Laz

Yesterday morning my 1T 7200.12 started giving me problems, click during access then I had to reset my system- it was running W7 64 from a Nexstar external dock in sata mode. The drive was about 8 months old. I wanted to transfer as much data onto a new w7 OS so I swapped out the "bad" hd and put a new 7200.12 that I bought at the same time but surprise ! that was clicking from the start, impossible to even boot while it was connected. On a hunch I put that new unformatted clicking 7200.12 in a thermaltake duet external docking station that I use for convience and it was solid.I was able to format and install the w7 64 OS that I wanted on the new drive using the other docking station. I hooked the hd that was starting to give problems directly in my system and was able to copy everything off it with no problems. I am now using that same hd in the thermaltake external docking station on the same sata connection and everything seems fine. I ran the system tools disk check and defragment with no problems or errors to report. It might seem that it was the nexstar external docking station that was the cause of my problems- maybe the sata circuit goes bad and everything is accessible though another circuit/ device. I just want to post this experience because I know how bad it can be to lose your hd, and that it might not be the hd but the interface/device instead. I hope this helps.Good luck

Re-awakening the 7200.11 is not as hard as it might seem without trying. Yes, there is some risk, risk that you fail to follow the instructions in this thread and screw up; but otherwise I will say it is up to you to mitigate that risk. Send the drive to seagate and lose your data; send it somewhere else, lose some money and maybe get/lose your data,or, keep your money and your drive and see what you can do by yourself. The wise choice should be clear. Good luck.

of course you should be able to substitute; HP wants you to stay with the standard configuration; but screw'em, it's your computer.

Hi Hub 99; I am happy to hear you solved your problem; I have about 8 7200.11s maybe; I had to apply the rs232 fix on one and the rest of the affected versions I upgraded the firmware. I have not had any further issues with my seagates.