Convert raw to NTFS

**oldfred** · January 2nd, 2013

First test or replace cables, it may just be a loose connection with cable. Several users with internal drives solved issues just with new cables.
Beyond that I really do not know.

**AAEIV** · January 2nd, 2013

You are referring to the USB cable, which connects the HDD with the laptop?

I tried to see what BIOS says about that...
When I go to the boot menu, the entry for the USB HDD is empty, something like that

Code:

1.USB HDD:

Could that mean that it's a BSY error?

**oldfred** · January 2nd, 2013

If BIOS does not see it then it still is connection issue or drive issue. And without BIOS seeing no system will see it.
Do you have another system you can test with, or friend, neighbour, co-worker? Just to see if it works there.

**AAEIV** · January 4th, 2013

So this empty entry really means that it's probably a hardware issue.
It could also be a firmware issue.
Searching the web, I saw that 7200.11 seagate series have a firmware issue.
I am tempted to fix it, but I will ask Seagate to do it for me.

The weird thing is that disk utility can actually see it;it cannot do any opperations though...

**AAEIV** · January 21st, 2013

I contacted Seagate Recovery Service so as to advice me on what to do. The told me that in case it's a firmware issue their service will bee free of charge due to the running warranty.

Unfortunately they told me that there is a problem with the heads...

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/19828093/Quote_489646-1.htm

But they asked me 720€, which is a price I cannot afford in any way...

At least now I know what's going on...
Is there a way to fix it by my self?
Where can I find heads for my drive?

Or should I realise that my data are gone forever, which leaves me no other option than to ask for a new drive?

**oldfred** · January 21st, 2013

That seems like a lot, but I believe they manually rebuild a new drive in a clean room with your old platters assuming heads have not damaged platters.

I did see a blog a few years ago where he bought an identical drive and manually rebuilt it himself. The assumption was that without clean room, both drives were going to be unusable but the goal was just to get one read to copy data before dust & dirt killed rebuilt drive. Not sure that can be done anymore by a user.

**AAEIV** · January 21st, 2013

I have never thought of that...
It sounds interesting!!!

The thing is that I may have access to a clean room at my university...
You thing that I should give it a try?

Is it possible to find heads-set for my drive without having to buy a new hdd?

**alphaamanitin** · January 21st, 2013

I doubt you will have luck finding head-sets without buying a drive. Pretty cool your university has a clean room, but it doesn't really matter. Your goal is not to rebuild the drive and getting it permanently working again, but to just get the data copied. If you ask me, unless you have data you have to have, just take the loss. That is what I had to do, it sucked, but I couldn't afford the 2100 dollars (US) to recover the data. Keep the drive around though if it has data that you might want. If you keep the drive nice and safe you may be able to recover data down the road when/if you have the money to do so.

AlphaA

**AAEIV** · January 21st, 2013

I really need that data, that's true.
But I can't afford the 720€... at least at the moment...
I am not sure if I can buy this drive because it's an old model...
It's not available in my country anymore.

After replacing the heads, should I do something concerning the firmware?