unbrick Seagate 7200.11

 
About 2 months ago I was surprised when one of my DAW's "audio" hardrives stopped showing up in Windows or BIOS.
 
It turned out to be a Seagate 7200.11 and the condition seemed symptomatic of a well documented issue or problem with that particular series that has come to be known as a "brickwall".
 
The mechanics of the drive still functioned normally but it wasn't seen by Windows or Bios.
 
I had some personal music stuff on it that wasn't backed up. All my pro stuff was backed up so I was safe or lucky, but I was rather heartbroken to have foolishly lost some of my personal work for a period of time. We were in the middle of our remodel and I didn't realize how many times I had snuck in a good session with out backing up that stuff. It felt like a lot of creativity had been squandered by my foolishness.
 
I learned that many people were DIY unbricking their effected hardrives so I found some good instructions:
 
https://sites.google.com/site/seagatefix/
 
I ordered a UART device off ebay direct from Hong Kong. It took a few weeks but it finally showed up and I was happy to see that my Win7 system auto loaded drivers for it.
 
I found a copy of Hyperterminal and loaded it on Win7.
 
I tested the connection as per the instructions in the link above, and then I followed the step by step.
 
 
 
It all worked!!!
 
 
I am copying all my "lost" files to a pair of backup drives right now. :-)
 
 
I was fairly amazed... and will remain amazed at the power of the internet to provide helpful information.
 
I fixed this situation with a $7 part that I bought from Hong Kong on ebay.
 
My only other alternative was using one of many recovery services who all wanted to quote the same estimate; $800-$2000 depending on how/if it worked out.
 
 
 
I was fairly apprehensive the whole time as it seemed that if I messed anything up that I would forfiet the ability of having someone with more expertease fix it because of something I might foul up.
 
It turns out that by following the instructions completely that it all worked out ok.
 
Wow.
 
 
I just had to tell someone! :-)
 
 
Good times.
 
 
best regards,
mike

Simple instructions , ..yuh, right. What I don't understand is why you have to take the thing out and use another computer to reprogram it.
Glad it worked, hope I never have to do that.

slartabartfast


That is the first time I have seen the verb unbrick.

I thought it might come from the root "to brick" illustrated by the following anecdote:

An American needed to move supplies across the desert by camel. Experts told him that the journey would require 8 days with no available water on the route, and was impossible since camels can only go without water for 7 days. But the camel drivers at a local bar all agreed that the journey was routinely done, and that they had never lost a camel or a cargo. 

The American loaded his camels and confidently set forth. For 7 days everything was going fine, but on the morning of the 8th day, one by one, his camels keeled over and died. Sitting on the desert sand with the stench of dead camels surrounding him, he was astonished to see a local camel driver coming over the dunes.

"How is it that your camels are still alive," he asked, "when all my camels died by this time?"

"Well," said the driver, "did you brick your camels?"

"What do you mean, brick my camels?," said the American.

"Well everyone knows that camels must be bricked to make this journey. When you start the journey you must lead the camel to the watering trough. He will normally drink enough water to last for 7 days. As you sense that he has almost finished drinking, you must approach the camel from behind holding a brick in each hand. At the last moment you slam the bricks together on his testicles. The sudden gasp he takes will cause him to suck up an extra day worth of water, and you can extend your journey by a day."

"My god," cried the American. "doesn't that hurt?"

"Of course not," said the camel driver, "Well only if you get your thumbs between the bricks." 

CHORTLE!!!!!!