Yet another Seagate Freeagent 1 TB click of death post

[wrench]

I'm reading a lot of these post as one of mine used for backup has developed the infamous 'click' on startup.

It hasn't been dropped. I just powered it down one night and powered it back up the next day.

It has not been removed from the Seagate enclosure case. Has not been tampered with in any way. I just set it aside and left it there powered down.

I've been reading for days, watched hundreds of Youtube videos. (The fish tank video was funniest). No I don't want to attempt a repair on my own.

I've read here about the serial method of determining if the drive has got the LBA 0 problem.

Is this service available?

I can hear a spin up, clicks, then spin down.

Thanks,
wrench

[pseudolobster]

I'm not really an expert, but I'm pretty sure with the LBA0 problem the drive will spin up fine, it'll just be reported as zero bytes. A clicking noise is more of a physical problem, like head stiction or seized bearings or something.

I think the first thing you'd do for diagnostics is take the drive out of the external enclosure and plug it into a native SATA port. This will of course void your warranty. If you do have any kind of warranty (and I'd guess you do, seagates have 3-5yr warranties, and there weren't many 1tb drives 3-5yrs ago), then download seatools from seagate's website, run the diagnostic, submit the error code to their RMA website, get a new drive sent to you.

[BlackST]

if it was stiction or seized bearing it wouldn't spin. The problem is elsewhere and It's not a DIY. RMA it, send to a pro or discard drive and data.
P.s. Random attempts to poke with firmware will make the drive FUBAR.

[mr_spokk]

Hi, you should contact jono-ats at this forum (member5276.html). he's from the States aswell.
He can help you with your drive.

Regards/ Bosse

[wrench]

Followup question on my Seagate ST31000333AS 7200.11 drive.

I removed it from the stupid looking plastic Seagate external case.

I plugged it into another external case, powered it up and the head clicking problem went away and it stays spun up as normal (where it used to spin up, click a few times and spin down). It's not making any unusual noises at all.

But it's still not recognized by any computer.

So, did the chance of data recovery improve now?

[Alexii]

Possibly. whats the FW version of ur drive ?

[Russwinters]

Where in the US are you located?


It is probably best to have someone take a look at the drive.

[wrench]

Where in the US are you located?
It is probably best to have someone take a look at the drive.

I'm in Texas.

Possibly. whats the FW version of ur drive ?

The firmware is SD35.

I have a quote from a US Company to recover the data.

[wrench]

I thank everyone for the help!

I got my CA-42 cable, built the teensy tiny connector, and did the BSY process fix posted.

The drive is now back up and is now being backed up!

[poehere]

Congrats on this one but remember this is just a tempary fix on these drives and it can happen again at anytime on them. You can check out there that there are post that the LBA 0 fixed once came back again. I would suggest to take your data from this drive, RMA it if possible, and to take another drive for your backup. I would not suggest that you take a WD on this one. You are better off with Hitachi or Samsung on it and to make more than one backup copy of your important data. Know it takes time but if your data is of any value to you take more than one copy and possibly check into an on line storage for your important data to you.

[ppumkin]

Congratulations Seagate is schooling the public very well with its secret terminal commands.

[wrench]

Yes, it's backing up now. I just wish there was a faster program than Richcopy 4.0.

It's still in warranty so I'll RMA it for sure.

A Hitachi has been ordered as well as a BlueRay burner and 50 disks.

Online back is also an option but they don't allow storage of video files.

[ppumkin]

Remember to re-burn your discs every year.. or 1.5 depending on the make.. or youll be researching how to recover files from blurays in a year