Storage Solutions Is my seagate 500GB gone?

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sam000

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I have this segate model ST3500320AS which is like 18 months old its not showing in my Windows 7 anymore,but the bios detects it:( .

Hard disk sentinal software shows:
Performance = 100%.

Health = 88%.

Its also saying this:

There are 3 bad sectors on the disk surface. The contents of these sectors were moved to the spare area.
Problems occurred during the spin up of the disk. This can be caused by the disk itself or huge power load (weak power supply).
It is recommended to examine the log of the disk regularly. All new problems found will be logged there.

No actions needed.
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After a couple of reboots it miraculously showed up in windows :) I ran seatools long and short tests it passed :S should i RMA the drive :huh:.
 
Often it passes the short tests but fails at the Long DST and Generic tests. If you want you can run them too to confirm that the disk is failing.

It seems you'll have to RMA the drive.
 
^^Thanks all for the reply :ohyeah:

I was using the segate as my backup Drive :'(.Bought a WD 500GB blue:( Was able to transfer the data to the WD so a big problem is solved. I got a few questions:

1)Will accel frontline accept my drive what should i tell them cause it passes all the seatool tests but does a houdini act frequently... it shows up in windows for a couple of times then it vanishes on the 3rd boot Dont know why???

2)Harddisk sentinel says the drive has 3 bad sectors ,so can i tell them that? will they accept it or should i show them some kinda proof :huh:.

3)Can i mail my drive to accel as I have to travel 90+kms to get to chennai :ashamed:
 
You might want to check out the free pickup and delivery service if your place doesn't have an Accel office.

ACCEL OFFERS

FREE PICK UP AND DELIVERY SERVICE FOR REMOTE SITE CUSTOMERS

Attention Seagate Customers:

Seagate Customers/dealers in remote cities can now enjoy free pick up and delivery service for in-warranty Seagate products.

Important Note: Customers are requested to note that call centre agent will verify if free pick up service can be offered before registering your complaint.

Step 1: Dial toll free no 1800 425 4535 from BSNL or MTNL line (or) Dial 044-42015212 from other lines.

Step 2: Provide the details of your product, your address etc., to the Call centre agent.

Step 3: If your product is within warranty our call centre agent will provide you a Call Id for your complaint.

Step 4: Keep the defective product in a neatly packed condition and write down the Call Id on top of the box.

Step 5: Our courier agent will come and pick up the parcel from you soon.

Step 6: You will get your replacement delivered to your door step.
Click to expand...

You might have to register at their site first:

Accel Frontline Services

For customer registration information see here:

http://www.techenclave.com/storage-solutions/seagate-warranty-through-accel-customer-registration-158232.html
 
Well, i think the drive is not detected due to some other reason.
I mean 3 bad sectors are not enuf of a reason for RMA. My current Seagate drive has 2 bad sectors and it still rocks :D

Check the power supply. Try reconnecting or connecting to a different PC.
If this is not the primary HDD, see if this is detected by the Disk Management. It sometimes has conflicts with drive letters and is not shown but is dere and shows up once u change the drive letter.

So, try these and stop panicking about just 3 bad sectors. :bleh:
 
You just need to tell them bad sectors, they wont asked u for a count and all
Not even 1% of chance you will get the same drive back as repaired..

you will always get another certified repaired drive or a new one, if u r lucky
It will be the same series or something better

You can avail pickup service like WD, Call the Seagate toll-free number and get that details

sam000 said:
^^Thanks all for the reply :ohyeah:

I was using the segate as my backup Drive :'(.Bought a WD 500GB blue:( Was able to transfer the data to the WD so a big problem is solved. I got a few questions:

1)Will accel frontline accept my drive what should i tell them cause it passes all the seatool tests but does a houdini act frequently... it shows up in windows for a couple of times then it vanishes on the 3rd boot Dont know why???

2)Harddisk sentinel says the drive has 3 bad sectors ,so can i tell them that? will they accept it or should i show them some kinda proof :huh:.

3)Can i mail my drive to accel as I have to travel 90+kms to get to chennai :ashamed:
Click to expand...
 
Oh its like APC they give you an old used/abused piece in return :no:.Moreover , the above replies indicate there is a good chance segate may return my drive
saying its all good as it shows no errors on seatools .But why is the drives Health decreasing with each passing month? Is harddisk sentinnel lying:huh: is it the firmware problem? mine starts with 9QXXXX with SD15 on it , even seatools says i need to update the firmware:(.Can i myself update the firmware :huh: if so please tell me how to do that:).

I will look in the disk management section the next time the segate does the Houdini.

Its good to know segate offering mail service .

Thanks Spectre,clown_abhi,lastguyonthenet :)
 
RMA it ASAP :)

yep ,as suggested by other they will not ask you any question what the problem is etc etc
 
What are you saying
They wont check all those tools u mentioned
They will take the harddisk, ask you what problem it is, and u will get a replacement after 10-14 days
the serial numbers will surely be different

sam000 said:
Oh its like APC they give you an old used/abused piece in return :no:.Moreover , the above replies indicate there is a good chance segate may return my drive
saying its all good as it shows no errors on seatools .But why is the drives Health decreasing with each passing month? Is harddisk sentinnel lying:huh: is it the firmware problem? mine starts with 9QXXXX with SD15 on it , even seatools says i need to update the firmware:(.Can i myself update the firmware :huh: if so please tell me how to do that:).

I will look in the disk management section the next time the segate does the Houdini.

Its good to know segate offering mail service .

Thanks Spectre,clown_abhi,lastguyonthenet :)
Click to expand...
 
Anyways ST3500320AS with firmwire SD15 would require a firmware update or it might stop working at all soon. It's an old issue. Try flashing the new firmware and see if it solves the issue. Checkout the following thread:

http://www.techenclave.com/storage-solutions/st3500320as-7200-11-dead-seagate-giving-144146.html

The factory certified won't be an abused drive. They would certainly have run all the checks to make sure it's fine before shipping them out. However I can't comment on how they compare to new drives.

I think they do RMA the drive for bad sectors, at least that's the reason they RMA'ed my drive for.
 
In that case i will initiate the RMA procedures :(.What program you guys use to nuke the personal data before giving it for RMA? Is DBAN any good? i just used the DOD option in DBAN to nuke my 500Gb segate it took close to 7 1/2 hrs to complete do not know how effective that is so i reformatted the drive again and dont know what to do next, is it ok to install windows and load some nasty viruses and encrypt the whole drive with truecrypt :huh:
 
DBAN is good. If you want higher security wipe, try the PRNG Stream method with 8 passes. Takes around 16 hrs. for a 500 GB drive.

Partition Wizard Home Edition is another free software. It has a couple of disk wipe options including DOD 5220.28. It can be installed and run in Windows itself.

BEST FREE Partition Manager Software for Windows supports all 32-bit & 64 bit Windows No-server OS.

Once you wipe your disk, reformating/reinstalling Windows/encrypting and other measures are not required.
 
Best method to wipe a hardisk is to create a 500gb partition and then run a script which will copy paste a 4~8gb file in that partition till the drive is full, it will take less than 1hr and much better method than all security softwares:)
 
I would panic even at the hink of a bad sector...
Don't wanna risk any of my data (even though I know that the bad sector may not be used to save data by windows).... My hd movies are just too precious to avoid useing FREE RMA service given by seagate.

Also, there is a 75% chance that seagate will not even check the hard drive for any faults...they will just give u a new drive:)
Has happened to me couple of times:ohyeah:
clown_abhi said:
So, try these and stop panicking about just 3 bad sectors. :bleh:
Click to expand...
 
Vercetti, i can understand why u can't lose the data on ur hard drives :P

My HD venture after all kicked off with you :)

But i have backups of data and if it is the system drive, then i dnt worry much. My HD drives are all at 100% health though...:P
 
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