dying Seagate 500GB SATA drive?

  • Thread starter Thread starter cpliu
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cpliu

It runs fine for ~ half a year. Without any warning, I have trouble
powering up. It powers up ok like any other HD I've seen but it also
making a clicking noise at a regular pace (~ once a second) like it
got stuck by something at rotation. After a few minutes, it shuts
itself down. If I power it up again, it would go through the same
process like described above.

I have a lot of files on the HD that I'd like to retreive before
sending it back. Are there tricks that I can temporarily making it
work? I wonder if I slap at it at certain angle, it may break free and
work again?? I've seen tips of putting it in a freezer.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

cpliu
 
cpliu said:
It runs fine for ~ half a year. Without any warning, I have
trouble powering up. It powers up ok like any other HD
I've seen but it also making a clicking noise at a regular pace
(~ once a second) like it got stuck by something at rotation.
Click to expand...

More likely what you hear is the drive recalibrating
when it cant read the platters properly.
After a few minutes, it shuts itself down.
Click to expand...

Because it decides that even recalibrating wont read the platters properly.
If I power it up again, it would go through the same process like described above.
Click to expand...
I have a lot of files on the HD that I'd like to retreive before sending it back.
Click to expand...

Smart move not having proper backups.
Are there tricks that I can temporarily making it work?
Click to expand...

You could try putting it in a plastic bag in the freezer for a couple of hours
and see if it will read the platters properly for a short time before it warms up.
I wonder if I slap at it at certain angle, it may break free and work again??
Click to expand...

Its unlikely to stuck and you should be able to feel if its rotating by
powering it up loose and feeling the drive when its powering up.
I've seen tips of putting it in a freezer.
Click to expand...
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Try the freezer, it does sometimes work.

Professional recovery will likely get the data back, but it isnt cheap.
 
Previously cpliu said:
It runs fine for ~ half a year. Without any warning, I have trouble
powering up. It powers up ok like any other HD I've seen but it also
making a clicking noise at a regular pace (~ once a second) like it
got stuck by something at rotation. After a few minutes, it shuts
itself down. If I power it up again, it would go through the same
process like described above.
Click to expand...

Sounds like excessive read or postioning errors. Please post the
full SMART attributes here.
I have a lot of files on the HD that I'd like to retreive before
sending it back. Are there tricks that I can temporarily making it
work? I wonder if I slap at it at certain angle, it may break free and
work again??
Click to expand...

Stiction does not happen to modern drives due to improved
surface coating. You may cause additional damage though.
I've seen tips of putting it in a freezer.
Click to expand...

Unlikely to help, but you can try it.
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Next time -- make backups. Seems this is a lession thathas to
be learned the hard way...

Arno
 
Thank you all for the suggestions. I put it in the freezer for one
night but it didn't help. It might take longer to start the clicking
noise. Here is the recorded noise: http://66.179.233.115/training/xfer/HD_noise.mp3
This is the first time that a HD stopped working without any symptons
first. I carried it to work to backup and retrieve data when needed
and I didn't drop it or mishandle it. Maybe the motion of walking with
it inside a bag or putting it on the table gradually kills it.
I have 90% of files with a second copy or on DVD. There are a few big
files and newer files I don't have backups. It would be still nice if
I can still back them up before sending it back.
The HD won't show up on my laptop. How do I generate SMART attribute?

Thanks for the help,

cpliu
 
cpliu said:
Thank you all for the suggestions. I put it in the freezer for one
night but it didn't help. It might take longer to start the clicking
noise. Here is the recorded noise:
http://66.179.233.115/training/xfer/HD_noise.mp3 This is the first
time that a HD stopped working without any symptons
first. I carried it to work to backup and retrieve data when needed
and I didn't drop it or mishandle it.
Click to expand...
Maybe the motion of walking with it inside a
bag or putting it on the table gradually kills it.
Click to expand...

Nope, but you might have killed it with static if it wasnt an antistatic bag.
I have 90% of files with a second copy or on DVD. There are
a few big files and newer files I don't have backups. It would
be still nice if I can still back them up before sending it back.
Click to expand...
The HD won't show up on my laptop. How do I generate SMART attribute?
Click to expand...

Use Everest
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181
 
cpliu said:
Thank you all for the suggestions. I put it in the freezer for one
night but it didn't help. It might take longer to start the clicking
noise. Here is the recorded noise: http://66.179.233.115/training/xfer/HD_noise.mp3
This is the first time that a HD stopped working without any symptons
first. I carried it to work to backup and retrieve data when needed
and I didn't drop it or mishandle it. Maybe the motion of walking with
it inside a bag or putting it on the table gradually kills it.
I have 90% of files with a second copy or on DVD. There are a few big
files and newer files I don't have backups. It would be still nice if
I can still back them up before sending it back.
The HD won't show up on my laptop. How do I generate SMART attribute?

Thanks for the help,

cpliu
Click to expand...

I listened to your recording.

You have either bad firmware or bad heads.

No amount of freezing or playing around with utilities is going to bring
this drive back to life.

I have seen an enormous surge of recently-manufactured Seagate drives
(high-capacity) coming in for recovery - although admittedly mainly with
failed bearings rather than bad heads or firmware. It is an issue I
will be taking up with Seagate and posting on my website in the coming
days.

From having been the most reliable drives around two to four years ago,
I now see more Seagate drives for recovery than any other, and I no
longer recommend them for reliability.

Recovering that drive is going to be costly.

And, no - I am not offering - I'm snowed under at the moment and
reluctant to take on new work such as that.



Duncan
 
I listened to your recording.
Click to expand...
You have either bad firmware or bad heads.
Click to expand...
No amount of freezing or playing around with utilities is going to bring
this drive back to life.
Click to expand...
I have seen an enormous surge of recently-manufactured Seagate drives
(high-capacity) coming in for recovery - although admittedly mainly with
failed bearings rather than bad heads or firmware. It is an issue I
will be taking up with Seagate and posting on my website in the coming
days.
Click to expand...

Might that be mainly ones of the famed Chinese origin? Or is it
Maxtor models?
From having been the most reliable drives around two to four years ago,
I now see more Seagate drives for recovery than any other, and I no
longer recommend them for reliability.
Click to expand...

There seems to be waves of this: A manufacturer has a reputation
for really good reliability. Then they decide to cut cost or
mess up some other way and theirs are suddenly the worst on
the market. Seen with IBM, sow Seagate. Expecting it with
Samsung some day, although I hope, they manage to avoid it.

Arno
 
I listened to your recording.

You have either bad firmware or bad heads.

No amount of freezing or playing around with utilities is going to bring
this drive back to life.
Click to expand...
That's too bad. Why would a HD have bad heads? I've just started
carrying it to work for 1.5 months. Before that, I've used it for a
while at home (without the need to move it around) without any
problems. Maybe I have it exposed (internal HD) so it got static? This
is an internal unit that I access it with a SATA to USB adapter. Or is
it because of the heat it generated? I carried another external HD to
work for 9 months without problems.
I have seen an enormous surge of recently-manufactured Seagate drives
(high-capacity) coming in for recovery - although admittedly mainly with
failed bearings rather than bad heads or firmware.  It is an issue I
will be taking up with Seagate and posting on my website in the coming
days.
Click to expand...

All my seagate HDs failed in the past. Except this one, they were
refurbished. I also had Maxtor, Western Digital drives. Some had
problems after a few years. None of them failed suddenly like this
one.
Looks like I should avoid Seagate from now on.

It's indeed a big lesson for me. I will backup from frequently from
now on.
 
Arno Wagner wrote in news:[email protected]
Sounds like excessive read or postioning errors. Please post the
full SMART attributes here.
Click to expand...
Stiction does not happen to modern drives due to improved
surface coating. You may cause additional damage though.
Click to expand...

Utterly clueless.
Stiction *does* happen to modern drives *due* to improved surface
coating. That's why landingzones are specially treated to avoid stiction.
Other drives have landing ramps to avoid this.
If for some reason the heads park in the data area stiction becomes a
real possibility.
 
The HD won't show up on my laptop. How do I generate SMART attribute?
Then its passed its useby date and you wont be able to get the data back yourself.
Click to expand...

thanks for the reponse. I've returned it for replacement. I probably
won't use USB adapter on HD long term now. Besides moving it around in
my bag often, heat might be the reason that killed it. It's hard to
bite that a new HD could have died in 6-8 months.
 
I am trying to find a external HD enclosure for the replacement HD. I
found most enclosures do not have a fan anymore. My 500GB is hot to
touch (although not boiling hot). Is overheat a threat to modern HD
now? Or are the new enclosures cooling HD differently?

Thanks for the help,
 
cpliu said:
I am trying to find a external HD enclosure for the replacement HD.
I found most enclosures do not have a fan anymore. My 500GB is hot to
touch (although not boiling hot). Is overheat a threat to modern HD now?
Yes.

Or are the new enclosures cooling HD differently?
Click to expand...

Nope.
 
Previously cpliu said:
I am trying to find a external HD enclosure for the replacement HD. I
found most enclosures do not have a fan anymore. My 500GB is hot to
touch (although not boiling hot). Is overheat a threat to modern HD
now?
Click to expand...

It still is. Some people cite the Google-study that it is
not anymore, but that study 1) did not differentiate brands
2) are for HDDs in a server environment, were they run 24/7
and do not get really hot. It seems that a temperature
diffference between 30C and 40C does indeed not have a major
impact. The difference between 40C and 50C or above can be
entirely different.
Or are the new enclosures cooling HD differently?
Click to expand...

No. HDD cooling in external enclosures is still exceedingly
bad in many cases. I have posted reviews of two enclosures
here, one with fan that could also be suitable for the Seagate.
The one without fan was unsuitable, except for low-power Samsungs
and, likely, for the new low-power Hitachis.

I would not advise use of a fanless enclosure, unless your
have temperature measurements for your specific disk that
shows tolerable temperatures under load (say, <= 45C).

Arno
 
cpliu said:
It runs fine for ~ half a year. Without any warning, I have trouble
powering up. It powers up ok like any other HD I've seen but it also
making a clicking noise at a regular pace (~ once a second) like it
got stuck by something at rotation. After a few minutes, it shuts
itself down. If I power it up again, it would go through the same
process like described above.

I have a lot of files on the HD that I'd like to retreive before
sending it back. Are there tricks that I can temporarily making it
work? I wonder if I slap at it at certain angle, it may break free and
work again?? I've seen tips of putting it in a freezer.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

cpliu
Click to expand...


Just noticed this post.

Of the newer than 1-year-old high capacity drives I am receiving for
recovery, Seagate make up for about 65% of the _total_ drives I am
receiving - including Western Digital, Samsung (not one HD501LJ in for
recovery so far) and Hitachi. All of them display bearing seizure,
which is difficult to recover from.

From having dropped from being (in my opinion) the best drives available
two years ago to now being what I would consider at best not of
merchantable quality and at worst catastrophically unstable, I would
avoid Seagate drives (across the entire brand, 2.5" drives included)
under all circumstances.

I have approached Seagate about this issue, but they deny the existence
of any anomalies.



Duncan
 
The replacement Seagate 500GB HD is making some strange beeping noise
when booting up and copying files.

What does it mean? It's only a few weeks old. I never had good luck
with refurbished HDs.
 
The replacement Seagate 500GB HD is making some strange beeping noise
when booting up and copying files.

What does it mean? It's only a few weeks old. I never had good luck
with refurbished HDs.
Click to expand...

I called Seagate and was told that could be a bad HD or HD does not
get enough power. The beeping was mechanical noise not any warning
mechanism inside. Strangely, it didn't happen after taking it home.
 
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