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External Seagate pooped out

K

KuJaX

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Jan 8, 2001
Messages
15,783
A buddy of mine has a Seagate STAC3000101 3TB external hard drive. It uses some base to power and basically has the SATA power/data showing to plug into. He said that it basically stopped showing up in Windows so I took it to see if I can help.

Instead of using the base I plugged a SATA power and data cable into the drive directly into the motherboard. Doesnt show up in Windows nor in the BIOS. It hung for about 30 seconds at the BIOS when detecting hard disks.

So I then used the base with usb and power cable. I could hear that it was trying to spin up but it would try, click, try again, click, try again, click try again, click.

Any secret tricks known to get it to spin properly and read? What are the options for getting data off using local tools/software?
 
If the BIOS won't see it, no recovery software will either. Pretty much the only option is professional data recovery :(
 
Try freezing it in a ziplock bag, then quickly hooking it up while still sub zero. I didn't believe it myself, but apparently when dad took PC tech courses his instructor let the class in on this hint. Worked on my old seagate 320GB drive got about another 2 hours out of it to do some important transfers, then if that doesn't work try data recovery.
 
Ooooh, did you say clickity?

That is the infamous click of death. I'm afraid your hopeless now, unless you are willing to shove out a couple grand for drive surgery. You have my condolences. :X
 
Adzsask said:
Try freezing it in a ziplock bag, then quickly hooking it up while still sub zero. I didn't believe it myself, but apparently when dad took PC tech courses his instructor let the class in on this hint. Worked on my old seagate 320GB drive got about another 2 hours out of it to do some important transfers, then if that doesn't work try data recovery.
Click to expand...

I heard this too, I also heard you can put it in the oven, not sure at what temp and for how long, but you can maybe find the recipe online. :D

Hopefully the data is backed up somewhere. With today's high failure rates of hard drives I don't feel right if I have any data residing on a single drive with no backups. If anything, at least use raid 1.
 
If the problem is mechanical, the repair will be expensive. But if the failure is only in the circuit board, it's possible it can be repaired cheaply by replacing any fuses that blew and any protection diodes that shorted. Those diodes are meant to protect against surges, by shorting to crowbar the surge, which makes them blow the fuse connected to them. For more serious electronic-only defects, there are some companies like OnePCBsolution.com that sell replacement boards and, for extra cost, will even transplant the original board's firmware chip on to a new one. The firmware is customized for each particular HD, not just for each model, for things like the head seek current and the much smaller currents for the heads themselves, and apparently the drive can be damaged if other firmware is used.
 
I could hear that it was trying to spin up but it would try, click, try again, click, try again, click try again, click.
Click to expand...
I hate when that happens! :D

The freezer trick is for mechanical problems but AFAIK, this could be either mech or electrical.

If it's not seen by the BIOS there's no program that's gonna help and I doubt freezing will either but I'd give it a shot especially if your friend isn't gonna drop a grand or more on recovery.

The freezer trick is well documented on the internet so I'm not gonna bother with that.

Good Luck!
 
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