Failed HDD

[DocGreen]

Got a PC from a customer with a failed HDD, and I'm at a loss.

PC passes all HW diags w/o HDD.

Slaved failed HDD to test PC, and it won't post. Tried it both internally and externally (5.25" slide-bay).

Connected failed HDD to test PC with USB-SATA adapter and booted to Parted Magic... drive doesn't exist as far as the computer is concerned.

I can hear the drive spin up and it doesn't make any strange noises, so I don't think there's anything wrong with it internally... is this a bad PCB? I haven't run across one of these yet?

If this is a bad PCB, how difficult would this be to replace? Customer has irreplaceable files but can't afford to spend thousands for a send-away data recovery service.


For the record, the drive info is as follows:

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11
ST31000340AS
P/N: 9BX158-033
SATA
1TB Capacity
Firmware: DE12
Sticker on PCB reads: 100468979 J 7911JYE2



Any help would be immensely appreciated!

 

[nlinecomputers]

This is a job for the $300 Data recovery guy. He can almost certainly recover the data and not cost thousands of dollars. http://www.300dollardatarecovery.com/

 

[DocGreen]

Worst case scenario I suppose I could refer the customer...

Any suggestions that don't involve sending the customer to someone else?

 

[nlinecomputers]

YOU pay the $300 and pass the bill to the client . Just like you'd resell any other product or service.

 

[nlinecomputers]

He is the $400 repair to my clients . Get it?

 

[DocGreen]

So after a bit of Googling I stumbled upon a fix. It turns out that the Barracuda 7200.11 drives are all crap and have a firmware bug that will basically lock them into a "hold" state, preventing the bios from detecting the drive. The fix involves using a RS232 to TTL/CMOS converter and Hyperterminal to send some commands to the HDD.

Anyone ever done anything like this?

 

[DocGreen]

Links about said defect & fix...

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1050374/seagate-barracuda-7200-drives-failing

https://sites.google.com/site/seagatefix/
http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/128807-the-solution-for-seagate-720011-hdds/

 

[Larry Sabo]

Yes, I've done it on a couple of Seagate 7200.11 drives with that problem. Works great. Here is a more helpful link to the procedure.

 

[DocGreen]

Thanks Larry. I'm going to contact the customer Monday and advise them of the situation. They've already had several other "techs" say that the drive is unrecoverable, so if I can prove them wrong I'll likely score a very loyal customer who also owns a business.

 

[Larry Sabo]

Good luck! It's a satisfying feeling when you do recover access to the data. BTW, here's another site I used that was also very helpful. I couldn't get HyperTerminal to work but puTTY worked great. I used the RS232-TTL adapter from Digikey, because they have very fast delivery at very reasonable cost.

Edit: Forgot to mention that I recommend imaging the drive while you can, once you can, before applying the firmware upgrade to make the drive reliably usable again.
Edit 2: Oops! Sorry, didn't notice you already had those two links I provided, at the bottom of your earlier post.

 

[PC Ops]

Links about said defect & fix...

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1050374/seagate-barracuda-7200-drives-failing

https://sites.google.com/site/seagatefix/
http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/128807-the-solution-for-seagate-720011-hdds/

Thanks Larry. I'm going to contact the customer Monday and advise them of the situation. They've already had several other "techs" say that the drive is unrecoverable, so if I can prove them wrong I'll likely score a very loyal customer who also owns a business.

If you can pull this off you'll be his goto-guy for life
Keep us informed!

 

[DocGreen]

Good luck! It's a satisfying feeling when you do recover access to the data. BTW, here's another site I used that was also very helpful. I couldn't get HyperTerminal to work but puTTY worked great. I used the RS232-TTL adapter from Digikey, because they have very fast delivery at very reasonable cost.

Edit: Forgot to mention that I recommend imaging the drive while you can, once you can, before applying the firmware upgrade to make the drive reliably usable again.
Edit 2: Oops! Sorry, didn't notice you already had those two links I provided, at the bottom of your earlier post.

Yeah, the customer already has a replacement drive, so as soon as the failed drive is accessible I'll be mirroring it to the new one.