Anth

It will be fine, The adapter will be with you as soon as, then just carefully follow Gradius's instructions VERY carefully n your drive will be back with you. Anth

Basicguy, Personally i wouldnt recommend a usb cable, but there is a few people on here who have successfully used varius usb cables. Basically as long as it is based on a RS232 or Rs3232 controller or some derivative and you can find the phones pin out then it should work. The rs232>3.3vTTL in the link will arrive in a day or two tho.

BASICGUY Hmmm not too sure, And you will need some more bits of cables etc. This will definately work and the delivery is quick, and the guy there Rob is really helpfull (in an Electronics type way). http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RS232-to-3-3-Volt-TT...A1%7C240%3A1318 And its at least £10 cheaper. A nokia 3210 fbus data cable is still the cheapest an easiest option, at around 2 quid and only needing the rx and tx connecting (no gnd or power)

WHO CARES!!! Who really cares what people think???? Bottom line is Gradius's method works. I for one have got my data back for £0.00. I'll be an id*** all day every day just to have my data back. So lets not decend into a childish slagging match, lets just stick to trying to help people get their data back as Gradius intended when he started this thread, as it appears to be going slightly off topic here. Thanks Another id***!!!!

I used a sata to molex adapter on all of the ones i have recovered, and i hav'nt had any problems.... Then again with the Nokia 3210 data cable im using i don't even use power just RX and TX. Two wires

Hi, Firstly swap the rx and tx over, in the phone pin out, those lables are the phones rx and tx not the cables, what you have right now is rx>rx and tx>tx. But That cable don't look like a true fbus cable....not even a manually switched one. Its got to be either a manually switched (between fbus / mbus) cable or a true fbus cable. AUTO SWITCHING OR MBUS CABLES WONT WORK. Also with the fbus type cables there is no need to connect the gnd or vpp, just the rx and tx. Hope that helps Anth

Following Gradius's guide is definately the safest method, even if you have to wait a few extra days and £££'s for the rs232 > ttl adapter. I've now used it on several drives, with 100% sucess. The thing is I ordered an rs232 adapter and fixed my drive and others using an old mobile phone data cable while i waited for the adapter to arrive. 2 wires connected from a manually switched Nokia 3210 data cable and Gradius's guide, and my data is back. bp2411's fixed his drive using the Gradius method with a phone data cable that i sent to him too, I dont even know what phone it was off, I just winged it to find the rx tx lines. If you cant find a proper rs232>ttl adapter try looking for a phone data cable, there's also a post from someone who used a siemens cable too. These cable's are readily available on fleebay for a few quid. If you go the Nokia 3210 route just make sure you make sure it IS manually switched between fbus and mbus cause the auto ones won't work cause they wait for the phone software to switch them to RX TX (fbus mode). Gradius's guide and a few quid is definately the way to go, What price do you put on getting 100% of your data back. Anth Spankerer, The serial port cable method is more reliable than the Usb cables, but the usb to ttl adapters will work. The usb ones use software to pretend it is actually a serial port. A serial port is a serial port.....no other pc port translation's to worry about. It don't come much simpler than a good old fasioned serial port.

Hi Chapin, PM'd You Re phone data cable. But look Valdas has done the same, with a different data cable too. He also had to connect the +3.3v by the looks, where i only had to use rx tx. And it reads like he too swapped the rx tx lines over too.

Look what Seagate has posted again today!!! http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/self...951&Hilite= Yup the ST3500320AS etc. firmware No STM3500320AS etc versions yet tho. Looks like its labled as the same as last time, tho i never checked.

WHOO HOOOOOOOO!!!!!! ITS ALIVE!!!!!!!! Extra special thanks to everyone who worked towards the BSY fix and all those people who took the time to help me and reply to all my questions. I couldn't wait for my rs232 adapter that i ordered so i gambled and modified a nokia 3210 data cable and it worked. (Just with the RX TX connected..And SATA power to the drive of course). Fortunately after I recovered the BSY fault, my drive was recognised as its proper size by my bios sata. As we speak my data is being dumped from the drive to a different one. Guy's i owe one hell of a lot of data to you lot. THANK YOU!!!

Kadolf The connection you get using the sagem cable, Are you just using the pc serial port or are you putting some power to the adapter from somewhere else, Have you any more pin out information for how you connected it. Thanks Anth

Thanks Stephen, Yeah the rs232 adapter i used earlier was one robbed from a mobile data cable, but i put 3.3v volt to it tho, down the pin where it would have got its power from the mobile battery. The mobile pinout showed that was what it provided to power the rs232 ic. It was grounded through the psu that supplied all the power (SATA Too). And the rx and tx were crossed. Im hoping that the problem does lie with this rs232 adapter, or maybe i just cannot get a terminal connection with my drive n my data is infact gone. Anth

Great, Thanks for your answer, I know i probably wasn't explaining what i ment very clearly at first. About the output ttl levels and not the supply input voltage. So the hard drive rx tx pins use 3v. Thanks for the info, ive been searching for the hdd ttl levels all afternoon. Thanks Again, I'll look see what else i have here to use till i get the 3.3v rs232 converter delivered. Anth

Thanks, But im not talking about the input voltage im talking about the RX - TX TTL voltage level for the hdd circuit board. The input voltage for the 3.3 volt TTL is listed as anywhere from +5v to +20v (I could get this from a PC PSU RED) and the input voltage for the 5v one is detween +8v and +25v (I could get that from a PC PSU YELLOW). So neither of them is an issue to power the rs232 converter. The issue is do i need the one that talks to the Hdd at 3.3v or does the Hdd need 5v ttl on the rx / tx to work. Thanks Again Anth

Hi everyone, So do i buy the one with the 3.3v ttl output or the one with 5v ttl output. Please Help Thanks Anth

Thanks, I picked the other two because im in the UK and so where they and just thought of the delivery time. Does it make any difference which i use, just one off them supplies the TTL with 5v and the other supplies it with 3.3v, the input voltage is not a problem as i can cover the range of input voltages for either device. Thanks Again Anth

Hi Shuky, Yeah I tried changing the rx and the tx but in hyperterminal i got no response at all from the CTRL Z command. I set hyperterminal up as per Gradius's instructions, then the only change i made from then (after nothing happened the first time) was to set the ASCII setup to echo typed characters locally, so I could see the commands i was typing. I think it may be to do with the rs232 adapter I tried to use, thats why i was wondering if anyone knew if either of the ones in the above links would be suitable. Thanks Anth

Hi Guys, Does anyone know if this rs232 ttl converter is suitable for the BSY recovery, I tried to communicate with the drive earlier with a modified cable serial from a mobile but got no response from the terminal at CTRL Z. So i was going to order this one below, there real hard to find in the uk. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=260347113140 The same place also had this one listed http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RS232-to-5-Volt-TTL-...3A1%7C240%3A131 Not sure which if any are what i need. Thanks Anth StephenB I Just PM'd you regarding your rs232 adapter your using. Thanks Anth

Thanks Gradius2, As soon as i get it up the data will be going straight onto my 1TB WD drive till I get a new drive n the STM3500320AS will be consigned to the bin, Im not prepared to risk any of my data with Seagate/Maxtor again. Thanks Again Anth

Hey Gradius2, You could be a hero if i can recover my data (ANY of it) with this. After the above steps, it that the proceedure complete and the drive ready to connect to the pc or is there then more steps to get my data back. Thanks

Hi all, Just found this forum, and all these peoples problems. I too have a drive that fails at the bios detection (one minute the drive was fine, next the pc locked up, after a reboot it hung at the Sata detection stage. The drive is a 500gig Maxtor DiamondMax 22 STM3500320AS S/N 5qmovlqy P/N 9gt154-325 Firmware MX15 Date Code 08326 Made In china I believe that this drive is exactly the same (name apart) as the ones being mentioned here. Ive owned it for quite a few months now, probably 6-8 (not sure how to work the date code out tho.) It looks as though the problem has existed a bit longer than thought tho. Anyway any links to hard/software solutions to restoring the BSY Flag would be appreciated or a step bt step would be helpfull. Anyone in the Uk tried the HD Doctor too??? T.I.A. Anth