Hi all

I have a 4TB Seagate SSHD ST4000DX001 that failed back in July due to weather related power issues over a couple days. It is no longer seen in BIOS.

I sent it to Gillware here in Wisconsin first. Diagnosis was read/write head damaged and corrupted firmware. They had it a couple weeks and determined the drive to be "unrecoverable at this time" due to the firmware being locked by Seagate and not being able to repair or get around it.

After more looking and phone calls, I then sent it to Drivesavers. They told me a chip on the drive had been replaced and was not the correct/original chip and nothing they could do until they had the right one. Called Gillware and said WTF.....and they had no record of removing/replacing any chip. Called me back a couple hours later and said the chip was removed while attempting to get around the firmware lock but the original was replaced before being returned to me. They sent me a copy of the ROM?? backup they made which I forwarded to Drivesavers.
Fast forward another several weeks, Drivesavers called me a couple days ago, again unable to recover the drive. The locked firmware and the "wrong" chip again being mentioned.

So now I don't know what to do. I have my drive in hand. I Have been Googling and making more calls. I found a place called Secure Data Recovery that seems confidant. They are the ONLY place I have talked to so far that wanted to know the model of the drive before hand. I also found Datarecovery.com while searching the model number. They also look promising but I haven't actually called them yet.

I know the more times the drive is messed with the better the odds It WILL end up unrecoverable. Do I go for "third time's a charm"?? Are their any places that can actually fix Seagates locked firmware?

Thanks

1) To understand if ROM chip content is original, simple can be determind by S/N mention inside code.
2) Very few people/companies can solve recent SSHD drives with factory locked FW, one of them, who i know, is doomer, whois location in USA (Chikago), and couple of persons/companies in Europe.

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Angel Data Recovery

+1 for doomer, highly recommended.

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Data Recovery Pakistan

Hi ,
The guy who posted this -> https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php ... 75#p274475 is also very god in Data recovery ,But Doomer sir is pro in seagate and so is pepe boss ,they are all here in the forums ,please pm them and save your time money and effort

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Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com

EDIT:
Never mind. I just checked again and now a link for PM is showing.

Thanks.
I can't seem to figure out how to PM on here. When I go to doomers profile all I see for contact is ICQ and nothing opens on my end. Is their something else I am missing?

Have you tried Seagate's data recovery service?

Could you upload the ROM dump?

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

I did actually give them a call. I have been debating on giving them a try but with the $50 up front and 4 week minimum just for them to look at it....I have been a bit hesitant. That and I haven't really been able to find much about them other than a bunch about their home user software.

For the ROM, I think I can upload it. The email I got from Gillware does have the correct serial number that was pulled from the ROM. I know it don't really mean much tho as far as what the current chip says without pulling the current info.

non refundable (in case it's over their head) ?

AIUI, Seagate's home user data recovery software is an OEM version of R-Studio. At least that was the case several years ago.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

if your hdd platters have in good condition , If you have a no way, you should try seagate's recovery service. They can recovery even without PCB.

Not last time I spoke to them they couldn’t. Maybe things have changed.

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PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

without PCB ?

they even can't recover from a lost ROM AFAIK.

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Data Recovery Pakistan

That’s what they told me.

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PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

So, a update on this.

I want to thank all for the replies.

I ended up sending the drive to Secure Data Recovery. Diagnosis is not...."great"....but also not hopeless. Their was apparently a good amount of internal damage, their was a mention of the inside being contaminated with metallic dusting and debris and damage on the platters.

They also said straight out that a full recovery will not be possible, but they are still fairly confidant at a good amount of it, altho they can't really guess as to how much.

All I can do now is wait. I HOPEFULLY will know more in 2-5 weeks...most likely closer to the 5 tho.

So another "fun" update.

Secure Data called. Apparently the new drive that I sent for the transfer/target drive is also bad?? WTF???

I don't know what the heck is going on here. I sent Drivesavers my failed drive and a new, factory packaged and unopened drive for the target.

When I got my drives back, there was a screw missing from the failed drive and the new unopened drive was not in the factory packaging. I called to see what was up with that and they had no clue. "Policy" says it would not have been opened if it was not needed.

Just got off the phone with them letting them know what's up with the failed new drive and the dust and debris inside my failed drive......They still don't know why the new drive would have been opened and are now also saying that they apparently never actually opened the drive....except that the diagnoses I got mentioned failed heads???? How would they know that if they never opened the drive??? WTF did they do to my drive for the several weeks they had it???

****LOL update in a update****

Drivesavers just called me as I am typing this....

Anyway, the first call they said they would replace the failed new drive****** The call now was they now want me to try to warranty the drive through Amazon or Western Digital first.

Ho Le FFFFFarts...


On the "plus" side tho I guess, it at least "seems" at the moment that Secure Data was able to eather fix or get around the firmware thing and actually start a recovery on the failed drive. So there is that at least

Recovery place just called....

HOLY CARP they got it!!!

I don't have the drive in hand yet. Should be back to me sometime next week BUT...

They sent me a list of what they recovered. From what the rep said and what I can see, It looks damn near 100%. There is a list of "possible" corrupt files as well, most of which don't really look too important. But best I can tell from the REALLY long list of recovered stuff, all the important stuff seems to be there.

It was also mentioned.....and I am scratching my head a bit about it....because the target drive I sent was bad and they are just using one of there external drives, they are hardware encrypted when they are shipped and I need to call them when I get it so they can tell me how to unlock it???

I guess I understand that...sort of....for security purposes and all, but...I will have to wait and see I guess.

But anyway WOW:D:D:D Hopefully.....HOPEFULLY next week sometime, and hopefully everything works.

Note to self. Avoid Drivesavers.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

No offense but your notes to self pretty much contain every DR lab in the world.

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http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

I am sure. Now they can.
PCimage, Send me your email address.

@PakRatJR

Congratulations.