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advice for a bricked hard drive


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Hard Drive info:

 

st32000542as

stn158-301

cc34

100535537 rev a

 

So a few days ago it was working fine.  Then for no apparent reason it just dopped off my system, and rebooting did nothing.

Bios does not see the hard drive.

I do not get any information at all from the terminal.

commands to the terminal do nothing.

I have a 3.3v usb to ttl cable.  Loopback works fine. I've checked and rechecked that I had the rx and tx and ground connected properly.

The hard drive spins up and the heads sound/feel like they are moving normaly.

I've tried everything that has been linked to or listed that I've found on this site, and I think I'm down to my last two options on getting a working drive to remove the data.

 

1. send the drive to someone like donordrives.com and let them take a shot at getting a working board or,

 

2. Buy a replacement pcb and swap the firmware chip myself?

 

I have to tools to replace the chip with little problem, but considering what I've said above would it be better to send it out and let them try and aclimate it, or should I just give up on the drive?

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That is a "green" LP drive?

Those usually need the read channel to be shorted, but you should have anyway a LED: kind of error.

 

Are you sure-sure that your adapter is TTL 3.3V? (the loopback only can tell if the adapter works, but not the TTL level it uses).

 

Why don't you try on another Seagate drive, just to check it works properly?

 

jaclaz

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Yeah its a green LP drive.

 

Anyway the cable I am using is this one:

 

http://www.adafruit.com/product/954

 

The Rx and TX on that thing is supposed to be 3.3v.  Though it is always possible I got a bad chip/cable.  I don't have a multimeter to check it unfortunately.

 

Anyway after finding a spare seagate drive, I still could not get anything from the terminals of the other drive which was a7200.11 so its either the cable or I'm doing something wrong, but at this point I have no idea which it is.

Edited by ranmas
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The Rx and TX on that thing is supposed to be 3.3v.  Though it is always possible I got a bad chip/cable.  I don't have a multimeter to check it unfortunately.

Which is actually a good thing :w00t:, as you won't be able to measure TTL levels with a multimeter (you would need an oscilloscope or similar).

 

Anyway after finding a spare seagate drive, I still could not get anything from the terminals of the other drive which was a7200.11 so its either the cable or I'm doing something wrong, but at this point I have no idea which it is.

The 7200.11 should communicate normally.

I've checked and rechecked that I had the rx and tx and ground connected properly.

If you have already tried exchanging the Tx and Rx wires, then likely the adapter is a dod :( or however is not properly working, as from the link you provided it does seem like the "right" one :yes:.

jaclaz

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Alright, I've gotten a new device which is now working.  The message I am getting from the hard drive is Rst 0x20M.  The message only shows up once and ctrl-z doesn't bring up the f3 t>.

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Alright, I've gotten a new device which is now working.

Good. :)

The message I am getting from the hard drive is Rst 0x20M.  The message only shows up once and ctrl-z doesn't bring up the f3 t>.

The LP or "green" drives are somewhat between a 7200.11 and a 7200.11 ES (or maybe even halfway with 7200.12), we have very little info about them, here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/150475-st2000dl003-seagate-barracuda-lp-green-2000gb-suddenly-ceases/

Are you trying with:

board connected

board fully disconnected

head contacts insulated

motor contacts insulated

?

jaclaz

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I've tried each of those combinations, and the only way I get anything from the terminals is if the board is connected with the drive.  Disconnect any one thing and it no longer communicates at all, and the same goes for fully disconnecting the board.  Shorting the 'read lines' also does nothing.

 

I'm about ready to give up on the drive.  While it would be nice to have the data, its nothing that I can't download/reinstall/re-encode back onto my system.  I just really didn't want to have to take the time to do it.

 

 

I've already had it with seagate in general.  This was the last drive I purchased from them and its likely to be the last drive I will ever purchase from them.  The lack of quality in the drives they have been shipping past the 1tb drive size has been abysmal.  I've had 3 1tb drives and 1 2 tb drive now from seagate that have failed within a year.  While I have a 500gb drive that I have not had any issue with, and then there is a 200gb drive that I've had for a long time and once again have had no issue with it.

 

It would be nice if seagate was a little more 'user friendly' in these cases.

 

 

Thank you for your help with this. 

Edited by ranmas
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