[jaclaz]

gemni7, on 12 October 2012 - 01:21 AM, said:

Hi All,
first of all I appreciate Gradius2/jaclaz for this thread and continuing support. It does contain lot of info.

Guys I have ST3500413AS 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 HDD. It spins without noise but BIOS cant detect it. I suspect BSY problem. Please confirm me whether I can apply 7200.11 solution to my 7200.12.
I do have ttl to rs232 converter and knows all electronics required very well.

Please advise

Regards

...but you cannot read .
First post of this thread:

Gradius2, on 18 January 2009 - 01:16 PM, said:

Please make sure you've READ the Read-Me-First Sticky FIRST!

The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs (final and revised version):

.....

Information Added 10 may 2010:

If you have any problem following this guide please read first the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 READ_ME_FIRST topic!

http://www.msfn.org/...-read-me-first/
Read ATTENTIVELY point #1.
Then start a new thread, if needed, and ONLY AFTER having searched for 7200.12 info (that you won't find in this thread which is ONLY about the 7200.11), you know, like this one, last active a lot of time ago, like yesterday:
http://www.msfn.org/...s-not-detected/
http://www.msfn.org/...ost__p__1014387
actually already containing links to "all we know" about the 7200.12.

jaclaz

[CarterInCanada]

I have a BudgetHardDrivesRUs brand drive model 62000001.42 and it's making a clunking noise everytime I set my teacup on top of it. Will this fix work?

Ok, just kidding. It's me, Carter in Canada! How's everyone doing these days? I can't tell you how good it does my heart to see you still here jousting with the rookie hard drive repair students jaclaz. Well done you mate!

It's been an interesting two years for me since I last visited the repair pages. I've moved across the continent to find ANOTHER remote Canadian mountaintop on which to park myself and my drives. I'm building my own house - a longtime dream. And my cats are still trying to extort tuna out of me at every turn.

I had forgotten all about my 7200.11 woes until I just happened to be cleaning up my website and saw the broken link to the Seagate firmware pages - they moved them when I wasn't looking. That's been fixed and we're over 3200 confirmed repairs. Wow. Who would have thought, eh? I've also just renewed my site for another three year stint so as long as you folks still need it, I'll leave the page up for reference. Thankfully the pizza experiments have progressed well past the hard drive repairs.

Oh, another thing. To be clear since it seems someone tried to hijack my name about a year ago and use it to sell stuff on ebay, I'm still *NOT* selling anything, asking for ANY money (unless Seagate wants to pay me for saving them thousands, LOL), or otherwise endorsing ANYTHING online to do with hard drive repair for profit. Ebay very quickly shut down the imposters when I talked to them and they've not tried it again but I thought a word of caution was in order. If you see my name being used to make any sort of coin off hard drives, shoot me a message so I can shut them down quick. Free pointers to my site are fine (as several reputable computer repair houses have done) but if they try to charge you anything for the info or some bit of kit, they're fakes.

I also noticed that the folks at Pololu (the brand of TTL adapter I used) have added a new version that includes a built-in electrolytic cap to help prevent the LC Voltage spikes that can fry the TTL adapters. The 'manufactuer's link' on my page in that section has all the details of the new model. I'm sure that's a result of all of us un-bricking our drives. Who says consumers can't make a difference? Now if we could just think of a reason to make global warming LESS profitable. :-)

Speaking of old drives, I'm migrating to mostly SSDs these days and have all but swapped out for 7200.12 drives on my remaining 'live' SATA2 units. I still have (I think) two 7200.11 drives in the offline backup box but I note that after the fix, I must have run them for nearly two years longer in my live system with no problems. And of course ONLY with capable backups on standby in case they went wonky. Because of the giant spike in hard drive prices after the Thai flooding of 2011, I wanted to squeeze every bit of life out of my old drives that I could.

I hope you're all well. Keep up the good fight jaclaz! Don't give up you hard drive warriors. And of course remember....DON'T PANIC!!

Cheers,

CarterInCanada

edit: For you newcomers, I'm the whacko behind the repair guide at http://www.mapleleaf...agatebrick.html

This post has been edited by CarterInCanada: 12 October 2012 - 05:04 AM

[jaclaz]

Nice to see you peeking around from time to time.

About the adapter (and of course this is NOT an advertising of any kind) it seems like I found a good candidate (which does include a "Seagate" connector):

http://www.msfn.org/...ost__p__1013024


at a "fair" price (depending on from where you manage to get it).

jaclaz

[Phaenius]

Hi all,

Glad I found this forum, I hope you guys will be kind enough to guide me if I am stuck somewhere in the process of unbricking two Barracuda 7200.11 hard drives that, judging by the symptoms, are suffering from the BSY state bug. I read some tutorials scattered all around the internet and I hope I can make it through. I have some questions (and later on may have others, hope you will help a noob ) I never did this before, but I take it logically and hope if I do the steps right, I will succeed. First of all, I read of a lot of hardware equipment (that customized cable) that will connect HDD with PC, I ordered mine (I am waiting to arrive) from e-bay. I don't know if I am allowed to post a link, so I am waiting permission to do so, if that's ok. That to verify I bough the correct stuff. What I wanted to ask now is if I one of my models can be unbricked following the described method. One of the drives is still inside the PC and don't have access to it, but I am sure it has S15 firmware and it's most likely affected by the bug. The following is outside computer and has the following printed information:

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11
ST3640323AS
S/N 9VK0D7Q7
P/N 9FZ134-510
Firmware: SD33
Data Code: 09141
Site code: TK

I contacted Seagate and they told me this is not from the series affected by the BSY state bug. But it presents the same symptoms like my other affected (S15) drive. I had another Barracuda drive and I replaced it under warranty. Both the drives are covered by warranty, but I want to recover the data on them. Do you think both can be bought alive ? Is there something particular I should look for ? Can I please post the link of the cable to confirm if it will work for me ? Are there any particular problems I should look for regarding terminal and commands on it ? I am running Windows 7 x64, that doesn't have a hyper terminal, but ultimately I could install Windows XP, I used it in the past, I could look for the disc and install it if necessary. I will meanwhile read this thread. Thanks and I am looking for your answers.

[jaclaz]

Phaenius, on 17 October 2012 - 06:12 AM, said:

but I take it logically and hope if I do the steps right, I will succeed. First of all, I read of a lot of hardware equipment (that customized cable) that will connect HDD with PC, I ordered mine (I am waiting to arrive) from e-bay. I don't know if I am allowed to post a link, so I am waiting permission to do so, if that's ok. T

Sure you can post a link to the adapter you ordered , though "logically" you should have read the read-me-first, and the FGA's and the recommended guide before.

The BSY state is typical of a particular issue of the earliest firmware, BUT it can happen (and sometimes be solved) also to later releases (most probably for "different reasons"), this should be clearly understandable from the read-me first, in the FOREWORD:
http://www.msfn.org/...howtopic=143880
and/or in the FGA''s (#2 actually):
http://www.msfn.org/...-720011-drives/
and/or in the recommended guide:
http://www.mapleleaf...agatebrick.html

jaclaz

[Phaenius]

Thanks, jaclaz. That was fast answering. I ordered the cable from here. Please tell me I didn't do a stupid thing. http://www.ebay.com/...=item415de51284

I will read the forum and the links but the more I read, the more I get confused by the wide variety of adapters and/or software commands, so I try to keep the reading to a minimum, so to speak. I hope you'll be helpful enough to guide me if I'll have any problems.

[jaclaz]

Phaenius, on 17 October 2012 - 06:46 AM, said:

Thanks, jaclaz. That was fast answering. I ordered the cable from here. Please tell me I didn't do a stupid thing. http://www.ebay.com/...=item415de51284

I will read the forum and the links but the more I read, the more I get confused by the wide variety of adapters and/or software commands, so I try to keep the reading to a minimum, so to speak. I hope you'll be helpful enough to guide me if I'll have any problems.

Read a few posts starting here :
http://www.msfn.org/...81#entry1012881

jaclaz

[Phaenius]

Well, I read that page before your post, but I am still in the unclear. After all, I did a mistake or not ? Will it work or I threw away money ? By the way, I "did" spot out the link at the bottom of the page from first try But the link is from another website, that is actually my first forum I read regarding my problems with the HDDs. I am still in the unclear if the ordered cable comes with the drivers or not. I downloaded the drivers from the link posted 2 pages before this, hope it will work.

And another thing, the drive with SD33, from your experience, can be bought to life by using the classic method used at S15 case ?

Further edit (sorry for being annoying): I have another (a third Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 drive), working, but it has the same faulty S15 bug.

Name: ST3500320AS
S/N: 6QM04K7Z
Revision: SD15

This drive is working at the moment, but it still has the faulty firmware on than can hit at any time. I downloaded the executable Seagate Firmware Update Utility 1.0.0, that supposedly should update the drive to SD1A. The file is one executable file, 31,566,952 bytes and named ms-sd1a.exe. Is it ok for me to run this file and allow the new firmware update ? I don't want to lose any data. Is it safe to do it ? The drive has an operating system on it. Again, thanks.

This post has been edited by Phaenius: 17 October 2012 - 07:35 AM

[jaclaz]

Phaenius, on 17 October 2012 - 07:00 AM, said:

Well, I read that page before your post, but I am still in the unclear. After all, I did a mistake or not ? Will it work or I threw away money ? By the way, I "did" spot out the link at the bottom of the page from first try But the link is from another website, that is actually my first forum I read regarding my problems with the HDDs. I am still in the unclear if the ordered cable comes with the drivers or not. I downloaded the drivers from the link posted 2 pages before this, hope it will work.

Well, if you follow the thread, you will see how OP standingbear is now among the happy bunnies :
http://www.msfn.org/...ost__p__1014206
http://www.msfn.org/...ost__p__1014250
BTW you already "owe" us a cute happy bunny pic for the consultancy given till now .

Phaenius, on 17 October 2012 - 07:00 AM, said:

And another thing, the drive with SD33, from your experience, can be bought to life by using the classic method used at S15 case ?

Cannot say, basically - provided that Seagate is telling the truth - later fiirmwares do not suffer from the SAME bug, but - as seen extensively - can get in the BSY issue allright nonetheless.
The "fix" is basically a way to get off a BSY loop, but since we don't know why exactly the disk enters this loop (and when/how it does so) there is no way to know in advance IF it will be effective, let alone "actually fix" anything.
Any disk "repaired" this way (as well as *any* disk *anytime*) may fail again (for the same or for other causes).

Phaenius, on 17 October 2012 - 07:00 AM, said:

Further edit (sorry for being annoying): I have another (a third Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 drive), working, but it has the same faulty S15 bug.

Name: ST3500320AS
S/N: 6QM04K7Z
Revision: SD15

This drive is working at the moment, but it still has the faulty firmware on than can hit at any time. I downloaded the executable Seagate Firmware Update Utility 1.0.0, that supposedly should update the drive to SD1A. The file is one executable file, 31,566,952 bytes and named ms-sd1a.exe. Is it ok for me to run this file and allow the new firmware update ? I don't want to lose any data. Is it safe to do it ? The drive has an operating system on it. Again, thanks.

As a "rule of thumb" it's not like that, i.e. it is not that you need a backup before attempting a (risky) operation such as a firmware update, you should have a backup ANYWAY (actually two of them, on different media and kept in two different physical locations) of any data that you value.
Normally a firmware update should NOT create any data loss, but Murphy's Law is EVERYWHERE, continuously trying to prove itself true once again....

jaclaz

[Phaenius]

Murphy's law, adapted to Phaenius' law, that says that if a thing could go wrong, it will. That's why I have to take all necessary precautions and ask all those questions to the point of annoying people. But baaaaaad things do happen to me quite often, in this case, power outage, all sorts of other "rare" things that can occur (in my case "will"). So, risking throwing a stick at me, am I at least 70% safe on flashing the (working) drive without me losing data ? I can't backup it, all is valuable, it would require and additional HDD and I don't have it.

Thanks again. I will read the linked threads. Everytime there is a link, more (contradictory in my case) information comes to me that confuse me. I may end up myself in a human BSY mode.

[jaclaz]

Phaenius, on 17 October 2012 - 09:21 AM, said:

Murphy's law, adapted to Phaenius' law, that says that if a thing could go wrong, it will. That's why I have to take all necessary precautions and ask all those questions to the point of annoying people. But baaaaaad things do happen to me quite often, in this case, power outage, all sorts of other "rare" things that can occur (in my case "will"). So, risking throwing a stick at me, am I at least 70% safe on flashing the (working) drive without me losing data ? I can't backup it, all is valuable, it would require and additional HDD and I don't have it.

Thanks again. I will read the linked threads. Everytime there is a link, more (contradictory in my case) information comes to me that confuse me. I may end up myself in a human BSY mode.

The "most dangerous" thing that can happen when "flashing" something is a power outage/failure, personally (and this applies also to BIOS flashing, modem/routers, etc.) I wouldn't EVEN THINK of performing a firmware flashing without having everything connected to a suitable UPS.
The chances are low, but it can happen.
70% is not a "logical" request, most probably you are above 95% with a trend towards 99% BUT the whole point is the remaining 1÷5%

IMHO if your data has less value than 70 US$ or so (a street price for a 500 Gb hard disk), it means that they have no value at all.
Additionally, since you are going to spare that money for a backup, I am led to believe that you intend to re-use the "fixed" disk as primary and "only" data storage.
In this latter case you have 100% probabilities to lose the data , the question becomes not anymore "IF", but rather "WHEN"...

jaclaz

[Phaenius]

jaclaz, on 17 October 2012 - 10:21 AM, said:

70% is not a "logical" request, most probably you are above 95% with a trend towards 99% BUT the whole point is the remaining 1÷5%

In my case, 70% is pretty good. You don't know my luck. I don't have an UPS. I flashed things in the past (firmware for BIOS, optical drives, etc.), but never an HDD. Seagate recommends backing up data. I can't, that's why I asked what are my chances of succeeding without losing data.

jaclaz, on 17 October 2012 - 10:21 AM, said:

IMHO if your data has less value than 70 US$ or so (a street price for a 500 Gb hard disk), it means that they have no value at all.

My data has value to me. Personal stuff, things I collected in several years.

jaclaz, on 17 October 2012 - 10:21 AM, said:

Additionally, since you are going to spare that money for a backup, I am led to believe that you intend to re-use the "fixed" disk as primary and "only" data storage.
In this latter case you have 100% probabilities to lose the data , the question becomes not anymore "IF", but rather "WHEN"...

This I didn't get it. What do you mean ? I intend to reuse all the drives, that's why are there for. From what I read, the drives are good, they just have a firmware glitch. But mechanical, the drives are ok. Currently I have 4 drives. All Seagate. 3 of them are 7200.11 (two bricked and one working, but a S15 time bomb) and one 7200.10.

Shall I go with the flash on my working drive ? If so, if you don't see me post for a long time, I bricked that one too.

[jaclaz]

Phaenius, on 17 October 2012 - 11:17 AM, said:

This I didn't get it. What do you mean ? I intend to reuse all the drives, that's why are there for. From what I read, the drives are good, they just have a firmware glitch. But mechanical, the drives are ok. Currently I have 4 drives. All Seagate. 3 of them are 7200.11 (two bricked and one working, but a S15 time bomb) and one 7200.10.

A perfectly "mechanically sound" AND new (and never "fixed" - BTW along an UNdocumented, UNofficial, UNsupported, casually discovered/leaked method) hard disk may fail tomorrow (or the day after tomorrow) or even NOW, for NO apparent reason.

Hard disk failures are UNpredictable.

There are chances that the same two hard disks (model, make, manufactured the same day, with just one single digit of the serial number increased, bought the same day in the same shop) used by two twin brothers in two identical PC's, physically located in the same, room, powered by the same line, with exactly the same contents and read/wrote in exactly the same way fail - respectively - after 1 week and after 3 years (or one or both never fail in their usage lifetime).

Seriously, I have seen identical drives in identical RAIDs fail for no reason, and no, it wasnt the case about which tray (upper, lower, one of the middle ones) they were in.

Phaenius, on 17 October 2012 - 11:17 AM, said:

Shall I go with the flash on my working drive ? If so, if you don't see me post for a long time, I bricked that one too.

I would make a tested PE of some kind or a Linux Live (please read as "emergency way out") before that.
Not to put you down in any way mind you, I actually tend to be an optimist , only trying to make you fully aware of the possibilities...

Your playing against the odds is a lot like "playing against the house", it will win. (in the long run)

But, on, the other hand:

Ray Bradbury said:

Life is "trying things to see if they work".

jaclaz

[Phaenius]

What do you mean "a tested PE of some kind" ?

Anyway, I know generally, like Forrest Gump would say, "s*** happens", but very low odds aside, wanted to know what are the odds of me of flashing at first (until my cable - of which I don't know if it's good or not, even after I read the linked threads - arrives) the working drive. Seagate recommends backing it up as a precaution measure, but at the moment I can't. Not to mention I can only easily backup storage data (not Windows and every setting there is in it at the moment, or any other installed software). I suppose, you as one of the big guns from this forum, encountered a lot of situations, firmware upgrades and all. So, basically, from your experience, is more safer than unsafe to do the flashing ? I repeat, the program will be run from Windows, there is an operating system on the drive and drive is bootable.

[jaclaz]

Phaenius, on 17 October 2012 - 12:09 PM, said:

What do you mean "a tested PE of some kind" ?

Anyway, I know generally, like Forrest Gump would say, "s*** happens", but very low odds aside, wanted to know what are the odds of me of flashing at first (until my cable - of which I don't know if it's good or not, even after I read the linked threads - arrives) the working drive. Seagate recommends backing it up as a precaution measure, but at the moment I can't. Not to mention I can only easily backup storage data (not Windows and every setting there is in it at the moment, or any other installed software). I suppose, you as one of the big guns from this forum, encountered a lot of situations, firmware upgrades and all. So, basically, from your experience, is more safer than unsafe to do the flashing ? I repeat, the program will be run from Windows, there is an operating system on the drive and drive is bootable.

A Pre-install Environment, something that you can boot in emergency from a DVD or USB stick and that can be used to boot the PC (and possibly connect to the internet) even with a failed hard disk.

Running *any* firmware upgrade from a Windows (generally) and from a Windows Vista or later is what I call "asking for troubles" or "pure folly".

IMHO firmwares should be updated from the most "reduced" simple, UNconnected to *anything* environment in which it would run (typically DOS, and DOS booted from a CD).

This is how the "right" Seagate firmware updating works:
http://support.seaga..._procedure.html



What you want is the appropriate .iso from here (and NOT the Windows tool):
http://knowledge.sea...US/FAQ/207951en

Of course if the Seagate guys provide a Windows tool, it must be "safe" to use it, only issue is that there is NOT one way on earth they can have reproduced the exact same situation of your peculiar Windows 7 install, and BTW the guide:
http://knowledge.sea...US/FAQ/210091en
is clearly Windows XP related (but then again there is NOT one way on earth they can have tested the tool on an exactly similar system to your Windows XP install)

About the cable/adapter, what we know is that a member bought one from that same e-bay seller and the one specimen he got did work, do you want a written guarantee (from me) that the specimen you will get will work?
Sure I guarantee that in case of malfunctioning you will get your money back (of course limited to the amount of money that you will send me in exchange for the guarantee - which becomes operative and legally binding after 7 days from the receiving of the payment on my Cayman Island UNtraceable account ) .


jaclaz

[Phaenius]

I tried Seagate ISO images to boot from CD but it doesn't work. I have KNOPIXX, but if the drive fails, nothing can save me from there.

Sure I don't want a guarantee. Some feedback from people. Great that it worked.

This post has been edited by Phaenius: 17 October 2012 - 01:17 PM

[jaclaz]

Phaenius, on 17 October 2012 - 01:17 PM, said:

I tried Seagate ISO images to boot from CD but it doesn't work.

Look, I don't want to seem grumpier that what I normally am, but while in the case of the adapter we have a single report of it working, the bootable CD .iso have worked for tens, hundreds and possibly thousands of users.
You must have an issue with the CD, the downloaded .iso, the burning app you used or something else, those .iso:

• do work
  
• do boot

translated to
"burning cd's?"
"you are doing it wrong!"

Spoiler

Which means that you should be nice, start a new thread describing the issues you are having with that .iso/CD.
Until you have solved that issue DO NOT attempt a firmware upgrade from Windows.

jaclaz

[Phaenius]

Well, I burned the CD, I boot from CD, but on the menus I don't have mouse and I can't do anything. My mouse is a wireless USB mouse and it's not detected by the Seagate bootable CD program. Don't know why, but it doesn't. So, I must do the thing from inside Windows. So to speak, because computer is rebooting and I think it makes some sort of RAM drive or something and works from there.

[VideoRipper]

Phaenius, on 17 October 2012 - 02:49 PM, said:

I don't have mouse

Nowadays, modern computers come with a so called keyboard; have you tried that one?

Navigating a menu, without a mouse, is normallty done with the ALT- and arrow-keys.

[jaclaz]

Ok, I'll byte.
Can you just §@ç#ing READ my previous posts AND the links in it?

The .iso that you should use is FreeDos based AND needs NOT any mouse as it is keyboard driven!

If your keyboard misses keys ESC, F1, F10, A, B, C, R, S, Z (and the cursor keys) then you have a problem.

Again:
http://support.seaga..._procedure.html

jaclaz