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 Post subject: Erase locked Seagate drive
PostPosted: September 26th, 2017, 6:30 
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Joined: September 26th, 2017, 6:09
Posts: 5
Location: Europe
Hi,

(i've already asked that question on SO, but no answers so far)

some time ago stupid me thought it's a good idea to use a complicated ATA password to erase a drive. For some reason (don't remember) the wipe failed and then i had no time to follow up on it. Needless to say, i forgot the password.

I want to erase/unlock it and use it again. I don't need the data. The drive in question is a Seagate ST31500341AS (Barracuda 7200.11, 1.5TB).

I've been trying to revive it for the last couple of days without success. Here's the most important things i've tried so for:

    - Passwords:
      * Seagate
      * Seagate + 25 Spaces
      * Seagate + 25 null bytes
      * NULL (empty PW)
    - Flash a new firmware (there's an update for that drive)
    - Erase with...
      * hdparm
      * SeaTools
      * the various tools from HDDGuru
      * HDDErase

I found this guide for Samsung drives but no tool that could do that on Seagate.
This guide for WD drives didn't work either. After running the script there is no 42.bin.

I also have a second identical drive (with a slightly older FW) if that might help.

Do you need more info?
Any help is appreciated! Thanks!


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 Post subject: Re: Erase locked Seagate drive
PostPosted: September 27th, 2017, 13:39 
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Joined: September 26th, 2017, 6:09
Posts: 5
Location: Europe
Hi, thanks for the answer! Great information in those links. I might just be able to unbrick the drive 8)

Two questions though:

I found a TTL adapter (it's an FTDI chip that can be set to 5V and 3.3V), but i don't have a plug that fits the HDD. Is it ok to remove the PCB and just work with that? If so, i assume the 4th pin is Vcc? Which voltage do i need to apply? Which leads me into the next question...

Does the drive need to be powered while doing this (obviously i need power from somewhere). What about the SATA cable? Shall i plug it in?

Thanks!


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 Post subject: Re: Erase locked Seagate drive
PostPosted: September 27th, 2017, 16:08 
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Joined: September 8th, 2009, 18:21
Posts: 15461
Location: Australia
trilean wrote:
I found a TTL adapter (it's an FTDI chip that can be set to 5V and 3.3V), but i don't have a plug that fits the HDD. Is it ok to remove the PCB and just work with that? If so, i assume the 4th pin is Vcc? Which voltage do i need to apply? Which leads me into the next question...

Does the drive need to be powered while doing this (obviously i need power from somewhere). What about the SATA cable? Shall i plug it in?

Just connect Tx, Rx and ground. The 4th pin is not Vcc. It is an input pin which limits the SATA data rate to 1.5Gbps in some models. See page 22 of the following manual.

Barracuda 7200.11 SATA Product Manual:
http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/disc/manuals/desktop/Barracuda%207200.11/100507013e.pdf

The password is stored within the System Area on the platters, not on the PCB.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.


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 Post subject: Re: Erase locked Seagate drive
PostPosted: September 29th, 2017, 9:46 
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Joined: September 26th, 2017, 6:09
Posts: 5
Location: Europe
Guys i can't believe this actually worked. The ZOC script worked like a charm, thank you :)

However, the Intel board i'm using (D525WM) claims that "A problem with the hard drive has been detected. Press the Enter key to continue". The drive itself it behaving normally under Linux and Windows. The only thing i've noticed is that hdparm reports the drive as "not locked".

I suspect that it has something to do with either ZU or this script i tried.
There's a firmware update (SD1B vs CC4H on the drive), but i can't flash it. I even tried to use hdparms `--fwdownload` option. This spams dmesg with errors for a minute or so, but doesn't update the firmware.

Oh and i've did a security erase, but that also didn't help.


A note for future googlers: ZOC will tell you that there's no RTS/CTS signal. That's because those pins are not connected. Just try to run the script. If it tells you "no connection", swap RX and TX.


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 Post subject: Re: Erase locked Seagate drive
PostPosted: September 29th, 2017, 19:31 
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trilean wrote:
However, the Intel board i'm using (D525WM) claims that "A problem with the hard drive has been detected. Press the Enter key to continue". The drive itself it behaving normally under Linux and Windows. The only thing i've noticed is that hdparm reports the drive as "not locked".

I suspect that it has something to do with either ZU or this script i tried.

That script merely sends the standard ATA command to disable the password (F6h). It doesn't mess with the firmware. The script will fail, as expected, if an invalid password is supplied.

I suspect that Intel's BIOS may be flagging a SMART problem. You can check this with CrystalDiskInfo.

Quote:
There's a firmware update (SD1B vs CC4H on the drive), but i can't flash it. I even tried to use hdparms `--fwdownload` option. This spams dmesg with errors for a minute or so, but doesn't update the firmware.

That was lucky for you. You must NOT apply SDxx firmware to a CCxx drive, or vice versa. Seagate's web site warns that doing so will render the drive inoperable.

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 Post subject: Re: Erase locked Seagate drive
PostPosted: September 30th, 2017, 2:46 
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Joined: September 26th, 2017, 6:09
Posts: 5
Location: Europe
#5 and #199 don't look good. Victoria and HDDScan report the same:
Code:
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   117   099   006    Pre-fail  Always       -       126805403
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0003   099   090   000    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   020    Old_age   Always       -       328
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   022   022   036    Pre-fail  Always   FAILING_NOW 3199
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   065   060   030    Pre-fail  Always       -       3357973
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       411
10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   097    Pre-fail  Always       -       1
12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   037   020    Old_age   Always       -       281
184 End-to-End_Error        0x0032   100   100   099    Old_age   Always       -       0
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
188 Command_Timeout         0x0032   100   098   000    Old_age   Always       -       12885098500
189 High_Fly_Writes         0x003a   075   075   000    Old_age   Always       -       25
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   072   049   045    Old_age   Always       -       28 (Min/Max 19/28)
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   028   051   000    Old_age   Always       -       28 (0 14 0 0 0)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x001a   041   028   000    Old_age   Always       -       126805403
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0010   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       1
240 Head_Flying_Hours       0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       401 (31 172 0)
241 Total_LBAs_Written      0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       3514125594
242 Total_LBAs_Read         0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       1734247236


Spildit wrote:
I suspect that Intel's BIOS may be flagging a SMART problem. You can check this with CrystalDiskInfo.

That's it. Disabling SMART in the BIOS makes the message disappear.

Spildit wrote:
[...] On your drive S.M.A.R.T. is very easy to "clear" to make that error disapear but it will not "fix" the drive as the problem that caused S.M.A.R.T. to trigger that alert will still be present on the drive.

I don't really want to reset SMART, in particular not Power_On_Hours and Power_Cycle_Count. But can i reset the the reallocated sectors and then scan the drive again (eg by dd'ing /dev/zero to it)?


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 Post subject: Re: Erase locked Seagate drive
PostPosted: September 30th, 2017, 7:37 
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Joined: September 30th, 2005, 7:33
Posts: 849
Spildit wrote:
honestly forget about "repairing" this drive.


I have repaired tens of drives like this and they still work just fine. Many of them were even in worse conditions.
The only reason this drive to have so many reallocated sectors is that for some period of time its temperature was too high - 51 C. For these drives one should avoid temperatures higher than 45 C.
I would resertified the drive (internal format) and clear the SMART (optional). And put a fan close to it in the case.


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 Post subject: Re: Erase locked Seagate drive
PostPosted: September 30th, 2017, 8:03 
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Joined: September 26th, 2017, 6:09
Posts: 5
Location: Europe
Spildit wrote:
You could clear the G-List but the "defects" would be visible again and making a "scan" or ritting to those damaged sectors would place them on the G-List again, not to mention that the drive is not going to be any better from now...

BGman wrote:
I would resertified the drive (internal format) and clear the SMART (optional).

And how would i do that? I already did a security erase using hdparm. I'd like to try and clear the g-list, and then scan the entire drive to give it one last shot. Unfortunately, i currently lack the money to buy a pair of new drives :(

EDIT: I'll try this: http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=552, thanks @Spildit


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