5

HDD Recovery with Serial Interface

Revover your data from bricked HDD via serial interface ...

I had a Seagate ST31000333AS model 7200.11 1TB HDD and it's stop working. That was an external HDD in USB case. I was using for backup and I tried to get some files from my HDD and I couldn't reach the drive. HDD motor start to spin up but after couple seconds heads are parking and spin down and start over again (forever). I tried to be optimistic and I thought AC adapter was broken and not enough power for USB box, I plug it to Desktop but result was the same. I fixed many HDD before some of my friends (notebook, desktop, Raid 5 etc) but this time it was my data's

I searched many forums on internet and I read about there is a fuse part on pcb. I replace that fuse but nothings changed. And I decided to use serial cable solution. Here you can find steps and some clues about my progress.

I bought a CA-42 cable. There are 2 type of them. One of them is original and the other one 3rd party. But both are working well. The original has 5-6 thin cable but mine has only 3.

If you have any further questions please contact to me.

Here are the steps:

Cut the phone side of your cable and use pin sockets.

Mark GND (I checked with OHM meter) on my CA-42 there are 2 cables left. One is Rx and the other one is Tx. On original one when you open blue USB box you can see RX-TX-GND written on pcb.

Some people are using paper block on motor side and some of them using on data side. I used thick business card on data side. Loosen screws on PCB and put paper between pcb and data pins

After this point when I apply power on HDD, heads are did not parked. I realize that problem is on PCB. If you working on Vista there is no Hyperterminal anymore. You can search on internet "hypertrm.zip" and open on a folder and use hypertrm.exe. Here are the steps:

1. Plug CA-42 cable to USB without any connection. And install drivers about this cable. Under device manager you will see new device. Pls note that Com Port number. Mine is Com Port 11


2. Unplug USB side and plug small sockets on HDD serial port. I found GND already. If your system cannot talk with HDD switch Tx with Rx


3. Apply power to HDD, motor will start to spin up and plug USB to your computer


4. Setup Hyperterminal. My port is on Com 11 :
   Bits per second : 38400
   Data bits : 8
   Parity : N
   Stop bits : 1
   Row control : N


5. After this point when you press Ctrl + Z keys you have to see below screen on hyperterminal if you cannot see switch Rx and Tx

ASCII Diag mode 
F3 T>

now here are the commands : (P.S. be careful to uppercase and lowercase while you write commands)

F3 T> /2
F3 2> Z

If it's ok you have to see.

Spin Down Complete Elapsed Time 0.140 msecs

If you see after Z command

LED:000000CC FAddr:0025DDD9 or similar message listen to your HDD. When motor is down (not spin) press Ctrl + Z next /2 and next Z . Now you have to see Spin Down Complete on screen.

Now do not move HDD and remove the paper between PCB and Data pins. (Meanwhile all the cables are must be attached on HDD "USB and power cables"). Be sure to tight screws especially on data pin side.

If you're ready press U key and spin up motor

F3 2> U

After a while you have to see below message

Spin Up Complete Elapsed Time 8.363 3 secs

After pressing U if you will see below message there was a problem on communication between PCB and HDD. Means PCB is not touching pins correctly. You have to start over everything from 1st step.

DiagError 00006008
Spin Error
Elapsed Time 39.083 secs
R/W Status 2 R/W Error 84150180

After Spin Up process motor will keep up spinning

New command is : /1

F3 2> /1

Next : N1

F3 1> N1

and : /T

F3 1> /T

Now while USB is attached to the HDD remove power cable from HDD. Wait 10-15 second and plug the power cable back. HDD will start to spin up

If you cannot type any command on screen pls press Ctrl + Z. And type this command i4,1,22 (be careful to uppercase/lowercase)

F3 T> i4,1,22

Now is the heart of commands : m0,2,2,,,,,22 (yes there are 5 commas)

F3 T> m0,2,2,,,,,22

After this command progress will take some time. Don't worry. Get a cup of coffee and relax. You have to see similar to below message. Important one is "User Partition Format Successful " now we can reach our HDD again.

User Partition Format 3% complete, Zone 00, Pass 00, LBA 00004AA5, ErrCode 000
00080, Elapsed Time 0 mins 30 secs
User Partition Format Successful - Elapsed Time 0 mins 30 secs
Zone re-format was skipped.

Remove everythings from HDD and connect to the computer in normal way. Turn on computer you are able to see your HDD again.

Of course copy all important data's on another media in any case.

If you have any further questions please contact to me.