Hello,

This is my first post over here.
I have a Seagate ST31000520AS drive, the drive spins normal, no weird noises.
Windows asks to format the drive.
I tried with several data recovery programs, but all I get is read errors from start to end.
Is this some kind of firmware problem ?

Thanks in advance !

This isn't a pure "firmware issue". The disk already has problems. It's best to contact a DR specialist for data recovery.
If the data isn't that valuable, research Seagate LED CC online...

Thank you, I have searched on the net, and found some articles and posts about seagate drives having a common issue with BSY state or 0 LBA error.
This disk I'm having is still recognized in the bios and appears with the right name and capacity.
I noticed when recovery software is 'reading' from the disk, the disk is just spinning, but you cannot hear activity as in heads moving.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks a lot, I was able to clone the drive with HDDSuperclone and then use recovery software on the clone. I got the data I need.

...........................................

Miracle!
I misunderstood you. I thought the HDD really wasn't readable.

If the disk does not write reliability then rather than flog a dead horse, an SSD is faster and SATA models are inexpensive.

_________________
Orico DS500C3-US-BK 5-disk 3.5" SATA, iTGZ 4x M.2 2280 Thunderbolt enclosure NVMe/SATA, etc. etc.

And yet you continue to flog a dead horse