# Dead drive



## naijai (Aug 19, 2006)

I have (had) a 1Tb hard drive inside my computer for use as my backup drive which apparently failed. When connected to the motherboard the computer would not get past the initial bios screen nor could i access the bios setup on the board. the other 2 drive have are working fine. I don't have an external enclosure that works to test the drive is there anything else i can to test the drive myself ? Have nothing else and not sure it's under warranty anymore, the seagate website cannot tell based on my part number


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Is it 7200.11 or 7200.12 model ?


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## naijai (Aug 19, 2006)

7200.11


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

naijai said:


> I don't have an external enclosure that works to test the drive is there anything else i can to test the drive myself ?


It sounds like it has been adequately tested, but I suppose you could pull it and connect it in another PC for confirmation.
Dell, HP, and other OEM's have onboard diagnostics to test drives and other hardware components. Or you could download Ubuntu, Mint, or some other Linux version live CD. They have a drive test option at boot as well.

Seatools has a bootable DOS CD that will attempt to repair bad sectors on the Long Test.

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=720bd20cacdec010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

Spinrite ....

If it can't save it nothing can. It's been around for probably 15+ years. It ain't cheap but it is amazing.


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## naijai (Aug 19, 2006)

Marlin Guy said:


> It sounds like it has been adequately tested, but I suppose you could pull it and connect it in another PC for confirmation.
> Dell, HP, and other OEM's have onboard diagnostics to test drives and other hardware components. Or you could download Ubuntu, Mint, or some other Linux version live CD. They have a drive test option at boot as well.
> 
> Seatools has a bootable DOS CD that will attempt to repair bad sectors on the Long Test.
> ...





TBlazer07 said:


> Spinrite ....
> 
> If it can't save it nothing can. It's been around for probably 15+ years. It ain't cheap but it is amazing.


Did try it on another desktop (Wife not happy i was using hers to "test") and the drives definitely toast. got a hold of seagate and have rma for a replacement, yay for 5 year warranty.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

TBlazer07 said:


> Spinrite ....
> 
> If it can't save it nothing can. It's been around for probably 15+ years. It ain't cheap but it is amazing.


MHDD or Victoria will beat it.


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## bleggett29 (Feb 2, 2008)

By your description of the computer not moving past POST until the drive is disconnected, it's most likely the PCB on the drive is fried. But the data on the drive should be perfectly fine. If you want to get real geeky, you can swap out the PCB from another drive of the same model and recover your data. Most likely Seagate will just give you another drive and not recover the data.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

bleggett29 said:


> By your description of the computer not moving past POST until the drive is disconnected, it's most likely the PCB on the drive is fried. But the data on the drive should be perfectly fine. If you want to get real geeky, you can swap out the PCB from another drive of the same model and recover your data. Most likely Seagate will just give you another drive and not recover the data.


1st - Seagate (or any manufacturer) will NEVER RECOVER your data. That's very expensive process.
2nd - 7200.11 with bad FW cannot be fixed by swapping HDD's PCB. FW locating on service tracks.
3rd - you'll never get back your RMA-ed drive - it always been different drives.


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## bleggett29 (Feb 2, 2008)

P Smith said:


> 1st - Seagate (or any manufacturer) will NEVER RECOVER your data. That's very expensive process. I believe that was what I was implying.
> 2nd - 7200.11 with bad FW cannot be fixed by swapping HDD's PCB. FW locating on service tracks. Are you're saying the FW is not located on the PCB? It's located on the platter? I was not aware of this. But thanks for mentioning bad FW, as it jogged my noodle. I knew there was something familiar. I've actually recovered several of these Seagate 7200.11 drives with the BSY problem back several years ago.
> 3rd - you'll never get back your RMA-ed drive - it always been different drives. Again, that's what I was implying.


If the OP is willing and able to remove the PCB and is comfortable using a CLI, they may be able to recover the drive themselves. These are the instructions I used several years ago. The hardest part will be obtaining the RS-232 to TTL adaptor. I actually used something like this.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

So far that's cheapest TTL-RS232-USB adapter what I saw.

Anyway, if his drive has mechanical/platter/etc problem, the PCB swap is useless. I would listening to the drive when its powering first...


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

P Smith said:


> 1st - Seagate (or any manufacturer) will NEVER RECOVER your data. That's very expensive process.


You stand corrected....
http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/268415


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I did explain before in other thread - after many year in IT (did works with major data recovery companies) ... I'm not that guy who just know how to use Internet.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

"Marlin Guy" said:


> You stand corrected....
> http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/268415


Well, technically they aren't the maker of the drive that they use.


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## naijai (Aug 19, 2006)

I mainly used it as my backup drive no important files on it that i don't have on my computer still. I'll just create a new image of my drive once i get a replacement.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

Marlin Guy said:


> You stand corrected....
> http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/268415


That's pretty interesting but I'd like to read the "fine print" on their warranty. It's probably similar to the $250,000 APC guarantees if their $15 surge protectors fail. 

Edit: The "free" Data Recovery Service is only for 1 year.


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## wingrider01 (Sep 9, 2005)

TBlazer07 said:


> That's pretty interesting but I'd like to read the "fine print" on their warranty. It's probably similar to the $250,000 APC guarantees if their $15 surge protectors fail.
> 
> Edit: The "free" Data Recovery Service is only for 1 year.


and their 1000 3rd party will just about cover the diagnostics ofr the drive to see if there is anything recoverable


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

"wingrider01" said:


> and their 1000 3rd party will just about cover the diagnostics ofr the drive to see if there is anything recoverable


True, but they are fairly impressive. Maximum PC grilled one at 1200 degrees for 30 minutes then put it in a bucket of water and all the data was readable without recovery services.


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