Seagate 7200.12 1TB ST31000524AS

[str4nger]

Hi,

I've got a drive I really need help with

F/W is JC4A

The drive is no longer detectable by bios/os after a normal shut down of a PC. Nothing unusual happened to the PC it just stopped being detectable any more.

I do have a USB RS232 to UART interface that has 5V and 3.3V TTL that I've still keep since I fixed my 7200.11.
After connecting it to the 7200.12 im getting message from the drive but CTRL+z doesnt work. I've seen somewhere else on this forum that its because the drive uses 1.8V TTL?

ok, but back to the case
this is what is being displayed when powering on the drive with RS232 connected:

I also got a donor board and I could swap flash chip to new board but i think it wont help so would like to confirm before wasting time on de-soldering and soldering it again

can anyone confirm that the drive can or cannot be fixed using a properly working RS232 adapter and/or new donor board?
thanks

kind regards
Sebastian

[str4nger]

I've been told that this cant be fixed using just the serial interface and donor board

so my question is:

Any pros or people with adequate equipment from UK or Ireland able to fix this for money?
please PM me if interested

[pcimage]

Try Andy at databusters in Glasgow

[Nick_CT]

I second that, Andy will sort you out. www.datarecovery.co.uk

[Nick_CT]

Considering he's prepared to pay for recovery, I'd suggest he take it to a pro instead of fiddling himself.

[str4nger]

well I like DIY and as long as I can do something without risking it too much I'm happy to do it and learn something in the process maybe

I said I'm willing to pay as I've been told by one company I contacted that it cant be done that way

just have it connected and accessing via terminal again, I'll wait >=6min this time and then try ctrl+z
is that drive ok with 3.3V TTL?

[Nick_CT]

There's a reason your drive has an error like this, there is some form of hardware problem that has caused this.

You mentioned the adapter you have from the 7200.11 SD15 fix. That was a fix to a bug, where as this is a symptom of a hardware problem. Even if you managed to 'resolve' the symptom you still have an underlying problem that's most likely going to require a hardware imager, maybe even a headswap if you have a failing head in there.

The 7200.11 fix and this problem are vastly different. Personally I wouldn't recommend fiddling with firmware commands just because you can read the terminal output.

Either way, if you value the data and want to spend some money recovering it then Andy will assist you. If you want to go the DIY route then good luck.

[str4nger]

i have gained console access after very long wait and im now at F3 T> will try /7m100 as suggested

[str4nger]

typing /7m100 in F3 T> resulted in instant command execution i didnt need to wait for anything to happen and now im on F3 7>

ill do a power cycle now and check if the drive is accessible

[str4nger]

nah it didnt helped its still the same:
here is a terminal log for the operation


Rst 0x20M
RW: Disc Ctlr Initialization Completed.

(DOS) Table Read FAIL
DOS: MAGIC CONFIG NUMBER MISMATCH
No HOST FIS-ReadyStatusFlags 2002A1A5
ASCII Diag mode

F3 T>/7m100

F3 7>
Rst 0x20M
RW: Disc Ctlr Initialization Completed.

(DOS) Table Read FAIL
DOS: MAGIC CONFIG NUMBER MISMATCH
No HOST FIS-ReadyStatusFlags 2002A1A5

[str4nger]

Thank you Spildit for helping me trying the DIY approach
I'll contact Andy

[str4nger]

no luck, still not detectable in OS

you can see diagnostic terminal + dmesg on the screenshot above
i guess that means Andy is my only hope now
the data isnt really of top importance but it is important

thanks again Spildit

[str4nger]

Hi,

just wanted to update on this one
Andy did a great job of recovering the data quickly and in very good price

Thanks to pcimage and Nick_CT for recommending him
and thanks again to Spildit for his attempt to help me with that disk

kind regards
Sebastian