Seagate Tools Erase Track Zero

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  1. Zero-fill will erase all data on a hard drive, but this needs to be differentiated from a low-level format, which could damage newer (pretty much anything over 512MB) drives. The key is to find a way to wipe the data on a hard drive without destroying the current manufacturer's low-level format. I searched the web and found DOS utilities that.
  2. Seagate is not responsible for lost user data. Erase Drive is available for Seagate or Maxtor drives only. Three choices are available under this section: Erase Track 0. Use this to clear out an old operating system installation.
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Many disk-wiping utilities offer multiple-pass wipes. This is an urban legend – you only need to wipe a drive once. Wiping refers to overwriting a drive with all 0’s, all 1’s, or random data. It’s important to wipe a drive once before disposing of it to make your data unrecoverable, but additional wipes offer a false sense of security. Seagate Tools Erase Track Zero. Knowledge About Low Level Format (LLF) Low-level formatting is recognized as one of the three disk formatting processes, the rest of which are partitioning and high-level formatting. By wiki's explanation, low-level formatting marks the surfaces of the disks with markers indicating the start of a recording block. Seagate Tools Erase Track Zero - fasrlotto Nov 09, 2017 SeaTools for Windows tests SATA, USB, 1394, ATA (PATA/IDE) and SCSI drives. It installs onto your system and allows you to select a specific test. If the drive passes SeaTools for Windows, your troubleshooting efforts can move to other areas.

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Post subject: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: February 10th, 2020, 8:59
Posts: 27
Location: Romania
Hello guys,
I have an SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 which is not recognized anymore by the PC (not in BIOS, not by seatools). There is not spinning sound, the current consumption is around 200mA, even if I desconnect the platters and I keep only the PCB.
I found a donor hdd, with some bads on it on ebay. It's the same model, same capacitace, same FW and same PCB number.
My plan is to buy it, and using the serial port I want to make a secure erase in order to clear the NAND.
The seller told me that it's not able to secure erase it using the seatools, probably because of the bads.
After erasing the NAND, I would like to change the ROM, am swap the PCB to my faulty hdd.
Do you think it's possible?
Thanks


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Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: September 8th, 2009, 18:21
Posts: 13257
Location: Australia
See https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35895


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Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: February 10th, 2020, 8:59
Posts: 27
Location: Romania
yes I saw that, but I have some other questions.
1. Is the serial port always on? (I saw some older posts, where people said that segate turned off the serial port)
2. Will I be able to erase the NAND using the serial port? I think yes, but what if the HDD has some bads? Does it matter?
3. Which are the commands? I did not found any documentation or some other things on the internet. The single information is that post
If I managed to save my data successfully. I will create a how to, step by step post. For a clear overview of the people from the community.
Thanks


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Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: September 8th, 2009, 18:21
Posts: 13257
Location: Australia
AFAICT from that other thread, the terminal is not locked in this firmware.
So, switch to level O (that's the letter 'oh', not zero) and type 'I'.
F3 T>/O
F3 O>I

Note that commands are Case Sensitive.


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Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: February 10th, 2020, 8:59
Posts: 27
Location: Romania
As far as I understand I can used a lever shifter like the MAX323 in order to communicate with the HDD.
I check on the oscilloscope the TX pin from SSHD, and it's seems that this hdd is a 2V communication not 3.3V (Like MAX323). I have to found another integrated circuit. Can somebody confirm this?
Still some questions:
The donor sshd found on ebay has some bads, will I be able to erase the NAND? Should I buy it? Or should a brand new SSHD? (which way more expensive)


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Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: February 10th, 2020, 8:59
Posts: 27
Location: Romania
Hello guys,
I managed to make it work with MAX3232.
One hint for other people. MAX3232 will work with 2V communication. Just supply it from an external 2V power supply.
My broken HDD report the following on the terminal, at START UP:

Start_up_diag.png [ 20.91 KiB | Viewed 10158 times ]

Any hints ? what is broken? What shall I do next?
Should I buy a donor PCB? Thanks
For others, I have tried first with MobaXterm, and I was not able to make it worked, I received:

test1.png [ 72.96 KiB | Viewed 10152 times ]


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Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: October 3rd, 2005, 0:40
Posts: 3592
Location: Hungary
NAND problem. You need to patch the fw or use a pc3k to do it for you.
My recommendation is contacting a reputable DR shop. My pick would be Ciprian Enaru at Quartz data recovery (www.qdr.ro).
pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery
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Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: February 10th, 2020, 8:59
Posts: 27
Location: Romania
Ok, thanks, I sent an e-mail. There are several hdd services in Romania, my problem is the price but let's see.
Let's get back to the topic, I don't have a pc3k , how much does it cost? Is there another way?
What do you mean by 'patch the fw' ? the fw is not inside the rom? and by swaping the rom I can solve this.
As far as I understand I can buy a donor pcb, clear the NAND and swap to ROM, and I will be able to save my data.


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Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: October 3rd, 2005, 0:40
Posts: 3592
Location: Hungary
Hello,
to be honest i am not sure how that pcb swap thing works, coz i have other methods, as i mentioned.
In fact, having some clue about how the fw is loaded, i doubt those steps are sufficient, something is still missing from the cake.
For you, as an end user it is perfectly useless to think about patching a firmware or investing into pc3k (several thousand eurs), moreover, it requires quite some knowledge (experience) to work with it, so believe me, it is out of scope.
Also, the recovery gets very difficult if you happen to damage the rom chip or its contents during the swap, so i would be very careful with that if you have no experience.
pepe

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Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: February 10th, 2020, 8:59
Posts: 27
Location: Romania
I'm looking at this post: https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35895
No worry, I'm able to swap a ROM I'm a hardware engineer with some years of experience in this field. I'm able to solder more complex component package than this one.
Don't understand me wrong. I'm not saying that I'm able to bring back to life my sshd, but at least I'm trying to find a solution here. If it's a secure one and easy to understand. I don't want to assume any risk to make more damage to my sshd.
Some specifications from my SSHD:
Seagate 1TB ST1000LM014
PN: 1EJ164-071
FW: LVD3
PCB Version: 100705349 REV D


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Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: February 10th, 2020, 8:59
Posts: 27
Location: Romania
AFAICT from that other thread, the terminal is not locked in this firmware.
So, switch to level O (that's the letter 'oh', not zero) and type 'I'.
F3 T>/O
F3 O>I

Note that commands are Case Sensitive.

This is made on the faulty SSHD after you clean the NAND,swap the ROM and PCB, right?


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Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: September 8th, 2009, 18:21
Posts: 13257
Location: Australia
I'm not a data recovery professional, and I don't know exactly what transpired in that other thread, but ISTM that you are unable to reach the F3> prompt. I expect that Ctrl-Z won't invoke the prompt either.
I don't know if it will work, but I would first try to dump your serial flash memory chip ('ROM'). Then I would procure a donor HDD and secure erase it. That should initialise its NAND and clear its cached data. Then I would reprogram the donor's ROM with the dump from the patient, and install the donor PCB on the patient HDA.
If this doesn't work, then we could analyse the ROM contents and determine if there are any drive specific data that need to be modified. There is a tool called F3RomExplorer which could help with this, otherwise I have my own ROM parsing methods.
You must not damage the ROM. I expect that it will be a 1.8V or 2.5V part, so you will need an appropriate programmer to read it.
As for the ROM patch, I suspect that PC3000 injects a JMP instruction to bypass the NAND check.
BTW, welcome to Seagate's sh*tty firmware. No intelligent firmware designer would kill a drive just because of a bad NAND cache. At the very least, the drive should continue functioning in cache-less read-only mode so that users can recover their data. Better still, the firmware should initialise the NAND, retire any bad blocks, and keep using it, if at all possible. Some users may even be satisfied if the drive continues to function in read/write mode without cache, especially if it has outlasted the warranty period.


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Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: August 15th, 2006, 3:01
Posts: 3012
Location: CDRLabs @ Chandigarh [ India ]
Roots ,
You Can Read ROM Using a EPROM Programmer And Share ROM Here ,Someone can patch rom and give back and the terminal stuff you can handle ,Then you will need to clone disk if its also having some issues

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Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com


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Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: February 10th, 2020, 8:59
Posts: 27
Location: Romania
@fzabkar: Should I try to press Ctrl-Z ?
I have WINBOND 25Q80BW10 it seems to be at 1.8V, you were right.

20200214_075618.jpg [ 1.69 MiB | Viewed 9964 times ]

I'm seeking for a EEPROM Programmer, and I found this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/352894753009?ul_noapp=true
As far as I understand it's a 5V or 3.3V and I will get a 1.8V adapter. I think it should work, do you have other recommendations?
Regarding the donor HDD, should I have the HDA also? (or only the PCB it's ok) I found one full sshd but with bads, and the seller told me that it was not able to secure erase it using Seatools. Can I make a secure erase via serial port?
I don't have a PC3000 and it's quite expensive I think.
Thanks for the warm welcome, this will be my last Seagate product! )
@Amarbir[CDR-Labs]: It will take a while until I will find a EEPROM programmer, seems that I cannot found one in my country but when I will have it, I will share here the ROM content here.
As far as I understand somebody must patch the ROM, in order to grant access to the terminal? Am I right? I was not aware of that. Thanks
What do you mean by 'clone disk'? If everything works fine, I would expect to see my drive in Windows/Linux, and I can save my data. Or do I need a special tool to clone it?


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Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: September 8th, 2009, 18:21
Posts: 13257
Location: Australia
It won't hurt to press Ctrl-Z, but I doubt you will reach the F3> prompt.
I don't have a programmer (I gave my old one away), so I can't recommend any, at least none that is inexpensive enough for a one-off job.
As for the other HDD, if you can reach the F3> prompt, you should be able to initialise the NAND, if the terminal is not locked. If it is not too expensive, try to obtain the whole drive. I'm surprised that it was unable to be secure erased, though. Still, if you want to experiment, we will at least find out which procedures don't work. ;-)
There is one other you could try. It didn't work in a different model (no damage done), but you could try disabling the supply voltage to the NAND IC. There should be a 3.3V LDO regulator nearby. Shorting its Enable pin to ground while powering on the PCB should render the NAND invisible.
Hopefully you will find the regulator's datasheet here:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/Datasheets/DATAURLS.HTM


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Seagate tools erase track zero turn mowers
Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: October 3rd, 2005, 0:40
Posts: 3592
Location: Hungary
'disabling' the NAND won't work that way. It needs the nand to boot.
Getting F3 prompt is also not possible in that stage coz the firmware already hangs.
pepe

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Seagate drive tools
Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: February 10th, 2020, 8:59
Posts: 27
Location: Romania
Today I ordered the donor SSHD(PCB+HDA), which has 'End to end Error Detection', I hope I will be able to secure erase it.
I also ordered the EEPROM Programmer ch341a with 1.8V adapter. (I found my serial flash memory in the list 25Q80BW).
I hope I will be able to share with you soon some results and memory dump.
Thanks.


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Seagate Tools Erase Track Zero

Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: February 10th, 2020, 8:59
Posts: 27
Location: Romania
Hello guys,
Two topics:
1. CH341A EEPROM Programmer (software V1.3): I check it with a 3.3V memory, it does work (but it's not able to detect the memory, I have to manual select it). I was able to read/write etc...
I tried to read my 25Q80BW flash memory (not with the clamp) from the donor hdd (with 1.8V adapter). It does not auto detect it and even if I manual select it's still not working, I get the following errors (please ignore the device state, I made the print screen after I disconnect the programmer from USB):
File comment: CH341A_Programmer - manual select 25Q80BW
CH341A_Programmer.png [ 51.48 KiB | Viewed 9543 times ]

File comment: CH341A_Error_at_Detect of 25Q80BW
CH341A_Error_at_Detect.png [ 4.56 KiB | Viewed 9543 times ]

The memory is still ok, I solder it back to the PCB and the SSHD it's working.
2. Donor SSHD and seatools:
- I have checked the s.m.a.r.t. first, I get 'End To End Error Detection'. I checked the Seatools (windows version and usb bootable version), and I did not found the secure erase:
In usb bootable stick version I have:
File comment: Seagate bootable USB
20200219_215457.jpg [ 6.61 MiB | Viewed 9543 times ]

In windows version I forgot to make a print screen, and the memory is soldered on the programmer adapter (I will come back with a print screen it you need it). But were 3 options, as far as I remember were something like:
- fw update
- boot partition erase ?
- erase track zero?


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Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: February 10th, 2020, 8:59
Posts: 27
Location: Romania
After debugging this programmer, I managed to dumb the memory.
Here it is:
Raul_HDD.7z [585.46 KiB]
Downloaded 340 times

Is someone kindly to help me?
Retarding the donor SSHD, do you have any idea how to secure erase the SSHD ? 'Erase track ZERO' or 'OVERWRITE FULL' would clear the NAND?
Thanks
p.s. the option from Seatools (Windows versions): Firmware update, Overwrite Erase, Erase Boot Sectors.


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Post subject: Re: Faulty SSHD Seagate ST1000LM014 (NAND and PCB swap)

Joined: February 10th, 2020, 8:59
Posts: 27
Location: Romania
I have tried to run 'Overwrite Full', it takes around 3 hours, and at 99.x% it fails.

20200224_064820.jpg [ 6.19 MiB | Viewed 9301 times ]

After that I written into the memory my firmware, swapped the PCB.
In Windows I see it like this:
HDD_Raul_Partitions_edited.png [4.36 KiB]
Not downloaded yet

Pretty strange to me that terminal is working, I have tried to use '/o' and 'I', but it fails with the following message:

HDD_RAUL_Terminal_1.png [ 103.87 KiB | Viewed 9301 times ]

After a couple of minutes, I safely removed the SSHD from the PC and get:

HDD_RAUL_Terminal_try2.png [ 119.12 KiB | Viewed 9301 times ]

Do you guys have any ideas?
It seems that it's a mechanical problem, am I right?
Thanks


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Seagate Tools Erase Track Zero Turn Mower

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