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

[HyperEscape]

Hello Gurus,

There is no shock or blow to the hard disk drive in the Seagate FreeAgent Enclosure, niether has it been any power surges or spkies, but now the harddisk is not working. It cannot be detected by the operating system. However it was working fine just a day ago.

I took apart the Seagate FreeAgent Enclosure and to my disappointment it was the famous Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 One Terabyte harddisk inside it, which has gone down with all my valuable data which was never backed up. Tried hooking up the hard disk to an external sata enclosure box. The disk spins up, makes some mild clicking sounds and spins down and keeps repeating the same procedure, even tried hooking it up with the PC's internal SATA connection and the behaviour is the same.

I have read a lot of reviews and rescue stories about this particular mode of seagate, but am unable to figure out what could be the reason or where to start looking for the recovery process. It can be the firmware problem, or any other mechanical or electronic problem.

I cannot send the drive to anyone outside the country, cause of customs regulations on export of imported electronic equipment.

I just want advice and guidance as how to proceed ahead. If i try changing the PCB first then what are the exact parameters that need to match with any new donor drive. Similarly if I further try to find someone to exchange head or platters then again what specific attributes need to exactly match in any donor harddisk.

You can also write to me if you have or want to sell any donor harddisks.

My details are as follows :
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11
Model: ST31000333AS
S/N : 6TE08QZ5
P/N: 9FZ136-568
Firmware: SD35
Date Code: 09204
Site Code: SU
PCB (printed on right corner of PCB) : 100512588 Rev A

Thanks a lot for helping in advance.

[AlanM]

Try our SATA troubleshooter.

[HyperEscape]

Tried the USB to TTL serial cable method for clearing the fimrware logs. Search around you will find it for Seagate Barracuda 7200.11. Guess what it perfectly worked. Did a backup from the faulty drive and now sending it for warranty replacement.

Thanks.

[Cantbecanit]

Don't send it in, just flash it if there is an updated FW for it, thats all Seagate will do and you'll be out of postage pocket, if you cleared the logs ok with the Hyperterminal you can flash a drive easily with confidence.

[HyperEscape]

Hello Cantbecanit,

Maybe you would understand what I am trying to ask. :-) Since i have asked by private message a number of users and everybody guides me towards the frustrating seagate serial chceker web page.

My Drive Details are as follows:

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11
Model: ST31000333AS
S/N : 6TE08QZ5
P/N: 9FZ136-568
Firmware: SD35
Date Code: 09204
Site Code: SU
PCB (printed on right corner of PCB) : 100512588 Rev A

It still needs a firmware update as you have said. The problem is the drives with firmware SD35 need special firmware update version which is not yet posted on the seagate website.

I have opened a ticket with Seagate support and its been like a month or so without any answer, everyone in customer services keeps telling me since the drive serial number does not show up in the serial checker it does not need any firmware update. But it does for sure, because I had the same BUSY and 0 LBA error like hundred of other affected drives. I was able to recover through it and now my data is safe however I need to have a firmware update before starting to use this drive again. 

The file I am looking for is " brinks-3d6h-sd3b.iso " Can you please send me the firmware file, you can upload it to any sharing host or can directly email me on

I have already done it for my other drives so I know the procedure, and I assume all the responsibility of doing so myself.

It would be a great help and I would be thankful. Hoping for your help

Regards.

Cell : +92-322-2224053

[Cantbecanit]

I see your problem, tbh all I can find is the link to the checker one, the posts about this rare FW are all nearly a year old and nobody seems to have a link to it, personally I'd try the one that is listed for the 333as model, I have a feeling this other one was a beta version and has been replaced with a one for all official one, generally OEM means you get a box,cable and better backup warranty, you'll soon know if it's not the right one as the drive will normally reject any update not designed for it, besides there is no disclaimer on the page, just the model you have and the FW they offer, so worst case is you will need to return it if the flash makes a mess of it.

!!WARNING!!
If the firmware upgrade installation instructions are not followed properly the firmware upgrade could be data destructive and/or render your hard drive inoperable. As Seagate does not warrant the data on your drive, in addition to regular back-ups, if possible your data should be backed up before upgrading the drive firmware.  Additional information on backing-up the contents of your drive can be found at www.seagate.com.  Though this firmware upgrade to your product is a change to the product the terms and conditions of your Seagate warranty for the product will remain effective to its normal expiration.  For other warranties on your product please consult the warranty documentation provided by your supplier.

http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207957&Hilite=

Second one in the list, ones a utility and the other the FW.