Details of drive (from label):
S/N: 9SF0ANJ9
Model: ST3250310NS
Firmware: HPG1

I've seen advice elsewhere that when a drive spins, but is not detected, this is generally a problem with the HDA.

But I've also seen that there is a firmware bug which affects these drives, and which might cause the drive to not be detected.
I tried to get info from Seagate website, I found that there is 'Download available for this serial number', but no indication of whether that means the drive has this bug (as presumably firmware update could be for another reason).

Does anyone have a list of firmware versions which are affected?

If this bug is causing the problem, I believe Seagate are not being too helpful, so I might have to sort this out myself.

Presumably the PCB swap with an identical drive will do it, but I will have to re-solder the EEPROM chip to the new board. One problem is that I'm not sure which is the EEPROM chip - there are 4 chips which have 8 connectors on this PCB.

Any advice would be welcome. I don't want to mess about with soldering (or pay to have it done) if it would just be waste of time.

Contact Seagate and they will tell you if your drive could be effected by a bug.

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www.datarecoveryne.com

Even if it's the infamous "firmware bug"..

1. PCB change will not fix it, the fw is on the platters not the PCB
2. Seagate will not help, it's an HP oem fw version AFAIK

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

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The ES.2 drives that are affected by the BSY bug will respond to the same widely publicised 7200.11 DIY fix, but with a slight twist:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/129551- ... 0cc-state/

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks for your helpful replies, guys.

The drive in question has been passed to a specialist lab, I hope they sort it out.

It looks as though, if I do decide to get involved in Data Recovery beyond running software, it won't be a walk in the park!!