What is a hard drive called?

Most PC users have probably heard the concept of “hard drive” (aka hard drive, hard drive or disk drive). Sometimes, together with this concept there is the phrase “hard drive firmware”. Let's take a closer look at what it is.

This device (hard drive) is intended for long-term storage of information and has an extraordinary amount of memory. That is, absolutely all files and data that you enter into your computer are automatically written to the hard drive.

The operating principle of a hard drive is similar to that of a vinyl record player. But, unlike a player, the reading head does not touch the disk with information, but receives data while located at a distance of several nanometers from the media. And in appearance, a hard drive is similar to an ordinary CD or record, being round plates coated with a layer of ferromagnetic material.

A hard drive is a device for storing and storing information used in computers and laptops. Outwardly, it looks like several CDs located on top of each other that rotate on the same axis.

Main technical characteristics of HDD

Sometimes choosing a hard drive turns out to be a problem for professionals, let alone the average user.

We can highlight several basic characteristics that will help form a general idea of ​​the parameters of hard drives.

First characteristic - size. Most often these are 2.5 and 3.5 inches wide. At the same time, a larger amount of information can be recorded on a 3.5-inch hard drive. Mostly stationary computers are equipped with these, and smaller hard drives are installed on laptops - they are lighter and consume less energy.

Second- thickness of the hard drive. This figure varies from 7 to 12.5 mm.

Naturally, the thicker the hard drive, the more information it can accommodate. At the same time, the standard thickness of a laptop hard drive is 9.5 mm.

Third factor - rotational speed. Everything is simple here: the higher the rotation speed, the higher the computer performance.

Powerful models have a disk speed of 7200 rpm, but are noisy. They are used on devices with a good cooling system.

Slower disk models rotate at a speed of 5200 - 5900 rpm. Their advantage is quiet operation and low heating.

Amount of hard drive memory - this is the fourth characteristic that you should pay special attention to when choosing a product. In a standard laptop, a 2.5-inch hard drive with a thickness of 9.5 mm has a memory of 1 terabyte. For most tasks this is quite enough. As for desktop computers, up to 3.5-inch wide and 12.5 mm thick drives can store up to 4 TB of information.

When choosing a hard drive, you should pay attention to the ratio of the device's power and the degree of noise it produces.

Causes of hard drive malfunctions

Even the highest quality and most expensive hard drive can break. Let's look at the reasons that can shorten the life of hard drives.

1. Overheat. The most common and banal reason. Sooner or later, a laptop or computer accumulates dust, air access to the hard drive decreases, the temperature inside the device rises... The result is a laptop in repair. For the same reason, computers should not be placed near heating devices or in hot and humid areas.
2. Poor quality power supply. Sudden power surges negatively affect the operation of the hard drive, as they can damage the surface of the hard drive and are one of the main reasons for its premature failure. At the same time, the computer power supply does not always prevent such situations. The only way out of this situation is to purchase an uninterruptible power supply.
3. Mechanical damage. If a computer, like a smart and intelligent machine, is able to cope with the problem of overheating or power surges and prevent breakdowns, then it cannot protect itself from impacts and careless operation of the user.
4. Incorrect operation of the hard drive. The problem of data loss can occur if the user restarts the computer while the hard drive has not yet completed the space partitioning steps. Of course, modern programs allow you to recover data, but the process is very lengthy, labor-intensive and, moreover, financially expensive.
5. Defect in production. Unfortunately, no one is immune from this, and defective products are found, even despite the manufacturer’s complex product control system. So, if when buying a laptop or computer you are confused by extraneous noises, clicks and crackles, contact the warranty department.

To extend the life of your hard drive, and therefore save all your data, take care of the correct operation of the device. If there are problems with voltage, connect an uninterruptible power supply, and when transporting, use special bags for laptops in order to protect the machine from shocks and damage.

Step-by-step guide for flashing hard drive firmware

If your computer begins to slow down, freezes, extraneous noise appears, or the computer begins to get very hot, do not panic. If reinstalling the operating system does not bring positive results, the reason is most likely in the hard drive. It needs proper flashing. There are many programs on the Internet that can handle this. To search for them, enter the phrase in the browser search window "hard drive firmware", and click the “Search” button.

There is absolutely no difficulty in installing the programs - they are completely automatic. Therefore, even a novice user can cope with them.

However, there are some points to consider.

Step 1. Find the serial number of your hard drive and use the serial number checker located on the main page of the website. To do this, enter the number in the dialog box that opens and run the scan.

Step 2. Wait for the scan to complete. The phrase Drive is not affected means that your hard drive is fine and does not need flashing; if this is not the case, then perform step 3.

Step 3. Save all your data from the device you intend to work with to an independent medium. This could be an external hard drive.

Step 4. Create an image of the program for flashing on external media such as a flash drive and boot through it. The program will offer to flash the hard drive in options A/B/C. Select the letter that matches your device.

Step 5. Once in the main menu of the program, select the number of your hard drive. We wait. The firmware process has started.

Before flashing, you should disconnect all connected drives to avoid failures or interference during flashing.

Step 6. While the disk is being flashed, the computer cannot be restarted or disconnected from the network. The end signal will be the computer rebooting itself, or the message “Press any key” will appear.

Step 7. Finish the utility and enjoy the updated hard drive.

By the way, flashing a disk requires at least basic knowledge about the structure and operation of computers, so if you are not confident in your abilities, turn to professionals for help. After all, losing data or replacing a hard drive is not part of your plans. Yes, and incorrect operation of the device may not be related to the hard drive, but may have other reasons.

Problems that may arise after flashing the hard drive yourself

Let's say you did the HDD firmware yourself. Let's look at what problems may arise:

• the drive does not boot or is not recognized;
• the BIOS displays the wrong media model;
• The hard drive capacity is displayed incorrectly.

In such cases, you should immediately contact a specialist. Such errors can be eliminated, but this should be done by an experienced professional. Using special software, he can not only bypass damaged areas of the hard drive, but also restore lost information.

Details on how to flash a Seagate HDD without the help of a service center

Today's topic in our virtual school is a purely technical issue. Let's figure out how to flash a Seagate HDD. For those new to these issues, we note that we are talking about reinstalling the firmware for Seagate hard drives, the so-called firmware.

What is "firmware"?

Many technical and service centers often talk and write about the possibility of new firmware or flashing of devices. In most cases, this concerns personal embedded devices with a built-in operating system, in other words, mobile phones, smartphones and tablets. But techies are in no hurry to tell you how to flash a Seagate HDD for free.

To explain what firmware is to beginners, let's look at history. The proto-version of computer architecture appeared 100 years earlier than we think. This happened between 1820 and 1840 during the period when the first logarithmic and trigonometric tables were compiled by the method of interpolation or so-called “finite differences”. Despite the fact that previously the first automatic calculations were made by primitive machines of Leibniz, Pascal, Schiccard, Charles Babbage's machine can be considered a full-fledged mechanical device for automatic calculation.

In the 1930s, Babbage's architecture attracted the interest of the American scientist Howard Aiken, who, together with IBM, created one of the first electromechanical computers, the Harvard Mark 1. This machine became the prototype of modern computing devices, as well as the basis for the so-called high-performance Harvard architecture. In the 1940s, due to its high complexity and high cost, a slightly modified and more economical von Neumann architecture was adopted as the mainstream.

During this period, computers and peripheral devices from different companies were completely incompatible. The programs were also characterized by incompatibility. In other words, until the 1960s, all programs, components and devices were not cross-platform. The situation changed radically with the development of the IBM System/360 architecture in 1964. The “360” marking indicated the full compatibility of the new computer, both software and hardware. This was solved by introducing the concept of an “interface”, which, in turn, could be either software or hardware. Hardware interfaces include the well-known PCI bus or the more modern PCI Express. The following standards were used as a hardware interface for a hard drive: early IDE or ATA, then SATA, SATA I, SATA II and SATA III, and so on, up to Firmware, USB and Thunderbolt. For software compatibility, a special micro application was used, which can be designed for different hard drive connection interfaces and functional features. It is this microprogram that is called “firmware” and refers to hardware-level software. And if you want your drive to work as quickly and correctly as possible, you should constantly update the low-level software provided by the manufacturer. The firmware is usually available for free. You can find out about updates and new firmware versions for Seagate drives using the Download Finder application.

Drivers, “firmware”: impact on performance Let’s figure out what the differences between firmware and driver are. The driver represents kernel modules, that is, it provides the functionality of the device. “Firmware” is a broader concept that includes the kernel, kernel modules (driver), the daemon process with which the program runs on the computer in the background, as well as initialization scripts.

The firmware is improved over time, shortcomings are eliminated, and more modern technological solutions are introduced. During the life cycle, several firmware versions are released, the installation of which guarantees improved performance and reliability of the hard drive. If a company has released a new firmware, then it certainly contains improvements and new, more modern functionality. Unsupported drives have final firmware that is no longer being developed.

Let's move directly to the question of how to flash a Seagate HDD. To do this, you need to go to the website with updates http://knowledge.seagate.com/ and use the search to find your disk. To find out which firmware is suitable for your HDD. To obtain information about the installed drive, you can use Drive Detect software.

The updates page will list the models and firmware versions. On the right side of the table, in the “Firmware files for download” column, there are links to installation files and documentation for installing the firmware. As an example, here is the update page for Barracuda (1TB/disk platform): http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/ru/FAQ/223651ru.

Please note that you must carefully follow the instructions; errors can lead to data corruption and hard drive failure. The Seagate warranty does not cover your files, only the product for the duration of the warranty. For more accurate information, you should refer to the warranty documentation received at the time of purchase. We also recommend backing up using Seagate's free DiscWizard software or simply saving the files to a separate hard drive before updating the firmware. We also note that purchased Seagate HDDs have a limited right to update the firmware; detailed information about this can be found by following the link on the instructions page.

How to update Seagate hard drive firmware step by step:

1. After starting the initialization program, you will need to select the installation language: in our case, Russian.
2. The Welcome screen will display supported products and the firmware version number to be installed.
3. At the next stage, the program warns about the risk of data loss and offers backup options.
4. In the fourth step, the user must agree to the license agreement.
5. At the fifth step, the initialization file gives important warnings, for example: - the program is not designed for RAID system updates; — during installation, you cannot turn off the computer (emergency shutdown should be excluded).
6. And also: - interrupt the program if you have not saved important data; — save all open files; — close all applications; - disconnect all external storage. The program also informs you that you cannot turn off the computer and interfere with the firmware installation process. To continue, you will need to check the box next to “Start the firmware update process.”
7. If you click Continue, the Windows OS system will reboot and you will see a “Seagate Booting” message on the screen. This procedure cannot be interrupted.
8. In Dos format on the command line, the application will display information about the currently running process. In the eighth step, the SeaTools Express utility will scan all drives and display the model number, its serial number, and the installed firmware version for each HDD.
9. In the next step, the update utility will download the new firmware and install it automatically. The download and installation process takes a few minutes. Once finished, the program will reboot the system. If for some reason this does not happen, this must be done manually. Please also note. If the utility determines that the update cannot be installed for any of the existing drives, it will terminate the program and reboot into Windows. In this case, it will display one of the following error messages; when installing in English, it may look like this: - “Firmware already updated” - the program is already updated; — “Model matched, no firmware matched” — the model matches, but the firmware version is incompatible; — “No model matched” — the model does not match. As you can see, during a normal boot, the program should correctly check the disk and firmware information and return to the system without damaging the data. In some cases, there may be unforeseen situations in which the health of the disk and/or the preservation of personal files cannot be guaranteed. This is why backup is recommended.

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/ru/FAQ/223651ru; - Barracuda 7200.12: http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/ru/FAQ/223651ru; — Barracuda LP: http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/ru/FAQ/213915ru; — Barracuda Green: http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/ru/FAQ/218171ru; - Barracuda 7200.11: http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/ru/FAQ/207951ru; - Barracuda ES.2 (SATA): http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/ru/FAQ/207963ru; — DiamondMax 22: http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/ru/FAQ/207969ru.

As a recommendation. If a problem occurs with the system, you should first resolve it using the standard procedure. It is also recommended to check the file system for errors and clean the disks from viruses. Installing the firmware after all procedures will be as fast as possible. It follows from this that system problems are not always related to the hard drive and the correct operation of the firmware. Before running the update application, there are a number of standard steps you should take to administer your system.

Seagate products are firmware controlled. Having the latest firmware can improve product performance and reliability. Seagate recommends installing new firmware to improve drive performance and reliability.
Like any software, the firmware is improved over time, and problems identified in it are eliminated. For many families of drives, several versions of firmware are released during their life cycle. Regularly check for new firmware for your drive using the Download Finder application. If new firmware is available for other products, this will be noted.

If newer firmware is available for the drive you are using, it will contain improvements to reflect the latest technology. Firmware for legacy products will be released as final versions. Please note that Seagate does not provide detailed information about specific firmware.

Until now, firmware updates for standard desktop and laptop configurations have been complex and somewhat risky. This situation was due in part to a lack of clear means of loading firmware and operating system limitations. However, the issues have been resolved and Seagate now regularly releases firmware updates to generally support your Seagate drive.

When you encounter a problem with your system or operating system, the first step is to perform standard troubleshooting steps, such as checking for file system errors and viruses, and then installing firmware updates.
Use the following links and instructions to determine if firmware is available for your product. If firmware is available, it is recommended that you back up your data and then install the update, and read and follow any instructions or warnings that may appear on your screen.

Follow these steps to determine if firmware updates are available for your drive:

Failure to follow the upgrade instructions may result in data destruction and/or hard drive failure. Seagate does not guarantee the security of the data stored on the drive. Before updating the firmware, in addition to performing regular backups, you should back up your data to a separate secure location or to a separate secure media.

Converter

You can buy a converter (USB-TTL and COM-TTL are available for sale) or make it yourself (I provide several diagrams below).

For those who have Arduino: let's connect GND And RESET, use contacts RX And TX.

To check the circuit, you can close RX And TX, - as a result, everything we enter should be returned.

Connection

Connecting RX And TX, as in the figure below, disconnect the SATA cable and connect the power.

To work with the COM port, I used PuTTY, your favorite program will also do the job perfectly. So, open PuTTY, select the connection type Serial, enter the port and other settings:

Speed	38400
Data Bits	8
Stop Bits	1
Parity	None
Flow Control	None

Open a terminal window, click Ctrl+Z and we see the invitation:
F3 T>
To see a list of commands and descriptions for them for your hard drive, you must enter /C, and then Q.

Recovery

It's time to start rebuilding.

Important: Please be careful when entering commands!

1. Let's go to level 1 by entering /1
2. Let's clear S.M.A.R.T. team N1
3. Turn off the power and wait for the engine to stop (~10 sec)
4. Turn on the power and press again Ctrl+Z
5. Clearing the list of bad blocks: enter i4,1,22
6. Repeat points 3-4
7. Enter in the console: m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22(for hard drives “Made in China” - m0,2,2,22)
8. Let's move on to level 2: /2
9. Stop the engine: enter Z
10. Turn off the power

After all the manipulations, the hard drive began to be detected in the BIOS. To avoid encountering the problem again, update the software on your hard drive. This procedure is quite simple: a boot image is downloaded from the manufacturer’s website and recorded on a disc. Next - download and update the firmware in a step-by-step mode, just follow the instructions on the screen.

Now I have described a situation where everything works as it should, but this rarely happens. The recovery process presented several challenges that I am sure you will also face. Therefore, for everyone who did not succeed, look for a solution in the last section of this article.

About what remains behind the scenes

Since this article is the result of my own experiments based on various materials on HDD recovery, then I will describe the problems that I myself encountered.

Problem	Solution
Console noise	Connect a contact GND to ground on the power supply. I used the wire from the power key. Also pull out the jumper SATA I from the hard drive.
On the screen after pressing Ctrl+Z nothing appears	Most likely not connected correctly RX And TX.
When you turn it on for the first time, an error appears LED:000000CC FAddr:0025BF67 or LED:000000CC FAddr:0024A7E5	First, let's try turning off the heads. To do this, we unscrew the board (at the same time you can clean the contacts with an eraser: I had a lot of dirt there), put an insulator (paper, electrical tape, etc.) on the contacts leading to the heads, and screw the board back (not with all the screws, but so that there is power to the motor). Turn on the power, press Ctrl+Z, enter /2 , Then Z. We are waiting for a message about a successful stop. Spin Down Complete Elapsed Time 0.138 msecs Without turning off the power, unscrew the board, take out our insulator and screw the board back, enter the command to start the engine: U. If the method of disconnecting the heads does not help, you need to close the contacts on the board with sharp tweezers or thin wire. The photo (available via the links below) shows short circuit points on different hard drives.

Artem Makarov aka Robin

09.11.2013

35493 views

Another difficult problem with Seagates, which was solved using the so-called Seagate HDD firmware (microcode loading via interface).

This time, the ST9500325AS laptop HDD is audibly recalibrated when power is applied, hangs in BUSY, and only outputs to the diagnostic port:

Rst 0x08M

That's all. There is no terminal functionality after startup, as the disk freezes. Before me, the disk was in another place, where the head block was changed (usually this is always the case, if they don’t understand what’s wrong with the hard drive, they immediately change the heads - just in case). Of course, replacing the read/write heads in this situation did not help in any way in restoring user files, and the disk was brought to the Hardmaster service center.

The terminal functionality on this line of drives is included in the ROM code by the manufacturer and is turned on after power is applied to the interface. It looks like this:

Rst 0x08M RW cmd 002F req = 18 F0 9F E5 18 F0 9F E5 18 F0 9F E5 18 F0 9F E5 18 F0 9F E5 00 00 A0 E1 opts = 00000000 RW Err = 84150180 ASCII Diag mode F3 T>

Those. servo positioning error, spindle motor stall and readiness in registers ready to respond to terminal requests. In this position, you can use a command to spin the engine, lift the diag ovl from the surface and read from the ATA all the modules described by id, as well as all the modules described in the system volume. All modules were counted without errors, and at first glance did not contain anything seditious that could lead to the drive freezing during normal startup.

Immediately there was a suspicion of a failure in the translation tables, but an attempt to recalculate led to the following result:

Max Wr Retries = 00, Max Rd Retries = 00, Max ECC T-Level = 14, Max Certify Rewrite Retries = 2DF8 DiagError 0000500D User Partition Format Failed - Elapsed Time 0 mins 00 secs R/W Sense 00000002, R/W Error 843200A2 , File Error 00000000 Blk Addr AD6F0001, Blk Addr Type D0, Cyl FFFF0000, Hd EC

Those. ended with an error. After some deliberation, a drastic decision was made. Considering that all the necessary parts of the service information were successfully reserved earlier, I decided to completely format the service area. Having received at the end of the process:

System Partition Format Successful - Elapsed Time 2 mins 00 secs

I distorted the power supply, and the disk came out ready with a “blank” factory passport. In this position, any read/write operation of service information results in a message about unreadiness for the process, due to the lack of “extended” commands in the “basic” ROM microcode.

Unable to load Diag Cmd Processor Overlay

In order to get full functionality in such a situation, you need to write overlays to the surface so that the disk can read them. And in order to be able to write to the surface, the disk must read them earlier. Vicious circle. How to find a way out of this situation?

An option, given that in a situation with a formatted service disk, the disk becomes ready via the interface normally, there is one - using the id92h command, load it into the HDD loader, i.e. a microcode package, including the required overlays, and thereby, as they say, reflash the Seagate hard drive.

After this operation, the translator recalculation completed successfully

Max Wr Retries = 00, Max Rd Retries = 00, Max ECC T-Level = 14, Max Certify Rewrite Retries = 2DF8 User Partition Format Successful - Elapsed Time 0 mins 00 secs

And, the final touch is the recording of the previously saved translator (id2Bh). After reapplying power, the disk produced the usual:

Rst 0x08M (P) SATA Reset

and full access to all LBAs described in the passport. If before the disk came to me, inquisitive hands would not have climbed into the hermetic zone, then with the help of the manipulations described above it would have been possible to repair the hard disk while preserving the information.