Hello everyone I have been reading all the issues with this drive and possible solutions. Before I go out and buy a cable and try the hyperterminal connection I want to make sure my drive is having that problem. My drive is from an external One touch 4 case. It was working fine until I unplugged it one day. Now when I plug it back it either with the case or directly attached in the pc it will show up in windows but show with zero mb. When I try and click on it is just disappears. I then have to reboot to get it to show back up. I contacted Seagate and according to them my drive does not have the firmware problem. My drive shows firmware sd35. I have tried all the seagate test and when it detects the drive it just disappears. So my questions is do i need to look for another board or will the cable connection and hyperterminal fix my issues. When the drive boots up it sounds good no scratching or weird noises. Thanks in advanced for any help.

Update, I download and R-studio and it gives I/O error 1117. Does this give more insight to the problem? Thanks.

It may not be the recorded firmware issue, but it is likely a similar issue...possibly due to bad sectors forming within the SA of the drive. If you value your data, get it assessed by a professional. If you don't value your data, get it replaced before you void the warranty.

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Luke
Recovery Force Data Recovery

I think connecting the drive to the terminal may help you diagnose further (wioll not void warranty). Do that first and come back here and post the output from terminal

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All went well until I plugged the drive in.

the issue here is your drive is physically failing. I don't know how fast but the drive's remaining life is very limitted. Accessing the terminal info is very helpful to the recovery guys but that could be the last time your drive may spit out the terminal info.

With these new drives, even there is a head crash, sometimes the drive will ot click due to the new design. You may have a bad PCB (less than likely) but it also cause a similar problem. You can't just swap the PCB in these model drive either.

Since it is a 500GB drive, if you want the drive back, send it in for RMA to get a replacement drive. If you value your data, I would say start calling around to see who can give you a good deal to recover your data. You can only send it in to 1 recovery company for the diagnostic because when we open the drive, there is no other company will take the drive in for recovery...