AquaFire

Can Someone Please tell me what is the exact position of the TX , RX pins on the HDD. The photos in the original first post of this thread are removed and deleted Reading these two websites, the RX TX pins are marked oppositey : which is the correct one ? https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5DyuVvuODctc2R4bDJJT19rMDQ/edit https://sites.google.com/site/seagatefix/ Although i did try every possible way of fixing the connectors, all I get I a right hand side arrow in the hyperterminal window, which means maybe the PCB is shorted, no success :-( and no luck till now.

Hello, I am using a modified DKU-5 cable with correctly marked RX,TX and GND pins. I have used this cable earlier for my hard disk recoveries for seagate ST31000xxxAS 7200.11 (1TB). The disk is now showing the same behavior of having clicking noise immediately after power up. The heads move to the platters and park back. I guess this is the famous BSY error. I have performed recoveries of the similar sort with the same cable, but somehow this time it is not working. I have carefully followed all the steps mentioned in different guides everywhere and especially on this forum. 1. I am covering the motor head contacts (3 pins) with card stack paper. 2. I have checked the DKU-5 cable drivers on Windows XP (USB to UART). 3. The hyperterminal connection starts with the connection rate baud settings. 4. Any characters typed in the hyperterminal window do not appear , unless i connect the Rx ad Tx wires which ensures working connection and loopback test. 5. When i connect the cable to the correct pins on the harddisk, the loopback does not work, in a power down state, which means that the cables pins are not touching each other. 6. Whenever I power on the drive (using an external sata disk enclosure by Sarotech), the disk powers on and stays quite because i have isolated the motor contacts. 7. However after waiting for around 10-15 sec when I open the hyperterminal session and send the Ctrl+Z command , I always see a right hand side arrow symbol being show in the window. It is the symbol for ctrl+z (which means undo I guess). Hence the actual F3T/> prompt never comes. 8. If i power off the drive, then I cannot see the right arrow symbol. 9. Based on this behavior I feel that the maybe the PCB is shorted, since when power up , it only connects the cable Tx and Rx pins. 10. Finding an exact replacement PCB is a herculean task, plus I assume that it simply does not work by swapping the PCB., 11. I dont have and cannot afford expensive recovery services. I only have once service provider in sight, who has the Atola or PC-3000 appratus for recoveries. Is it possible to extract data from such a driver using the PC-3000. 12. Is it possible to try it out with another cable and power supply, maybe the power supplied to the PCB isnt enough, although on visual inspection it does not look fried or having any over voltage damages done to it. Am i correct in my diagnosis , any further ray of hope and guidance would be highly thanked for. Thanks.

Hi I also have a 500Gb Seagate (out of a FreeAgent Enclosure) which is behaving like a very bad child. So did you have any luck in recovering your data or making it usable with the same procedure for 7200.11 recovery. Thanks.

Can the same rescue procedure be used for 7200.10 harddisks. I have and old seagate 500GB (which comes inside the FreeAgent enclosure) which has gone bad and making mild and slight ticking sound, it is not detected sporadically. Since I have already done a a 1TB seagate recovery using this procedure I was just wondering can it be applied to other drives or not. Thanks for the response.

Followed the procedure mentioned in the first post on : Hope it helps, as it worked out for me. New firmware is located at : http://rapidshare.com/files/289258663/Brinks-3D6H-SD3B.ISO (Burn to a CD and boot with it with only affected drive connected to the internal SATA, if it applied it will update) Thanks

Hello, I successfully recovered my harddisk with the procedure mentioned on this thread. Thanks to everyone who put their night sweat and effort into it. I did it with nokia cable DKU-5 on Windows XP machine and you do not need to any 3.3 or 5 volts charge attached to it. It is self powered from the USB. Just attache Tx and Rx as mentioned in the thread and you can proceed if all goes well. As my token of appreciation I am sharing the 'Very guarded and hard to find SD3B' firmware for the seagate 7200.11 Barracuda 1TB drives which suffered this problem and have a firmware SD35 or higher. This is not available on the seagate website and only acquired after long debate and demand, it will update the applicable harddrives even if they were not verified in the seagate serial checker utility, which in my case was true. It was hard to find since I was not risking my data again with the same drive after recovery, without a reliable firmware update. Seagate customer service representative only will check your serial number against the utility on the website and if it is not shown, they will keep you telling that it is not the same firmware LBA 0 and BSY issue which according to them has only hit a limited number of drives, but the reality it there are number of drives around the globe with unmatched serial numbers with the same problem. Make a bootable CD from this ISO and attach only your affected harddisk to your PC's internal SATA port, it will run and recognize the drive, if it is not applicable to your drive then do't worry, it will not perform an update and will quit itself. http://rapidshare.com/files/289258663/Brinks-3D6H-SD3B.ISO Hope it will help the individuals looking out there for it. Thanks.

Hello Everyone, I was able to recover my harddisk with following details from the BUSY (aka BSY) error by using the USB to TTL method of issuing serial ATA commands to the PCB. Its working fine now and have backed up all the data. Model: ST31000333AS S/N : 6TE08QZ5 P/N: 9FZ136-568 Firmware: SD35 Date Code: 09204 Site Code: SU PCB (printed on right corner of PCB) : 100512588 Rev A However it still needs a firmware update which is not yet posted on the seagate website for drives with firmware SD35. Can anyone provide me with the firmware file, you can upload it to any sharing host or can directly email me on hyper.escape@gmail.com. The file I am looking for is " brinks-3d6h-sd3b.iso ". I have already done it for my other drives so I know the procedure. It would be a great help and I would be thankful Once again, Thank you everyone for this ground breaking tremendous effort to research and offer a practical remedy thousands of people like us. Regards.

Hello Everyone, I was able to recover my harddisk with following details from the BUSY (aka BSY) error by using the USB to TTL method of issuing serial ATA commands to the PCB. Its working fine now and have backed up all the data. Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 Model: ST31000333AS S/N : 6TE08QZ5 P/N: 9FZ136-568 Firmware: SD35 Date Code: 09204 Site Code: SU PCB (printed on right corner of PCB) : 100512588 Rev A However it still needs a firmware update which is not yet posted on the seagate website for drives with firmware SD35. Can anyone provide me with the firmware file, you can upload it to any sharing host or can directly email me on hyper.escape@gmail.com. The file I am looking for is " brinks-3d6h-sd3b.iso ". I have already done it for my other drives so I know the procedure. It would be a great help and I would be thankful Once again, Thank you everyone for this ground breaking tremendous effort to research and offer a practical remedy thousands of people like us. Regards.

Now, WHICH is the difficult part? You NEED to hook the drive directly to the motherboard to check how BIOS sees it (or fails to). If it sees it, but with 0 size, it's 0 LBA, if it cannot see it is EITHER: a defective cable a defective connector a defective PCB of the drive a defective controller on the motherboard OR a BSY If you checked: the cable the connectors (with a multimeter for obvious ) the PCB of the drive (no, I am joking , you cannot test this, let's assume you did and it's functional ) the motherboard controller (with an other disk) and everything was well, THEN it's a BSY error. jaclaz Thanks Jaclaz, Well forgotten everything from the so many posts. Just tell me : If it is in BSY or BUSY state, can it or does it makes clicking sounds. (Not very loud clicks like media failures but clicks like the motor spins up head try to initialize and the spin back and keep repeating the same thing) Can a USB to UART or USB to Serial cable like Nokia DKU-5 be used without the orange 3.3V power. Thanks again for being so helpful.

Well, format it does! Now, however, "format", in this context, must mean something different from what it usually does, since the all the data remains there. To quote from the post before yours: So, then, it's opportune to repeat here my advice of some posts above: The only thing that has changed since then is that now there are actually 1848, not 1838, posts before yours... Read them slowly, bookmarking those that appear to be important or most interesting. Then, after you've worked your way through the whole thread, return to them and restudy them. And don't forget to do the same to the external link pointed in various posts along the thread. Some are quite illuminating. Thanks, Yeah well I did read the major posts before mine. Again thank you for clarifying the format issue. I am not in a haste and would like to try all the options at peace. Thats why I wanted to ask some basic direct question using the collective knowledge of everyone over here. So if I just get to know the exact condition and symptoms of a BUSY aka BSY drive, so I can match my own condition and the usage of DKU-5 without the 3.3v power. If these are clarified the I can proceed with care :-) I promise. Would appreciate the help in this regard.

Being a newbie I have read and seen some ray of light and hope over here. I also have a harddisk which has the following details. Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 Model: ST31000333AS S/N : 6TE08QZ5 P/N: 9FZ136-568 Firmware: SD35 Date Code: 09204 Site Code: SU PCB (printed on right corner of PCB) : 100512588 Rev A Firstly i need to know what exactly is a BUSY or BSY error. I need to recognize that whether the behaviour it shows is a BSY error or not. It was inside the Seagate FreeAgent Enclosure. When I turn it on the disk spins up, makes some mild clicking sounds and spins down and keeps repeating the same procedure, even tried hooking it up with the PC's internal SATA connection and the behaviour is the same. Is it the actual BUSY or BSY error. The harddisk is not detected either via USB ir Internal SATA connection. The clicking sounds are mild and doesnt seems like it has any major physical media error. This is even confirmed to me by a professional whom I showed my harddisk for an opinion. If it is BSY error , then I can try following the guides mentioned in this thread, since I can see that there is a large rate of successful recoveries. I have the following queries if I try to attempt the recovieries. 1. I am able to find only the nokia cable DKU-5 which is correctly recognized as USB TO UART (in the Ports COM & LPT section of device manager) and installed with drivers in Windows XP. Is it the right cable to start working with. I have striped the USB connector end and can see the small PCB with TX, RX and GND and other wires, however i cannot see or its an unknown small (serial) IC on this PCB. Does it really matter which IC is on the USB to Serial cable to make it work correctly. 2. If I use the USB to Serial cable like DKU-5 (which in my opinion can draw power from the USB port) , do I still need to connect the 3.3V power. I guess its only needed for PCs having the serial port and using Serial to TTL adapters. In my understanding i only need to connect the SATA power to the harddisk PCB. 3. Is all the data recovered and the partition structure restored after running this method. Since in the hyper terminal the result of the last command shows the message of User Partition Format Successful - Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs. So does it means it actually formats the hard disk. Even if it is true then is it possible to recover the data once the hard disk is available by using the usual Unformat and Undelete tools like 'Recover my Files' or ontrack's 'Easy Recovery Professional' I would really appreciate if someone can read thru the whole post and can guide me clearly for my queries. Thanks in Advance. AquaFire.

Hello All, After some searching and getting in touch with professional services I am able to find out a donor drive (which the professional services asked me to bring in). It is the closest match I could get in the local market. I am posting the attributes of both the 'Patient' and the 'Donor' driver. Please tell me the possibility and compatibility of any sort of exchange (PCB, Head , Platter) for repair to be done by the professional service providers. Patient Hard Drive Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 Model: ST31000333AS S/N : 6TE08QZ5 P/N: 9FZ136-568 Firmware: SD35 Date Code: 09204 Site Code: SU PCB (printed on right corner of PCB) : 100512588 Rev A Donor Hard Drive Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 Model: ST31000333AS S/N : 9TE20DDD P/N: 9FZ136-301 Firmware: CC1H Date Code: 09511 Site Code: TK PCB (printed on right corner of PCB) : 100530756 Rev A Secondly I am trying to establish the serial connection with the drive PCB. I am unable to find nokia CA-42 but I have found Nokia DKU-5 cable and have installed it with required drivers. It is shown as a virtual com port in the Windows Device Manager COM12 USB Data Cable (USB to UART ). Just wanted to confirm that is it alright and can I work with it for the serial hyper terminal communication. Using a DKU-5 instead of CA-42. Thanks and Regards for your help in advance.