

Pichi,

Thanks for this update. I think these questions you have below should be left on other forums as well. Are you cross posting to other forums?

In addition, I wonder if a firmware update from seagate could fix the 0 LBA problem since technically the drive is now visible in the BIOS. (not that I am holding my breath). Of coarse, we also want our data intact which is the reason we have all held on to our drives instead of of sending them for an easy RMA.

Speaking of which - is anyone keeping tabs on the seagate site or forum for new developments?

pichi, on Jan 4 2009, 05:38 PM, said:

HELP! HELP!
Two or three months ago:
I remember that DiscWizard wrote in my unformattable hard disc the first time. Later, it appeared with 500 GB, one partition and formattable. Can anybody say the previous parameters of a "totally new HDD" without DiscWizard? I do not remember if it appeared with 0GB or not?
Is DiscWizard the traslator that writes SA?
Does DW format the HDD?, or only writes SA and MBR to create the partition?
(Seagate DiscWizard and Maxtor MaxBlast 5 are essentially same piece of software which is an OEM version of Acronis True Image 10 Home edition version 10.0.0.5077.)
Is there anybody that remember exactly these steps?