I've got a ST31000340AS drive that came in with bad heads. Heads were replaced and the drive now correctly ID's and shows the correct capacity. I even have sector access, just extremely slow. The drive seems to continuously click as if it's constantly trying to read the SA and failing. My guess is that it's trying to read smart data or something else which isn't necessary to operation and failing, and I'm guessing that's why it's so slow at accessing the sectors (trying to read between clicks).

Anyone know how to get the drive to stop attempting to access the SA and stop clicking so I can clone it?

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Go to "Edit HDD ID" in PC3K utility and uncheck everything.

If that makes no difference, try to remove the magnet and put it back in, only this time be more careful about its position.

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Thanks for the tip. I had already played around with the magnets and even tried re-seating the headstack as that was my first thought. After I uncheck those boxes it stops clicking, but every time the drive receives a soft or hard reset it goes back into a clicking fit for another minute. I'll have to mess around and see if I can get it to work. If not I may have to just change the heads again, could be a slight variation in them causing this.

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I'm noticing that the original PCB (which is toast) has a LSI branded main processing chip, while both donor PCB's that I have (from same model, same rev board, same white sticker) are Seagate branded.

You think it's possible that it's the PCB causing this? I've tried both the one I physically soldered the ROM to and the one I programmed using PC-3000 and I get the same result with both.

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Well if you're getting the same result with two known-to-be-good-and-compatible PCB's, then PCB is ruled out as a culprit. I've seen cases where drive behaved like this due to PCB being faulty, if that's what you're asking.

If you re-seated both magnet and heads and are sure everything is ok, then you may need to change heads again. Put current patient heads onto donor and see how donor behaves.

During this behaviour (clicking every now and then), what does the terminal report?

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Only reason I suspect the PCB could still be the culprit is the different branding on the main chip of the original vs the two donors. The original was complete toast.

I had shelved this one for the last two weeks as I had more urgent projects to work on. I'll make sure to post the results if I figure out what is causing it.

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There should be an internal Seagate part number on the chip. This number should be the same, irrespective of who makes the chip for Seagate. Manufacturers often use second sources for their components.

Identifying HDD IC markings - ST313021A case study:
http://malthus.zapto.org/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=207

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Yeah, there really are no matching numbers on the IC's at all, they are completely different from the original to the donors. I have another pcb coming in today that has the same control chip, so I'm hoping that will solve the clicking issue.

It's strange that it does actually work, has the same PCB board rev, even the same white sticker number, yet has a different and non-compatible IC.

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I could be wrong. My observation was only a general one.

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OK, so just to update again.

Replaced PCB (AGAIN) with one that has an identical IC but it still has the clicking issue. Tried disabling all features in "Edit HDD ID", and I even tried transferring head adaptives as suggested by HDDGuy (Thanks by the way).

However it still keeps clicking. I think I'm gonna have to just try changing the heads with another set.

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Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

Could it be corrupted ROM adaptives?

I had an identical case few months ago but i didn't change heads, drive was ST3500320AS with SD15 firmware.
Drive never stopped to click, get ready after 3 or 4 minutes since power on but then i was able to clone in DE very very slowly (always clicking sounds).

With a lot of patience i recovered important data...

P.S.
I was not able to fix slow reading and clicking sounds.

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My firmware database:
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I had a 7200.11 500GB recently with clicking noise but had ID. The HDD would click whenever imaging would start. Very slow. Then did Selective Head Image by DDP. 2 heads were very good, others 2 were extremely slow and bad noise. Being patience, it took 7 days to clone 2 volumes (around 200GB) but data was recovered successfully, and the heads set died.

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