The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs

[jaclaz]

Again, thank you all who contributed, and particularly those who shared this technique in the first place. Seagate's technical service department (whom I called first) assured me that my disk's SD36 firmware was not affected by the BSY bug. They could do nothing for me, except recommend a data recovery service. Well, it appears pretty clearly to me that the BSY bug was the exact problem, and now, thanks to the folks on this board, it was sufficiently resolved to allow me access to the data.

I tend to think that the technical service at Seagate is very similar to the Marketing Department of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation :

http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Sirius_Cybernetics_Corporation

jaclaz

[DefectoAntesto]

Again, thank you all who contributed, and particularly those who shared this technique in the first place. Seagate's technical service department (whom I called first) assured me that my disk's SD36 firmware was not affected by the BSY bug. They could do nothing for me, except recommend a data recovery service. Well, it appears pretty clearly to me that the BSY bug was the exact problem, and now, thanks to the folks on this board, it was sufficiently resolved to allow me access to the data.

I tend to think that the technical service at Seagate is very similar to the Marketing Department of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation :

http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Sirius_Cybernetics_Corporation

jaclaz

Yes I see a resemblance. Although I suppose when you have put several million buggy hard drives on the market, you have to turn a blind eye in order for the company to keep the lights on. To their credit, the representative was very polite.... just completely unable to solve the problem.

[jaclaz]

Yes I see a resemblance. Although I suppose when you have put several million buggy hard drives on the market, you have to turn a blind eye in order for the company to keep the lights on. To their credit, the representative was very polite.... just completely unable to solve the problem.

Sure , my newspaper man is also very polite, but he hardly can help with bricked 7200.11's, it is not by choice that he sells newspapers at the corner of the road, instead of working at Seagate (or other "big" firm) technical service.

He needs to wake up much earlier than what the people at Seagate do, gets a lot more cold in winter and hot in summer than they do , yet he is very polite and as useless as the Seagate guys when it comes to bricked drives, BUT at least he is good at selling newspapers .

JFYI, at the time an easy, almost costless "way out" was proposed, too bad that the Seagate Top Management did not think about it :

jaclaz

[Phaenius]

Also thanks Phaenius @ post 4341 - I have basically repeat the procedure outlined in that post.

Wow ! Someone thanking me, now that's a first. You're welcome, although I did nothing.

Now I must take a snapshot and put it in a frame.

[jaclaz]

Now I must take a snapshot and put it in a frame.

Only don't get a Seagate frame (they tend to have the glass become opaque suddenly after some time ).

jaclaz

[chris1946]

Hi, I have sick 7200.11 and am trying to revive it long enough to rescue the data. Unfortunately I am stuck at the beginning. The loopback doesn't work. I have the " FT232BM/BL Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 Firmware Fix tool, complete, USB powered" from ebay and have connected as instructed.

My computer knowledge is not too good but I can follow the instructions ok. My first problem was setting up hyperterminal, so maybe there is something amiss there. I set the connection as indicated, and then checked the device manager and did the same there. The com3 was set different to the connection in the hyperterminal so I changed that.

I shorted out the RX and TX pins but get nothing on the screen when I type on it, so that means the loopback doesn't work. Could it be that my converter is defect? I am using a laptop with usb2 and winXP and when I plug the converter in I get the red and green leds light up initially.

I have read all the important posts/threads but I am stuck. Any ideas? Should the com3 have the same settings as the hyperterminal?

I'd be grateful for any help

Chris

[jaclaz]

Let's separate the issues.

A loopback is a way of testing only the interface.

It's settings (speed/parity/etc.) are not relevant, the loopback test is a sort of continuity test.

The hyperteminal session settings (which are the ONLY settings that you should "tune" to the ones required by the 7200.11) will overrule the ones of the (virtual) COM port anyway.

The connection is established within a hyperterrminal session and the session parameters are what "counts".

Try:

1. removing the adapter
   
2. uninstall drivers
   
3. re-connect the adapter and reinstall the drivers
   
4. start a new session in hypererminal (do not change any settings for speed, parity, etc).
   
5. connect the data in/data out wires of the adapter together and do again the loopback test.
   
6. if you can test the above on another PC additionally it would be better (should the issue being *something* on the specific laptop or it's OS install/drivers/*whatever*
   
7. if the loopback test is unsuccessful disconnect the adapter and check (with a multimeter or the like) if by any chance the wire(s) have not been properly soldered and/or that they are not interrupted.
   

Only if the loopback test is successful, then try it again after having started a new session with 38400/8/N/1/N (still leave the settings of the COM port alone).

It is possible that the adapter is DOA (Death On Arrival), unfortunately this can happen .

This one?

http://www.ebay.it/itm/FT232BM-BL-Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Firmware-Fix-tool-complete-USB-powered-/280748167812

check that you have connected correctly the connector of the wires (from the pictures it seems like it could be connected upside down/reversed) and or use a short piece of wire to create the loop between the pins of the board to exclude issues with wires or connector.

jaclaz

Edited May 17, 2013 by jaclaz

[chris1946]

jaclaz,

thanks for the information, I'll try that as soon as I get a chance. Yes it is that adapter and I already contacted the vendor and he replied that if it doesn't work he'll send me a new one, fair enough.

Chris

I just checked it and it looks like DOA. At least all is not yet lost

Edited May 18, 2013 by chris1946

[Calyps0]

Hey guys. I've got an ST31500341AS with CC1H firmware and I wanted to confirm here if my problem can be fixed through this solution or not. I see most of the drives here have BSY state error or are non-detectable in BIOS, but mine is somewhere in the middle. It is detected by bios and windows but with very long lags. The disk manager says the drive can't be initialized and gives Cyclic redunancy check error. I've tried low level formatting and it was going well but got stuck at 29% , then the drive disappeard and started giving loud clicking sounds , as if heads are stuck. Checking in HDD regenerator results in endless bad sectors from the beginning, then gets stuck around 7% and becomes undetectable ..also while it's working, I hear this sound like when normal drive is working and heads are reading, but in my case it's like it reads for 1 second and then there's a long pause, then it reads again for 1-2 sec, then again a long pause... However when I ran Victoria from DOS - it said drive is stuck in BSY mode.

The data on there isn't important and its already gone, so I'm not worried - all I want to know is if its possible to make it work again? Thanks.

Edited May 19, 2013 by Calyps0

[jaclaz]

Hey guys. I've got an ST31500341AS with CC1H firmware and I wanted to confirm here if my problem can be fixed through this solution or not. I see most of the drives here have BSY state error or are non-detectable in BIOS, but mine is somewhere in the middle. It is detected by bios and windows but with very long lags. The disk manager says the drive can't be initialized and gives Cyclic redunancy check error. I've tried low level formatting and it was going well but got stuck at 29% , then the drive disappeard and started giving loud clicking sounds , as if heads are stuck. Checking in HDD regenerator results in endless bad sectors from the beginning, then gets stuck around 7% and becomes undetectable ..also while it's working, I hear this sound like when normal drive is working and heads are reading, but in my case it's like it reads for 1 second and then there's a long pause, then it reads again for 1-2 sec, then again a long pause... However when I ran Victoria from DOS - it said drive is stuck in BSY mode.

The data on there isn't important and its already gone, so I'm not worried - all I want to know is if its possible to make it work again? Thanks.

No, that disk is "gone for good" (and this thread is ONLY for BSY and LBA0 related issues).

A disk (a working disk, even if "bricked") is either BSY (or LBA0) or it is not.

There is NO such thing as "low level format" on any hard disk built in the last -say - 12 years, so I wonder WHAT you have been running.

The good news are that attempting the BSY or LBA0 solution detailed here won' t do harm to a disk, it will behave (if it applies/works) as some sort of "reset".

Point is that it is a complete waste of time in your case, as it won't solve the issues you described (I mean it won't make, even if the "reset" works, which I doubt would in this case, that drive in any way "more reliable" or reliable at all), and since you don't have data that you may need to retrieve, there is no use for the procedure.

To recap:

1. if the issue is caused by the original "log entry error 320+n*256", this procedure allows to "reset the disk" and later upgrade the firmware so that the disk won't be anymore affected by the original "log entry error 320+n*256" issue
   
2. if the issue is caused by *something else* this procedure may act as "general reset", that in most cases will revive the disk long enough to recover data from it
   
3. in any case after a successful procedure the disk NEEDS to be tested with Seagate disgnostic tools BOTH the "long" and "short" test and if any of them does not pass successfully the disk has to be RMAed (if within warranty) or used as doorholder/thrown in the dustbin/dismantled to get the magnets and platters for fun, etc, and in NO case used as storage media.
   

You can try the procedure alright, but even if it goes through, I doubt that the Seagate diags will later provide a "pass" result.

jaclaz

[Calyps0]

Hey guys. I've got an ST31500341AS with CC1H firmware and I wanted to confirm here if my problem can be fixed through this solution or not. I see most of the drives here have BSY state error or are non-detectable in BIOS, but mine is somewhere in the middle. It is detected by bios and windows but with very long lags. The disk manager says the drive can't be initialized and gives Cyclic redunancy check error. I've tried low level formatting and it was going well but got stuck at 29% , then the drive disappeard and started giving loud clicking sounds , as if heads are stuck. Checking in HDD regenerator results in endless bad sectors from the beginning, then gets stuck around 7% and becomes undetectable ..also while it's working, I hear this sound like when normal drive is working and heads are reading, but in my case it's like it reads for 1 second and then there's a long pause, then it reads again for 1-2 sec, then again a long pause... However when I ran Victoria from DOS - it said drive is stuck in BSY mode.

The data on there isn't important and its already gone, so I'm not worried - all I want to know is if its possible to make it work again? Thanks.

No, that disk is "gone for good" (and this thread is ONLY for BSY and LBA0 related issues).

A disk (a working disk, even if "bricked") is either BSY (or LBA0) or it is not.

There is NO such thing as "low level format" on any hard disk built in the last -say - 12 years, so I wonder WHAT you have been running.

The good news are that attempting the BSY or LBA0 solution detailed here won' t do harm to a disk, it will behave (if it applies/works) as some sort of "reset".

Point is that it is a complete waste of time in your case, as it won't solve the issues you described (I mean it won't make, even if the "reset" works, which I doubt would in this case, that drive in any way "more reliable" or reliable at all), and since you don't have data that you may need to retrieve, there is no use for the procedure.

To recap:

1. if the issue is caused by the original "log entry error 320+n*256", this procedure allows to "reset the disk" and later upgrade the firmware so that the disk won't be anymore affected by the original "log entry error 320+n*256" issue
   
2. if the issue is caused by *something else* this procedure may act as "general reset", that in most cases will revive the disk long enough to recover data from it
   
3. in any case after a successful procedure the disk NEEDS to be tested with Seagate disgnostic tools BOTH the "long" and "short" test and if any of them does not pass successfully the disk has to be RMAed (if within warranty) or used as doorholder/thrown in the dustbin/dismantled to get the magnets and platters for fun, etc, and in NO case used as storage media.
   

You can try the procedure alright, but even if it goes through, I doubt that the Seagate diags will later provide a "pass" result.

jaclaz

Thanks for explaining...but It's not exactly "gone" yet since I still manage to sort of access it and check for bad clusters, even with delays... I've been using this tool http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool

[jaclaz]

Thanks for explaining...but It's not exactly "gone" yet since I still manage to sort of access it and check for bad clusters, even with delays... I've been using this tool http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool

Yep, that is a (incorrectly named) wiping tool, it basicaly attempts writing 00's to each and every sector.

But the disk is gone.

To explain the delays you get, it goes like that (more or less):

You (through the OS, the disk driver and the disk controller and the disk firmware) order the disk to read sector (say) 3289.

The disk tries it:

1. Reading sector 3289 .... cannot read it!
   
2. Trying again reading sector 3289 .... cannot read it!
   
3. Loop to #2 n times until, by pure chance, it manages to read it, then:
   
4. OK, sector 3289 read.
   

Additionally, each and every "loud click" you hear is the head completely failing to find a position on the disk and "going astray", a "stuck" head doesn't move (and hence the drive assembly doesn't click loud).

Usually stuck heads mean also disk not spinning (as normally a stuck head is stuck to the platter and prevents it from spinning up).

jaclaz

[Calyps0]

Thanks for explaining...but It's not exactly "gone" yet since I still manage to sort of access it and check for bad clusters, even with delays... I've been using this tool http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool

Yep, that is a (incorrectly named) wiping tool, it basicaly attempts writing 00's to each and every sector.

But the disk is gone.

To explain the delays you get, it goes like that (more or less):

You (through the OS, the disk driver and the disk controller and the disk firmware) order the disk to read sector (say) 3289.

The disk tries it:

1. Reading sector 3289 .... cannot read it!
   
2. Trying again reading sector 3289 .... cannot read it!
   
3. Loop to #2 n times until, by pure chance, it manages to read it, then:
   
4. OK, sector 3289 read.
   

Additionally, each and every "loud click" you hear is the head completely failing to find a position on the disk and "going astray", a "stuck" head doesn't move (and hence the drive assembly doesn't click loud).

Usually stuck heads mean also disk not spinning (as normally a stuck head is stuck to the platter and prevents it from spinning up).

jaclaz

Alright, but just to clarify - it does spin and I attached the sound it makes most of the time. Is that it?

The really loud clicking may happen when running formatting or disk repair tools and only after reaching a certain spot at around 30%.

And if you're correct about this, then what exactly is broken there? Is it something that can be replaced? The heads maybe?

HDD.mp3

Edited May 19, 2013 by Calyps0

[jaclaz]

Alright, but just to clarify - it does spin and I attached the sound it makes most of the time. Is that it?

Sure, that means that the head (actually head arm) is not stuck anywhere.

The really loud clicking may happen when running formatting or disk repair tools and only after reaching a certain spot at around 30%.

And if you're correct about this, then what exactly is broken there? Is it something that can be replaced? The heads maybe?

Yep, and again this means that the head cannot find what it is looking for and "goes" astray.

In your case it happens at around 30%, which on a multiplatter disk, can be a single head gone, or a side gone (actual platter surface - unlikely to happen without "carrying with it the head" as well) or the SA/firmware partially corrupted, no real way to know, and in any case NOT a DIY job, particularly on a Seagate 500 Gb or any multiplatter disk.

A 500 Gb disk (brand new) costs around 60-100 US $.

A professional repair (if possible) would likely go in the US$ 1000-2000 range.

The tools needed to repair go in the 5000-10000 US$ (without the NEEDED training, which will more than double that figure).

Hard as it may be, sometimes you need to call it a loss and go ahead.

jaclaz

[Calyps0]

Alright, but just to clarify - it does spin and I attached the sound it makes most of the time. Is that it?

Sure, that means that the head (actually head arm) is not stuck anywhere.

Wait, so while it's not stuck - is there anything that can be done to make it read at least without those long intervals?

I understand it may seem pointless to try, but I'm still curious...

Also it's not 500GB, but 1.5 Tb.