PCB Seagate ST3500320AS

[volley001]

If it's really FW issues, I can say goodbye to the data then,

You can always call to Seagate Recover Data Service and pay 1500 $ (1200 euro).
I'm waiting for a cheaper solution. (My photos and other data of 4 months are valuable but not so expensive).

[jere39]

Hello,

I have the same problem since yesterday.

I bought the same HD to get a new PCB.

I've no Torx screwdriver small enough, as soon as I buy it, I'll tell you the result of replacing the PCB.

Regards

[gnakh]

Hey,

it looks like that drive model is BAAAD, and I have 3 of them...
Well, have you tried using system rescue CD? Mine is not recognized by MHDD but I can mount it with System Rescue CD. You can access the whole drive contents but, depending on the files (or parts of them), the access rate drops to 43 kB/s. So, I'm painfully copying all the contents (500 Gb at 43kB/s).
I tried swapping the PCB also without success. The drive, with the new PCB, made some strange noises. Then I realized one was made in China and the other in Thailand... does any body know the difference?

Good luck!

[gnakh]

Well, I forgot. It's recognized by MHDD if I change the BIOS settings from AHCI/RAID to IDE

Regards

[jere39]

Hi,

Gnakh, what is system rescue CD please ?

So, I replaced the PCB, and the differences are :

- Stranges noises
- Recognized by BIOS but Master Disk Failure (BIOS says capacity = 0Gb)
- I have no BUSY any more in MHDD, but MHDD cannot do anything as it says the HD is not LBA compatible.

Please not that my new HD still works with its own PCB !

Regards

[gnakh]

My drive showed similar behavior...

Google systems rescue cd. It's a bootable linux with some tools.

Mount the drive and see if you're lucky to see the contents.

[gnakh]

Let's see, if you're not familiar with Linux...

- Download the CD
- Burn it (or make it USB-bootable)
- Connect just that drive to the system (that way you'll know which one it is )
- Start the system and make sure you're using the CD to boot
- Press Return at the System Rescue CD boot screen
- Choose your keyboard layout
- Once linux has booted do the following:
* Locate the hard drive:
- ls /dev/sd* -> it should show something like sda, sda1, sda3, being sda the drive itself and sda1 the first partition in the first drive.
* Mount the partition
- mkdir /mnt/mydrive
- mount -t auto /dev/sda1 /mnt/mydrive
* Check if you're lucky
- cd /mnt/mydrive
- ls
* If you see your stuff there, repeat the whole process connecting a second hard drive, which you'll have to mount with ntfs-3g (if it's formatted using NTFS). If your drive is suffering the same issue as mine, be patient since it's taking DAYS and it'll take WEEKS to complete the copy of the whole drive.
- mkdir /mnt/newdrive
- ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /mnt/newdrive
You can use midnight commander (type mc) to copy stuff... again, be patient!

Good luck

[jere39]

Ok, thanks a lot for your indications !

I tried it, but during Linux load, I saw something like "SATA1 is slow to respond....", and I obtained nothing in /dev/

Do you mean you've done that with the new PCB (I tested with the old one) ?

Regards

[gnakh]

Nah, I did everything with the original components.
Maybe your drive and mine have different problems.
What are your BIOS settings? IDE/AHCI/RAID?

[jere39]

Well, it's IDE, I've never tried AHCI nor RAID.

Did you change anything else in SATA parameters, i.e. disabling multi-sector transfer, or disabling 32 bit transfer ? PIO MODE ? For myself I let all on AUTO.

My last full backup is one month old, so I've only a few Mb to recovery, even it's very slow I can wait a few days...

[gnakh]

No, no other change.

[Jelobe]

Does where I can buy one for st3500320as PCBs?

[jere39]

Ok gnakh, thanks again !

I tried many settings with the rescue CD, RAID, AHCI....nothing's working, I'm gonna send it to RMA...

I think I'll install a RAID 1, because of the reliability of this HD (4 months ==> dead).

Bye bye !

[chuck_stones]

Hi all,

I'm experiencing the same issue with my Seagate ST3500320AS. It was working fine for 3 months, then suddenly one day I powered on my computer after shutting it down the night before and the BIOS failed to recognise the drive. I've tried it in several systems, swapped out all power and data cables, and listened to the drive. It spins up perfectly with no unusual noises; no clicking, no tapping, strange whirring etc.

Prior to the drive dying, I'd had no issues, no BSODs in Windows, no power outages or sudden stops. I'd narrowed it down to one of 2 things; firmware, or the PCB is dead.

I'm pretty annoyed that a HDD which is only 3months old can just frazzle itself, but that aside, I'm more annoyed about the potential loss of data (I have some 300GB of photo's on the drive). I don't like the idea of paying some chump at Seagate or at PC World to attempt to recover the data for me, because I'm sure I can be just as successful as them.

What I've considered is buying an identical drive, swapping over the PCB's and reconnecting the duff drive to see if I'm then able to read the data off it and recover it all. If I were to do this, what type/size screwdriver do I need to remove the screws for the PCBs?

Other than that, what are the alternatives? Am I able to replace the firmware?

Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

/chuck

[HDD Spaz]

Other than that, what are the alternatives? Am I able to replace the firmware?

Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

/chuck

Your only alternative is to seek a pro to recover the data and be prepared to pay.

[pcimage]

If it spins up "perfectly", then the PCB isn't dead.

HDD Spaz is correct, you need Pro help.

Tell us where you're based and maybe one of us can help you?

Sean

[shahij]

Hi all,

I'm experiencing the same issue with my Seagate ST3500320AS. It was working fine for 3 months, then suddenly one day I powered on my computer after shutting it down the night before and the BIOS failed to recognise the drive. I've tried it in several systems, swapped out all power and data cables, and listened to the drive. It spins up perfectly with no unusual noises; no clicking, no tapping, strange whirring etc.

Prior to the drive dying, I'd had no issues, no BSODs in Windows, no power outages or sudden stops. I'd narrowed it down to one of 2 things; firmware, or the PCB is dead.

I'm pretty annoyed that a HDD which is only 3months old can just frazzle itself, but that aside, I'm more annoyed about the potential loss of data (I have some 300GB of photo's on the drive). I don't like the idea of paying some chump at Seagate or at PC World to attempt to recover the data for me, because I'm sure I can be just as successful as them.

What I've considered is buying an identical drive, swapping over the PCB's and reconnecting the duff drive to see if I'm then able to read the data off it and recover it all. If I were to do this, what type/size screwdriver do I need to remove the screws for the PCBs?

Other than that, what are the alternatives? Am I able to replace the firmware?

Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

/chuck

You can do nothing if the problem on SA. Professionals r also tired also with the drive.
7200.11 drive.........

[BlackST]

if you're so sure you can be successful when you don't know even what kind and size of screwdriver you should use, why ask ? Seems that all we have to learn something. Good luck.

[harddrivespecialist]

Other than that, what are the alternatives? Am I able to replace the firmware?

Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

/chuck

Hi Chuck!

T8 should to the work of replacing PCB.

Let us know how you made out, if not successful we will be able to get your data back and save you hundreds of dollars, if not thousand/s

Just remeber, whatever you do, do not open a lid of the drive. Your data could become unrecoverable.

[jere39]

Hi Chuck,

I had the same problem with the same drive, which was 4 months old.

I bought the same drive, replaced the old with the new PCB, but no change.

I read statistics of google's hard drives lifetime, they say that there are more chances that a 4-5 months old drive die than a 1-2-3 years old.

For myself, I have a RAID 1 with two 7200.11, I think it's the only way to keep our datas with this drive...

Good luck !