[ConfusedChimp]

I'm hoping someone here can help me as my 1500GB Seagate HD stopped working a while ago.
I originally thought there was nothing that could be done, but after searching the internet I found threads like this.

Originally the drive worked fine, then for no apparent reason it stopped working.
When booting the drive shows a bad SMART test and I get an error to back up the drive. In the Bios the drive shows a capacity as "1500.3GBST31500341AS" which I think is just the model number rather than the capacity. The LBA mode shows "Supported".
Windows will not recognise the drive at all, not even under the Disk Management section of the Computer Management program of the Administration Tools. It won't even register there is a device attached.

When it first happened my XP machine would freeze if the hard disk was attached. But I could hot swap it in, where it would be recognised for about a minute and I could read some data. But would stop and freeze again after wards. I was backing my data up through this method when after trying to browse a different folder the drive stopped altogether and it can no longer be hot swapped back in.

I've read a fair bit about the BSY error and the LBA 0, but I'm unsure. Can anyone tell me if it is the BSY Error or LBA 0 that my drive is experiencing or something different?

Regards

CC

p.s. now I use both Win XP on one machine and Win 7 on another.

[smandurlo]

it is something different.

[jaclaz]

@ConfusedChimp
Your symptoms are UNlike the ones of either BSY or LBA0.

Now it depends only on value of the data on the hard disk and whether you can afford paying a pro to attempt a recovery.

If you can/want, now is the right time to do so.

If you know that you won't ever have the money for it, you can try the proposed methods, as you have "nothing to lose" see Read-Me-First:#1 and #2:
http://www.msfn.org/...-read-me-first/

The procedures substantially "reset" some data inside the hard disk "memory".

This may "fix" a "generic" data corruption issue or it may not.

From what you posted the preoccupying part seems to me that the device "progressively got worse" (stopping being mountable/hot swappable) which is a behaviour that doesn't sound like what corrupted data may cause (which tends to be binary, on/off or working/bricked).

BTW it is also possible that something very simple happened, like dirty or corroded/oxidized contacts between PCB and hard disk.
Removing the PCB and cleaning contacts before reassembling it won't do any harm so it is well worth a try.

jaclaz

This post has been edited by jaclaz: 30 January 2013 - 03:21 AM

[zuco1989]

Latedeveloper, on 19 April 2009 - 05:11 AM, said:

A success story...

My Seagate ST3500320AS (SD15 firmware, 9BX154-303 made in China, OEM drive) packed up with the BSY issue, and only then did I find out that this issue existed.

I bought a DKU-5 clone Nokia cable online for something like 3 pounds online, and a torx screwdriver set from Maplin for about 8 pounds. The cable did contain the TTL conversion chip, but it took me a while to realise that on my version the chip was meant to be powed from the phone end, not the USB end.

To get it to work, I had to:

• Look up the pins online from http://buffalo.nas-central.org/index.php/U...RM9_Linkstation
  
• Attach a 3v calculator battery across the 3v pin and ground

Then, using Terminal.exe downloaded off the net, I could get the cable to echo commands when the Tx and Rx were connected.

I connected up the drive, following the instructions in this thread, connecting the GND pins of the drive and cable to a molex GND pin on the PC. To power the drive, I used a genuine SATA cable, not a SATA to Molex adaptor.

Initially, I didn't realise commands were case sensitive, and so "z" did nothing (thankfully). Other than that, it went smoothly until I tried "m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22". In my case, the drive reported that the format took "0 mins 00 secs".

But then my drive worked again! So I went and downloaded the latest SD1A update for my drive, flashed it, and...

Got a non-funtioning drive, visible in the bios, but non-booting and failing every SeaTools test. Seagate's tech support couldn't help, and thinking it was the firmware, I went looking (to no avail) for a copy of the SD15 firmware to downgrade.

Finally, I found someone on the Seagate forums who had the same issue as me and resolved it by repeating the BSY fix after the flash. I tred that, and it did nothing. As a last resort, I searched this forum and found Aviko's post in which he recommended to someone with the 0 mins 00 secs format that they run "F,,22" and then "m0,6,2,0,0,0,0,22".

And now, just when I was ready to bin it, I have a working SD1A drive. Not that I'm sure I will trust it, or the 2 other SD15 drives I have....

Thanks to everyone who has posted to this thread - it's amazing how helpful it's been. Thanks to Gradius for helping me find this information (even if he didn't create it) and to Aviko for saving my drive when I thought nothing would. Time to get all my data backed up.

Thank you fo this information... I can confirm that after upgrade on SD1A doing a bsy fix again reviev my HDD again..

Here is a link of tutorial http://www.overclock...e-fix-with-pics.

In my case I have same model as yours but made in Thailand and m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 worked for me. ALSO I TURNED OFF HDD BEFORE ENTERING m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22.

This post has been edited by zuco1989: 05 February 2013 - 04:59 PM

[garce]

I am looking for some help. I have ST3500320AS (500GB). Right now it shows as 0MB on the BIOS. I purchase on ebay an adapter and can connect to the drive.
First i thought it was the 0MB issues so tried fix for that but start getting the device busy but during the process got LED:.... message so I thought it was the BSY error.
When I tried that fix, I got problems spinning the drive
F3 T>/2
F3 2>Z

Spin Down Complete
Elapsed Time 0.125 msecs
F3 2>U

Error 1009 DETSEC 00006008
Spin Error
Elapsed Time 13.469 secs
R/W Status 2 R/W Error 84150180

Basically, the drive makes a clicking sound for around 10 seconds (it seems that it clicks eleven times) and then gives the error 1009. This repeats

I have cleaned the contacts already carefully and i am sure i have tighten the screws.

Do i have any hope of recovering the drive? Thanks for any help. I have found others complaining about eleven clicks as well but nobody seem to have resolved it.

[jaclaz]

garce, on 03 March 2013 - 10:05 PM, said:

Basically, the drive makes a clicking sound for around 10 seconds (it seems that it clicks eleven times) and then gives the error 1009. This repeats

I have cleaned the contacts already carefully and i am sure i have tighten the screws.

Do i have any hope of recovering the drive? Thanks for any help. I have found others complaining about eleven clicks as well but nobody seem to have resolved it.

BUT, does it spin up or does it not?
See:
http://www.msfn.org/...131#entry937131

Unfortunately all you can do is what is here :
http://www.msfn.org/...c-00006008-fix/
which you seemingly already did.

jaclaz

[sergserg]

Hi.
I'm currently in the process of fixing a hard drive with firmware hp24. I could apply the first commands, but after removing isolation between board and hard drive, reattaching it and doing F3 2>U, I can hear the drive spinning up, but the terminal hangs up there, no message is returned, not even error, and trying to close and start a new session doesn't work because there's still an ongoing communication. Does anyone know what could be the problem?
Thanks.

[BlouBul]

sergserg, on 04 March 2013 - 10:26 AM, said:

Hi.
I'm currently in the process of fixing a hard drive with firmware hp24. I could apply the first commands, but after removing isolation between board and hard drive, reattaching it and doing F3 2>U, I can hear the drive spinning up, but the terminal hangs up there, no message is returned, not even error, and trying to close and start a new session doesn't work because there's still an ongoing communication. Does anyone know what could be the problem?
Thanks.

Unplug your hdd, and start again from the beginning, making sure you follow all the steps.

[sergserg]

I started again following each step but I get the same results every time. I can hear the drive spinning up after the F3 2>U command, and I can feel it spinning the whole time, but no matter how long I wait, no confirmation message is displayed.

Edit:

I finally got the spin up complete message, but now I'm stuck on the last step (F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22). I've read that the time this last step can take varies from a few seconds to up to 10 minutes. More than 30 minutes have passed and there's still no final message. I'm afraid to stop the process, I don't know what should I do if everything stays like this.

This post has been edited by sergserg: 05 March 2013 - 12:50 AM

[jaclaz]

sergserg, on 04 March 2013 - 08:49 PM, said:

I finally got the spin up complete message, but now I'm stuck on the last step (F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22). I've read that the time this last step can take varies from a few seconds to up to 10 minutes. More than 30 minutes have passed and there's still no final message. I'm afraid to stop the process, I don't know what should I do if everything stays like this.

See here :
http://www.msfn.org/...ost__p__1016839

jaclaz

[sergserg]

Quote

See here :
http://www.msfn.org/...ost__p__1016839

jaclaz

Thanks. After waiting about 3 hours, I terminated the communication and restarted, switched off main pc and hard drive, turned on again, I read that there was a small chance that the drive was actually fixed, so I plugged it to the pc via USB. Windows automatically started to install suitable drivers for the specific model of hard disk (something new because the drive couldn't be seen or recognized at all before). But the drive doesn't show up on the "My Computer" folder (where one can see all other disks and drives installed listed), I launched the Device Manager to see if I could find the drive listed there, and I got the following message:

Quote

You must initialize a disk before Disk Manager can access it.

Select disks:

Use the following partition style for the selected disks:

- MBR (Master Boot Record)
- GPT (GUID partition table)

Note: The GPT partition style is not recognized by all previous versions of Windows. It is recommended for disks larger than 2TB, or disks used on Itanium-based computers.

I don't know what to do. How can I know if the disk has been fixed but a few more steps are needed for complete recovery (like restoring partition tables or testdisk), or if I should start the process from start?

[BlouBul]

sergserg, on 05 March 2013 - 03:37 AM, said:

I don't know what to do. How can I know if the disk has been fixed but a few more steps are needed for complete recovery (like restoring partition tables or testdisk), or if I should start the process from start?

Continue the fix from after the "optional" power down which you did belatedly. See guide here http://www.mapleleaf...agatebrick.html

[sergserg]

I set up everything again and just applied the last command, it was instantly successful this time (0 seconds). All the files and partitions are intact. Thank you very much everybody for your help

[BlouBul]

sergserg, on 05 March 2013 - 07:19 AM, said:

I set up everything again and just applied the last command, it was instantly successful this time (0 seconds). All the files and partitions are intact. Thank you very much everybody for your help

Glad you managed to fix it

...and you are welcome

This post has been edited by BlouBul: 05 March 2013 - 07:34 AM

[jusufin]

I got to the point where it says user partition format and accidently jostled the hdd, a bunch of letters started appearing so i tried again. the second time I was successful but it still is not recognized in bios. Did I break it on the first attempt or Is there a way to recover the data or even just make the hdd usable again?

This post has been edited by jusufin: 05 March 2013 - 03:27 PM

[garce]

jaclaz, on 04 March 2013 - 04:17 AM, said:

garce, on 03 March 2013 - 10:05 PM, said:

Basically, the drive makes a clicking sound for around 10 seconds (it seems that it clicks eleven times) and then gives the error 1009. This repeats

I have cleaned the contacts already carefully and i am sure i have tighten the screws.

Do i have any hope of recovering the drive? Thanks for any help. I have found others complaining about eleven clicks as well but nobody seem to have resolved it.

BUT, does it spin up or does it not?
See:
http://www.msfn.org/...131#entry937131

Unfortunately all you can do is what is here :
http://www.msfn.org/...c-00006008-fix/
which you seemingly already did.

jaclaz

It does spin but click 11 times. If anybody has any comments appreciated

[BlouBul]

jusufin, on 05 March 2013 - 03:20 PM, said:

I got to the point where it says user partition format and accidently jostled the hdd, a bunch of letters started appearing so i tried again. the second time I was successful but it still is not recognized in bios. Did I break it on the first attempt or Is there a way to recover the data or even just make the hdd usable again?

The random characters were probably caused when the GND wire touched something. It shouldn't have broken anything. Just try the whole process again, making sure the wires are secure and not touching and make sure you do all the steps carefully.

This post has been edited by BlouBul: 06 March 2013 - 12:17 AM

[jaclaz]

garce, on 05 March 2013 - 06:42 PM, said:

It does spin but click 11 times. If anybody has any comments appreciated

No way (that we know about and that have been tested succesfully), sorry .
That should mean heads (or pre-amp) are gone for good:
http://forum.hddguru...own-t12769.html
but in the above there is seemingly a report about someone who downgraded the firmware and then re-upgraded it that could be something to try (of course ONLY if you don't have anything to loose OR you simply cannot afford professional recovery services).
Here it is hinted instead that resetting S.M.A.R.T. may help:
http://forum.hddguru...0as-t17638.html

If the issue is the spinning up not reaching full speed , you can try holding the drive vertical during spin up, but this is VERY near the border of "magic"....

BTW, did you check the heads contacts also?

jaclaz

This post has been edited by jaclaz: 06 March 2013 - 03:34 AM

[jusufin]

I successfully completed the steps and its still not recognized in bios. I'm wondering if it's even the bsy error now. I'll describe the problem in a little more detail in case anyone has a clue as to what is wrong.

1. About a month ago I started having problems loading windows 8. It would freeze up and take about 30 minutes to an hour to load, then would run fine after that.
2. The PC started acting as if no hdd was installed. it spins up fine and makes no strange noise but cant be seen in bios.
3. I tried changing the cables and tested a new hdd to check if the problem was with something else, Everything worked fine so I assume the problem is with the hdd.
4. From my internet research, I find that my model/firmware is affected with the bsy error. I assume that's what it is since the symptoms closely resemble bsy error symptoms.
5. I successfully completed the steps to unbrick the drive and its still not being detected.

If anyone has any insight into this it would be greatly appreciated. I'm wondering if maybe i should try unbricking it again?

[BlouBul]

jusufin, on 07 March 2013 - 04:41 PM, said:

It would freeze up and take about 30 minutes to an hour to load, then would run fine after that.

BSY is a sudden occurrance. If the hdd started to act funny, but sometimes still worked, it is not BSY.

jusufin, on 07 March 2013 - 04:41 PM, said:

2. The PC started acting as if no hdd was installed. it spins up fine and makes no strange noise but cant be seen in bios.
3. I tried changing the cables and tested a new hdd to check if the problem was with something else, Everything worked fine so I assume the problem is with the hdd.
4. From my internet research, I find that my model/firmware is affected with the bsy error. I assume that's what it is since the symptoms closely resemble bsy error symptoms.

The rest of the things , however, does sound like BSY. You might have more than one problem (or one big one that is not within the scope of this thread)

jusufin, on 07 March 2013 - 04:41 PM, said:

5. I successfully completed the steps to unbrick the drive and its still not being detected.
If anyone has any insight into this it would be greatly appreciated. I'm wondering if maybe i should try unbricking it again?

No harm in trying the fix once more to make sure you did it right the first time.

This post has been edited by BlouBul: 07 March 2013 - 09:44 PM