I am sure BlackST is right. He knows his stuff!
If you want to prove this for yourself you can download an evaluation version of R-studio. Install it on a windows pc then mount the broken drive and boot to windows desktop. Let the system configure itself with the broken drive mounted. This might even take 30 mins or even an hour.
Then in the settings select the drive and change read retries from 2 to 0. Then select 'browse drive files' Now can you or can you not open up any folders? If you can then try to recover any small file like the boot.ini from the root.
Any luck?

I absolutely didn't want to say BlackST doesn't know his stuff, if there is someone who deosnt know anything thats me, i apology if i seemed rude or anything, wasn't my point, i just wish there was an easy way out, but probably not.

To answer dick: once I put back its original electrical part (I tried to swap it with one of an identical working drive), the drive spins normally and is even recognized immediately by windows, it asks for a scan and fix but if you don't do that u can axs the files and folders, just it takes a bit more to browse than normal and u cant really copy or read the files but they are there (or so it seems).

to blackst: by the way are you Italian? i see location Italy. I am from Milano (e ovviamente parlo italiano).

I suggest a sticky thread about 7200.11 so end users won't ask, ask, ask... They have to send to pro. Period. And don't ask how to fix. Refer to Seagate!

The 7200.11 series of hard drives has a major issue with it going into a "BSY" state and no longer being seen by the BIOS. A 19 page thread on the Seagate forums was locked so the people with the problems moved here: Segate 7200.11 Falling Down thread. There are a few individuals there working on the serial commands to access the hard drive from a terminal session. They have been successful with clearing the "BSY" state but then the drive is recognized as LBA=0B. Seagate is still denying there is a problem with these drives although Salvation Data has already updated their HD Doctor to fix this exact problem. http://www.salvationdata.com/data-recovery-company/news0811.htm There are a couple people in the thread that have contact information for people that have ordered this system and fixed their drives with all data still intact. I have three 7200.11 1TB drives that are still working but I'm keeping a watchful eye on this thread so I'll know what to do if/when they do quit working.

Here all the gurus can fix it. Not for free. And many had the solution well before commercial tools were updated. So what?

so BlackST: are you saying you are able to fix the firmware of my drive maybe with a tool like pc3000?
i was thinking to try to clone the drive with HD Duplicator or Knoppix linux, does that make sense?
thanks

Until the firmware is fixed, general purpose applications and operating systems like Linux won't see it. Specialized software and hardware is required. Is it impossible to fix it without at least an RS-232 terminal and I am not aware of any instructions publicly available that would tell you how to do that with just that tool. SalvationData and Ace labs have developed a solution for this problem. It is less of a headache (we have our own headaches due to tools) to let a professional deal with it.

I can fix it. Period. You can't access your data until the drive is fixed so no duplicator and no cd will see your drive until fixed. Another period.

Hi guys, I have one of these drives at home, and another 8 in servers at work. None have failed yet, so is there something I can do to save them? Mine here is ST31000340AS firmware SD15, and I think all the others are as well.

Nothing to avoid it the "fail" only backup u data another problem on Seagate 1TB its FDB problems so keep on mind

Regards

I have everything backup up, and run daily backups, most of the drives are in some sort of RAID array . . .Should I just go ahead and replace them all then? Easier to do it now than after they fail. What is a good alternative drive?

Also, what are FDB problems?

WD1001FALS are based on the same tech as the 6400AAKS which is a great drive IMO.

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

Seagate makes good. All the overpriced data recovery people charging US$1000.00 for a 15 min procedure can go stuff themselves.
http://techreport.com/discussions.x/16246

Once again, the need for a private area just for hd professionals.

_________________
Buy your friends Toshiba\Hitachi and your enemies Seagate.

I can sort out 7200.11 LBA0 and BSY firmware problems for a fair price, as I believe Seagate are profiteering from this clear f/w bug. This is only my personal opinion.

i365 (Seagate) apparently want ~$1500 to fix this.

I'm in UK and will do it for a fraction of the price for hddguru members.

There is, AFAIK, no free fix, and I work on a no-fix no-fee basis.

PM if interested.

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

I have two seagate 7200.11 drives that fall in the affected range for firmware problems.
One reads some data (not much, but more than nothing), it even shows the volume name on the Mac if you wait long enough. The other won't mount, it shows up on the SATA bus though and i can read from it, but after a minute or so it stops working.
Will updating the firmware bring the drive back to life, and if so with or without the data?
Seagate is very generous on its site and offers free data recovery for affected drives, BUT this being an OEM drive (aren't they all?) they will not help me.

This does not sound like firmware issue.
At this point it might not be expensive to recover data from your drives.

Where are you located? We can refer you to someone close to you.

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www.datarecoveryne.com

I agree, it doesn't seem like the firmware issues. Of course, I've never tested how a Mac would respond to one of these drive issues.

On the topic of pricing for these firwmare issues, we had a client bring a project to us after the first company they took it to was quoting $2500 to recover the data. Not knowing what we were up against, the first time we saw one of these instances, we quoted $1000. Since then, we have been quoting $500. But, we do more than just repair the corrupt firmware for that price. We also still take the time to completely mirror and test the drive. If the client wants peace of mind, we'll also copy everything to a drive that they supply us. We could probably offer a fix-only price, but the client would have to assume the risk of losing the data, if their hard drive were to get lost or damaged during shipping.

_________________
Luke
Recovery Force Data Recovery

I am located in the Netherlands.

Wasn't everything on the net ? Or the problem is "switched from BSY or 0 LBA to dead again after McGyvering with terminal" ?