Barracuda XT, Barracuda, Barracuda Green, DiamondMax and other desktop SATA and IDE drives

[Chmmr]

Ok, this is my first post here, so hi everyone.


As per subject, I own 2 cudas 7200.11 3500320AS. They both came with fw SD15, but after I started getting random BSoDs (the drives would just 'disappear'), and subsequently reading about a plague of 'mass brickings' on the net, I flashed them both to SD1A, but shortly after they eventually died a sudden death nonetheless - one of them died exactly while I was backing up the data... (so much for solving problems with patches, and patches to patches, and so on...).

The system would take a looong time to recognize them at POST, and they would not be accessible anyways. Similar behaviour if connected through eSata or USB.


So, after I found the procedure to restore them through serial commands I executed it, and it worked, and even though for some reason a great deal of data was lost, I could recover at least (a small...) percentage of what I needed and wipe everything afterwards.


My question at the moment is: can I RMA these disks? I mean, they're technically 'working' as of now, but I wouldn't trust them with a backup of a backup, let alone a system partition (not to mention in RAID0... g**(...) forbid), and I'm sure the 'debricking' procedure didn't magically make them anymore reliable than they were before. So they're basically useless to me the way they are in right now.

Furthermore, running Seatools I first got some inconsequential results: one of the drives repeatedly failed the short diagnostic test, then, after a full format, it passed it, then they both passed a long DST, and both the generic ones, so I don't know... I fear Seagate could consider them fully functional and refuse to substitute them (or even charge me to send them back to me, as stated in some FAQ), which would just add insult to injury, after all the trouble they caused me.

These are the values HD Tune reports:


HD Tune Pro: ST3500320AS              Health

ID                                  Current  Worst    ThresholdData       Status   
(01) Raw Read Error Rate            110      91       6        26599150   ok       
(03) Spin Up Time                   94       94       0        0          ok       
(04) Start/Stop Count               100      100      20       8          ok       
(05) Reallocated Sector Count       100      100      36       0          ok       
(07) Seek Error Rate                100      253      30       91456      ok       
(09) Power On Hours Count           92       92       0        7330       ok       
(0A) Spin Retry Count               100      100      97       0          ok       
(0C) Power Cycle Count              99       99       20       1180       ok       
(B8) End To End Error Detection     100      100      99       0          ok       
(BB) Reported Uncorrectable Errors  60       60       0        40         ok       
(BC) Command Timeout                100      100      0        0          ok       
(BD) (unknown attribute)            100      100      0        0          ok       
(BE) Airflow Temperature            72       69       45       487325724  ok       
(C2) Temperature                    28       40       0        28         ok       
(C3) Hardware ECC Recovered         55       38       0        26599150   ok       
(C5) Current Pending Sector         100      100      0        0          ok       
(C6) Offline Uncorrectable          100      100      0        0          ok       
(C7) Ultra DMA CRC Error Count      200      200      0        0          ok       

Health Status         : ok
  

HD Tune Pro: ST3500320AS              Health

ID                                  Current  Worst    ThresholdData       Status   
(01) Raw Read Error Rate            112      92       6        46720524   ok       
(03) Spin Up Time                   95       95       0        0          ok       
(04) Start/Stop Count               100      100      20       10         ok       
(05) Reallocated Sector Count       97       97       36       78         warning  
(07) Seek Error Rate                70       60       30       10962469   ok       
(09) Power On Hours Count           92       92       0        7791       ok       
(0A) Spin Retry Count               100      100      97       0          ok       
(0C) Power Cycle Count              99       99       20       1449       ok       
(B8) End To End Error Detection     100      100      99       0          ok       
(BB) Reported Uncorrectable Errors  85       85       0        15         ok       
(BC) Command Timeout                100      100      0        0          ok       
(BD) (unknown attribute)            100      100      0        0          ok       
(BE) Airflow Temperature            72       68       45       487260188  ok       
(C2) Temperature                    28       40       0        28         ok       
(C3) Hardware ECC Recovered         52       35       0        46720524   ok       
(C5) Current Pending Sector         100      100      0        0          ok       
(C6) Offline Uncorrectable          100      100      0        0          ok       
(C7) Ultra DMA CRC Error Count      200      200      0        0          ok       

Health Status         : warning

Besides, since the BSY 'bug' seem to have affected both of them, despire the SD1A fw, I guess they're going to die the same death again, sooner or later (should they not die for other reasons in the meanwhile...)

So, does anybody know if I can safely RMA them, or should I 'set them back on BSY' again, or just put them on a shelf waiting for the warranty to expire?

Thanks,

Cmr

[Cantbecanit]

If you've flashed to SD1a they shouldn't fail again mate, my Max is nearly two years repaired and it's not suggesting it will fail again.

[fzabkar]

Each SeaTools Test Code uniquely identifes your drive's serial number and the number of the failing test.

About SeaTools Test Codes:
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=wvc&vgnextoid=573797f40cce3210VgnVCM1000001a...

This post explains the encoding of the test number:
http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Barracuda-XT-Barracuda-and/SeaTools-Test-Code-AAD39FFC/m-p/55191#M20387

My understanding is that once a drive fails SeaTools, then the test code can be used at any future date. However, if your drive doesn't fail SeaTools, then there may still be a way to qualify for an RMA.

Self-Service SeaTools Test Codes:
http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/seatools/seatools-test-codes.html

[Chmmr]

Thanks for both of your answers.

Fact is that the drives (or at least one of the pair) started acting up again, after a couple days without hitches. Today I heard 3 single clicks coming from one of them during boot, then the system hung for some seconds during POST, while listing the drives, and then the OS failed to start, because the order of the booting devices in the BIOS had been altered, probably signifying that the drives started once again to do what they used to do before getting into BSY: that is, randomly 'disappearing' (powering off?) and reappearing during normal operation - thus obviously causing BSoDs in case the OS was directly involved with one of the drives.

Plus, as a a 'side effect', my MBR got messed up somehow and I had to repair it twice in the last 24 hours (fortunately I had a repair disk lying around...).

I even checked whether the SD1A fw I had flashed the drives with, a long time ago, was the last 'revision' or not, using the ms-sd1a executable, and yes, it was, but now I get a nice MBR Error 3 or 2 message on boot. On a brighter note(?), both the drives failed during a long DST with seatools, reporting respectively codes 9CD8CEF5 and A4D5DEFC.

The only thing that bugs me is that they still seem to be ok if you reboot and test them again... so if tested on another system, or through some diagnostic machine, they could probably pass all of the tests. I mean, is that one time fail code with SeaTools enough to warrant an RMA without hassles? For all they know, I could even have unplugged the data or power cord while the test was running...

And, another question, I read on my drives label, under the Serial Ata logo, +5V and +12V. Does that mean they're not using the 3.3 V line? I'm asking this because I've been trying them with a molex to sata adaptor - 5/12v only - since their original power rail (straight from PSU) has been since taken by the drives that substituted them when they died, months ago (Everest reports the +12 line running at 11.6, the +5 at 4.99 and the +3.3 at 3.28).

Anyways, thank you both for your time and for your answers.

p.s. in case it was somehow relevant, I'm running W7x64 on an ASUS P5Qpro - 8Gb Corsair DHX - ATI HD4850. Current drives are a 160GB Hitachi deskstar, a 1GB WD Caviar Green and an older IDE 3500630A (yes, what happened with the 2 cudas and the way the matter was handled actually prompted me to switch brands, after years with Maxtor and Seagate).

[fzabkar]

The 7200.11 family tend to develop weak heads over time, producing the symptoms you describe.

As for your voltage question, 3.5" drives use the +5V and +12V rails, but not the +3.3V supply. If required by the drive, a +3.3V supply is generated onboard via a switchmode DC-DC converter.

2.5" drives require only a +5V supply.