Barracuda 7200.12 100% bad sectors in scan

[califauna]

Hi Gurus,

I have just done some tests on a Barracuda 7200.12 drive ST31000528AS which is not accessible in XP/7/Linux.

I have posted below the result of a SCAN using MHDD in DOS. The bad blocks begin almost immediately (before the scan has even reached 0.1 %) After a while I started skipping through.

Could anyone speculate on what that might mean (head crash/firmware/PCB error)?

The only click that can be heard is on powering up the drive one relatively loud clunk / click can be heard. After that it stays spun up but silent. Firmware has been automatically updated. THe drive has also been through a BSY fix as it was initially invisible.

I have another drive, a 7200.11 instead of 7200.12 like the above drive. They have the same model number (ST31000528AS ). If the problem is the PCB, would a PCB change and ROM chip transplant be possible between these two drives?

Thanks for any help.

Attachments

[Vulcan]

For the benefit of other readers: The OP has given some more background about the 7200.12 drive and their attempts so far, in their previous thread here:

problem-with-seagate-drive-t23050.html

[poehere]

Sorry answers will not change here. You got the answers on your other post. A DR company with proper tools and understanding of this HDD can clone it to a new one and get off your data. There is no 100% guarantee that all your data can be gotten off and used again. But they can get off as much good data as they can on this drive. They have ways of reading and working with these sectors that you can not do on your own.

[califauna]

Sorry answers will not change here. You got the answers on your other post.

There appear to be some posts which I have read where experts have at least speculated on possible causes of problems with drives presented by posters.I have also read this forum is a great place to learn about hard drive repair. Due to this, and the fact that the results of the scan with MHDD appear useful to me even with my relatively little knowledge, I have added this plus other information in this new thread.

However, if no readers can fix, or even know the problem with this problem specific drive nor speculate on it, please see my original post in this thread regarding a PCB transplant with the drives mentioned. I´d like to know if this is possible with these two specific drives (12s and 11s), where one drive has a mechanical problem and good PCB, and the other vice-versa, and any help with this is appreciated.

Thanks.

[BlackST]

Even if I - or someone else - give a technical explanation, will it change anything or get data out ? Remember that BSY is most often a consequence and/or symptom of something else !

[califauna]

Even if I - or someone else - give a technical explanation, will it change anything or get data out ? Remember that BSY is most often a consequence and/or symptom of something else !

Yes knowing whats wrong with any drive with a faulty will go some way to helping me know if its possible for me (or anyone) to fix it. I have had answers from experts here that its not repairable without specialist tools, but even if that´s the case , knowing the above will help me learn about hard drive repair if nothing else. As I say above, I have seen this board billed as a good place to learn about hard drive repair.

If the boards are for help but only up to a point , or if the forum is for data recovery and not repair as one reader posted here problem-with-seagate-drive-t23050.html, Ive got no problem with that - but to save time and confusion it should say something along those lines in the FAQs, otherwise noobs like myself with similar drive problems are left shooting in the dark fielding questions until one can / will be answered.

Regarding the PCB transplant, Ive asked about the PCB on the Seagate forum anyway now, and it seems its not possible with those two drives.

Any further help with this which is considered by the readers to be within the purpose of the forums of course is welcome.

Thanks.

[poehere]

You PCB Board will not help you out in fixing a drive with bad sectors. Bad sectors are on the platter of the drive.

The only time a PCB will help is in cases when the other PCB will not spin up the drive. That is it.

You problems needs special cloning tools that are made to handle these problems. There is nothing you can do with out these tools. If you want to fix your drive you can purchase one of the following tools and clone it to get off your data. But remember these tools will cost you a lot more than this will from a DR company who has them and knows how to use them. Sorry

1. DDI
2. Atola
3. DC
4. UDMA + DE

Sorry not much else can do this for you

[BlackST]

Before asking :
Price range fro these tools : from few THOUSAND EURO to about 10'000 (TEN THOUSAND) Euro.
"learning" about data recovery etc. is beyond the scope of this forum, I'm afraid. And is priceless. You have to discover and/or do it on your own , and this can be also the fun part.

Good luck for everything you decide to do.

[Vulcan]

@califauna,

If the boards are for help but only up to a point

IMHO all free boards / forums only help "up to a point". On this forum, different people reach their individual limit of deciding when to help, depending on several factors including the disk/ array model, the original symptoms, what has already been done as DIY recovery attempts, the amount of spare time which the helper has, the available equipment / skill / attitude of the person asking the question etc. etc. etc. In my experience, extensive remote help / diagnosis is not sensible and/or efficient in some cases.

to save time and confusion it should say something along those lines in the FAQs

It already does explain in the FAQ, that there are limits to the available help.

diy-what-the-big-deal-t12671.html

Why there's so little information on DIY solutions?
Because there are not too many "easy" solutions. Most easy solutions have already been posted number of times. There are two main reasons why people don't post more complicated solutions online:
1) because it took someone days (and sometimes weeks or even months) of expensive research to find solution to a problem
2) because chances of a screw-up when following a more complicated solution are extremely high

Even if someone would be willing to share what they found out, he would have spend days answering questions and clarifying things over and over again. Unfortunately, there aren't too many volunteers

Unfortunately IMHO your specific problem seems to have reached the limit of sensible remote help quite quickly, due to some of the factors I mentioned. Other people's situations are better suited to remote help / diagnosis (within reasonable limits) than yours, as you can see if you watch the forum for a while...

[califauna]

Ok Thanks for the replies.

Yes I must take back what I said about the scope of these forums in the context of my particular drive problem not being discussed in the FAQs. It is discussed in the sticky vulcan points out above. I read some stickies but I think I missed that one as I didnt notice it was a sticky. Apologies to all regarding that.

@poehere

I stopped short of assuming it was caused by bad sectors as in the FAQs for MHDD it says:
"If there is more than 20% of surface is covered with bad blocks, then it is a head crash. If your hard drive is 100% filled by bad blocks — then it is either a head crash, pcb damage or firmware issue."
As my scan revealed 99.99% bad sectors I didnt know which was the cause. Thanks for the diagnosis of the bad platters.

Regarding data recovery dont worry about that, I just wanted to repair the drive and learn something in the process.

Looks like I have a good specimen for dissection purposes now