The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs

[ultimatescar]

Edit Edit..

Nevermind.. Thanx mr Jaclas... I'm forever grateful to you.... I dont know what seem to be the problem is but i fixed it by using my laptops serial port so basically there was something wrong with my serial-usb converter.. Thanx Again

UltimateScar Bows down to Jaclas.

I'm copying my old pics to the new hard drive right now.. should i format it later and use the brink's iso firmware or should i just throw it Jacles.?

Edited May 26, 2012 by ultimatescar

[jaclaz]

I'm copying my old pics to the new hard drive right now.. should i format it later and use the brink's iso firmware or should i just throw it Jacles.?

These may help you (or completely fail to ) in doing the right thing :

(basically IF the issue with your drive was the original log entry issue, your drive is likely to live with no firmware update and a reset every three to nine months time, die instantly on a failed firmware upgrade, or live happily *ever after* a successful firmware upgrade)

BTW, good to have another happy bunny in the basket :

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128727&st=10

jaclaz

[Airkey]

Please I need some help! Just one little step and I'll succeed.

I've got everything working....cable, wires, driver, hyperterminal.

But when I put down the power for a few seconds before going further to the last step, hyperterminal STOPS or breaks the connection with the harddrive!!!

And I have to start all over. How can you put the power down without breaking the connection with hyperterminal?

I don't read anything about this problem.

Power OFF/ON the drive (very important!)

Wait 10 seconds and now Power ON your drive.

Press CTRL+Z on terminal and type:

Partition regeneration:

F3 T>m0,2,2,,,,,22 (enter)

Edited June 2, 2012 by Airkey

[jaclaz]

Please I need some help! Just one little step and I'll succeed.

I've got everything working....cable, wires, driver, hyperterminal.

But when I put down the power for a few seconds before going further to the last step, hyperterminal STOPS or breaks the connection with the harddrive!!!

And I have to start all over. How can you put the power down without breaking the connection with hyperterminal?

I don't read anything about this problem.

Power OFF/ON the drive (very important!)

Wait 10 seconds and now Power ON your drive.

Press CTRL+Z on terminal and type:

Partition regeneration:

F3 T>m0,2,2,,,,,22 (enter)

I am not sure to be follwing you. (actually I am quite sure that I am not following you ).

WHO told you that Hyperterminal needs to remain connected when you power off? (it is a logical impossibility, the device is powered down, so you NEED to re-connect)

FORGET anything you have read till now.

Simply follow the suggested guide (and NOT any other one) "to the T":

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

BTW ten seconds sound like a bit too little, the cited suggested guide says 60 seconds, but it also say that you can try WITHOUT disconnecting power (BUT in this case you NEED to change level to /T)

jaclaz

[smandurlo]

@AirKey, follow this guide:

You don't need to power off the drive in any moment and it is safier. Btw it is logic that the hyperterminal is disconnected if you power off the drive.............. If u call someone and this person hang off the conversation, are u still connected/speaking with him/her?

[Airkey]

Thank you all for your help!! I followed the instructions and it worked.......it's unbricked.

And it's showing the drive (letter) in "my computer" again. But....I still can't open my files.

Maybe the disk also has a hardwareproblem..

Frustrating after all these months.

Anyway, thnx guys

Edited June 3, 2012 by Airkey

[jaclaz]

Thank you all for your help!! I followed the instructions and it worked.......it's unbricked.

Good , though the questions "WHICH instructions?" (since you were suggested TWO different ones) comes to mind.

And it's showing the drive (letter) in "my computer" again. But....I still can't open my files.

Maybe the disk also has a hardwareproblem..

Naaah, it happens quite often that a few sectors are anyway "bad" (or were part of the G-list you have possibly cleared).

Now you need to recover your data.

Please - should you need help for this - start a new thread and do not post on this one.

To have an idea of possible paths, do check these threads:

jaclaz

Edited June 3, 2012 by jaclaz

[goldrocket]

I am connected, I can set up hyper terminal, but When the terminal is open, I can't type in it. I can actually not perform any kind of input. I thought it was due to a wireless keyboard, but no luck with a USB either. I have used hyper terminal and Tera Term. What's the trick? Sorry for the NooB question, but this is the first time I've used this equipment/software.

Windows 7 x64, 6core AMD Vision, 12G ram, in case it matters.

Edited June 11, 2012 by goldrocket

[jaclaz]

I am connected, I can set up hyper terminal, but When the terminal is open, I can't type in it.

I am not sure to understand the issue.

Have you tried a loopback test (as you should have)?

Check first the Read-me-first (ALL of it, but particularly point #8):

and the FGA's (ALL of them but psrticularly #4 and #5):

jaclaz

[smandurlo]

So, I have another unlucky Seagate... 500GB SD15.

It was detected by the bios, but not in windows. It was not LBA 0 since, for example, testdisk doesn't see it at all and any other recovery software the same. It was something in between the bsy and the the lba 0.

I decided to attempt a bsy solution from avico and now it is detected by the bios and by windows. The last cmd (m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22) exited with 1 partition formatted. BUT! They are 2!

The user, in fact, formatted it in 2 dynamic partitions. I made a full dd image and inspected it with recovery softwares.

Only the first one, 100GB is visible and I can recovery everything inside. The second partition is something like blank. Nothing inside. No file system, no files, nothing. Photorec doesn't find any files. Not even 1 small file.

I tried another LBA 0 fix. The same: just one partition formatted and again I can see everything inside the first one, nothing on the second one.

Any idea? The files I need to recovery are, obviously, into the second partition...

[jaclaz]

The last cmd (m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22) exited with 1 partition formatted. BUT! They are 2!

No .

Meaning that at the "level" it is very unlikely that the disk firmware knows anything about "partitions" (as defined in the partition table in the MBR).

I suspect that the "User partition" message you saw on the screen is not related to a partition like you are used to (software partition).

To the disk firmware there are two partitions, Firmware partition and User partition, or, if you prefer, "Reserved Area" and "User accessible area".

The partitions you make via software are inside the "User accessible area" or "User partition".

I wouldn't give any relevance to the message (in the sense that it seem to me like UNrelated to the actual issue).

The user, in fact, formatted it in 2 dynamic partitions. I made a full dd image and inspected it with recovery softwares.

Only the first one, 100GB is visible and I can recovery everything inside.

Dynamic partitions are "tricky" .

There are several ways how the user may have made them :

1. simple volumes
   
2. spanned volumes
   
3. striped volumes
   
4. mirrored volumes
   
5. RAID-5 volumes
   

once set aside simple volumes (and probably the first partition you found is of such a type) and mirrored volumes, all the other types are VERY complex to recover and very few softwares can deal with them properly.

A tool known to be able to deal with those is File Scavenger (Commercial):

http://www.quetek.com/RAID.htm

The second partition is something like blank. Nothing inside. No file system, no files, nothing. Photorec doesn't find any files. Not even 1 small file.

Are actual sectors blank (00 filled)?

If yes, there is nothing you can do .

If no, there are maybe some possibilities .

jaclaz

[smandurlo]

Meaning that at the "level" it is very unlikely that the disk firmware knows anything about "partitions" (as defined in the partition table in the MBR).

I suspect that the "User partition" message you saw on the screen is not related to a partition like you are used to (software partition).

To the disk firmware there are two partitions, Firmware partition and User partition, or, if you prefer, "Reserved Area" and "User accessible area".

The partitions you make via software are inside the "User accessible area" or "User partition".

I wouldn't give any relevance to the message (in the sense that it seem to me like UNrelated to the actual issue).

I can agree with u, but I saw many of these HDD giving me 2 or even 3 formatted partitions after the cmd m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 and they were according with the logical partitions they were divided. That is why I assumed they should be related.

Are actual sectors blank (00 filled)?

If yes, there is nothing you can do .

If no, there are maybe some possibilities .

jaclaz

How can I inspect the single sector? I didn't check them, just realized there is nothing to recover.

Anyway, I checked it with Seatools in windows (I will on DOS too in few hours) and it gives me an error while checking the internal diameter...

Edited June 15, 2012 by smandurlo

[jaclaz]

How can I inspect the single sector? I didn't check them, just realized there is nothing to recover.

With *any* hex/disk editor.

The one I normally use and suggest is Tiny Hexer:

http://reboot.pro/8734/

Another very good tool (though not strictly a hex/disk editor) is dmde (which is IMHO an exceptionally good "advanced" recovery software):

http://softdm.com/

It does have "sector level" access:

http://softdm.com/manual/diskeditor.html

jaclaz

[smandurlo]

Another very good tool (though not strictly a hex/disk editor) is dmde (which is IMHO an exceptionally good "advanced" recovery software):

http://softdm.com/

It does have "sector level" access:

http://softdm.com/manual/diskeditor.html

Ok, is it the correct view? https://dl.dropbox.com/u/76462486/boh.jpg

If yes, all the sectors from this one (it should be the first of the problematic partition) are not blank, there is something written. Correct?

And if they are not blank. why nothing inside?

[jaclaz]

Ok, is it the correct view? https://dl.dropbox.com/u/76462486/boh.jpg

Yep, that is a view of LBA sector 202213012.

And if they are not blank. why nothing inside?

This is going to be a loong thread (and it does not belong here, this is becoming "generic data recovery" and NOT 7200.11 specific), please start a new thread for it.

Basically *any* software tries to interpret "RAW" data (which is stored in the HD sectors).

If even a teeny-tiny byte is "wrong" some software may be unable to interpret the data (just as an example removing/altering the 55AA Magic Bytes makes from the MBR *any* Windows built-in tool to fail interpreting a whole disk).

Recovery software tries to detect the sectors or bytes missing/altered/whatever and tries to correct them and/or hints you about where to manually correct them.

Most recovery software is aimed to "basic disks" and not to "dynamic disks" (thus they can find "nothing inside").

You need a dedicated tool AND a more than basic knowledge of the layout.

From the screenshot it seems like DMDE finds that partition allright, but you need to study and learn BOTH about how a Dynamic disk is made AND about the specific tool usage, we are well beyond the "click-here-and-I-will-automagically-recover-all-files-approach" a number of "end user" recovery tools tend to adopt.

jaclaz