Seagate 4TB ST4000LM024 making sounds - is data recoverable?

curosiontracker

New member
Seagate 4TB ST4000LM024 making sounds - is data recoverable?

Hi - I have 4TB Segate Barracuda with following details:

Part Number: 2AN17V-566
Model Number: ST4000LM024
Family: BARRACUDA25

That is not recognised by OS. (either Linux or Window) or at bios.
It makes a short clicking noise as powers up and then silent thereafter

I have posted a 10second audio (mp3 - will play directly in browser) of the disk at:

[bbvideo=560,315]https://mega.nz/file/DllVwSCY#mij5h3NeUwLa_YaKZql0Gi_yvLZsjAmIvzRCwH4HKh0[/bbvideo]

It has a Linux ext4 FS on it. From the sound above is it possible to tell what is wrong with it and whether I can attempt some recovery myself or via a professional?

Some further notes:

When I plug it into my Linux laptop (usb3-to sata connector) no device is recognised at all. No messages in kern.log etc. Likewise not detected on Windows PC at all.

I can't afford to pay hundreds of GBP (I'm based in UK) and am willing to attempt some small-ish hardware trick if possible. Like opening up and moving bit around. Have access to multimeter and fixit precision toolkit if needed.
Have never done anything like this before with a hard disk - just what I have seen on Youtube but would prefer some expert advise before I potentially make a bad situation worse.
 

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  • seagate.mp3
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Jared

Administrator
Staff member
curosiontracker":280d802u said:
[post]17868[/post] is data recoverable?
Possibly, by a lab. Definitely not DIY.

curosiontracker":280d802u said:
[post]17868[/post] I can't afford to pay hundreds of GBP
Then you probably can't afford to get the data back.

curosiontracker":280d802u said:
[post]17868[/post] Like opening up and moving bit around.
This isn't a head stuck issue where any tinkering inside alone is going to fix it. From the sound, the platters are clearly spinning up and the actuator is moving. Most likely it's failed heads and/or media damage to the platters.

You are welcome to attempt your own heads replacement if you are willing to buy a couple of carefully matched donors, but I'd say you've got about a 10% chance of swapping the heads without killing them. Also, doing this outside of a proper clean room is highly unlikely to succeed (what you probably saw on youtube was done on a much lower density drive). A 4Tb drive is EXTREMELY susceptible to problems from dust contamination.

Also, even if you do manage to successfully replace the heads, there's another 90% chance that you'd need a tool like PC-3000 (much more than a few hundred GBP) to disable some of the drives internal functions and stabilize it enough to actually read the data. Drives don't typically just work after replacement parts, not newer drives anyway.

So all in all, I'd say you have maybe a 0.01% chance of DIY recovery. Sorry to say.
 

curosiontracker

New member
Thanks for the reply. Looks like I might be out of luck unless I want to form out some money!

I plugged it in again to capture any OS messages (just in case) .. this from the Linux kern.log (in case it of any use - NB: macmini3 is the name of the host.

Apr 5 10:09:13 macmini3 kernel: [230386.168727] usb 4-4: new SuperSpeed Gen 1 USB device number 9 using xhci_hcd
Apr 5 10:09:13 macmini3 kernel: [230386.189637] usb 4-4: New USB device found, idVendor=0bc2, idProduct=231a, bcdDevice= 7.08
Apr 5 10:09:13 macmini3 kernel: [230386.189639] usb 4-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Apr 5 10:09:13 macmini3 kernel: [230386.189640] usb 4-4: Product: Expansion
Apr 5 10:09:13 macmini3 kernel: [230386.189641] usb 4-4: Manufacturer: Seagate
Apr 5 10:09:13 macmini3 kernel: [230386.189642] usb 4-4: SerialNumber: 2HC015KJ
Apr 5 10:09:13 macmini3 kernel: [230386.191882] scsi host8: uas
Apr 5 10:09:13 macmini3 kernel: [230386.192416] scsi 8:0:0:0: Direct-Access Seagate Expansion 0708 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
Apr 5 10:09:13 macmini3 kernel: [230386.193282] sd 8:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
Apr 5 10:10:01 macmini3 kernel: [230434.331779] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Spinning up disk...
Apr 5 10:12:25 macmini3 kernel: [230455.396944] ...not responding...
Apr 5 10:13:05 macmini3 kernel: [230618.158227] usb 4-4: USB disconnect, device number 9
Apr 5 10:13:05 macmini3 kernel: [230618.158367] sd 8:0:0:0: tag#23 uas_zap_pending 0 uas-tag 1 inflight: CMD
Apr 5 10:13:05 macmini3 kernel: [230618.158370] sd 8:0:0:0: tag#23 CDB: Read capacity(16) 9e 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 00 00
Apr 5 10:13:05 macmini3 kernel: [230618.246214] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Read Capacity(16) failed: Result: hostbyte=DID_ERROR driverbyte=DRIVER_OK
Apr 5 10:13:05 macmini3 kernel: [230618.246217] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Sense not available.
Apr 5 10:13:06 macmini3 kernel: [230618.498224] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Read Capacity(10) failed: Result: hostbyte=DID_ERROR driverbyte=DRIVER_OK
Apr 5 10:13:06 macmini3 kernel: [230618.498227] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Sense not available.
Apr 5 10:13:06 macmini3 kernel: [230618.594253] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] 0 512-byte logical blocks: (0 B/0 B)
Apr 5 10:13:06 macmini3 kernel: [230618.594255] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] 0-byte physical blocks
Apr 5 10:13:06 macmini3 kernel: [230618.674254] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
Apr 5 10:13:06 macmini3 kernel: [230618.674257] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 00 00 00 00
Apr 5 10:13:06 macmini3 kernel: [230618.754250] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Asking for cache data failed
Apr 5 10:13:06 macmini3 kernel: [230618.754291] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
Apr 5 10:13:06 macmini3 kernel: [230619.250247] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Read Capacity(16) failed: Result: hostbyte=DID_ERROR driverbyte=DRIVER_OK
Apr 5 10:13:06 macmini3 kernel: [230619.250250] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Sense not available.
Apr 5 10:13:07 macmini3 kernel: [230619.490243] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Read Capacity(10) failed: Result: hostbyte=DID_ERROR driverbyte=DRIVER_OK
Apr 5 10:13:07 macmini3 kernel: [230619.490254] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Sense not available.
Apr 5 10:13:07 macmini3 kernel: [230619.890260] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk

1
 

Jared

Administrator
Staff member
Nothing a regular computer will read from the drive is of any relavance in its condition. All the log files in the world mean exactly nothing if the drive is clicking like that. There is virtually no communication happening between your computer and the HDD until the HDD finally gives up and spins down, then the PCB may return some default kernel ID.

FYI, every single time you power on a drive in this state, just assume 10-15% lower odds of recovery being possible even by professionals. If the heads are even a little maligned, they're now sanding your data off with every click.
 
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