I am working with a Seagate ST3250823AS drive right now; the data is not important at all just wanted to get some practice, but I have run into an issue.

The drive originally was clicking; and would not identify. Tested pcb and everything looked good so I figured that the problem was either going to be heads (more likely) or firmware (less likely)

Located and aquired donor; performed head-swap. I have done quite a few head swaps on hitachi, samsung, and toshiba drives but Seagate I do not have much practice with so keep in mind that I was going into this with not much knowledge of seagate internals; I was aware that this model had two platters, four heads.

The head-swap seemingly went very smoothly, but upon completion I loaded the drive up to have it begin clicking again, quieter this time, but still clicking. It will identify now, but attempting to read the media surface, or image the drive produces nothing but clicking. I finally got all set up to be able to read the terminal commands and now have the readout.

Interface task reset

4096k x 16 buffer detected

TONKA - 1_Disk S.00 03-03-05 12:42



Buzz - Head Mask FFFF - Switch to full int.

Spin Ready

3.03 03-03-05 12:44

(P)(H)SATA Reset

AutoRd Err 47 at ffffffff.00.0002

AutoRd Err 47 at ffffffff.00.0002



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 47 at ffffffff.00.0002



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0002



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0002



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0002



Read Ver Failure!

Failed sys sect. write

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0002

SATA core D1 Yuma 6192 No LED Native mode

$Switch to full int.

AM Reacquired

(H)SATA Reset

SATA core D1 Yuma 6192 No LED Native mode

(S)SATA Reset

SATA core D1 Yuma 6192 No LED Native mode

$$$Switch to full int.

AM Reacquired

AutoRd Err 47 at ffffffff.00.0081

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0095

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0095



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0095



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0095



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0095



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0095



Read Ver Failure!

Failed sys sect. write

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0002

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0002



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0002



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 47 at ffffffff.00.0002



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0002



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0002



Read Ver Failure!

Failed sys sect. write

AT Er 00 Nwt Er 47 RdWr 00018.00.0000

ATA St 50 Er 01 Op 00 0,0000/0/00,00 01 00

Niwot: 4118346b ff 4118346b.0.400 0000 0000 adb5 adb4

AutoRd Err 43 at 000018.00.0000



CE Log EC=47 Rtype=25 OV=0 STStatus0

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0081

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0081



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0081



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0081



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0081



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0081



Read Ver Failure!

Failed sys sect. write

SCAN Error

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0081

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0095

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0095



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0095



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0095



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0095



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0095



Read Ver Failure!

Failed sys sect. write

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0002

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0002



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0002



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0002



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0002



Read Ver Retrys

AutoRd Err 43 at ffffffff.00.0002



Read Ver Failure!

Failed sys sect. write

AT Er 00 Nwt Er 37 RdWr 1905a.00.00c0

ATA St 50 Er 01 Op 00 0,0000/0/00,00 01 00

Niwot: 4118346b ff 4118346b.0.400 0000 0000 adb5 adb4

AutoRd Err 43 at 01905a.00.00c0

SCAN Error

$Switch to full int.

AM Reacquired



It continues like that, except sometimes it will spit out that the Niwot timed out?
I am totally new to terminal commands, and have much to learn about them (obviously)
from the looks of what i can understand it seems like the new heads must have been damaged somehow during transfer, which means I certainly need more practice.

My question is are there any other possible things that could be causing this besides damaged heads? ANd what would be the next step to check it.

If there is a scratch on a service area it could kill your heads very quickly.

In my personal experience, Seagates often don't click if the head failed.

Take a look at original heads, maybe you will find physical damage on them.

Why do hdd's click?,,,,, because they can't find or read SA. You have to figure out what causing it.

Let me know what you have found.

_________________
www.datarecoveryne.com

accept above, but one point: that if the head failed the drive will be click sometime.

_________________
data recovery service[/b]

Not fully compatible heads or Sa scratch. Or both. Unless badly removed/swapped, heads are sufficiently strong, so I vote for problems on the drive.

Back in the office; Well, the top platter looks to be ok, but obviously I cannot see below. Since this is only a two platter drive I can use platter extraction tool to pull the platters out and examine the bottom platter, but i cannot see the 2 inside surfaces well. I will let everyone know what I find later today.

Take a look at original heads, maybe you will find physical damage on them.

_________________
www.datarecoveryne.com