The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs

[leon]

Hi CarterInCanada.

Your site is good, helped me a lot.

I think most people have problems because they do not exacty follow the procedure.You must realise that a computer cannot think or guess what you want from it.It's build from usual electronic components, like all other pieces of electronic equipment.So you need some experience with other electronics especially to connect the TTL adapter.

You must understand what you are doing.

I must say after all this that I will probably never buy a Seagate drive again.This is not only because of this case, but also from other experience.I had already one another seagate drive and after some time it began to make some strange noises.Smart indicated it was short of failing.I use it as backup drive now.Then I've got a Maxtor drive wich is working flowlesly until now.So with this good experience I purchased also my next Maxtor drive, but at this time Maxtor was already sold to seegate and it was in reality a Seagate drive.And it was again not good.This is already my second bad drive and it's again Seagate.Next time I will try Western Digital.

Edited May 27, 2009 by leon

[alokcomp]

Yesterday morning when i connected my Seagete FreeAgent 500GB Desk to USB of Laptop it was not getting detected ,

on removing cable Light was still on.I removed power,restarted PC,connedted to other PC all failed..

I had valuable 200Gb of data in that..Since drive was in warranty bit relaxed but then realized ,they dont

quarantee data...

Now i opened the harddrive thinking that SATA-2 -USB converter could be burned ,so i can get SATA drive

as freeagent has normal Desktop harddrive insisde that.But when i connected it my pc with SATA connector

it wasnt detected.

Now i was really scared of loosing all of my data as it had my valuable photographs

they were on flickr but it was in low resol and only fraction of them

h**p://www.flickr.com/photos/alokprasad

Prob Angel or God came and told me search for more.i usually had tried some software

but it was not detected in BIOS i was damm sure ,i have lost all data.

Now suddenly it came Gradius Artticle of 7200.11 i thought i have stucked gold..

Mine Seagate Freeagent had contains 7200.11 SD81 ,i was not sure tha it was BSY or not

but somewhere in post ppl said error in Firmware SD81.

So it was BSY error.

I have Successfull repaired thanks to Gradius and all.

I followed This .

http://www.mapleleafmountain.com/seagatebrick.html

I made a TTL TO RS-232 Converer using MAX232CPE so i used power supply from harddrive 5V(RED) instead

of 3.3V as max232cpe doesnt work at this low voltage.Since ground was same to harddrive power and

Adapter i didnt needed to connect Jumper GND and Harddrive GND (BLACK).only TX and RX from jumper was needed.

i Connected Adapter RX of TTL to TX of HD (JUMPER nearer to data/power cable) and TX adapter to RX HD

(jumper away from SATA Poer/DATA cable)This is confusing terminology RX and TX but above worked for me.

TO

34800 N 8 1 settings for hyperterminal,i first forget to put paper as i was trying to

see prompt but it didnt appeared so

Then i inserted Paper Card between Motor and PCB and blocked the contact ,i power ON,

and after few seconds i recived

LED:000000cc FAddr:0024A051

LED:000000cc FAddr:0024A051

LED:000000cc FAddr:0024A051

So far so good.

Pressing CTRL+Z I Recieved prompt.

F3 T>

Now To stop drive,

F3 T>/2

F3 2>Z

Spin Down Complete

Elapsed Time 0.147 Msecs

Now i removed the paper card slowing to make contact between Motor and PCB.

Afer that i entered,

F3 2>/1

F3 1>N1

F3 1>/T

and here i did mistake i entered

F3 T>m0,2,2,,,,,22 (0=ZERO AND five continous , in middle with 22 at end)

and i recieved no response for almost 30 mins i thought drive is dead now.

But i removed Power from SATA Drive(PCB) while jumper still connected ,

reconnected and afer few seconds CTRL+Z

showed prompt again i entered

F3 T>m0,2,2,,,,,22

And after few seconds i recived magic spell..

....User partition Format succsuful..

Here my point is,my harddrive was in warranty but there was no way

to check that it had 7200.11 SD81 Untill i opened it as Seagate site

was reporting this to be free from error.

Just dont buy Seagate Freeagent anymore and trust seagate

like their harddrive they are unrelilable.

Agains thanks to All|||

Edited May 27, 2009 by alokcomp

[leon]

I would like to know, who has invented this fix? I cannot believe that somebody can think out such a complicated procedure.There is to much what you need to know.So it must be a very smart person.

This adapter works, but there is a small error.The capacitor from pin 2 to +5V must be reversed.And it's good to insert a 100uF cap before the voltage regulator.

Edited May 27, 2009 by leon

[alokcomp]

I would like to know, who has invented this fix? I cannot believe that somebody can think out such a complicated procedure.There is to much what you need to know.So it must be a very smart person.

I think someone from Seagate leaked this to the benefit of mankind :-).

Edited May 27, 2009 by alokcomp

[leon]

I think someone from Seagate leaked this to the benefit of mankind

I think also that they try to limit the damage this way, but not to mankind.If they must replace all affected drives and recover all the data they go bankrupt.

[evandrotex@gmail.com]

YA-TA!!!

After a short period of 9 hours could get my data back!

Well guys, I have a Maxtor 500GB disk with the firmware mx15 and BSY error.

I would like to share my experience.

Since May 18, could not communicate with the hd. I used the ca-42 nokia cable (generic), power was supllied by the computer´s source.

As seen in previous posts, the main problems were a lack of energy or bad contact. In my case, was sure that the contacts were ok, cause the loopback test works.

I have changed the program (used putty instead teraterm), changed the usb port and pressed ctrl+z so many times that the computer restarted. I was almost giving up. :realmad:

I was desperated.

I dont know if its a "timing" thing to press ctrl+z or the power thing.

Pressing ctrl+z, wait, pressing ctrl+z wait, restart the program and again... pressing ctrl+z... And suddenly the F3 appears.

I almost cried.

Thus, following Gradius method, I only isolated motor terminals.

I followed the procedure of post 101, (does not show that the g-list part is optional) and did all steps.

When I did the power off - wait 10 seconds - power on, I lost communication and had to try again for another half hour, closing and opening the program and time or another powering the hd off.

When I put the last command (m0, 2,2 ,,,,, 22) I was waiting for 3 hours!

Smoke a few cigarettes, and nothing happens ... I decided, despite the warnings, and having seen other people had passed by the same issue, turn off and try again.

Wondering if I had luck and just missed the confirmation message, plug the sata data cable, disconnect the cable from the phone and turn on the computer. It was there (in the BIOS) but with 0 Bites.

Then, after 1 more hour trying to connect using the above method (close and open the terminal program) and with the pcb totally screwed, only ran the last command again, but this time for the LBA 0 (as in the Aviko´s post).

And here I am with all data intact. Files and partitions ok.

So did the backup to another HD and upgraded the firmware without problems.

Thanks Gradius, Aviko, Google, MSFN forums and all the people here that helped us!

Once more, sorry for my english, but I am very happy and want to tell everybody: Don´t give up!

[alokcomp]

I think someone from Seagate leaked this to the benefit of mankind

I think also that they try to limit the damage this way, but not to mankind.If they must replace all affected drives and recover all the data they go bankrupt.

@Leon Hahaha..Nice Thinking..That i completely Agree,Seagate avaoided themselves from going backrupt :-)..

I hope even now they will make firmware open source,as they lack good programmers .

[leon]

evandroticx I wonder that your drive is still working.However I do not recomend to proceed like this.

you can lose your data or damage the drive.

That i completely Agree,Seagate avaoided themselves from going backrupt :-)..

I hope even now they will make firmware open source,as they lack good programmers

May be you are right, but I think it was rather a glitch.Somebody was not accurate enough and made a error.Can happen.Now he must be very sad about this, but it's too late.

Edited May 28, 2009 by leon

[alokcomp]

Just to know Drive is effected or not can be checked by entering serial number in this URL..

https://apps1.seagate.com/rms_af_srl_chk/

but BEWARE ..this is fake..it always says your drive is not affected and no action required.

Seagate isproviding misleading information,is there any way i can sue seagate for that.

Pleasehelp me out.

Mine was Seagate Freeagent 500GB Drive. Dont Buy !!!!!!!!!!

This is the S**t that seagate replied when i requested them to replace my drive

Dear Al0k:

Unfortunately, if you have opened the drive itself that voids the drive warranty. We would not be able to replace the drive if the warranty is voided. Based on the limited warranty statement available online:

What Does Our Warranty Not Cover? Our warranties do not cover any problem that is caused by (a) commercial use; accident; abuse; neglect; shock; electrostatic discharge; heat or humidity beyond product specifications; improper installation; operation; maintenance or modification; or (B) any misuse contrary to the instructions in the user manual; or © loss passwords; or (d) malfunctions caused by other equipment. Our limited warranties are void if a product is returned with removed, damaged or tampered labels or any alterations (including removal of any component or external cover). Our warranties do not cover data loss – back up the contents of your drive to a separate storage medium on a regular basis. Also, consequential damages; incidental damages; and costs related to data recovery, removal and installation are not recoverable under our warranties.

If you have any additional questions, let me know or call

us at 800-732-4283 Monday through Sunday 8:00AM - 6:00PM

(CST). For your convenience we also have on-line chat

assistance.

Live Assistance: Chat:

http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/chat/supportcha

t_en.html

Regards,

Ryan L.

Global Customer Support

Seagate Technology

[leon]

But how can they know what you did with your drive?If you do this method of recovery and then update the firmware, will it be still covered by Seagate garantee or not?

But even if not it's not a big loss.I paid for my 50 Euros, so I can live with this.

But for some people the data on the drive is of more value then the drive itself.And because Seagate do not give garantee on the data, the best for them would be doing this fix.

There is simply no better alternative. I had doubt about tis fix too, but it worked.Many people have done it and it worked too.

So we can say that this fix is secure and it works.

Edited May 28, 2009 by leon

[alokcomp]

But how can they know what you did with your drive?If you do this method of recovery and then update the firmware, will it be still covered by Seagate garantee or not?

But even if not it's not a big loss.I paid for my 50 Euros, so I can live with this.

But for some people the data on the drive is of more value then the drive itself.And because Seagate do not give garantee on the data, the best for them would be doing this fix.

There is simply no better alternative. I had doubt about tis fix too, but it worked.Many people have done it and it worked too.

So we can say that this fix is secure and it works.

Actuallly mine is Seagate Freeagent Drive ,u cant access Harddrive untill u open the case,and this cant be done without

leaving visible mark on the box,its feeble but still recognizable that it has been open.so i admitted that to Seagate.

I am trying to get hold of higher official in seagate as they gave false information that this drive is not affected..

no luck yet. :-(.

Regarding cost Drive is nothing ,but data is valuable ...I was just wondering how many drive have this prb..

this mehtod to solve is not for faint hearted,,only bold and little geek mind like us here can solve...even ppl

might even not be aware that this prb exists....

[leon]

Seagate say only drives with MX15 firmware are affected.

" firmware issue has been identified that affects a small number of Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 hard drive models which may result in data becoming inaccessible after a power-off/on operation. The affected products are Barracuda 7200.11, Barracuda ES.2 SATA, and DiamondMax 22.

In the event your drive is affected and you cannot access your data after a power cycle, the data still resides on the drive and there is no data loss associated with this issue. If your drive is no longer accessible, click here to contact Seagate directly for further assistance. If the inaccessible drive is in a RAID array, there may be limitations to the recovery and reinstatement of your drive, please consult with your Seagate agent for details. "

Edited May 29, 2009 by leon

[alokcomp]

But how can they know what you did with your drive?If you do this method of recovery and then update the firmware, will it be still covered by Seagate garantee or not?

But even if not it's not a big loss.I paid for my 50 Euros, so I can live with this.

But for some people the data on the drive is of more value then the drive itself.And because Seagate do not give garantee on the data, the best for them would be doing this fix.

There is simply no better alternative. I had doubt about tis fix too, but it worked.Many people have done it and it worked too.

So we can say that this fix is secure and it works.

Actually Leon ,Mine harddrive is Seagate FreeAgent Desktop and harddisk inside it cant be accessed untill

u open external case,and it is impossible to do without leaving visible mark on the case.I actually conveyed that

to seagate ,bu also same time that misinformation that they porvided about my drive that is was not affected.

[alokcomp]

Seagate say only drives with MX15 firmware are affected.

" firmware issue has been identified that affects a small number of Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 hard drive models which may result in data becoming inaccessible after a power-off/on operation. The affected products are Barracuda 7200.11, Barracuda ES.2 SATA, and DiamondMax 22.

In the event your drive is affected and you cannot access your data after a power cycle, the data still resides on the drive and there is no data loss associated with this issue. If your drive is no longer accessible, click here to contact Seagate directly for further assistance. If the inaccessible drive is in a RAID array, there may be limitations to the recovery and reinstatement of your drive, please consult with your Seagate agent for details. "

Hehe what a joke seagateis playing mine is SD81,i say all SDxx version are effected

[leon]

O.K I found now this: Affected fimware is this AD14, SD15, SD16, SD17, SD18, SD19, SD81

And drives are this: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS, ST3500620AS, ST3500820AS, ST3640330AS, ST3640530AS, ST3750330AS, ST3750630AS, ST31000340AS. Also some Maxtor drives with this fimware.

And this are also affected: ST31500341AS, ST31000333AS, ST3640323AS, ST3640623AS, ST3320613AS, ST3320813AS, ST3160813AS

So there are many drives affected , but there is nothing about FreeAgent.

But you can see this yourself on the Seagate site.

I can only hope their new fimware will work better or nobody will trust anymore Seagate and people will not buy Seagate drives anymore.If it happens they go bunkrupt.But may be Chinese will buy this company, they were interested some time ago.

Edited May 29, 2009 by leon