ST1000DL002 head swap

[seasaw]

Why risk the possibility of losing your data permanently (which will happen if you overheat the ROM chip) when a simple test could clearly tell you that it isn't the problem (which it almost certainly isn't in your case).

Good point about the heat on the rom chip... I didn't consider that risk enough before.

Yes, no one is suggesting you try to fix it through terminal at this point, we're just suggesting you connect it and power on the drive. On startup the drive will post a log of what's going on which we can use to diagnose the issue.

Oh I see. Will I need to type a command to produce the log or will it generate on its own?

It's on the platters, not on the PCB. The only thing on the PCB is the ROM (read only memory) which is only a small fraction of the firmware code and as the name implies is read only. If the ROM were bad, the drive almost certainly wouldn't spin at all.

Thanks for clearing that up since that was the source of my confusion. If the corruption of the firmware is on the platter, is that even fixable?

Also, I haven't tried the drive since cleaning the contacts. Do you think I should try it or wait for the TTL adapter?

In addition to the adapter, I need to buy a new drive. I don't care about longevity anymore, but was wondering which drives are easiest to recover data from. In that light, should I buy another seagate or a WD? Seagates seem to fail more (according to random comments online), but if recovery is easier, then I'll get another. Plus I'll have the adapter and knowledge. It will be an OS drive, so 1TB or smaller? The smaller it is, the less data I can lose :lol:

 

[seasaw]

To be fast, they have rom on pcb (which is unique for your drive) and also firmware modules on platters so they need both to be in good condition.
It's more important to start by the terminal log, because with that log we can know what's going on with the drive (if it's a firmware problem, or a head problem)
I'm almost sure that swapping pcb won't help for now...

Ok, I'll get the adapter. I just thought that the problem had to be on the pcb because if it were on the platter, it could not be fixed since the error would have to be fixed before it could be fixed. I still don't understand, but I'll just do what you suggest and discover the genius of it later.

 

[Jared]

Why risk the possibility of losing your data permanently (which will happen if you overheat the ROM chip) when a simple test could clearly tell you that it isn't the problem (which it almost certainly isn't in your case).

Good point about the heat on the rom chip... I didn't consider that risk enough before.

Yes, no one is suggesting you try to fix it through terminal at this point, we're just suggesting you connect it and power on the drive. On startup the drive will post a log of what's going on which we can use to diagnose the issue.

Oh I see. Will I need to type a command to produce the log or will it generate on its own?

It's on the platters, not on the PCB. The only thing on the PCB is the ROM (read only memory) which is only a small fraction of the firmware code and as the name implies is read only. If the ROM were bad, the drive almost certainly wouldn't spin at all.

Thanks for clearing that up since that was the source of my confusion. If the corruption of the firmware is on the platter, is that even fixable?

Also, I haven't tried the drive since cleaning the contacts. Do you think I should try it or wait for the TTL adapter?

In addition to the adapter, I need to buy a new drive. I don't care about longevity anymore, but was wondering which drives are easiest to recover data from. In that light, should I buy another seagate or a WD? Seagates seem to fail more (according to random comments online), but if recovery is easier, then I'll get another. Plus I'll have the adapter and knowledge. It will be an OS drive, so 1TB or smaller? The smaller it is, the less data I can lose [emoji38]

It is unlikely that the PCB contacts are at fault, unless they looked very corroded.

As to how to get TTL connecting, once you have the correct baud rate and everything set, the drive will just start sending logging as soon as it's powered on.

As to buying a Seagate or WD, WD is the clear winner with about 1/4 the current failure rate of Seagate. And they aren't exactly harder to recover, in fact they are far less likely to catastrophically fail and ruin all data.

Or, you could just buy a Toshiba or HGST HDD since those almost never fail. Then buy a second one to back the first one onto. Or maybe buy a cheap-o Seagate if it's only for backups.

As to the corruption of the firmware on the platters, some things can be fixed by issuing appropriate commands, some things can't. Some types of repair will require tools like PC-3000, or possibly even be impossible to fix. But, at least we'll know what you are dealing with.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

[seasaw]

It is unlikely that the PCB contacts are at fault, unless they looked very corroded.

I wouldn't say very corroded, but more covered in greyish stuff that was hard to scrub off with an eraser. The video showing the fix had a surprising amount of comments of gratitude indicating that it worked, so I don't know how to place the odds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt4M9b9L2EI

As to buying a Seagate or WD, WD is the clear winner with about 1/4 the current failure rate of Seagate. And they aren't exactly harder to recover, in fact they are far less likely to catastrophically fail and ruin all data.

That makes me glad I bought a WD blue to replace the hitachi that was sending out SMART warnings last year. I never know what to buy and all I really have to go on is amazon reviews.

Or, you could just buy a Toshiba or HGST HDD since those almost never fail. Then buy a second one to back the first one onto. Or maybe buy a cheap-o Seagate if it's only for backups.

Dad didn't like to hear that news. He had a 4yr old and relatively lightly used toshiba that failed this summer while copying movies from a thumb drive. After wrestling with what to replace it with, I think we settled on a WD. I can say this... going from 5400 to 7200 made a big difference in the speed of his laptop. But if his laptop is a guide, I haven't been overly impressed with toshiba in general as it seems to constantly require some sort of fixing. Then again, it could be the nature of laptops (or the nature of dad lol).

In contrast I beat the snot out of my seagate with 24/7 use for 6 yrs. It was part of a barebones kit from tigerdirect back in 2011. Probably the only thing the drive had going for it was being in a big box on the floor where it's cool instead of a laptop at higher elevations. I'm thinking temperature control is paramount to longevity.

I honestly don't care how long they last... I just want the data back when they fail.

As to the corruption of the firmware on the platters, some things can be fixed by issuing appropriate commands, some things can't. Some types of repair will require tools like PC-3000, or possibly even be impossible to fix. But, at least we'll know what you are dealing with.

What a roller coaster ride between hope and despair lol. One day things look promising and the next it seems hopeless.

Someone should invent a data-safe drive where the weak link is deliberately placed upstream like a blown diode that can be snipped leaving the data accessible or a single platter that can be swapped into another drive with no encryption to worry about... and don't put the firmware necessary to operate the drive on the platter. That would be nice.

Thanks for the help Jared (you too pclab). Now that christmas is over and I know what to buy, I'm going to order the stuff and see what happens.

 

[Jared]

[post]9444[/post] Someone should invent a data-safe drive

It's called a backup.

 

[seasaw]

[post]9444[/post] Someone should invent a data-safe drive

It's called a backup.

or cloud or raid lol. We're human and aren't always ideal, so it would be nice if our technology allowed for that.

Anyway, I ordered the TTL and a WD black 1TB for my OS drive and another WD blue 2TB for my mirrored backup. So I'm all WD now. Everything was shipped today and will be delivered soon. Also got a switch for turning on drives without rebooting. Kinda neat http://www.kingwin.com/hard-drive-power-switch-hdd-ps6/ I figured if nothing else I can turn off drives and not have backups exposed to the internet (viruses, randsomware, who knows what).