[The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs]

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Good info about indentifing wires and checking the connection is here.

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Thanks, this link was very helpful to me I used a CA-42 (equivalent) cable and soldered two cables to the connector that connect to my hd. Now my 500GB disc is up and running again, flashed the new firmware right away and all seems to be OK. The only thing that was 'odd' during the terminal session (using Gradius2's guide) was this:

F3 T>m0,2,2,,,,,22
Max Wr Retries = 00, Max Rd Retries = 00, Max ECC T-Level = 14, Max Certify Rewrite Retries = 00C8

User Partition Format Successful - Elapsed Time 0 mins 00 secs

F3 T>

The guide warning me it could take a minute, but it was slightly faster No problem though, worked like a charm! So thanks everyone who contributed, especially Gradius2, pichi and fatlip!

[The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs]

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I just thought this might come in handy. It's a USB->3.3v TTL converter used to program the Parallax Propeller chip. It has a standard FTDI USB interface on it and by clipping 2 pins off the TTL connector it will plug right into the back of the seagate drives perfectly.

http://www.parallax.com/Store/Microcontrol...98/Default.aspx

I know Parallax have distributors across the globe, so I thought those of you looking for USB->TTL converts might find this handy.

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Thanks for sharing this information! Can anyone confirm that this will work for hooking up drives to a terminal?

The guides and help from Gradius2, pichi and fatlip are great, I'm willing to give it a try as well but I want to be sure to order the right converter.

[Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 Troubles]

:thumbup Seagate offers fix, free data recovery for bricked Barracudas :thumbup

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/16246

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That is some great news, free data recovery would be very nice. I'm waiting for an *official* statement on the free part of it though.

Anyway, it's a good thing they're working on a fix and acknowledge the problem, apparently this thread did it's job quite nicely I've already bought a second drive to replace my bricked 7200.11, but IMO this is the least Seagate can do (in a fair way) for their customers. I really hope I can get my data back using their free recovery service!

[Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 Troubles]

Hi all, my drive stopped being recognized by my P5Q-E's BIOS yesterday after a regular reboot, here's my drive info.

SerialNumber:Model:P/N:Firmware:DateCode:SiteCode:PurchaseDate:FailedDate:USername

===========================================================

9QM7VZBP:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:09146:KRATSG:Oct2008:24Dec2008:poolcarpet

9QM6X90B:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:09115:KRATSG:Oct2008:28Dec2008:DaftMule

9QM6W2JE:ST3500320AS: - :SD15: - : - :5Dec2008:19Dec2008:DerSnoezie

9QM4G4PK:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:08503:KRATSG:Aug2008:Nov2008:dskbrk

9QM3RWHJ:ST3500320AS:9BX154-568:SD81:08464:KRATSG:Aug2008:23Dec2008:ToKuRo

9QM7KSQJ:ST3500320AS:9BX154-501:SD15:09134:KRATSG:28Oct2008:07Jan2009:jeroen__online

A different P/N, but no major deviations. I'm really hoping fatlip and pichi (and/or others?) can find the right commands to restore the drives, I think you guys are doing a fantastic job and I believe a lot of people are looking forward to a solution!