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Seagate HD Stopped working, should I replace the controller?

R

rafaeldb

n00b
Joined
Feb 22, 2007
Messages
26
Hi guys! I'm desperate for some help.

My 3tb Barracuda HD just stopped working, the computer or the HD did a bip sound and the HD never came again, after multiple reboots, tried to put it on another computer same results. It does some clicking sounds for a little bit, but once windows is up and running it stops. I do have backup of most of the stuff, but not all. I would like to recover if possible. I do have another drive from the same exact model at home. But I am not sure if I can take the controller from one and just put on the other just because its the same model, has anyone done this before? Can the controller of the working drive brake too if I try to use on the broken one?

Broken HD
Model: ST3000DM001
PN: 9YN166-302
FW: CC4C
Date: 12293 SITE: WU
Controller code: 100664987 REV A

WORKING HD
Model: ST3000DM001
PN: 1CH166-301
FW: CC24
Date: 13277 SITE: WU
Controller code: 100687658 REV C

Thanks!
Raf
 
I've heard anecdotes of cases where this worked and cases where it didn't. I have seen this attempted in person and have never seen it work. I think the general consensus is that it doesn't work more often than not. Given that the controller on the working drive is newer / different than the one on the dead drive I wouldn't even consider it as a viable option. You may in fact brick both drives.
 
never made 3TB 7200.11s.

It does some clicking sounds for a little bit, but once windows is up and running it stops.
Click to expand...

I expect that 1 or more of the heads are bad and it can not read the firmware from the platter so it can not continue.
 
Thanks for the reply guys, i'm going to check the noises again later today, I forgot to mention that the drive does not get detected at all, the POST screen take longer but the drive is never detected by the bios or windows.
 
drescherjm said:
That is the behavior you will have with a bad head.
Click to expand...

So I guess I'm stuck with a very heavy paper weight, or spend the money to get it fixed. I expected to be the controller because the drive wasnt detected at all. But that was a total guess. Is the reason because the controller doent detect the head and it just ignores the BIOS when it trys to detect?
 
Replacing a controller is almost certain not to work these days. The way it was explained to me was that when the drive is first created, it gets calibrated to the platters and heads it has, and this calibration data is stored on the controller board. (Whether this calibration is a self-calibration process or in conjunction with a piece of factory equipment, I don't know.) The factory process may even bin/disable a head or platter due to a failure during factory initialization.

When you drop a new controller on the board, it has the wrong calibration data, and chances are that the calibration data doesn't match the platters and heads well enough to retrieve any data.
 
rafaeldb said:
I expected to be the controller because the drive wasnt detected at all. But that was a total guess. Is the reason because the controller doent detect the head and it just ignores the BIOS when it trys to detect?
Click to expand...

I believe the firmware for the drive is stored on the platter with only a small loader in rom that is on the drive controller. If it can't read the firmware from the platter it can't possibly continue so it won't show up in BIOS.
 
NickJames said:
Barracuda ey? You may be suffering from the dreaded seagate firmware bug.

I used this site to fix it but unfortunately images are broken. Fixing a Seagate 7200.11 Hard Drive
Click to expand...

I'm going to try this idea, I know its a long shot, but I have nothing else I can do other than take the drive some place to fix it, and this is cheap enough. But I found a way to get the pictures back by using internet archive.

Fixing a Seagate 7200.11 Hard Drive

I'll compare the old version with the most updated on the site to make sure nothing has changed.
 
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