I have looked for answers but not found hem here so I thought I would ask and hope someone can help me.

My Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB drive has failed. It shows up in BIOS as normal but on the POST screen it says the SMART staus is bad. In windows (7) it does not show up at all. I have tried disk managment and it is not there nor does it show up in the hardware manager. Basically windows does not even know it is there. I think it is a logic or firmware problem but I don't know what this even means in terms of fixing it.

so to summarize, here is what i know:

The disk shows in BIOS and all info reads normally
SMART staus is bad
Does not show in windows anywhere
It spins up and does not sound like it is locked or the motor bad in any way.
it is my back-up drive. All my data was stored on it and backed up to it.
I am totally lost.

What I am trying to find out is if there is ANY hope for me at all at this point. Any ifo would be great. I thought about changing the board but could this even be the issue? I am trying to read everything I find on this but all I am getting is more confused. I don't have 600 bucks to pay someone to tell me what might be wrong with it. i am dying here! I am sorry if this is a repeat post... I promise i tried to find it on here first.

Thanks!

[deleted]

Hi,

You got 2 options, first one is to try to find here in the forum information how to build a terminal, so you can show if there's any log message that help to identify the problem.

Second option is to go to a pro, as long as I know they will not charge you just for diagnosis, at least I don't, and I think most of the pro's here do not charge also.

Well, I could ship it to a guy in cleveland but from my conversation with him earlier he isn't willing to diagnose for free and then tell me what I can do to fix it. I am not sure if he would tell me or not considering this is how he makes his money...
I understand that at this point i am probably going to have to let my drive go but I hate to do that. I can't afford 600 to 1900 dollars and so I am hoping to try something on my own. I figure i am screwed either way so it doesnt hurt to try. I am almost certain that I would not need to open the enclosure (i dont have a clean room anyway) because the drive does spin up and the internal structure seems to be working.

Maybe you're right, maybe it does not need clean room.

So if you want to do anything DIY, first of all make the terminal connection and check log.
That way, someone here can try to help you a bit further.

I got your PM and i am interested, but i cannot send pms yet. if you pm me your email I will contact you through that.

EDIT: also, i am still looking for how to build a terminal connection...

i've the exact same hard drive which failed 1 year back, have tried everything to get it back but i guess it made worse so i'm keeping it ever since.. i'v purchased my second one ST3500418AS 7200.12 which have failed again days ago with same symptoms

after so much research about the whole issue.. it happened to me that both hard drives carrying the exact same faulty firmware issue from manufacture which lead to other complex fail to the hard drive - bad luck? - the company have announced an important update which can be apply for both of them but it's too late now.. although it happened to me that my drives still detected in bios sometimes - when its calm - but under heavy load it goes off again.. i manged to updated the firmware by seatool.. and my hard drive now is always detected, still ST31000528AS couldn't boot up due many bad sectors.. the other one ST3500 i could finally see him alive again but with one finally last breath! it was horribly slow.. so i quickly tried to backup what i can and seemed it's getting worse every time i copy something - some coped files was afterwards unreadable! - until it stopped completely by BSoD.. have tried again and boot up screen hang for so long time until BSoD and then the drive fail again to be undetected in bios! what a moody drive!

i think after sometime the drive will be detected - when its calm i guess! - but with more bad sectors as the first case.. which as an engineering student will drive me crazy!! i really want to know what exactly is the problem, i wish i have all the tool to satisfy my mind - anyone please? lol -..

i've tried the simple stuff like LBA 0 and bsy fix.. made my wires and connection, since the ST31000528AS is dead for me i tried out every single command.. some have worked like "N1" and the SMART is enable and working now but others seemed failed and gave me "Max Certify Rewrite Retries = not supported" - i haven't opened the PCB cuz the warranty is still valid for RMA -

i've shifted now to WD Finally after long time.. my trust with Seagate is over now.. although its seems their hard drive sound more healthy, spin well and light compare to heavy load noisy operation of WD like the old days
and maybe all the issue of Seagate based on weak software but again its their fault.. the balance in these technology should be more important since every part is related to another