VideoRipper

Great job, Simba, that might be usefull for other members with your type of drive/firmware Although I would like to emphasize that playing with the command-line options of the firmware-updater is at the user's own risk. Flashing a drive with incorrect/incompatible firmware will kill it. Greetz, Peter.

It does on mine

The three contacts connector in the middle is for the platter-spindle (the motor). The twenty contacts connector at the top right is for the actuator and R/W heads. Some people insultate the motor (the heads can't read the firmware because the disc isn't spinning), others insulate the actuator (PCB cannot read the platters, since it's disconnected). In my opinion, it's best to temporarly cover both connectors (or at least the heads/ actuator-connector, because when only insulating the motor, it will not spin, but the heads will move... FYI: the heads would normally hover over the platters by the thin layer of air that's between them when the platters are spinning, but now they won't hover, since the platters aren't spinning and I don't like the idea of my heads crashing on the platters. Effectively this is what happens, when a normal working drive is powered up: Power applied to PCB PCB does a quick electronics self-test, puts its interface in BSY-mode 'till it's finished with starting up (step 5) and turns on splindle-motor On-board controler reads firmware from platters (note here: opposed to other devices, the firmware and certain data-tables are actually stored on the platters, not on the PCB) Firmware is initialized and executed PCB releases interfaces (turns off BSY-status) and drive is ready for use over the (S)ATA interface Because of a bug, after 320 log-entries the firmware hangs on step 4 and never turns off the BSY-status, leaving you with a bricked drive. By temporarly disconnecting the PCB from the drive, the on-board controler will never be able to load the firmware (and thus will never be able to hang) and will enter debug-mode, so you will be able to access the controler via the debug-port over TTL-RS232. Because the controler only *thinks* the motor is spinning (in reality it isn't), you first have to give it the instruction to spin down the motor. Now you can re-attach the PCB again and give the instruction to spin the motor up again (note: since the drive is in debug-mode, it will not try to load or execute the firmware on the platters). By doing N1 (in Level 1), you'll do a SMART erase (or actually "Create SMART sector"). After recreating the SMART-sector, the firmware shouldn't hang anymore when power is applied to it, so we'll power it off and on. The last step in the process is regenerating the partition (m0,2,2,,,,,22 in level T) and now the drive *should* be visible again as a drive in the BIOS. Greetz, Peter. [EDIT]Bugger... Mundy beat me to it

Do you have any pictures (if possible of both the CPU and the heatsink next to each other, so we can see the difference)? I've only seen heatsinks upto now that are larger than the CPU it belongs to, not smaller.

...like this: F3 T>m0,2,2,,,,,22 Max Wr Retries = 00, Max Rd Retries = 00, Max ECC T-Level = 14, Max Certify Rewr ite Retries = 00C8 User Partition Format Successful - Elapsed Time 0 mins 00 secs F3 T>

You can try to play with the command-line options of SF.EXE or FDL464.EXE (the actual flasher-utils) inside a firmware update package, but procede on your own risk. Greetz, Peter. FLD464_usage.zip

The MRU ("Most Recently Used" files) entries in the registry is just a list with files that... ehm... has been used recently; they aren't the actual files themselves. I'm not too familiar with the way Windows 7 organizes files, but if the files are not where are supposed to be, this can mean a couple of things: The files have been deleted; though in that case they *should* show up in an undelete utility The files are still there, but references to them (shortlinks) are messed up The files are still there, but aren't visible anymore, because of some virus that tries to hide certain folders (and/or files) in Explorer. I had one of these nasty viruses in the past and if I recall correctly, I was able to show "Hidden" folders using the command-prompt, but not in Explorer. Greetz, Peter.

Let me check... [10 seconds later] Hmmm, you're right, Ponch @morland: does the copy in C:\Windows work? Just press the WIN- and R-keys at the same time and type: C:\Windows\Notepad.exe

I'm afraid you are being possessed by some virus At least, there's something fishy here. Notepad is located in "C:\Windows\", not in "C:\Windows\System32\" Notepad isn't a service and doesn't rely on any services on the system. I suggest you do a scan with a virusscanner (if possible: a lot of virusses disable known anti-virus software) and other malicious code. Good luck, Peter.

Maybe the folder is still there, only it's reference (the shortlinks) got messed up? If you open Windows Explorer (WIN-btn + E) and navigate to "C:\Users\Documents" is it still there? Is the desktop-item selected in "Start button"->"Control Panel"-"Appearance and Personalization"-"Personalization"-"Change desktop icons"? I don't use Windows 7 myself, just found these tips using Google. Greetz, Peter.

Extremely slow is a relative perception... The things I can come up with (from highest to lowest impact): Install the chipset-drivers (North- & South-bridge, harddisk, etc.) for your motherboard and videocard; try not to use the generic XP drivers; these are not optimised. Make sure there are no virusses and/or spyware installed (but you'd already checked that). Do a HijackThis scan and see what's running on your system. Get rid of all (unnecessairy) "Start-up agents", like those for Adobe Acrobat Reader, Apple QuickTime, WinZip, etc.; these can make a (small) difference in speed.I'm sure others will come up with more (and possibly better) ideas Greetz, Peter.

Apparently I hope you're not trying to apply power to your drive while it's connected to the SATA-port to your computer and your computer is turned on? Because that will most definitively crash your system (unless your motherboard supports hot- swapping). First do the fix with only the RS232 <=> TTL convertor connected. After you've un-bricked it (after carefully following the instructions on the first page of this topic), you have to power down your computer, connect the drive over SATA, power up your PC and see if it's recognized in the BIOS. When it's recognized, see if the BIOS reports it as a 0GB drive. If it does report as a 0GB drive, do the LBA0 fix (first power off your PC, disconnect SATA and re-connect the RS232 convertor, then power on your system). If your BIOS sees it as it should, you will be able to access it again and you can backup the drive (do this first before you do anything else). Greetz, Peter.

That worries me a bit Normally, a COM-port is only opened when an application (like HyperTerminal) or a service (like MS ActiveSync or the Nokia Suite) is actively using it; if you would only install the drivers without any program (or service) using it, you *should* be able to open that port like any other ("real") COM-port, no matter where the USB-device was made... Are you sure it's using COM2, since with most desktops, these are already integrated onto the motherboard and any external attached (USB)-ports get additional numbers (COM3..COMxx). Please check the settings in the computer's BIOS whether any on-board COM-ports are enabled or not and play with these settings. Good luck, Peter.

Open the page where the player should be Display its source-code (in IE: right-click "Show source") Look in the source for code like this: <object id='Player' classid='CLSID:XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX' width='320' height='70' TYPE='application/x-oleobject' CODEBASE='http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/mplayer/en/nsmp2inf.cab#Version=6,4,5,715' standby='Loading Microsoft Windows Media Player components...' VIEWASTEXT> [...] </object> The CLSID is right next to where it says: "classid=" (in my example at the XXX'es)Greetz, Peter.

What is the CLSID used in the source of the page? Here are some known ID's: 'CLSID:05589FA1-C356-11CE-BF01-00AA0055595A' // WMP 6 'CLSID:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95' // WMP 6.4 'CLSID:6BF52A52-394A-11D3-B153-00C04F79FAA6' // WMP 7 The ID that works on most computers is the one of WMP 6.4, so that's the one I use in my PHP-scripts as the player-object. If another CLSID is used in the source of the page, you should upgrade your copy of WMP; WMP 11 *should* play all ID's. Greetz, Peter.

About a week ago I helped another person over e-mail that also tried to install a CA-42 cable (but he didn't have the phone, so the installer failed). He has been tinkering along and finally succeeded, here's what he said (in Dutch): Translated to English: I suggest you fully uninstall the Nokia drivers and suite, restart your computer (in case your COM-port is still left in use) and try to find that folder on the CD this guy is talking about, to install the drivers manually. Then try to open a session in HyperTerminal again. To be on the safe side (and to check whether you're using the correct wires, RX and TX), do a loopback test first by joining the RX and TX leads together and typing something on the keyboard while in HyperTerminal: the characters you type should be echood back on the screen. Good luck, Peter.

You should get yourself an RS-232 to TTL interface, like described in this topic and follow the directions; your data is still there and can be retrieved if you follow everything to the letter. Just see the first post of this topic and read through the other posts for tips, tricks and possible convertors you can use to unbrick your drive. The first steps you'll have to take is to obtain an RS-232 <=> TTL-convertor and a Torx (T6) screwdriver, but before you do anything: read this topic. Good luck and if you have any particular question: don't hessitate to ask. Greetz, Peter.

I tried to find a firmware update for the 7200.11 drives sold by HP when posting my last reply, but couldn't find any mention of it on the HP site. Your drive is most probably still under warranty, so you might want to swap it under RMA at HP, after testing the drive with SeaTools for DOS. If the drive is out of warranty and you're a bold person, you might want to do a normal SD1A update from Seagate, but that's entirely on your own risk. Greetz, Peter.

I would first try to diagnose the drive using SeaTools for DOS on your HP machine. If it comes up with any errors, try to create an RMA at the HP-website for a swap (since HP is the OEM supplier). I guess you *could* try to update the drive with SD1A firmware (an ST3500620AS stays an ST3500620AS, no matter who sold it), but you're on your own here , if you decide to go that path. Whatever you do: first backup the drive before you do anything else! Greetz, Peter.

You should have taken this cable: 687-7780 This one comes with a 8-pin header with 2mm spacing, so you would only have to cut it in half and reseat the pins in the right order so you wouldn't need the IC-socket. Anyway, I'm glad you were able to get it working again! I can't remember where I got this document from (I believe it was from some Russian source), but it covers most (if not all) you'll ever need to know Greetz, Peter. Attached: A zipped MS Word document (in English) Seagate_Diagnostic_Commands.zip

I don't think the first option will work, since an USB to Ethernet adapter is only a bridge, not a server (though I might be wrong...) A real printer server would be a better solution (and will definitively work); I'm using a router with built-in printer server (Asus WL700gE) in my network and it works great. They're also not that expensive (might be even as expensive as a USB to Ethernet adapter). Greetz, Peter.

Nice little module charlymex, never seen it before The only thing I can think of is wrong baud-rate, data-bits, parity and/or stop-bits Because you're using a rather unusual solution, you're practically on your own here. Make sure you've got the settings right (and the driver installed correctly): Speed: 38400 Baud Databits: 8 Parity: None Stop bits: 1 Flow control: None (but you can try "Hardware") If that doesn't work, do a loopback test first by connecting the module's RX- to TX-pin. Greetz, Peter.

If I'm not mistaken, there's an indicator-LED on your board (just where it says "POWER" on the PCB) that should light up when you apply power to it. Does it light up? If so: when you tie the RX- and TX-pins of the board to each other (creating a loopback), open HyperTerminal and type a few characters on the keyboard, are they being echood back in the terminal? Greetz, Peter.

I don't know this Russian program, but it looks like an attempt to create a similar (but free/cheaper?) product like PC-3000. If the data on your harddrives is sacred, I wouldn't use it (yet), otherwise it might be fun to play with (although its support for drives is limited and a lot is not functioning... yet) It looks like you'll also need an RS-232 <=> TTL interface, like described in "The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs" topic. Greetz, Peter.

Isn't this all getting a bit too complicated now? (Yeah it's me, the smart-arse again...) As I understand the original post, Guimenez was just looking for a simple script that could move his "My Documents"-folder. After debating whether scripting or programming is best and having had a solution with all kinds of selection-dialogs, wouldn't it be much easier to let Windows do all the "Hard work" (because the function is already built in)? The image below is from Windows XP, but I understand this feature is available from Windows 2k upwards... (Just right-click on "My Documents" and select another target) Peace, Peter.