Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 Troubles

[Annihilator]

Hello guys, my hdd died yesterday, the exact same stuff like mentioned in the first post.

Not recognized by bios or windows, takes long to boot with XP and the defected hdd as slave.

Now I am really lost, I don't know what to do. Send it to seagate, will they get my data back? The data is extremely important.

Or do I have to try something else? I am afraid of killing my hdd and i don't know what to do, please somebody point me to the right thing. Thanks

The hdd is a 500GB 7200.11 with SD15 firmware.

My computer can't detect my ST31000340AS drive. It isn't even recognized in BIOS. 2 months of using it and then it suddenly isn't recognized any more, making me lose all my work. Guess I should send it back and ask for a replacement

If the firmware is SD15 and you have some technical ability, you will be able to fix the drive after reading through this thread. If you don't feel safe in performing the fixes outlined here, then Seagate does offer free data recovery and firmware upgrade for this drive model.

Only for that one? Mine is a ST3500320AS. I don't even know how the error is called. I'm pretty desperate, is all the stuff gone now? I emailed them but is it likely that they offer free data recovery? Oh ****...

Edited April 11, 2009 by Annihilator

[australis]

Hi Annihilator. Have you read all the posts? You should! You'll find all the answers here. And it seems your hdd is stuck in BSY (busy) state. And it can be recovered if you obtain the appropriate tools. Here are the answers

Edited April 16, 2009 by australis

[Annihilator]

Hi Annihilator. Have you read all the posts? You should! You'll find all the answers here. And it seems your hdd is stuck in BSY (busy) state. And it can be recovered if you obtain the appropriate tools. Here are the answers

I'm so afraid that I could damage it and kill it and lose all my data. Is it relatively easy? I built my pc by myself, but im not a technican.. Im afraid to kill it.

I also don't understand everything, since english isnt my native language. And I currently live in europe, i dont know where to get all the stuff. I just feel lost.

And seagate support doesnt reply. I wish they would just recover my data.

Edit: And I can't see the photos in the tutorial post. Can you? That makes it even harder.

Edited April 16, 2009 by Annihilator

[australis]

Don't worry it's not very easy but it's not very hard to do also. And english is not my native At my first try I thought I lost all my data 'cause my drive didn't responded, just stuck. (forget to do an important step it was my fault) Tried it second time with the help of the guys here, (thanks to pichi) we recovered it. I'm still using it for 3 weeks and didn't firmware update. With the latest firmware some having issues with the drives recovered from bsy state. And there are also tutorials in that thread with photos. I used a nokia CA-42 cable. I used the tutorial for ca42 here But read the posts after it, it is not complete I think.

[Annihilator]

Don't worry it's not very easy but it's not very hard to do also. And english is not my native At my first try I thought I lost all my data 'cause my drive didn't responded, just stuck. (forget to do an important step it was my fault) Tried it second time with the help of the guys here, (thanks to pichi) we recovered it. I'm still using it for 3 weeks and didn't firmware update. With the latest firmware some having issues with the drives recovered from bsy state. And there are also tutorials in that thread with photos. I used a nokia CA-42 cable. I used the tutorial for ca42 here But read the posts after it, it is not complete I think.

Thanks for the reply. The guy there used this thing appearently. How is it called? I can not find it in a german shop. And do I need to remove the black thing so I get to the cables? I couldn't find a tutorial that doesn't skip parts of what to do.

And the other thing is he says

here's the pin arrangement on the drive - remember to hook up the RX and TX "backwards" or you will not be able to talk to the drive.

What does it mean? What does he mean with connecting it backwards? And the other thing:

This USB<->TTL cable has 6 wires. Only 3 are connected to the Seagate PCB. Of the remaining 3 wires, 2 are joined together and the final one is unused.

USB<->TLL Cable Connections:

- Orange (TXD) - Connected to 1st terminal pin on PCB (closest pin to SATA adapter)

- Yellow (RXD) - Connected to 2nd terminal pin on PCB (2nd closest pin to SATA adapter)

- Black (GND) - Connected to 3rd terminal pin on PCB (3rd closest pin to SATA adapter).

- Brown (CTS) and Green (RTS) are tied to each other and nothing else (for flow control). I would have thought this was unnecessary - but I did it to be sure.

- Red Wire (VCC) is not used.

Tied together? How should I do this?

Edited April 17, 2009 by Annihilator

[australis]

I used a nokia ca42 chinese replica. It has 3 wires and what I did was to find the appropriate wires with the help of a multi-meter. After that I connected them to the hdd. Ground wire is important. If you find it you have 2 options left. Just try them until hyperterminal gives you the prompt In fact I don't know much about this issue. Just did what is said on the forum So, someone who knows much better than me may help you.

[Annihilator]

Sorry I don't understand that. Ground wire? Can't I just do it like that guy did it with the appearently simple cable I posted the picture to above?

Can somebody link me to a german or at least english shop selling this cable? https://www1.elfa.se/elfa~se_sv/b2b/catalog....do?tab=catalog

If it is the right one that is. It is used in that tutorial australis mentioned.

Edited April 17, 2009 by Annihilator

[australis]

What I used was this cable . Maybe you should get help from the ones who used the exact same cable. People make use of different cables but get the same results. Just don't rush, take your time reading all the posts.

[Annihilator]

What I used was this cable . Maybe you should get help from the ones who used the exact same cable. People make use of different cables but get the same results. Just don't rush, take your time reading all the posts.

But I don't understand what to do with it? Rip it apart so you see the colored cables? And all the guides are different and they also skip a lot of things. Like nowhere it says what to do with the cable when you got it. And with the cable you linked, do you need to ground it, or need battery power or something? Or can you just connect it to the hdd and put it to the USB port, and then youre fine?

And does it matter for what models the nokia cable is? I found this one http://cgi.ebay.de/Usb-Datenkabel-Fuer-Nok...1QQcmdZViewItem

Edited April 17, 2009 by Annihilator

[australis]

Yes it looks like the same cable. Yes I ripped apart the cable and found out which color is for what (tx,rx,gnd) with the help of a multimeter. I found a driver for the cable (not the one that comes with it) and installed it. Connected it to the hdd and usb port, launched the hyperterminal on xp and see the command prompt of the hdd terminal. With usb cables you don't need battery power.

[Annihilator]

Thanks. Can you explain how to do it with a multimeter? And what power source for the hdd did you use? The one coming from the power supply?

And do you just need to rip it apart and find out what cables to use, or do you need to combine it with some other cable? I read something about a CD ROM audio cable or something. And did you solder it?

[eli2k]

Thanks. Can you explain how to do it with a multimeter? And what power source for the hdd did you use? The one coming from the power supply?

And do you just need to rip it apart and find out what cables to use, or do you need to combine it with some other cable? I read something about a CD ROM audio cable or something. And did you solder it?

If no one can help you with the cable, I have experience with this board if you can get that or something similar: http://www.schmartboard.com/index.asp?page...lated&id=84

[MrCabana]

Worked for me !!!!!!!!

After reading and re-reading this thread, I've decided to get myself a cheap DKU-5 nokia cable and do the trick mentioned here.

For those newbies or those who doesn't get much of electronic (my case), i'll describe what I did to get my Seagate ST3500320AS Barracuda 7200.11 back to work with ALL MY DATA.

Just to let people know that in my case I didn't need either a real SATA power cable (I used a molex one) nor you need extra power (USB, power supply or batteries) in order to get the DKU-5 device working.

All you gotta do is find both RX and TX wires exiting from your DKU-5 and connecting them to TX and RX, respectively, in your HD.

Just that and you'll be ready to follow the steps described in the first post of this thread.

Many thanks to all you guys who have been contributing to this great solution for dead drives from Seagate.

Just an addendum ....

In order to find RX and TX wires from the cell phone cable, I did the following:

1) Cut the wire of your cell phone data cable

2) In my case I had 6 wires inside (blue%

[Deluxe_Bob]

Hello, I've been searching around for an alternative to expensive data recovery companies, I've read so many different opinions and often people have just said "it's buggered" or gone on about firmware updates and not having the right PCB. When I came across the old thread from the Seagate forum and this rather large extension of that here, I thought there is something fishy goin on with the 7200.11 series, perhaps someone knows what's up. Now I know how these recovery companies make there money. Anyway, you guys seem like a clever bunch, I've read through this thread, and considering I didn't know what PCB stould for a month ago I'm trying to understand as best I can (I'm a musician not a technician).

About 3 months ago I treated myself to a new 500GB Maxtor external HDD. 2.5 months later plugged it in one morning...dead as a dodo, no spin up no nothing (perhaps a surge in the night, who knows?). Panic, hmm...I'll take it down to the local pc shop, see what they can do. Cracked it open, surprise! Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS (Firmware: SD81) sitting there. Various people including the shop owner suggested I buy another identical drive and replace the PCB. OK did that new drive arrived (However, Firmware:SD1A). Attached new PCB to the old drive, plugged it in the original caddy, drive spins up but with strange clicking noise like it's trying to read, continues spinning but doesn't register on windows (don't know if it does with bios. Will bios recognise a HDD plugged into a USB?).

Anyway, do these symptoms sound similar to what you guys have experienced or have I just been a pillack and bought the wrong replacement PCB? Does it sound like mine is in BSY mode? Is there anything I can do to get my data back?

Forgive me for being ignorant, I just think you guys will give me some honest advice, unlike $eagate who have ignored me or other companies who have quoted me rediculous prices.

Cheers in advance

[rimask]

Hi,

I can tell my experience with Seagate. Same HDD - 1 Tb, 7200.11 version, SD15 firmware. After usage of two weeks, it failed. It was predetermined to fail. Because Seagate put that malfunctioning firmware, maybe also some other manufacturing faults. Now HDD spins, I hear clicking noise. But HDD is not recognized in BIOS.

I contact Seagate, they are kind - provided with free UPS delivery. UPS man picked up my HDD, it was delivered for free to Canada data recovery centre. Now they look - HDD not only recognized in BIOS, but also some clicking noise. They say, no we are not recovering your data. If you want recovery, pay 2900 USD (!!!). The current their statement is:

"we have been notified by Seagate Technology that your request for free data recovery was declined as your drive had not become inaccessible due to the firmware but rather a physical failure of the read/write heads."

It seems Seagate wants to escape they responsibility for restoring data for corrupted firmware HDD. They think they will do only easy job. But there are also HDD which not only have corrupted firmware, but also have clicking sound.

I am not sure how to convince Seagate that firmware is corrupt. According Seagate Internet site HDD serial number checking, firmware update is required (SD15 will become inaccessible in the future). HDD is not recognized in BIOS. What else evidence they need that firmware is corrupt? Should I contact the top people in Seagate?

If someone else have experience with firmware & ckicking sound of Seagate HDD, please write here. Or to me: rimask at yahoo dot com