AMNF with two 500 GB, 7200.11 (ST3500320AS and ST3500620AS)

[tuipveus]

Hi,

I have two Seagate 500 drives, both having same problem:
1) drives starts to spin
2) spinning stops.
3) BIOS detects the drives with size 0
4) Drives have firmware SD1A
5) In MHDD bit AMNF is on, Address Mark Not Found.
6) DRSC, DRY and HPA bits turn on, after drive has been spinning on and then off.

Drives do NOT contain any valuable data. (at least I don't remember that there was anything valuable)

Earlier firmwares had LBA0 bug, but I guess this firmware should not be affected anymore.
One of the drives were originally working with HP firmware.

Why HPA bit (?) comes on, is drive limiting its own capacity due the error ?
Is it possible still to try to fix LBA0 bug of Seagate firmware with serial cable ? Could this be anything relating to that bug ?
If AMNF is coming because of heads/platter problems, why disk reports that its capacity is 0 ?

I don't remember how the first disk died, but the second was member of Linux raid array and it dropped off. Sadly I didn't save any logs.

[pcimage]

If the spinning stops, chances are heads are bad.

[tuipveus]

If the spinning stops, chances are heads are bad.

If AMNF is coming because of heads/platter problems, why disk reports that its capacity is 0 ?

[labtech]

Because the heads are likely failing to read the firmware content providing the drive's capacity.

[tuipveus]

Because the heads are likely failing to read the firmware content providing the drive's capacity.

Did I understood correctly ? So information about disk size sectors, clusters etc. is written to disk, not in electric circuits ?
I thought that the firmware is some chip on disk.

One more thing. When I rotate whole disk drive slowly (disconnected from computer and power) I can feel that disk is rotating and can hear some quiet sound. Does this mean that reading head is still on track and has not been driven to "home" position ? (I thought that smooth surface of the disk would get head stuck (without fast rotating and airflow) and I should not be able to hear anything)

[labtech]

Because the heads are likely failing to read the firmware content providing the drive's capacity.

Did I understood correctly ? So information about disk size sectors, clusters etc. is written to disk, not in electric circuits ?
I thought that the firmware is some chip on disk.

Part of it is. Very small amount, basically to get the drive going.

One more thing. When I rotate whole disk drive slowly (disconnected from computer and power) I can feel that disk is rotating and can hear some quiet sound. Does this mean that reading head is still on track and has not been driven to "home" position ? (I thought that smooth surface of the disk would get head stuck (without fast rotating and airflow) and I should not be able to hear anything)

Sorry, this is confusing. When powered off, on your model, the heads should be parked near the middle of the drive in the "at rest" or "parked" position. The reason you hear a sound is because they are slightly touching the surface of the disk as you manually spin it.

[tuipveus]

Thanks for clarification labtech. I believe you that heads are bad. Still, I already bought usb serial adapter for the drives with 3 euros and can't wait to get it to start playing with it and disks. Just for fun.

Would it be possible to detect defect head and disable it completely and use the rest of the drive (for unimportant data storage) ? Or do some low level format for it ?

[labtech]

Would it be possible to detect defect head and disable it completely and use the rest of the drive (for unimportant data storage) ? Or do some low level format for it ?

Very open end questions.

Do you mean in theory? It is possible.
Do you mean on your drive? It may be possible, but it requires more expertise and resources. And it is likely circumstantial. Damage on different drives is almost never identical.
In general? It may be possible, but most time not worth it as the drive will typically fail soon again.
In reality? For most parts of the world where the intention is not scamming people, it is a waste of time.

Needless to say, the more you fiddle with it, the more you will wonder and have more question

Reading/Searching the forum for more knowledge helps.

[JSmith]

I also think this is a head issue. However if you manage to fix either of them with the serial adapter, I would love to know it.

[tuipveus]

Yeah. I tried to connect those 2 disks with usb-ttl adapter, but didn't get any reply to putty.
Tried to swap PCB:s (yeah I know different models, but I have nothing to loose)
Eventually opened both of them and both of them were full of very fine black dust. Platters were in terrible shape. I used one of those disks about 1 year before it get defect.
One of the disks platter was full of dust and other disk had in addition to dust a lot of wearing near the inner side of the platter (because of the broken head).

After seeing how Seagates can explode inside, I will never buy Seagate again. ( I didn't bought these either, but got for free )

Still, not sure why my serial connection didn't work. Either my adapter is defect, or I missed some point. Btw: Do I need to get separate power 3,3V or 5V for the serial bus, or is it enough to feed hdd from the sata power connector ?