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

[thomaslindet]

Hello !

First of all, I'm french so please excuse the possible mistakes in this message ;-)

I have a problem with my HDD that comes from a Maxtor Basics Desktop Storage. I plugged the disk today and it wouldn't be detected by my computer (a Macbook Pro, but I tried on Windows 7 on this same mac and on a old Dell running XP). I haven't  tried to plug it on a desktop computer yet, as long I don't have one at immediate disposition. But I will try this later and see if it is detected by the bios.

So I opened the enclosure and tried to plug the disk using another enclosure, but same problem. When plugged, the disk starts, the motor begin to spin, and as soon as it reaches full speed its stops. Then it starts again, and stops... It's doing the loop over and over.

I did some research on the problem, but the only thing I could find was that some disks have some firmware issues. But nothing about the start/stop loop.

I wanted to know if this was caused by the firmware problem, or if it's something different. And in that case, what could be done ?

PS : I won't pay for Data Recovery Services, so if I have to try to fix the disk myself (using the terminal and the phone cable) I will do it.

I hope I'm not asking a question someone already asked, and if yes, I am sorry but I didn't found it on the forum.

Thanks a lot for any help you could give me.

:-)

Disk informations :

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1000 GBytes

S/N:9TE0NPBS

ST31000333AS

P/N : 9FZ136-569

Firmware : SD35

Date code : 09185 Site Code : TK

Product of Thailand

[thomaslindet]

I see noone answered, meaning noone knows ?

I know you read that al the time, but 900Go of data are waiting in this disk, so if someone could confirm the problem. I don't wanna permanently kill it in attempting to upgrade the firmware for no reason.

Thanks !

[fzabkar]

This thread describes a similar problem:
http://forum.hddguru.com/help-maxtor-hdd-recovery-t16065.html#p106368

The diagnosis was head or SA (System Area) problem. This suggests that the drive is having difficulty reading its firmware zone on the platters.

If you communicate with the drive via its serial terminal interface, perhaps it will give you a clue as to what is happening.

[thomaslindet]

Thanks! 

I'm not really a hard drive pro, so what do you suggest me to do? I mean how do I communicate through the serial terminal interface ? Is it by the CA-42 phone cable (or a serial port cable and some components added) plugged to the jumper connections? I actually bought one of them on Ebay, it may take a few days to arrive as long it comes from HK.

So, if yes, what would be the procedure, what should I type in the terminal window to know more about this problem?

Sorry to ask that much questions, I'm quite at ease with manipulating computer but when it gets to the internal parts and terminal windows, unless I'm guided, I'm pretty much powerless.

I'll also ask on HDD Guru to see what the other guy  did.

[fzabkar]

I'm not a HD pro, either. I suspect that there won't be anything you can do, but the terminal output may help others diagnose your problem.

This thread should cover most of your questions:
http://forums.seagate.com/t5/ATA-and-Serial-ATA-drives/Updated-firmware-on-a-bricked-hard-disk-but-n...

BTW, the above BSY fix probably won't solve your problem. In fact it may make matters worse, if the advice at HDD Guru is to be believed.

[thomaslindet · Accepted solution]

My problem is solved ! :-)

I made some more researches on the internet and I found another guy describing the exact same problem as mine. It was the same disk, same firmware, same error messages sent via TTL connection, and it was solved used the "traditional" BSY fix method.

It worked for me but well I cannot confirm this will always work, plus the fact the HDD gurus diagnosis was an hardware failure.

But anyway, if this can help.

Thanks for the help !

[fzabkar]

Congratulations, and thanks for the feedback.

[ejmjs]

Hi. I have this exact same Hard Drive Manufactured 09213 corresponds to 2008 November 24th

It had a few errors in disk check for a couple of weeks then stopped showing up completely.

Now all that happens is it sounds like its trying to read constantly. Sounds a little like a CDROM drive trying to read a disk. Just the same noise over and over continuously. I have a lot of information on the drive that I really really don't want to lose. Is there any suggestions how this can be fixed without loss of data. Anything you can help with will be highly appreciated.

I have in my research found that BSY problem and how to fix that but nobody has mentioned this noise so I'm completely unsure if that is the issue or not.

It doesn't even show in bios and won't boot or show in a second machine i tried it in either.

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help me with this. There are tons of photos of my grandparents who are no longer with us. I'm highly stressed. Thanks again.