Seagate 320gb Freeagent Go. 2 weeks of searching later...

[beefy]

PN: 9EV134-566
FW: BS03

Well i've read every post on a variety of forums that i can find and am still none the wiser. Rather than post in the Seagate forum where I'll be told to just send it back under warranty and forget about my data, I thought I'd try the experts here. This is what happened:

I moved 100gb of data in one swoop from my PC to my Seagate Freeagent Go 320gb drive with the intention of backing it up 5 mins later to another drive.

I disconnected the drive and reconnected it and it now won't power up. It has this intermittent beeping problem (beep is a sound like the motor trying to start that lasts half a second then repeats every second). After 5 mins of this the sound ceases all together. The lights on the USB -> SATA converter board do not illuminate (sometimes they flicker very slightly). The drive was not dropped.

I've taken the case off and tried to connect the drive using usb caddies and desktop sata cables and the sata connection on the actual drive itself. Same symptoms.
I've tried 12 hours in the freezer in a ziplock bag. Still the same thing.
The lights on the USB -> SATA board illuminate when that board is removed and connected without the HD attached.

My research leads me to believe that there is a possibility that the main HD PCB has blown (perhaps it overheated during the file transfer?). If this is the case, is there anyone that may be able to sell me a compatible PCB? Or perhaps other 320gb FreeAgent Go drives have compatible PCBs and I could buy one. Is that the case?

Or is it a case of snipping off this 5v diode that i've heard about if it's short circuiting? If so, does anyone have a diagram of the PCB that i could look at so I know where to snip? I could only find diagrams for desktop drives.

Any help on this one would be really appreciated. Gutted to have it go at the moment of backing up the data. Serves me right for moving rather than copying I suppose.

I'm pretty proficient at IT and electrical repairs and posses all the equipment to get into it plus soldering iron etc etc. I also have access to a dust free environment if needs be.

Thanks very much,

Mark

edit: this is an "portable" 2.5in drive by the way

[Cleanroom]

I bet the drive has head stiction. Meaning the Heads did not go to the landing zone before the platters stopped spinning and are stuck to the platters.

I would not recommend trying to fix it, cause if this is the case it can be a pretty simple fix for a pro that may do it for cheap in your area. That is if the heads did not get damaged.

Maybe someone in your area can do a free diag for you.

[beefy]

I bet the drive has head stiction. Meaning the Heads did not go to the landing zone before the platters stopped spinning and are stuck to the platters.

I would not recommend trying to fix it, cause if this is the case it can be a pretty simple fix for a pro that may do it for cheap in your area. That is if the heads did not get damaged.

Maybe someone in your area can do a free diag for you.

thank you very much for your speedy reply.

the only thing i would say against stiction is that when i turn it on the horizontal plane when connected i can feel the gyro force of the platter spinning. it doesn't feel like it's stuck.

perhaps i'm wrong though.

thanks!

[xsoliman]

If you moved the 100GB of data from the PC (ie copy and delete)
then you should be able to undelete a lot of it on the orginal PC
(if your lucky and havent overwritten too much)

You should research that in parallel

NB Dont install any scan/recovery tools to the PC disk/volume
(as that will overwrite stuff)

If its the single disk in the PC (and a single volume) then best to connect the disk as a data drive on another PC to scan and recover it

[beefy]

If you moved the 100GB of data from the PC (ie copy and delete)
then you should be able to undelete a lot of it on the orginal PC
(if your lucky and havent overwritten too much)

You should research that in parallel

NB Dont install any scan/recovery tools to the PC disk/volume
(as that will overwrite stuff)

If its the single disk in the PC (and a single volume) then best to connect the disk as a data drive on another PC to scan and recover it

i have done this already and managed to get 80% back. however there are still a few bits that i wouldn't mind back (few very rare tracks).

it's not the end of the world. i can just be a determined bugger and would love to succeed at this challenge!

the one thing i'd like to know is where the diode is on the board? i'll upload a photo of it a little later if that helps.

cheers,

Mark

[HDD Spaz]

its not pcb!

[beefy]

its not pcb!

in that case, as i'm not massively bothered about the data i'm up for opening it up and trying to unstick the head!

i know i'm not a pro but i can cope with damage / data loss.

can anyone recommend a video or explain a good methodology with basic tools? i'll do it in a dust proof environment.

thanks again. the forum is an excellent resource.

[fzabkar]

its not pcb!

in that case, as i'm not massively bothered about the data i'm up for opening it up and trying to unstick the head!

i know i'm not a pro but i can cope with damage / data loss.

See this thread:
http://forums.seagate.com/t5/FreeAgent- ... 242#M11384