Please advise re bricked Seagate ST3250310NS

[atxgo]

I have a Seagate ES.2 250GB drive (ST3250310NS) that seems to have bricked. Drive appears to spin fine - no noises or weird clicks - but BIOS does not recognize it.

The drive has been in my PC for about 4 years, and has never shown any indications of problems. This latest problem just occurred overnight, as it was working when I went to bed, and the PC was rebooted to a BIOS lockup the next morning. I last updated the firmware 2-3 years ago. It has two partitions, one for my Windows swap file and the other, unfortunately, has ALL the user info. Hence, the drive being down keeps me from getting back into Windows. I don't use Microsoft's silly system for storing data in the User folders - everything of value is on other drives that are not experiencing problems.

Back to the problem, I do not think this is the infamous BSY error. I went through the fixes at msfn:
http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/128807- ... 0011-hdds/

I had no trouble accessing the drive through the cheap UART-TTL cable I purchased, and I received no errors at any time as I attempted the fix. BIOS still doesn't recognize it. Then on about my 4th or 5th attempt to do it, I left it alone after connecting the TTL (before CTRL-Z in hyperterminal) and I started getting the following error code every minute or so:

FlashLED - Failure Code:00000047 Failure Address:00231110

Once I get this, CTRL-Z doesn't work. However, since the first error doesn't show up for about a minute after I connect, I can easily get into the drive via Hyperterminal before it starts. Once I am in the drive, the error never shows up again.

The reason I don't think this is the BSY error is that I read the error code ended in "CC" whereas the code I listed above always ends in "47".

At this point, a big data recovery bill just doesn't make sense, since the worst case scenario is that I have to reinstall windows and all programs. However, I am considering paying for a new PCB board from a company that, for $50, will swap the drive data from my non-working PCB to insure compatibility. $50 is worth avoiding the headache of redoing all my settings, but I can't justify any more than that.

Any thoughts appreciated.

[dmarques]

Hi,

Obviously there's something more than the regular fix with your drive.
I think from now on, a pro should check it, but as you say so, if that does not worth, if I were you, I would not spend 50$ on a PCB, because most probably that will not solve you anything.

Save that for a new drive.

[digitalferret]

Best guess?
Uneducated random fix : fatal result.

This is akin to a car not starting and you go into the engine bay and swap all the leads around, only on a hard drive it's not as easy to get back to where you started.

I am considering paying for a new PCB board

Don't: Uneducated random fix: now randomly losing money. It won't rez the drive.

Code:

worst case scenario is that I have to reinstall windows and all programs

That and put it on a new drive.
The old one is likely toast now unless you are prepared to send it to a pro company.

Without even looking, some DR companies will stick £100 on the price if they think/know someone has been messing. It may not even be recoverable at all.

Kern

[atxgo]

digitalferret,
I get your point re random fixes, but I kinda felt I had nothing to lose. With most DR companies charging $$$ just to look at the drive, with no guarantees of success, they were never a consideration for my situation where losing the data was simply an inconvenience. Even if I did use a DR company, I still would have needed to buy a new drive.

Besides, one man's uneducated random fix is another man's experimental science. Think of all the great discoveries that have happened by accident: penicillin, rubber, plastic, microwave ovens, etc. I couldn't in good conscious deprive the world of the potential for a great discovery by just tossing the drive in the trash.

[jono-ats]

Share the secret when you uncover it, won't you?

[digitalferret]

atxgo, i get you, and generally speaking we've all been there.

After research the first step, as with most things, is diagnosis.

Then make a knowledgeable or best guess at remedy.

Acceptable on your own spares or repairs drives, unforgivable should it be someone elses as we see many times on here.

Good luck with your endeavours. @:)