250GB Seagate Momentus Terminal Locked

[gtd4242]

This drive gives the following output in terminal and then freezes up.

Rst 08M

Buzz HM SFI
!
(P)S(H)SSFI
!


The drive itself functions normally, it calibrates, and is even recognized by the OS, but no sectors can be read. I'm thinking the translator is corrupt, but I can't seem to get into terminal once the initial output is displayed. Any ideas? Feel free to PM if you prefer. Thanks for your time.

[DR-Kiev]

Does the size shows well?

[gtd4242]

Yes. When hooked up to WinHex it shows the model: ST9250827AS and size 233GB, it just errors out on each sector. This came out of an enclosure. I guess it worked fine the last time they backed up to it. It sat on a shelf for quite a while, and the next time it was plugged in it couldn't be accessed.

[dmarques]

Hi,

And from PC3K, can you run any terminal commands directly from the menu?

[guru]

and is it password locked?

[gtd4242]

Hi,

And from PC3K, can you run any terminal commands directly from the menu?

No.

[gtd4242]

and is it password locked?

I thought about this at first, because this is exactly what it appears to be, but the customer said they didn't have it password locked. You'd think they'd remember that. I'll take a look using MHDD in case it is and they weren't aware one was set (although I don't see how that could happen).

[BlackST]

Then can it be frozen ?

[gtd4242]

Then can it be frozen ?

It doesn't act like it's frozen when you connect to one of our systems because everything displays and the drive becomes recognized and ready, but just errors out on every sector. When I view in terminal though all I get is this:

Rst 08M

Buzz HM SFI
!
(P)S(H)SSFI
!

and you can't do anything else from there.

[BlackST]

Check security status - I meant 'frozen' that way.

[quasimodo]

There are a few things you could try if you know....

alternatively I would try the following:
-try to change the timing when you do a CTRL + Z
-short the read channel
-Use a donor PCB

[dmarques]

And check with your client if he didn't did anything stupid before sending you the job.

[gtd4242]

Thanks for all the input folks. I'm going to try it with MHDD tomorrow when I get in and see what that says. If everything looks good there, I'll move on and try what has been suggested here. Thanks again.

[gtd4242]

It's definitely got an ATA password. The customer had no idea, and it may be a factory issue. I've never come across them before, unless the customer set it themselves. It came out of a Maxtor USB enclosure. I guess I need to finally upgrade to PC3K UDMA, because my PCI doesn't support this drive. I've tried again to access it in terminal, but it is completely locked and you can't get a command prompt.

[BlackST]

I had the feeling about the drive being frozen...

[gtd4242]

I had the feeling about the drive being frozen...

It definitely had those symptoms, but until I hooked it up to MHDD I wasn't for sure.