I've got a Seagate Brick...HELP!

Since 15 April 2009, over 4100 drives have been successfully un-bricked.
Well done people of the interwebs! Professional and rookie computer nerds, engineers, and
desperate hard disc owners alike have made digital disaster into something almost bearable.
Reward yourselves and go have pie. Apple, pumpkin, cherry...your choice. You deserve it.

Final update occurred on 08 December 2010

Please note, no further maintenance is occurring on these pages and my ability to answer
emails on the topic is greatly diminished (I've forgotten a lot in the last four years).
If you're still stuck, please see the discussion forums linked below. Good luck!!!

Originally published on the Mapleleaf Mountain website which has now gone the way of the Dodo.
All good things must come to an end. Hope I helped a few of you out of a digital bind along the way. Cheers!
 "Panic Sets In - The Drive Looks Dead"

You're here thanks to searching fate or intervention from the internet gods because you're
holding a Seagate hard drive that resembles a shiny brick and you're desperate to have those
old family photos and digital copy of your resume back. Fear not, I may be able to help.
This issue has affected thousands of drives according to most reports so know that you,
desperate digital warrior, are not alone.
You're lost, you're angry, you're confused by all the net chatter, and you're not a computer
engineer. Until you did that Google search about dead Seagate hard drives, you were
blissfully unaware of the torment lurking in your PC. You just want a simple answer about
how to get your bloody data back and make your hard drive spin again like the good old
days (last week when you swore you'd do a data backup soon). You don't want to have to
take university electrical engineering classes to fix this but the motivation of lost digital
treasures has landed you here eager to learn exactly how high the data cliff you're perched
upon really is. Hang in there, I'll talk you down.
If your situation is similar to mine and this method works for you, great! If it doesn't, I
doubt I can be much more help to you but check the forums linked below for assistance.
 "Who am I Listening to - Should I Find Better Advice?"
Before you proceed with this dry tale of digital woe, let's be clear who you're listening to
drone on about all things technical. My name is Carter and I live in the wilds of British
Columbia with a beast of a computer in the basement that holds all my critical data and
occasionally links me to the outside world. I'm not a techno-expert but I do have some
engineering training in my distant past. For a time, I was in high tech (can you say IBM pc-
1) but have long since turned it from profession to avid hobby. I dabble like a mad scientist
in the basement with gizmos and robotics and countless PC builds so I've had my hands
electronically dirty for ages.
I'm a writer by trade (of a completely different genre) so what I think I'm really adding (if
anything) to the collective net consciousness on this matter is a simplified, non-threatening
(and dare I say potentially humorous) approach at best, or just another success story at
worst. I wanted to outline a method that used the most basic procedures and elements (plain
serial port, Hyperterminal, etc.) to simplify the problem and so that someone unfamiliar
with the technology wouldn't feel intimidated by the prospect of wiring into their drives. I
detail out a couple extra simple steps and it may not be the most direct route but if I can
translate techno-babble for the masses and sneak in all those irritating little details that a
novice may not know as well as the technophiles who eat, sleep, and breathe this stuff, I'll
feel I've added something significant. If you're a bit more advanced or need to use different
technology (most notably some of the modified mobile phone cable solutions out there - see
the parts list for notes), the threads linked below may be a better choice for you.
Although I could have whipped out the soldering iron, my particular solution avoided doing
so because blazing hot metal around electronics tends to make some people nervous. I
sourced all the particular bits I didn't already have laying about from one shop here in
Canada so that simplified things considerably in my case. I do think most of the items could
be found in the States or UK as well so I doubt parts supply will be an issue for most of the
globe. My apologies to inner Mongolia but luckily, the last yak I saw didn't come with a
Seagate hard drive as standard equipment. I'm also decent at pointing the camera so perhaps
a couple more photos in the pile of those already out there will help people of a more visual
inclination.
Many others much smarter than I have tread this path to bricked drive enlightenment and I
gratefully acknowledge all of their efforts. All of the particulars about drive commands
you'll read here are from various other sources on the web that are much more versed in the
device details. All credit is due to the following threads which helped me grasp the problem
and formulate my particular solution. Thanks to you all!
Insanely Helpful Forums and Original Material Links !!!
MSFN Forums
(http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/143880-seagate-barracuda-720011-read-me-first/)
"Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 READ_ME_FIRST"
A comprehensive "is this solution for you?" compiled by the ever vigilant "jaclaz" and
others to see if you're in the right place before proceeding down this path.
MSFN Forums
(http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128807)
"The Gradius Thread"
A very enterprising bloke who seems to have sorted out the problem as early as any. You
can read this "main" thread (a monster of over 180 pages that has assumed a life of its own)
*AFTER* the checklist in the post above. This group of people is the single best pool of
knowledge on this topic to be found on the web.
Seagate Tech Support
(http://community.seagate.com/cso_community_zones?catName=&kbid=ka030000000tgxl
AAA&search=7200.11+firmware&searchFilter=All+Results&zone=Desktop_Storage)
"The Firmware Update Page"
This is the page for the 'official' Seagate firmware update. The previous 'discussion' threads
have since been replaced with an all new forum which may or may not have more answers
and official solutions to your brick. Explore at your own risk/reward.
Brad Garcia's Page
(http://sites.google.com/site/seagatefix/Home)
"Brad's Method"
Another user who was in the same boat that sorted it out and kindly posted his procedure.

...as well as many others who have confirmed these methods in various discussion boards...a
web search will lead you to them easily.
 Hey You! READ THIS! Yes, you. I mean it!

Everything outlined here could make matters worse! You could fry your drive beyond
repair and lose your data! I'm in no way responsible for anything you attempt to do with
these drives and you could potentially void your Seagate warranty by trying these
methods. Proceed at your own risk (but really it's not that hard). Read through the whole
process before you even think about cracking open the case on your PC and start poking
at wires.
Another warning since I've been asked so many times about it...you CANNOT simply
swap the PCB (logic board) of a working drive with your defective one. Apart from the
fact that they'd have to be identical in every respect (model, board revision, firmware, etc.
- not likely), they have information stored on them unique to each individual drive (things
like bad sector maps and data allocation tables) and you will almost certainly scramble
your data doing so. An analogy...just because you and your neighbour have the same
model car, doesn't mean you can use each other's keys to start them. Plus this misguided
swap won't fix your other drive and you'd be left with at least one brick. Don't even try it.
 "Situation Check Alpha - Is This Procedure Right for You?"
First, if you've read this far, we need a quick situation check. We're talking about drives
from Seagate in the 7200.11 series that are impacted by this problem (I'll tell you exactly
how they're screwed in a bit). In my case, it was specifically two units of drive model
ST31000340AS (1TB Model, firmware revision SD15) but as I understand it, the other sizes
in the series are also in the same sinking electronic boat. If you have a defective drive that
is *NOT* a 7200.11, *IS* running SD1A or later firmware already, or is exhibiting a
problem *OTHER* than those described below, this fix will almost certainly NOT help
you. Hard drives do fail for other reasons I'm afraid. There are lots of other types of drives
on the planet and lots of other problems that effect them. This solution is ONLY for 7200.11
drives and ONLY for a very specific set of conditions and problems.
I had a drive go wonky on me before this issue became clear and sent it off as a defective
unit to warranty replacement. If you own one of these drives and have not yet had a
problem, you should jump to the "Update Your Firmware" section this instant and flash all
of your drives to the newest firmware revision available for your specific drive. ASAP.
Doing it yesterday would have been better. In the case of the second drive I had go brick on
me, I was actually in the process of doing just that when it went dead. Also, be aware that
some computer retailers still have stock of these drives with the defective firmware
installed. If you buy a new drive, be sure to check and flash the firmware as needed. One I
ordered just last week (April 2009) came with the old firmware and I suspect that suppliers
order these drives in huge lots so it will take time for them to deplete inventory.
Second, Seagate has in fact now offered to repair these drives (if bought at retail but
apparently not installed inside other brand computers - see tech support thread above) and
attempt to restore your data through their own process for free. In my case, the drives were
covered and they would have been happy to take them into their lab and achieve the same
results. The problem for me is that I live in Canada and several hundred kilometers from a
UPS depot that would have shipped the drives at their expense. Petrol to get there or
shipping on my own locally would have been around a $50 expense so I set that as my
repair budget. I only spent about half that because I already had most of the parts needed
laying about in my mad scientist workshop. I also wasn't too keen on my data crossing
various borders to their labs, waiting weeks for the backlog, and taking the risk of
something happening along the way. For me up here in the hinterlands of British Columbia,
a self-styled approach to repair presented itself and the sums made it smart for me to un-
brick my own drives. Your math may be different so choose for yourself.
Third, a bit more about my particular situation is in order. Since I can't know my audience
here, you should at least know me so you can judge if we're on roughly the same page
(which should in many other non-drive-related ways worry you). As of the last update, I
now own twenty-three of these drives for more than 21 terabytes total available storage. I
began purchasing them for use in my critical data RAID array around May 2008. My data is
increasingly important to me so the plan was to start buying single drives and eventually
migrate them into a more secure RAID 5 array (edit: I have since decided to stick with a
simpler "primitive" backup solution described here). When these problems arose, however,
I was running the drives as stand-alone data drives, not in an array and not bootable. If
you're in either of the latter situations, I highly suggest you read some of the other guides
referenced above to sort out what if any other complications may arise. Also, I'm working
here under Windows XP service pack 3. While there are many, many other grand operating
systems out there, I've only got this one so I can't speak to the others. Jump into those
threads above if this isn't your particular OS train.
And last, I should specifically define the problem which is, in fact, one of two that are
causing these drives to misbehave. You power off your computer and when you come back
later, you find that your hard drive is no longer recognized by the PC...at all. You can't do
anything but watch in disbelief as you double-check your power and data cords to no avail.
Your drive is, as they say, a brick. What has happened is that your drive is locked in a
"busy" (BSY) state by malfunctioning firmware. This causes the drive to become
unreadable by the PC (specifically the internal BIOS) on the most basic levels of the system.
The other problem this series of drives seems to be having is called the "0LBA error" which
is different in scope but also addressed by the threads above. In that case you can see your
drive in the system but it reads as empty. If that's your case, head to the links above and may
the multitude of hardware gods have mercy on your data (but there are solutions, fear not).
Still unsure if this is for you? See the first link of the MSFN forums above to check that
you're on the right bus headed for digital redemption.
If you're past these checkpoints, then I'll assume you're in for the long haul with my little
narrative here. If not, sorry I couldn't help any further with your situation but don't give up.
There are threads galore about this topic on the web and you can find help there. If nothing
else, get Seagate on the phone (800.732.4283) to help point you in the right direction.
(This space intentionally left blank)

(I always wanted to say that)

 "Corporations Happen - Calming Words"
A note about Seagate in all of this mess I think might be a good idea. They are a massive
company with perhaps too many branches to be healthy but all companies, big and small,
make mistakes. As mistakes go, this one was rather a "biggie", but still, they're not the first
corporation to miss a step and most certainly won't be the last. My first drive went belly up
about November 2008 and at the time, they had yet to recognize the extent of the issue with
these drives. I just assumed it was a defective unit, which happens to even the best of
companies, and sent it along for warranty replacement which they did promptly and
efficiently. My data was lost to the process (they send a whole new drive, not your original)
but that's just part of having a computer. In retrospect I'm almost certain it was just firmware
bricked rather than defective which is, in a silver-lining sort of way, good news. At least
now I know what the likely problem was and it wasn't down to cheap components, a surging
power supply, or my own mistakes. My backups saved the day and I went on down the road
of computer ownership merrily.
Seagate has since acknowledged the breadth and depth of the issue and corrected the
problem with a replacement firmware. They've even offered free data recovery for drives to
a large portion of the users. Now I know some people would love to heap scorn on them for
this royal pain, especially those that have fallen between the support cracks and are here
reading this, but in my opinion, it's just one of those speed bumps of life we can't avoid. In
the grand scheme of things, losing a hard drive is not that big a deal. I know, I know, you
can't feel that way until you get your prized pie recipes off your dead drive but all I can say
is relax.
Have a cup of tea. Listen to the birds outside. Kiss your girlfriend for no reason. If you have
a Zen place, go there. If you have a good pub, go there. If you have a good Zen pub, send
me the address. Above all and in the immortal words of Douglas Adams..."Don't Panic".
Would I have liked them to find the problem earlier? Certainly. Would I have enjoyed
reading something other than serial port pin outs last weekend? Sure. They screwed up, but
they eventually admitted it, and now they're trying to fix it for most people. For my two
bytes worth, my opinion of Seagate is no better or worse than it was when I bought the
drives (please, no Seagate rant email). Seagate, if you're out there listening, feel free to link
this solution into your support forums and send along a few complimentary drives my way
to make up for the troubles (that's a joke people, Seagate isn't paying me anything for
this...unless they really want to...LOL).
 "Tools of the Trade - A Parts List"

Some of the collected bits for the project

My approach to drive repair requires just a few specific bits and bobs. If you happen to live
near a university with an engineering department, a computer shop with lots of geeks, or
even an enterprising high school science or technical teacher, they may have any or all of
these things already in their parts drawers. An exhaustive list of what you'll need follows.
 A torx-6 screwdriver with enlarged tip profile (inset) for illustration
1. A torx-6 (aka T-6) screwdriver which has a tiny (really tiny) star-like tip can be found at
bigger home centers or even well-stocked auto parts stores. I owned one already that came
in a set of four sizes for less than five bucks from the latter. Do get a proper screwdriver
with a handle as opposed to a folding multi-tool as I've seen in some places. Touch only the
screw you're working on and none of the other components around the area as they're quite
sensitive. Be gentle yet firm when twisting and don't over- or under-tighten, just nice and
snug. Do NOT attempt to do this with anything other than a proper torx bit. Jeweler's
screwdrivers, tiny blades, and bent forks will only be an epic fail. The sets are often sold
with a label like "works on cellphones" so perhaps a mobile phone shop could help if your
local hardware store is stumped. The web is also a big place, you'll find plenty with a
search.
 A Serial(RS-232)-to-TTL adapter
Pololu Deluxe Serial Adapter P/N: 23201a (Manufacturer's Site)
(http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/126)
Pololu Deluxe Serial Adapter Product Code: RB-Pol-14 (Robot Shop Source)
(http://www.robotshop.ca/pololu-serial-adapter.html)
2. A serial (RS-232)-to-TTL adapter module (aka "converter" or "shifter"). This little gizmo
just translates from your PC (where you'll send commands via HyperTerminal through the
serial port) to the two wires that you'll plug directly into the hard drive. At the level we'll be
on, the hard drive isn't very user-friendly and will only talk in short text commands. This
thing sends the commands and listens for replies once we get it plugged in properly. The
model pictured above is crucial to my method because you'll notice it has pins already
soldered and pointing down from each of the terminals on the edge. This particular model is
also smart enough to sort out some issues with a range of voltages (3v to 5.5v) that a novice
just trying to get his data back shouldn't need to deal with. You can't see in the above photo
but it is a female adapter so you'll need a male cable end (discussed below).
I did order one of these from RobotShop.ca in Quebec and you can see on the link above
they also include a full pin-out description link on their site. They were fast and efficient in
filling the order, even when the item was out of stock the day I ordered. Got it in about ten
days but that included a couple of holidays where post wasn't delivered. Not bad cross-
continent in my opinion.
Note 1: I received a nice email from an engineer at Pololu today (December 2010) advising
me of something they've seen in the field with their adapter now that hundreds of you are
out there unbricking your drives. It seems that there is a destructive LC voltage spike
phenomenon that can occur when using particularly long or flimsy jumper wires. My
reasonable guess is that this phenomenon can effect ANY brand of adapter so take heed. A
strong enough spike can damage your adapter permanently so use reasonably short jumper
wires in your setup - I just measured mine and they never exceeded 30cm (12 inches) in
total and were made of 22 gauge solid (not stranded) copper wire. Also be sure your power
supply is nice and healthy as one that is weak or ailing can exacerbate the issue. They have
an interesting paper on the effect linked on the manufacturer's site above for those of you
interested in such things as well as a very cheap preventative measure (a fifty-cent
electrolytic cap inserted into the setup - with a photo and instructions even) which should
completely prevent such spikes from effecting your adapter. Whether you add this extra
component or just keep your jumpers nice and short is up to you but at least now you have
the info at your disposal which should alleviate any tendency to panic about such things.
Thanks to Ben at Pololu for the info from the field.
Note 2: There are other makes and models of these adapters out there (some cheaper, some
more expensive, some built onto the ends of cables, etc.) that work just fine but my attempt
at a step-by-step guide is written using this particular model for someone who may not want
to sort out any of the oddities of other models. If you plan to use some other version,
certainly read this guide to get a handle on the problem but also visit the other guides to see
where your approach may vary. One of the deciding factors for you will probably be which
of these parts is most readily available in your part of the globe. Also be sure to read the
"grounding and voltage notes" later in the method regarding some reported oddities with
other versions/makes/permutations/cousins/echoes of this sort of adapter.
 A typical (albeit small) breadboard
Sparkfun Electronics Mini-Breadboard P/N: PRT-07916 (Manufacturer's Site)
(http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=7916)
Sparkfun Electronics Mini-Breadboard Product Code: RB-Spa-139 (Robot Shop Source)
(http://www.robotshop.ca/sfe-mini-170-solderless-breadboard.html)
3. A small breadboard. What is breadboard you ask? Do I need to find a bakery? Not at all.
It's an old prototyping gadget that is simply a square of thick plastic with lots of holes.
Underneath, the holes are wired together in a pattern that allows you to "plug" wires into the
holes to make connections without soldering anything. The typical underlying connection
pattern has numbered "rows" of holes electrically wired together with a divide down the
middle that insulates the two sides from each other. For example, in the above picture, each
hole in the row of five, on each of two sides, is connected to its neighbouring holes
underneath the block by a metal conductor. When prototyping, you snap the pins of a chip
or resistor or some other component into the breadboard and then insert wires into the
adjacent holes to make a temporary (non-solder) connection to sort out what needs to get
wired where. In our case, all we need is a few holes connected to the same rows that our
adapter will plug into so that we can make easy connections to those pins on the adapter.
RobotShop has a very small (and very cheap) version that would work perfectly for this
application and I've linked it above. Again, I already owned a larger version but the end
result is the same.
Note: You could perform this operation without the breadboard at all and simply connect
the jumper wires directly to the pre-soldered pins of the adapter. The only problem is that
wires and cables will be flopping about and your adapter isn't heavy enough to resist. The
last thing you want is a wire to come loose in the middle of sending a command to the drive
so for a bit of organization and security of connections, I'm recommending the breadboard
method. It's not as secure as soldering (which is a pain for a novice and can be delicate
work) but it's not as risky as raw wire connection either.
 A plain vanilla serial extension cable
Standard Serial Extension Cable - Male to Female(NCIX Source)
(http://search.ncix.com/products/?sku=686852067)
4. A garden-variety serial extension cable of any useable length. These are relatively old
technology so you may need to dig online a bit but they are still stocked. Should be about $5
and have a male 9-pin connector on one end and a female 9-pin connector on the other. In
other words, a "standard" serial extension cable (note, NOT a 'null modem' cable which has
a few pins switched). I've linked one from NCIX (my favourite "local" supplier) but if
you're like me, you might even find one in that box of cables in the basement you've been
meaning to sort out. That's where the one I used was hiding.
 Female (left) and male (right) jumper wires
Sparkfun Electronics Female Jumpers P/N: PRT-08430 (Manufacturer's Site)
(http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8430)
Sparkfun Electronics Female Jumpers Product Code: RB-Spa-100 (Robot Shop Source)
(http://www.robotshop.ca/sfe-170mm-ff-premium-jumper-wires.html)
Sparkfun Electronics Male Jumpers P/N: PRT-08431 (Manufacturer's Site)
(http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8431)
Sparkfun Electronics Male Jumpers Product Code: RB-Spa-101 (Robot Shop Source)
(http://www.robotshop.ca/sfe-170mm-mm-premium-jumper-wires.html)
5. Male and female jumper wires. These are simply wires we'll use to make connections.
Male versions are pre-formed with a rigid header (pin) on each end that fits into the
breadboard holes. Female versions are just the opposite and give you a "hole" on both ends
of a short piece of wire. I had piles of these laying around but have linked a couple small
packs above, again from RobotShop (I swear, they're not paying me to say this). The upshot
of having both female and male versions is that you can link one of each together to form a
male-to-female connection as needed. The packets of ten each (a typical minimum for a
couple bucks each pack) should be more than enough for our job. Real misers could just use
single conductor wire and strip the ends themselves in place of the male versions. About the
only thing you can't do is try to use stranded wire (lots of little conductors spun together) as
it will crumple and crinkle when you attempt to insert it into the breadboard holes.
Note: Please re-read the note about jumper lengths and the LC voltage spike phenomenon
more likely to occur if your jumpers are TOO long.
 A serial port header for connecting internally to a motherboard (top connector) and
externally to a cable (bottom connector)
6. A serial port on your PC. This, unfortunately, may be a bit of a stumbling block as most
modern PCs don't have them any longer (they favour USB ports nowadays). You can
inspect your machine and look for a 9-pin male port (elongated "D" shape with two rows of
pins, like the connector on the bottom of the picture above) but if you're missing one,
perhaps look to an older machine in your house or move this whole project to a friend's
house that has what you need on their machine. It doesn't matter which PC you use to fix the
drive as long as you have the serial port, a power supply, a CD/DVD drive, and a copy of
HyperTerminal (via Windows XP or later). There are also USB-to-TTL adapters that could
be used in place of the one from Pololu listed above but you'll need to sort out your specific
solution by reading the threads referenced above for that. I think making HyperTerminal
talk to that emulated port might take some electronic jiggling but it certainly sounds
possible, I just didn't need to try both types of ports, one was enough.
Also, most modern PC motherboards still have an internal connector to a legacy serial port
built onto them but you may need to buy a cheap connector that goes from there to an
external port. That was my case using an ASUS motherboard and the header pictured above
was all I was missing. A small archeological dig into the parts drawers produced appropriate
results so yet again I was spared ordering another widget to make this all work. I simply
plugged it in and made sure the port was turned on in my BIOS. Check your motherboard
manual to see if you're in the same situation.
Note: However you get there, you'll need to know the serial port number (e.g. COM1,
COM2, etc.) assigned to the port by your system. This can be found by looking in the
properties of your system. Under Windows XP, simply right-click the "My Computer" icon
and select "Properties". Then go to the "Hardware" tab, followed by the "Device Manager",
and look at "Ports" to see them listed with the port numbers beside. If you happen to have
more than one, sort out which one you'll be plugging into so that you can point
HyperTerminal in the right port direction later. If you're on Vista, I feel your pain but can't
help you any further. If you're on Win7, you're smart enough to sort it out on your own. If
you're on anything Linux, you're smarter than me and this guide in general.
 A typical power supply with an empty "molex" connector indicated in red
7. A power supply. By this I mean a computer power supply and you're probably thinking
"Don't I already have one of those in my PC?" and you'd be correct. You can use that power
supply certainly, but depending on your physical layout, it may be a bit of a stretch on cable
lengths and such so a little planning here is in order. You'll need to be able to plug an empty
"molex" power cable (a standard type on 99% of PC power supplies) into the power adapter
listed below. More details follow but at this point, just sort out your access ahead of time so
you don't have to fight with cords or do any cable yoga to get power to your device.
In my case, I have a spare power supply mounted to a test board with a test motherboard
plugged in (they typically won't power on unplugged from a motherboard) and that worked
well for me. You may also be able to use the power from an external hard drive enclosure or
some other similar setup but this isn't necessary with a bit of planning. Your existing power
supply will work just fine.
Note 1: Some of the other guides out there have mentioned, and even used, a small battery
to power their serial adapters. While this is certainly possible, Ancient Electronics 101 says
that you can run into grounding problems when using more than one power source (and you
need to have one line-powered for the drive which can't run off batteries) so I've opted to
ignore the battery possibilities for the sake of simplicity. Two extra wires and a bit of
improvising also seems a lot simpler than finding the right voltage battery, a battery holder,
grounding, etc. etc.
Note 2: Be sure that your power supply is in good working order. I've had several reports
that older or under-rated units can wreak havoc with your setup by either not powering the
adapter properly or worse yet, by generating the LC voltage spikes discussed earlier. If
you're smart enough to use a voltmeter to test your unit's output before starting, you could
very well save yourself more headache down the line since power issues can be sneaky and
tricky to spot.
Power adapter with connectors for (left to right), a SATA drive, a four-pin fan, and a four-
pin molex
8. A molex-to-SATA power adapter with an additional power feed for easy wire tapping.
Here is where I may fail you miserably on supply sources. I already had one of these in my
box of goodies downstairs. I think it may have come with either my power supply or my
motherboard but other likely candidates are internal and external drive enclosures where it
would be a logical accessory. I assure you they're out there and cheap. The intended use for
this thingy is to supply power to an extra fan or light inside the computer case by tapping
into an existing molex power connector (the end with four big pins) and giving you both a
SATA power connector (for a drive) and a tiny four-pin female connector (the end with four
small holes). The particular configuration of the latter connector isn't really important
because we're not going to use it as intended. Rather, we're just going to plug a couple of
male jumper wires into the red and black wires to feed power to our serial adapter.
Take this picture to any decent computer store and ask the techs to dig around in the back.
I'll bet they have something that will work they'll give you for free. It would help if you
compliment them on their t-shirts and tell them you have a cute sister who loves Star Trek
(I'm a self-confessed nerd so I can say that without being insulting, no hate mail please).
Note: If you're really having problems finding this adapter, a molex-to-SATA adapter
without the extra power feed should be incredibly easy to locate. With that configuration,
you'll have to insert a pair of male jumper wires into the back of the molex end (in the
proper black and red wire sections) and try to get a solid connection. It won't be pretty but
it will work. Just make sure the connection won't come loose in mid-operation. If you're
unsure about it, enlist a tech-savvy friend but don't screw around with power if you're
unclear about what you're doing. Please. I'm begging you.
9. If you want to reuse the drive, a bootable disc burned with the repaired firmware version
SD1A*. The firmware and the procedure is well documented on the "Seagate Firmware
update page"
(http://community.seagate.com/cso_community_zones?catName=&kbid=ka030000000tgxl
AAA&search=7200.11+firmware&searchFilter=All+Results&zone=Desktop_Storage). For
the process, you'll of course need a working computer with a writeable drive but that's all
covered on that same page under the "how to burn an .iso image onto a CD" link at the
bottom. (*Or whatever the most current revision for your specific drive model is by the time
you read this. See the Seagate Firmware page for details.)

10. A terminal emulation program like HyperTerminal. Windows XP (and I think some
earlier versions) already includes a copy of this program. If you need to find another, a
search for "terminal emulation software" will produce several other free versions (e.g.
PuTTY, TeraTerm, etc.).

11. A small piece of cardstock. Yep, I said cardstock. Plain old thick, rigid paper. It might
help a bit if it's slightly slippery on one or both sides, like something you'd find stuck inside
slick, pre-printed retail packaging. It will be used to temporarily break the connection
between the drive's logic board and motor contacts in our process. Nothing metal, foil, or
even plastic as they can all have conductivity and static issues. Dig out that postcard you
sent yourself from Holland last year. It needs to be about that thick so you can pull it out
midway through the repair without ripping.

12. A small piece of sandpaper, or in extreme cases, a small utility knife. These are needed
to slim down the plastic connectors we'll use to plug into the data pins on the drive itself. In
some cases you may not need these, depending on the thickness of the wire ends you have
available.

To appease your inner accountant, even if you didn't have any of the parts beforehand like I
did, my guess is that whole ball of wax will set you back about $40 in Canada plus shipping
and GST. Probably about £20 in the UK or $30 in the States from what I can see of online
prices. Especially if you can score some of the items from a friend, a nearby school, or your
own parts stockpile, it seems like a good trade to save a few weeks with Seagate's official
support. Even more of a bargain if you don't happen to have that option in your situation.
Perhaps you can even find other people near you between the same rock and hard place and
share the costs? It won't take you half an hour to be done with all the gear and then you can
hand it off to the next person in need.
 "Down to Business - Prep the Drive"
The first thing we need to do is get the drive ready. Here it will help you to see a drive with
the logic board completely removed so that you can tell what we're attempting to
accomplish but in your case, you do not need to remove the board completely. As you can
see in the picture below, there are two sets of contacts under the board. It's the three contacts
near the centre marked in red (the "motor" contacts) that we're trying to insulate from
contact temporarily by using our fancy cardstock inserted in the right spot.

Drive with logic board completely removed (left) and close view of three centre "motor"
contacts (right) outlined in red
With nothing connected to the drive and on your nice, clean, static-free work surface (you
have found yourself one of those, right?), set your drive on a protected surface and loosen
the screw indicated below in red with your torx T-6 screwdriver. It isn't a long screw so be
careful not to unscrew it more than a few turns. This should allow you to insert the
cardstock next to the screw and between the logic board and motor contacts so that the
connection is broken. Turn the screw one or two rotations tighter just to ensure the screw
stays in place but do not apply any pressure to the cardstock. This will be pulled out with
power on during the middle of the procedure so if you feel the need to safely test the
method a few times without power, now is the time to do so.

(Note: Some guides on the web have suggested insulating the *other* set of contacts (the
"head" contacts) you see in the lower left of the above photo to the right. I tried this
originally and it didn't work for me but obviously others have had some success with it. In
*my* case, with 1TB model drives, I can assure you that insulating the slightly easier to
access motor contacts worked where the head contacts method didn't. I suspect the specific
model of your drive will account for the varying levels of the results so if one way doesn't
work for you, think about trying the other. You'll know to look here if the HyperTerminal
session won't allow you to spin down the drive and continues to give you the BSY error in
reply - "LED:01...blah blah blah". If you're allowed to spin down the drive, then this bit isn't
your issue.)
 The main screw to loosen outlined in red
If your cardstock or logic board is being stubborn, it is relatively safe to unscrew any of the
other five screws that hold the logic board onto the drive case at this point since there is no
power applied. Still, this is a delicate piece of electronics so avoid excessive handling and
by all means, be careful of things like static discharge, stray screws or screwdriver tips, and
gravity (aka "oops"). If you need to further loosen the logic board to insert the card in the
right place, don't be afraid to do so. Better to loosen a few extra screws than jam the
cardstock into a compromising position under the board or worse still, damage the contacts.
Once you have the cardstock in place, snug up all but the centre screw marked in red above.
While it shouldn't impact your efforts, be aware that the two outside corner screws are about
triple the length of the other four and that there is an insulating foam pad between the drive
case and the logic board that needs to remain in place and unaffected by our little procedure.

Other screws that may need loosening to accomplish cardstock insertion

The next thing to do is get a connection onto the RX (receive) and TX (transmit) pins on the
drive as illustrated below.

Four drive pins next to SATA data connector in red.

The two pins closest to data connector are RX and TX
You'll need to use two of your female jumper wires. In the case of the specific models
linked above in the parts list, the plastic housing on the ends was ever so slightly too wide to
fit onto the pins in the space available. Just lay one end flat on your table and gently reduce
the plastic housing down to size using the sandpaper (or in extreme cases shave down with a
utility knife) so that they'll snugly and securely fit onto the drive pins. In my case, it was
less than ten seconds of sanding for each of the two wire ends. When you have those ready,
plug one each into the RX and TX pins (it doesn't matter which one is which at this point,
we'll deal with that soon enough). It may help to use two different colours of wire so you
can easily differentiate the connectors later.

Drive prepped with cardstock (orange) and jumper wires to drive RX and TX pins
 "Building the Perfect Beast - Device Assembly"
Ok, good work so far. Time to plug the pieces together and get some power flowing. Onto
your breadboard, plug the serial adapter pins in so that each is on its own row with a few
extra empty holes exposed next to each pin. Remember that the horizontal rows of the
breadboard are all wired together so your adapter should be vertical, i.e., the pins of the
adapter go up and down several rows, not across one row.

Serial adapter plugged into breadboard

Connect your serial cable to the serial port of your computer and the 9-pin port on the
adapter. Make sure the cable is secured down and that nothing will move while you're in the
middle of sending commands to your drive. I suggest duct tape (aka The Handyman's Secret
Weapon). Granted, I suggest duct tape any chance I get and can rarely pass up the
opportunity for a duct-tape-in-action photo so temper your excitement appropriately. Point
is, you don't want a cable flopping around and ruining your work.

Duct tape in action! Feel the power!

Now we need to power the adapter and test that it is working properly. Make sure your
power supply (and hence computer) is turned off before you start poking around inside your
PC case. We need to get a connection from the power supply in your computer to two of the
connectors on the adapter. If you look closely at your adapter, you'll see one pin labelled
"GND" for ground (fifth from the "top") and one pin labeled "VCC" for voltage common
collector (third from the "bottom"). You want to take two male jumper wires and insert one
end of each into the breadboard next to each of those pins in the row that, as you recall, are
all wired together. This effectively makes your connection to the adapter on one side of
those jumpers.

Jumpers connecting power to the serial adapter

The other end of those male jumpers you just plugged in need to connect to the red and
black wires on the power adapter's small four-pin connector, the one intended to power a fan
as described in the parts list. Insert the loose ends of the male jumper wires into the
corresponding holes on the power adapter, one to a red wire (voltage) and one to a black
wire (ground). Remember too that you can extend most of your jumper wire lengths by
mixing and matching the male and female ends of more wires as needed.
An important note here - the (typically) yellow wire on one side of your molex connector is
+12V and should *not* be wired to anything on your setup other than the pre-wired SATA
power connector for the drive. That much voltage is needed to eventually spin your drive
motors but will almost certainly fry things in the adapter setup we're making here. Frying is
great for three-cheese frittatas and sole meuniere but not for computer components.
Last for this stage is testing the adapter. For this we're going to use one more male jumper
wire and the ease of use our breadboard gives us. You need to locate the primary RX and
TX pins on the adapter (second and third from the top, do not use the pin labelled TX at the
bottom of the adapter, it behaves slightly differently) and connect them together by plugging
the jumper wire between the holes next to both pins. By connecting the two pins together
this way, we are effectively telling the serial adapter to talk to itself. For everyone keeping
score at home, this application of a jumper is called a "loopback". See, you learn something
new here everyday.
 Power connections to serial adapter with temporary yellow loopback connector in upper
left - do not wire into +12v yellow from molex!
Now plug an empty molex power connector from your power supply into the corresponding
connector on the power adapter cable (the large white end with two black, one red, and one
yellow wire in the picture above). These ends are "keyed" in a rough "D" shape so that they
may only be plugged in the right way round.
Turn on your power supply and fire up HyperTerminal. This is the simple communication
program that is included with Windows XP and can usually be launched from the Start ->
All Programs -> Accessories -> Communications menu (the default location). If it has been
deleted from those menus (it's not widely used these days), try doing a search of your
computer for "hypertrm.exe". It is most likely still in the windows directory. Worst case,
you can re-install it from your original Windows discs.

The standard HyperTerminal session

When starting up HyperTerminal, you'll be asked to name the connection (call it anything
you wish) and then which port to use. You should find the COM port number we located
earlier in the pull down menu. After that, a configuration screen will pop up and ask for
settings which should be the following:
Bits per second (baud): 38400
Data Bits: 8
Parity: none
Stop Bits: 1
Flow Control: none

The HyperTerminal configuration screen

Now for our testing, we want to confirm that we have "echo" off. Go to File -> Properties
and select the Settings tab. Then select the ASCII setup button and confirm on the next
screen that the "echo characters locally" box is UN-checked. Once confirmed hit OK twice
to back out of the menus which should leave you at a blank HyperTerminal screen.

Confirming that "echo..." is unchecked

Now you can type a few letters and since we have told the device to talk to itself with the
loopback jumper wire, you should see what you type appear on the screen. While it may
seem that you are simply typing on the screen, what is actually happening is that you are
sending a keystroke down to the adapter and then it is being relayed back to you (via the
loopback) and onto your screen. Viola! The adapter is powered and working. If this doesn't
happen, you need to re-check all of your connections to make sure power and data are being
sent where they need to be. Once you have finished this test, you can leave your
HyperTerminal session running but unplug the loopback jumper so that we can make
connections to the drive in the next step.

"The Real Deal - Fixing the Drive"

Ok, we're in the homestretch. If you need to soothe your jangled nerves, take a tea break and
spend some quality time with your dog, cat, or lemur - whoever is around and will listen to
you ramble on about wires and drives for a few moments. We're going to go live with the
actual drive now. Please read this whole section and understand the process before you
continue. Practice if you need to do so before you apply power to the drive.
Where we just had a single jumper plugged into the loopback position, we now want to
make two connections from there to the connectors we added to the TX and RX pins on the
drive. This should take two of your male jumpers and since you've already prepared, should
only take a few seconds. I could explain why you want to connect the RX of the drive to the
TX of the adapter (and vice versa...confused yet? Don't panic!) but it seems those labels
never work out and bewilder both users and manufacturers alike, i.e. no one seems to be
able to nail down any consistency. For simplicity, just plug one into the TX and one into the
RX. We'll sort out if you have it right in a moment.
 All the jumper wires in place (left) and the completed setup (right) ready for power to be
connected to molex (lower right of photo)
With the data wires plugged in from the drive to the serial adapter pins, it's time to plug the
SATA power connector from your power adapter into the drive that has been prepared with
the cardstock. Once you've done this, wait about 15 seconds and hit CTRL-Z (that's the
CTRL key and Z key simultaneously) in your HyperTerminal session. What should appear
on the screen follows below.
For reference, the prompts and messages that should appear are in blue, and the commands
you need to type are in red with the keystroke (enter) indicating the enter key on your
keyboard. Make certain you type each of these commands exactly as they are here, being
case sensitive in the process.
CTRL-Z
F3 T>
If this prompt doesn't appear, don't panic! You probably just have the TX and RX pins
backwards. Simply swap those wires on your breadboard, wait 15 seconds, and hit CTRL-Z
again to get the prompt.
It has become clear in the feedback I get from you kind folks that sometimes - typically
when using a different brand of adapter from the version I used - you may get "stuck" at
this point and pull your hair out trying to get an answer from the drive in HyperTerminal.
Apart from all the obvious "is everything connected properly?" and "did I pass the loopback
test?" sort of checking you should do, you might investigate the following notes that seem to
help many folks in these "no answer from the adapter" cases. If you get the prompt, pat
yourself on the back and skip these next few tidbits that will only cloud your mind and your
digital repair day.
*** Grounding Note *** if you're not using the Pololu brand adapter (and almost certainly
if you're using power from different sources like batteries or a second power supply - not
recommended): The addition of a ground connection from the next pin over on the drive
(third from the SATA data connector, i.e. the DRIVE GROUND pin) to the grounds on your
adapter setup seems to help many people get a reply from a stubborn brand of adapter. If
you're using the breadboard, it should be as simple as a female jumper on the drive pin to a
male jumper plugged into the row of holes next to the ground pin on the adapter. I'm sorry I
don't have photos here but with the adapter I used, this step wasn't needed.
*** Voltage Note *** : There are many reports of adapters that don't behave well unless
they get exactly the level of voltage they desire. The reason I chose the Pololu is that it has
the ability to navigate a range of voltages but the adapter you have may be more picky.
Check your voltage levels against the requirements spelled out in the specs of your adapter
since refusal to communicate with HyperTerminal may be down to this issue.
Still stuck without a prompt? You're probably out of my realm of knowledge since I only
used the Pololu brand and got the prompt straight away. Please understand that with the
thousands of different setups out there, you might have better odds asking a group of people
rather than just one crazy hermit on the side of a Canadian mountain like me. Perhaps it's
time to head to those forums listed above and see if you can find someone in a boat similar
to your own floating on the murky waters of digital doom?
Once you have the prompt, we want to access level two by typing
F3 T>/2 (enter)
Which changes to the level two prompt
F3 2>
And now, we have to spin down the motor (note it is a capital letter in this case)
F3 2>Z (enter)
Which will reply with a message (your times will be slightly different on all these replies)
Spin Down Complete
Elapsed Time 0.235 msecs
F3 2>
OK, round one is over and it's time to pull out the card tricks. Or in our case, the cardstock.
With the power still connected, carefully pull the cardstock out allowing the motor
contacts to engage. Very carefully and gently tighten the centre screw we loosened earlier.
Don't over tighten and don't hit anything else on the logic board with the end of your
screwdriver. Remember, all of this has to be done with the power still connected to the
drive. I hope you practiced earlier because a mistake here could fry your drive. Oh, sorry,
you don't need the pressure right now. Maybe I should have mentioned a few deep and
calming breaths before we started this step, eh?
With the cardstock out and all screws tightened, we now return to our HyperTerminal
session and give the spin up command
F3 2>U (enter)
Which returns
Spin Up Complete
Elapsed Time 6.939 sec
F3 2>
Now go to level one
F3 2>/1 (enter)
Which prompts
F3 1>
And give the S.M.A.R.T. erase command
F3 1>N1 (enter)
Which will simply return the level one prompt
F3 1>
At this point, many say you need to disconnect the SATA power cable from the drive and
wait one minute. Yes, count to sixty. Then plug the SATA power cable back into the drive.
There is a bit of debate about this step in the forums but that is what I did and it worked fine
in my case. *IF and only if* you choose not to disconnect drive power temporarily, you
need to at least change back to the test level prompt (type F3 1>/T (enter)) at this point
before continuing.
Now back in HyperTerminal, you'll need to hit CTRL-Z to get a fresh prompt
F3 T>
And it's time to regenerate the partitions with the command (notice the lower case here)
F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 (enter) <-------- note, those are 'zeros' not 'ohs', i.e. the digit, not the
letter
And now you need to be patient. I have reports of this command taking around sixty
seconds (as was my case) and up to ten minutes to execute. It will send back several
intermediate messages but will eventually return the following message (with a different
time):
blah blah blah
blah blah blah (ok, so I'm paraphrasing here)
User Partition Format Successful - Elapsed Time 0 mins 37 secs
When you get the final line of the above message, and only after you get it, you can power
everything down safely and pull the jumper wires off the drive, out of the power connectors,
and anywhere else you may have stuck them. The hard work is over, just a bit of cleanup
and the firmware revision to handle but at this point, you should be able to see your data
exactly as it was before the drive went brick (cheer now but don't wake the neighbours) and
save it to another hard drive.
 "Save Your Data....NOW!"
It's as simple as the title says. Reinstall your drive and make a backup copy of your data
onto another hard drive or flash drive or where ever you can fit the important things you
want to rescue from data hell. This bricked drive MAY be fixable and workable for the
longer term but let's not risk the firmware going wonky on you again before we get those
all-important backups finished, shall we? Copy your data and then proceed with the
firmware update if you plan to re-use the drive. If not, start writing the RMA label or
planning the funeral pyre for your old drive. And for everyone's sanity, figure out a proper
backup plan for the future that fits your lifestyle and data and start using the bloody thing.
If you're amazingly unlucky or perhaps missed some of the reset steps above, or even if you
procrastinate about doing a firmware revision for some strange reason after this episode, the
probability increases for your drive to "rebrick" the more times you boot it up. If you find
yourself rebricked before a firmware update is possible, there's no harm in simply following
the fix procedure again. But really, do you WANT to have to do this again?
And because I've been asked a lot about how safe the repaired drives are to use, in my own
personal case, I've continued to use my (now former) bricks after updating to firmware
SD1A (prescribed below) with no apparent additional ill effects. Granted, I didn't even start
this adventure without copious duplicate backups already in my data safe so I'm not really
risking much using the repaired drives. Whether you choose to trust them is in your own
bag of choices but mine have been merrily ticking over 24x7 for more than a year since
unbricking and will continue to do so until I retire them as I usually do about every four
years. I note at this update (July 2010) the completely firmware-unaffected 7200.12 models
are now the norm with the 7200.11 all but discontinued as a new product so this firmware
bug will eventually fade away once inventories and the installed base die of natural causes
other than firmware.
 "The Home Stretch - Updating Your Firmware"
Now that you've unlocked your drive from the busy (BSY) state, it's time to peer into the
murky depths of your drive's firmware and make sure this doesn't happen again. For this
step, I like to unplug any other drives I may have in my system and plug in only the SATA
data and power connectors of our repaired drive and a CD/DVD drive. Insert the bootable
firmware disc you made earlier with the instructions at the official Seagate Firmware page:
(http://community.seagate.com/cso_community_zones?catName=&kbid=ka030000000tgxl
AAA&search=7200.11+firmware&searchFilter=All+Results&zone=Desktop_Storage) and
power up your system. Your system should boot to a black screen with text instructions
from the firmware disc. If not, you may need to enter your computer BIOS and change the
order of your boot devices so that the CD/DVD is used first (instead of trying to boot from
the hard drive). Also confirm that you made the firmware disc bootable using the
instructions from the Seagate site. Follow the prompts to scan and flash the new firmware
revision SD1A* onto your drive. Be patient! Each command can take a few seconds and up
to a minute. Make sure NOT to power down during the update process. When done, the
prompts will tell you to completely power down (not ctrl-alt-del soft boot). Do just that. The
disc will guide you, young padawan.
When this is finished, feel free to do a small happy dance. You can plug in any other drives
or devices you may have unplugged earlier and fire up your system normally. You should
see your drive just the way it was before this nightmare started. Just to be sure, I'd suggest a
quick run with Seatools or HDTune to make sure everything seems ok and that the firmware
revision is now definitely reading as SD1A*.
(*Or whatever the most current revision for your specific drive model is by the time you
read this. See the Seagate Firmware page linked above for details.
Now is the time when Hollywood would play the happy ending theme music, the camera
would fade to black, and the warm fuzzy feeling you have would begin to sink in deeply.
The Princess Bride has found true love, Morgan Freeman is on the beach in Mexico, and
Frodo is sailing West as I type. I hope it all helped and that NEXT time, you'll have a better
backup of those treasured digital memories. As payment all I ask is that you speak highly of
Canadians in your local pub, kiss a nerd, and name your children after me in a fit of
spontaneous tribute for helping un-brick your drive (Ok, maybe kissing the nerd is asking
too much).
Best of luck and cheers!

- Carter in Canada
(your favourite source of maple syrup and beavers)
Update 1: Some amazingly generous and grateful people have offered to send me
compensation for this little story that helped fix their drives and while I'm terribly flattered,
all I did was compile information from elsewhere on the web and stick in a bit of text and a
few pictures. It was really no trouble at all. If you want to thank me in this more material
way, please just make a donation of some sort (volunteer time, pet food, good old cash) to
your local animal shelter or a reputable animal-welfare charity like the Humane Society or
World Wildlife Fund. They're the causes I care about most.
Update 2: I no longer need the old website and addresses (mapleleafmountain.com) where
this tome originally appeared so it will soon evaporate into the past. I'd still like to hear
about your successes out there even though I've long since moved past this particular
project. If you'd like to send me a note, my bright new shiny email (as of June 2014) is
MrSporksHands@gmail.com. Feel free to drop me a line but know that I don't monitor that
email regularly. Best of luck to you all out there. No go make some tea and take a break
from hard drive repair for a while. Look out a window, smell some flowers, and above all...

Don't Panic
(large friendly letters)

A gratuitous picture from my balcony by request as well as one of my editors

ps. No geeks, engineers, or lemurs were harmed in the making of this webpage although a
few pizzas and beers did sacrifice their lives for the cause.
pps. And the cats helped with some of the typing towards the
enha=thaeoieyt5453..tuna...send tuna...