jaclaz

Oh duh, you obviously didn't use a clean garage and updated the firmware of the engine management Oh, yes, I did, I also cleaned VERY thoroghfully both sides of the crack that divided the piston in two halves, really. Still it didn't work. jaclaz

Hmmm. Cannot really say what is preventing the thingy to change attributes. Check this: http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2011/06/02/my-disk-is-read-only-help.aspx but that should only affect USB drives. Is there anything worth of note in the event log (if it exists in your PE)... jaclaz

See if this fits: http://www.1-4a.com/rename/ jaclaz

Sure, not at all negating the fact, only highlighting it's foolishness . Then you have an image of the disk before the various Windows recovery attempts? No, the Kaspersky live CD scan (which - again - seems a lot like NOT having been on a LiveCD since data about it are written to the hard disk) would have NOT done *any* harm, rest assured. Yep, the whole point is to understand WHICH EXACT form of encryption is it and if there are tools (from the manufacturer of the encryption tool or by third parties) capable of recovering a disk in that situation. In theory it could be something trifling, like the need to re-write some MBR (or hidden sectors) code, or something that has no way to recover. Your next step is to understand *somehow* which specific encryption was it. jaclaz

Yeah, sure , with that set of instructions you are good to go. Remember that you need unpowdered latex gloves and a VERY "clean and dust-free room indoors", as a matter of fact you would actually need something like a small clean room, *like* the one hinted about here: Good luck for the cleaning with compressed air *any* head on a multiplatter disk, and particularly those on non-first platter and the underside one of first platter . JFYI, and OT, last time I had a faulty piston on my car, it didn't start working after I cleaned it . jaclaz

BUT how exactly /which tool was used to encrypt the volume/drive? Bitlocker? Those would only change the "code" part of the MBR and of the PBR's, since it was originally Windows 7 made, the result would be again Windows 7, but I have no idea if bitlocker (if it is that that was used) actually encrypts the PBR also and or if it stores any further back up copy. BUT, yes, the combined effect of all the tools you ran could well have made things worse, though the issue (since start) was an issue with the bootsector. I personally find encryption (generally speaking) "totally unneeded, utterly foolish and a perfect way to lose data", but of course opinions may vary on it . Besides being of no actual use (just so you know, "they" are not after you, if they were, they would have already got you ) to the "common user" it implies a far more accurate management of data (and backup strategies), something that the "common user" will never be able to do, being by definition also not capable of implementing a "plain" data backup strategy. And of course doing *any* of the things you did to a failed disk without first imaging it has been - let's say - a most uncommon procedure (if you need I can be much more explicit than that). IF it was bitlocker, there are a few tools to recover those, but whether they will work (at all or in this case) cannot say. See: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/bitlocker-corrupted-drive/f2d6addf-5e9d-427e-9857-ffb5a750dfcb jaclaz

Sure, professional repair. I would call you more "stubborn" than "curious", but that's OK. My bad , consider the previous "60-100 US $" range as "80-120 US$" instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007603%20600003269%20600003316&IsNodeId=1&name=1.5TB a dramatic 20-30% increase that makes the option slightly less convenient . jaclaz

Are you now ? Picky today? , actually, to be in-line with the previous typo: Picky oday? jaclaz

Sure, that means that the head (actually head arm) is not stuck anywhere. Yep, and again this means that the head cannot find what it is looking for and "goes" astray. In your case it happens at around 30%, which on a multiplatter disk, can be a single head gone, or a side gone (actual platter surface - unlikely to happen without "carrying with it the head" as well) or the SA/firmware partially corrupted, no real way to know, and in any case NOT a DIY job, particularly on a Seagate 500 Gb or any multiplatter disk. A 500 Gb disk (brand new) costs around 60-100 US $. A professional repair (if possible) would likely go in the US$ 1000-2000 range. The tools needed to repair go in the 5000-10000 US$ (without the NEEDED training, which will more than double that figure). Hard as it may be, sometimes you need to call it a loss and go ahead. jaclaz

Hard to say. Try quickly run Photorec (the file based recovery tool "companion" of TESTDISK) if files can be found with ti, i it, it wasn't encrypted. jaclaz

Yep, that is a (incorrectly named) wiping tool, it basicaly attempts writing 00's to each and every sector. But the disk is gone. To explain the delays you get, it goes like that (more or less): You (through the OS, the disk driver and the disk controller and the disk firmware) order the disk to read sector (say) 3289. The disk tries it: Reading sector 3289 .... cannot read it! Trying again reading sector 3289 .... cannot read it! Loop to #2 n times until, by pure chance, it manages to read it, then: OK, sector 3289 read. Additionally, each and every "loud click" you hear is the head completely failing to find a position on the disk and "going astray", a "stuck" head doesn't move (and hence the drive assembly doesn't click loud). Usually stuck heads mean also disk not spinning (as normally a stuck head is stuck to the platter and prevents it from spinning up). jaclaz

UNfortunately of no practical assistance , but JFYI: http://www.jfdesignnet.com/?p=2291 only useful to know how also everyone else thinks that MTP sucks big . I don' think that right now anything exists that can help having the MTP connected device be available in a "Normal" File Manager, let alone n Windows 9x/Me. The only thing that makes sense, as I see it, is to use an app like this one: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dooblou.WiFiFileExplorerPRO&hl=en and use WiFi (and a browser) to manage files. jaclaz

The DMDE screenshot clears enough how the disk was before, most probably: First partition was a type 27 , i.e. the "boot" (read as MS system partition) ad got NO drive letter when booted [system] that WIndows 7 creates in some cases (but normally this partition is 100 Mb in size) second partition was a large "normal" 07 type one that got C:\ drive letter third partition was a hidden partition (recovery partition) that got no drive letter (because of it's 17 hidden type) [HDDRECOVERY] Now, from the combined results of the TESTDISK log and of the DMDE screenshot, it seems like the "middle partition" structures have been *all* corrupted/overwritten. This is very unusual , as commony *some* structures can still be identified. I see a couple references for "Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10.0" recently downloaded, which you didn't mentions among the attempts you made. The $MFT for any NTFS volume bigger than 5 or 6 Gb is on cluster 786432, i.e. 786432*8=sector 6291456 from start of the volume. If the first partition was originally the "normal" 100 Mb or if it was the current (roughly) 1.5 Gb, it doesn't make mucd difference, the $MFT of the second volume would anyway be between 2048+204800+6291456=6498304 and 2048+3072000+6291456=9365504 DMDE didn't find any fragment of the $MFT around that area, which is very, very unusual, and not easily explained (in the sense that right now I have no idea of something that can produce the effect of wiping so effectively all $MFT traces ). Was - by any chance - the volume encrypted? jaclaz

No, that disk is "gone for good" (and this thread is ONLY for BSY and LBA0 related issues). A disk (a working disk, even if "bricked") is either BSY (or LBA0) or it is not. There is NO such thing as "low level format" on any hard disk built in the last -say - 12 years, so I wonder WHAT you have been running. The good news are that attempting the BSY or LBA0 solution detailed here won' t do harm to a disk, it will behave (if it applies/works) as some sort of "reset". Point is that it is a complete waste of time in your case, as it won't solve the issues you described (I mean it won't make, even if the "reset" works, which I doubt would in this case, that drive in any way "more reliable" or reliable at all), and since you don't have data that you may need to retrieve, there is no use for the procedure. To recap: if the issue is caused by the original "log entry error 320+n*256", this procedure allows to "reset the disk" and later upgrade the firmware so that the disk won't be anymore affected by the original "log entry error 320+n*256" issue if the issue is caused by *something else* this procedure may act as "general reset", that in most cases will revive the disk long enough to recover data from it in any case after a successful procedure the disk NEEDS to be tested with Seagate disgnostic tools BOTH the "long" and "short" test and if any of them does not pass successfully the disk has to be RMAed (if within warranty) or used as doorholder/thrown in the dustbin/dismantled to get the magnets and platters for fun, etc, and in NO case used as storage media. You can try the procedure alright, but even if it goes through, I doubt that the Seagate diags will later provide a "pass" result. jaclaz

Well, to me the actual "sign of the generation" is/was the skateboard. Today kids get their nice high tech skateboard brand new as a gift. In my day you had to go around all the workshops in the area begging for some used (but good enough) ball bearings in order to be able to assemble with some more scrap parts, also begged from the carpenter, the drugstore, etc. a cart. (and no, it is not to be confused with soapbox carts - which however we never at the time called "gravity racer"). The result was an almost deadly wooden thingy looking somehow like this: http://www.midnightrumors.com/?p=625 which we used to throw ourselves down every possible (steep) slope. The winner was usually the one that somehow managed to get home for dinner without (visible) harm. (and no, helmets, knee pads, etc. were not available - and actually if someone would have come out with them he would have been called a sissy ) ...and we LIKED it! jaclaz

Can you post some details on how you remembered the disk was partitioned? How many partitions, which size (approximated) they were, which filesystem they used, etc.? For the offset of the first partition it sems like it was partitioned orginally under VIsta or Windows 7, the first partition seems OK: 1 P HPFS - NTFS 0 32 33 191 89 26 3072000 [system] though it is "unusually" large for being just the "system" partition" (the good MS guys call "system" the "boot" partition and "boot" the "syastem" one, in order to make things easier ) and as well "last one": 3 P hid. HPFS/NTFS 59508 132 17 60801 80 15 20768768 [HDDRECOVERY] looks fine. What was before "between them"? A single partition? DId the 1st partition get a drive letter (I presume C:\) and the other partition get another letter (like D:\), and the [HDDRECOVERY] was hidden? jaclaz

Not in the "Spammy Farm"? jaclaz

Ever wondered why exactly the world is buyng low cost electronics from China and high cost design furniture from Europe? jaclaz

Let's separate the issues. A loopback is a way of testing only the interface. It's settings (speed/parity/etc.) are not relevant, the loopback test is a sort of continuity test. The hyperteminal session settings (which are the ONLY settings that you should "tune" to the ones required by the 7200.11) will overrule the ones of the (virtual) COM port anyway. The connection is established within a hyperterrminal session and the session parameters are what "counts". Try: removing the adapter uninstall drivers re-connect the adapter and reinstall the drivers start a new session in hypererminal (do not change any settings for speed, parity, etc). connect the data in/data out wires of the adapter together and do again the loopback test. if you can test the above on another PC additionally it would be better (should the issue being *something* on the specific laptop or it's OS install/drivers/*whatever* if the loopback test is unsuccessful disconnect the adapter and check (with a multimeter or the like) if by any chance the wire(s) have not been properly soldered and/or that they are not interrupted. Only if the loopback test is successful, then try it again after having started a new session with 38400/8/N/1/N (still leave the settings of the COM port alone). It is possible that the adapter is DOA (Death On Arrival), unfortunately this can happen . This one? http://www.ebay.it/itm/FT232BM-BL-Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Firmware-Fix-tool-complete-USB-powered-/280748167812 check that you have connected correctly the connector of the wires (from the pictures it seems like it could be connected upside down/reversed) and or use a short piece of wire to create the loop between the pins of the board to exclude issues with wires or connector. jaclaz

Just for the record, not an entirely new idea , AFAIK it was once called "Sherman Antitrust Act " (1890) and more generally "antitrust" and used somewhat successfully against Mr. Rockfeller's Standard Oil in 1911 for the first time: http://www.micheloud.com/FXM/so/antitrust.htm jaclaz

get back to the issue at hand, possibly starting from scratch and with a somehow more open mind.... it worked here : after a false start : jaclaz

Yep, and additionally I have an actual pic, the interesting part being that some were yellow with black stripes: http://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/lysander.html You cannot actually look at it and not think to a bee or wasp or drone. See also the PIA (no, not a PITA ) for google drones bugs: http://amberhawk.typepad.com/amberhawk/2013/04/data-collected-by-googles-drones-for-3d-streetview-service-is-compliant-with-european-data-protection-law.html jaclaz

Yes, there are two "levels" of read/write. Try booting then check BOTH the disk and volume status, see: http://emalf-pc.blogspot.it/2011/11/clear-readonly-disk-in-windows-server.html If you could post a copy of the commands and feedback you get would be nice. Was the disk online? You may need to put it offline, and then attempt changing the read only status (or viceversa )... It is possible that BOTH the disk and volume are set as "read only" or maybe the disk (or volume) being in hibernated state prevents the command with 3 or 4? Try also if this: http://www.happysysadm.com/2010/11/disk-is-offline-because-of-policy-set.html Diskpart> san applies.... jaclaz

Well, no. Mouse settings are a very different thing, and actually a re-known "can of worms", the good MS guys even invented (unneededly/senselessly) a new unit of measure for it, the "mickey", ONLY for the fun of it, see : The settings we are talking about are in Control Panel-> Display (not in "Mouse"). jaclaz

Good , so workaround #1 worked, right? This might mean that after all the Windows 8/WinPE 4.0 BOOTMGR does check those Registry keys, there should be no differences between auto-mounting and manual mounting AFAIK, if not a timing difference, but that should not give different results anyway . Yes , this is a good occasion to explore all the possible ways, since you have that particular machine which has the hybernate feature with Fxx keys active. jaclaz