jaclaz

If the drive is "labeled" HP it's an OEM drive and you should use the HP one. If the drive is labeled Seagate (no matter where it was installed to) use the Seagate one. (I suspect that there are not many differences between the two at actual code level) The main thing is that you run BOTH the Short and Long DST tests BEFORE updating the firmware, and if anything is not OK, you try to RMA the drive. Check also against point #5 Usually if you are within the terms of warranty (and shout aloud enough ) you can manage to have a replacement drive, at least from Seagate. jaclaz

This may interest you (about SIDs): http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2009/11/03/3291024.aspx jaclaz

Well, I hope youare not going to install Vista or Windows 7 on computers that don't have USB booting support, (which should roughly mean something manufactured before 2001 ). If you are just going to install to these 2K or XP/2003, you won't need to make a more complex multiboot DVD with both NT 5xish and 6xish releases (though it si not that much a problem). In any case, there is PLoP: http://www.plop.at/ http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=140412 So you could use your USB device together with a floppy or cd booting plop (if the target has at least an USB port). jaclaz

Sure it will, NOTICEABLY. The theoretical bottleneck of USB 2.0 is around 50 Mb/sec. A typical USB stick will reach anything beteween 10 and 20 Mb/sec. A typical disk in an external enclosure will be more in the 25÷30 Mb/sec range. Some (completely random) tests I made: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9347&st=14 And some more: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=11644&hl= jaclaz

Hi Carter long time, no see. Happy that both you and cats are well. It would be appreciated, since you are in "update mood", if you could cross link from your guide to the read-me-first: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=143880 so that the number of people that will read AFTER will decrease. jaclaz

Actually in the meantime even the CD/DVD technology has become partially obsolete, most people that need such a number of setups tend to "migrate" towards USB based installations or, in the case of a PC lab towards network deployment. Just in case: http://www.msfn.org/board/forum/157-install-windows-from-usb/ jaclaz

Yep. What is recommended in newer versions is to use a cardboard to cover EITHER one OR the other set of contacts. I.e. the general idea is to flip a coin, if it comes out head you cover the head contacts and attempt the procedure. If it comes out cross, you cover the motor contacts and attempt the procedure. If the procedure doesn't work, you re-do from start, i.e. you power off EVERY device involved, take all the time needed to unscrew/disassemble again the PCB and place the card on the "other" set of contacts. Unfortunately we have a very small number of people willing to re-brick their HD to see if the "other" procedure works... so we have NOT a reliable database of which of the two set of contacts has given "better" results. But we have a single positive, documented result (in the mentioned guide): You might also want to notice how it is perfectly possible to insert the cardboard under the "motor" contacts by unscrewing/loosening one single screw, though it is NOT recommended (but there is no need to completely remove the PCB, at the most you need to loosen another one or two screws), whilst to try inserting the cardboard under the "head" contacts you need to unscrew/losen at least three of them or, more likely, the complete removal of the PCB may be necessary. Try passing the above over Occam's Razor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam's_razor And see which choice is more worth trying as first attempt , then make your choice, but choose wisely... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097576/quotes Seriously, there is no actual way to know this whole topic is permeated by some kind of "magic", we miss too many proper reports and actual knowledge on the way the stoopid hard disk works to be able to suggest one or the other. The theory is clear: induce an error on the board in order to allow access form the terminal, the original guides, which said to completely remove the PCB and re-mount it whilst powered, obviously created the error by disconnecting BOTH sets of contacts. Though actually not that difficult, it is potentially very dangerous as a simple slip of the finger or a screw falling may fry the powered-on board, I would estimate that in the hands of an average user doing 15 times the cardboard trick for each set of contacts is roughly as dangerous as doing it once with the removal/re-assembling while-powered-on approach. jaclaz

In this case some advice from several hundreds years ago remains valid: The whole problem is that you will never know which one is the right one, since there is an incorrect naming convention. Check this photo in the the brad garcia's guide you posted: http://lh3.ggpht.com/_iEh-WLXnVwk/Sarl-KWIdOI/AAAAAAAAAKM/-5tCWn_nCkI/s800/Seagate%20Fix%20030.JPG in it the Rx has OUTBOUND arrows and Tx has INBOUND ones. In his guide he uses a black wire to connect Left pin, Rx in this photo: http://lh4.ggpht.com/_iEh-WLXnVwk/SaqL4ivjiyI/AAAAAAAAAFw/7BPTMNeEa0w/s800/Seagate%20Fix%20015.JPG to the pin on the converter board marked as <-Tx<- and a whitish wire to connect Right pin, Tx in the above photo, to the pin on the converter board marked as ->Rx->. Now check again the images in Gradius2 post and the images of the adapter he used: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=449 On the converter boars the pins are marked: Tx-O (i.e. probably Tx-Out) and Rx-I (i.e. probably Rx-In) Then he connects via a black wire Rx-I with the Rightmost pin (Rx in Gradius2 photo) and with a red wire Tx-O to the left pin (Tx in Gradius2 photo) Think a bit about the above. Now compare with the photo and the instructions on the (actually Recommended) guide: http://www.mapleleafmountain.com/seagatebrick.html The matter is (intentionally) left open to the experiment, because that's the only safe way to do it! And now let's go to a more recent quote : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0441773/quotes Just §@ç#ing connect the two wires at random, and if it doesn't work, invert them! You have EXACTLY a 50% probability, you can increase easily them by knowing that Murphy's Law will apply , so convince yourself that the Red cable goes to the right pin on the drive and that the Green one goes to the left pin, and just immediately before actually connecting them, invert them. Haven't you seen the logic usually used in movies where the good guy has to de-activate a bomb? The same applies here. The only one that may be able to reply to you is VideoRipper, since he built his own converter, he should know from which pin of it the signals go out (Tx) an on which pin on the hard disk he attached that wire... jaclaz

Interesting title for a thread related to netbook discussion. JFYI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egocentrism jaclaz

Don't forget to ask for a complimentary weekend in Las Vegas for two people, while you are at it. jaclaz

Wait a minute... You need a helmet AND insulating gloves to be allowed here.... BTW, El-Cheaper: http://www.multimeterwarehouse.com/DT830BMinif.htm jaclaz

I do love MS way of presenting things: They manage to make it sound like it's your fault because you "browsed the root folder of a removable disk", like it was NOT the main thing one has the removable disk for in first instance, and like Windows Explorer was NOT their own crappy program. jaclaz

Most probably that was related to an old HP recovery system, used on XP based laptops. The main brands have a special quirk for such things. (making crappy recovery partitions, providing not recovery media, providing not install media), HP is reknown for this and has already been sued (and lost) for this behaviour: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=16343 http://web.archive.org/web/20060402204440/http://computersettlement.com/ You can buy the Recovery discs from HP, but I would call their support and try explaining them that you never burned the discs before, maybe they will believe you and give you a solution for free. Of course it is not actually worth the time for it, but a new class action against this crappy behaviour wouldn't be so bad as I see it. Look at the amount of crap they write here (an alternative to the creation of the DVD's): http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01890478&cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&product=4110062 you are supposed to get a "good quality" 16 Gb USB flash stick and put it in a safe place and never use it only to hold the stupid backup they fail to provide in order to save a few cents in manufacturer's supplied DVD's: jaclaz

I don't get it. Use the Windows 2000 version: http://www.petri.co.il/download_free_reskit_tools.htm http://www.dynawell.com/download/reskit/microsoft/win2000/sc.zip jaclaz

Good. Homepage is here: http://www.vitaligraf.de/en/?Projects:Windows_Unattended_CD_Creator jaclaz

With all due respect for the guys you talked to , unless they have a far more accurate crystal ball then I have , there is no way on earth they can say it's a motor problem, it could be almost anything, including: some component on the PCB (actually in my little experience much more likely) something messed up big in the drive configuration and/or firmware head preamp ...... (fill the above blank with any part of the HD not already mentioned) What you report sounds however a bit strange, any "normal" data recovery professional, even if the cause would have been 100% clear from the "scratching" sound, would never say: (at least this is what seems like they said from your report). All of them, at least to keep an appearance of professionality , would say something to the effect of : (unless of course you somehow extorted a more explicit declaration from them by means of torture ). jaclaz

abnfire, from what you write your drive is broken . See here for the definition of this adjective: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=144232 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=144232&st=23 There is NO way you will be able to recover ANYTHING from it, expecially if you insist on throwing at it random attempts without a minimum of - if not knowledge - common sense. Sum up: your drive was dying you ASSUMED that it could be fixed with the cure for the BSY or the LBA0 problem, notwithstanding the symptoms were COMPLETELY different you applied them nonetheless and by pure chance the drive (temporarily) worked again you then decided to over-stress it by running different data recovery programs on it you additionally managed (by working with a data recovery program WITHOUT an adequate UPS) to probably zap it with a blackout/surge you continued fiddling with it after it started developing a scratching sound JFYI, should unfortunately happen again on another drive, you are advised to ask for help BEFORE even THINKING of doing ANYTHING to the dying drive. For the record the standard procedure is to IMAGE as much as possible the drive (offline) onto another surely working drive and NEVER run a data recovery program (actually never run ANYTHING at all but the imaging program) on a dying drive. From the symptoms you posted, recovery of anything (if possible at all) from that drive, is outside the reach of any hobbyist, even of very, very knowledgeable one, by chance having the needed tools. Your only hope, and unfortunately and apparently a very feeble one , is to find a good professional recovery service. Be prepared to pay something in the order of magnitude of several hundred dollars to a few thousands for the recovery of the data (if possible at all). jaclaz

Why it is so difficult to READ the read-me-first BEFORE asking the SAME questions? You do a test with Seagate software of the drive, BOTH the short DST AND the LONG DST one. If ANY of them fails , it means that you THOUGHT you are having a "perfectly functional drive", but that was a mere ASSUMPTION on your part, and you SHOULD RMA the drive. If BOTH the tests are OK, your ASSUMPTION was correct. Now, go to the read-me-first: and READ point #5 (and given links within). Let me know if the way I wrote about this in there is difficult and I'll ttry to amend it. jaclaz

deacon: http://regularbc.org/deacon.htm devcon: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272/en-us jaclaz

Well, actually the culprit (or - more accurately the one I pointed to as having created the short by wagging her tail) simply got a couple less biscuits than usual for a few days. Both the females (human and dog) never actually knew the truth.... but you know how women are, notwithstanding the dog's responsability for the accident, she "sensed" something and I was told NOT to connect anything anyway, EVER AGAIN... jaclaz

An old trick of the trade tell her it is a new USB powered aromizer... or a new age ambience enhancer At least mine used to fell for these kind of tricks, at least till the day I zapped accidentally one of her PC's ports jaclaz

I am happy for you , but maybe if you post the name of (and possibly also a link to) this little program, someone else may benefit from your findings. jaclaz

If the drives are NTFS formatted, using this may give some bettering in the performance : http://ndff.hotbox.ru/en/ jaclaz

I am missing the logic... jaclaz

You won't like it. http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=16534&st=23 jaclaz