How do i fix a Seagate ~10.8 GB ST410800N SCSI drive?

[ken harwood]

hi.

my ~10.8 GB Seagate SCSI drive has died. i've asked friends about
finding a cheap, reliable data recovery service, but they often tell me:
"just find an identical drive and swap the electronics." now my questions
to you:

1) can this swapping operation be performed on an ST410800N?

the drive's documentation mentions it has "embedded SCSI" (as in:
"don't try this at home"). still i bought this as a refurb" ~someone~
once took it apart to perform some repair! if this is doable, then ..

2) what kind of tools do i need?

it looks to me like the PCB is attached by multiple small screws and
some sort of cable. if you tell me: "just a screw driver and a knife"
then i can handle it. i don't have any tools more sophisticated than
that. how does that cable come off? for reference the "cable" attaches
near connector marked J30 and (i think it's) J23.

3) would i need the identical drive or would some similar model suffice?

those old drives can be a little hard to come by - even on e-bay.

some other drive symptoms: my Adaptec card (AHA-2940) can "see" the
drive but has an error talking to it. i activate the Card's utilities
at start-up (<Ctrl-A>), arrow down to the Seagate, and hit <ENTER>.
the utility tells me:

-------------- UNEXPECTED SCSI COMMAND FAILURE ----------------
SCSI ID #2
Sent: 03-00-00-00-0E-00-F0-00-02-00
Host Adapter Status: 00 "No host adapter error"
Target Status: 02 "Check condition"
Sense Key: 02 "Not ready"
Sense Code: 04
Sense Code Qualifier: 02
------------------------------------------------------------

the busted drive is a secondary. my machine can still boot off the
original, primary drive. my (slow, 8 yr old PC) BIOS can detect the
busted drive (i think its message is: "device connected but not ready")
but my OS (WinNT4) can never get the drive to come-up. NT sort of
says: "well, i tried but the heck with it!" and proceeds to boot the
machine w/out it.

you know, after the machine boots i can often hear a soft "whirring sound"
that reminds me of a fishing rod letting out slack after a trout has hit the line.
right now i'm not sure if that sound is coming from the busted drive or the
working one. old machines die hard.

i tried using the Seagate SEATOOLs (boot) utility. the software detects
my primary (Quantum Fireball 1 GB) drive (generically) but does not detect
the secondary. for reference, the disk is a Seagate ST410800N. i bought it
on e-bay as a refurb about 3 years ago. for more information about the disk
you can see:

http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/specs/scsi/st410800n.html


thanks.

- kenneth harwood

 

[Rod Speed]

hi.
lo.

my ~10.8 GB Seagate SCSI drive has died. i've asked friends about
finding a cheap, reliable data recovery service, but they often tell me:
"just find an identical drive and swap the electronics." now my questions
to you:

1) can this swapping operation be performed on an ST410800N?

Very likely.

the drive's documentation mentions it has
"embedded SCSI" (as in: "don't try this at home").

Nope, it isnt saying that.

still i bought this as a refurb" ~someone~
once took it apart to perform some repair!

Seagate did most likely.

if this is doable, then ..

2) what kind of tools do i need?

Nothing special, just a screwdrive for the screws
that attach the logic card to the body of the drive.

it looks to me like the PCB is attached by multiple
small screws and some sort of cable. if you tell me:
"just a screw driver and a knife" then i can handle it.

You dont need a knife.

i don't have any tools more sophisticated than that.

You dont need anything more sophisticated than that.

how does that cable come off? for reference the "cable"
attaches near connector marked J30 and (i think it's) J23.

Dunno about that drive specifically but its usually easier than it looks.

Quantum drives of that vintage have a flat flexible printed circuit
cable and that basically just has the bare end of that going into
the connector. There are a coupld of tiny clips on either side of
the cable which can be released with a fingernail. The clip slides
out along the edge of the cable. Once those are released, the
flexible printed circuit cable just slides out of the connector.
And you engage it by doing that in reverse, slide the cable
into the connector and snap the clips in again.

3) would i need the identical drive

Thats generally safest.

or would some similar model suffice?

It may well do if its the same model, just different capacity.

those old drives can be a little hard to come by - even on e-bay.

some other drive symptoms: my Adaptec card (AHA-2940)
can "see" the drive but has an error talking to it. i activate
the Card's utilities at start-up (<Ctrl-A>), arrow down to
the Seagate, and hit <ENTER>. the utility tells me:

-------------- UNEXPECTED SCSI COMMAND FAILURE ----------------
SCSI ID #2
Sent: 03-00-00-00-0E-00-F0-00-02-00
Host Adapter Status: 00 "No host adapter error"
Target Status: 02 "Check condition"
Sense Key: 02 "Not ready"
Sense Code: 04
Sense Code Qualifier: 02
------------------------------------------------------------

That would be worth trying a logic card swap.

the busted drive is a secondary. my machine can still boot off the
original, primary drive. my (slow, 8 yr old PC) BIOS can detect the
busted drive (i think its message is: "device connected but not ready")

Can you feel it spin up ? You may need to take it out
of the case and run it loose on the desktop to be sure.

but my OS (WinNT4) can never get the drive to come-up.
NT sort of says: "well, i tried but the heck with it!" and
proceeds to boot the machine w/out it.
Yep.

you know, after the machine boots i can often hear a soft "whirring sound"
that reminds me of a fishing rod letting out slack after a trout has hit the line.
right now i'm not sure if that sound is coming from the busted drive
Probably.

or the working one. old machines die hard.

Sometimes they do, sometimes they dont.