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

[CharlesW]

Hello,

I just bought a ST32000542AS (2 TB) this weekend to replace an external drive that was dying.

I successfully moved everything to the ST32000542AS (using a Vantec dock) before the old drive died. Yay!

But tonight, ultimate sadness -- after putting the drive in an enclosure, I found that the ST32000542AS will not spin up. Notes:

-- I've tried the ST32000542AS in the SATA hard drive dock I used to do the transfer, as well as three other external cases.

-- I've confirmed that other SATA drives work perfectly with all four of the devices referenced above. The problem is definitely the ST32000542AS.

-- With 2 of the external cases referenced above, the front LEDs just blink forever when loaded with the ST32000542AS. The power light on the hard drive dock just goes out immediately after being powered on. (Again, these devices still work perfectly with other SATA drives.)

To say the list, I'm a bit crushed right now. I need to work tomorrow, so I'm considering whether to buy another drive before Fry's closes tonight and spend all night restoring everything I can.

I've started a support request as well, but expert advice would be incredibly appreciated.

-- Charles

[fzabkar]

If you know how to use a multimeter, then measure the resistances, on the diode range, between ground and each of the +5V and +12V inputs.

Here are the SATA power pinouts:

http://pinouts.ru/Power/sata-power_pinout.shtml

[CharlesW]

fzabkar,

Thanks for the note. I don't currently own a multimeter, but I'd go buy one if it'd improve my chances of getting everything off the drive.

What's your thinking? That we'd get a better idea of why the drive won't spin up with those measurements?

-- Charles

[fzabkar]

A cheap digital multimeter costs about $10, maybe less. It'll come in handy for other jobs.

I'm thinking that drives often fail in external enclosures because of overvoltages, in which case the drive's TVS (transient voltage suppression) diodes go short circuit to protect the rest of the electronics. Removing these diodes usually gets the drive going again.

See the following article for a description of the electronic parts:

http://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html

I'm not confident that the TVS diodes are the problem, but it's an easy thing to rule out.

[CharlesW]

---

I'm not confident that the TVS diodes are the problem, but it's an easy thing to rule out.

---

Excellent, I'll get a multimeter and report back.

In surprising news, Krista from Seagate support responded and said that they "don't support using Seagate hard drives in 3rd-party enclosures".

Is it widely known that Seagate doesn't support their drives (and presumably Maxtor drives) in external configurations like RAIDs, Drobos, and just ordinary external enclosures?

-- Charles

[fzabkar]

I don't know what Krista meant by "support", but external enclosures appear to cause a lot of problems for HDs of all brands. I suspect this is because (1) they are poorly ventilated, and (2) users often plug the wrong power supply into the enclosure.

If you get your drive going again, then I believe you can use the SCT menu in HDAT2 to retrieve a temperature history for your drive:

http://www.hdat2.com/

Otherwise smartmontools (Linux/Windows) can do the same thing:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/smartmontools/files/

http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki/Download

The commands are ...

smartctl -l scttemp

smartctl -l scttempsts

smartctl -l scttemphist

[CharlesW]

---

If you know how to use a multimeter, then measure the resistances, on the diode range, between ground and each of the +5V and +12V inputs.

---

So, please be gentle if this answer seems really stupid...

Pin 7 - 50 kilohms

Pin 8 - 50 kilohms

Pin 9 - 50 kilohms

Pin 13 -0.5 ohms

Pin 14 - 0.5 ohms

Pin 15 - 0.5 ohms

-- Charles

Message Edited by CharlesW on 11-11-2009 04:03 PM

[fzabkar · Accepted solution]

Good work! You have found a short circuit on the +12V input which usually means that the 12V TVS diode has sacrificed itself to protect the rest of the drive from an overvoltage.

If this is your board ...

http://file.bodnara.co.kr/webedit/hardward/hdd/st_barracuda_lp/pcb.jpg

... then the 12V TVS diode is the larger of the two black horizontal devices behind the power connector, to the right of the white shock sensor (mounted at 45 degrees).

If you can trust your power supply, then you can desolder the diode, or cut its pins close to the body with sidecutters. The drive will work perfectly OK without it, albeit without protection on the 12V input.

To confirm that you have the right diode, measure its resistance by directly connecting the multimeter to its pins. If you are still not sure, read the numbers on the diode's body and let us know.

[CharlesW]

---

If you can trust your power supply, then you can desolder the diode, or cut its pins close to the body with sidecutters. The drive will work perfectly OK without it, albeit without protection on the 12V input.

To confirm that you have the right diode, measure its resistance by directly connecting the multimeter to its pins. If you are still not sure, read the numbers on the diode's body and let us know.

---

Man, you are the Hard Drive Whisperer. I can't tell you how much I appreciate talking with an expert.

The resistance was 0.2-0.3 ohms, and there's evidence that sacrificed itself (it looks like the foam above it got hot for a bit). If there is a number on the diode, I don't see it.

I do have a hard drive dock I trust. I'm trying to be frugal so it's a bit difficult to accept that I may just need to throw away $180, but there's enough data on the drive that I didn't have a chance to re-back up that it would be worth it.

Shame that Seagate support is so slow and seemingly only works from "is it plugged in?" scripts.

Is it possible to buy a replacement board?

-- Charles

Message Edited by CharlesW on 11-12-2009 09:52 AM

[CharlesW]

fzabkar,

I took a deep breath, clipped the diode, and...the drive is working perfectly. I'm backing it up to a [brand redacted] drive as we speak.

I'll talk to support about the possibility of getting a replacement board. Hopefully they'll give me one or sell me one at a reasonable cost so I can keep buying and recommending Seagate drives.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I hope the good karma comes back ten-fold!

-- Charles

Message Edited by CharlesW on 11-12-2009 01:15 PM