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Professional Seagate Data Recovery Australia – Real Case Study with Damaged Heads & Firmware Issues

04/06/20258 minute read
Payam Data Recovery technician working on 10TB Seagate helium hard drive data recovery in Sydney


This case study talks about a real-life data recovery case where a customer’s 2TB Seagate Barracuda hard drive failed. It covers the steps taken by data recovery specialists to fix the drive, including replacing bad heads and dealing with a tricky firmware issue. The story shows how complex data recovery can be and highlights the importance of getting professional help when a hard drive breaks.

Professional Data Recovery Service for a Dead Seagate Barracuda

Imagine this: your hard drive, packed with years of important stuff, just stops working. That’s what happened to one of our customers. Their 2TB Seagate Barracuda drive landed in our recovery lab, and it was up to our team to figure out what went wrong.

Initial Diagnosis: Bad Heads on a Seagate Hard Drive

When the drive first came in, our specialist, Dimitri, got to work. He quickly found the main problem: bad heads. These are super important parts that read data from the spinning disks inside the drive. If they’re not working right, no data can be read.

Replacing the heads is a delicate job. It has to be done in a special cleanroom to stop any dust from getting in and causing more damage. Once the new heads were in, we thought we were on the right track for this Seagate data recovery.

The Tricky Firmware Problem in Seagate Data Recovery

But wait, there was more! After the head replacement, Dimitri found another issue: a firmware problem. Think of firmware as the drive’s operating system. In this case, the drive was stuck in what we call a “busy state.” It was like a computer that’s frozen. It knows it should be doing something, but it’s just stuck in a loop, not responding to anything.

To get around this, Dimitri had to upload a special loader directly into the drive’s RAM. This let him bypass the corrupted firmware and get access to the data. It’s a bit like giving the drive a temporary brain transplant to get it working again, crucial for a successful data recovery service for Seagate hard drive.

Successful SEAGATE BARRACUDA Professional Data Recovery Service

Thanks to Dimitri’s hard work, we managed to recover over 90% of the customer’s important files within just a few hours. The remaining 10% might take a bit more time, but the main goal was achieved – getting most of their data back.

Seagate Barracuda Models We Specialise In

We can help recover data from these Seagate Barracuda models and many more. We specialise in damaged Seagate hard drives of all types:

250GB-500GB Models:

  • ST250DM000: 250GB, 7200 RPM, 16MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST320DM000: 320GB, 7200 RPM, 16MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST500DM001: 500GB, 7200 RPM, 16MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST500DM002: 500GB, 7200 RPM, 16MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST500DM009: 500GB, 7200 RPM, 32MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty

1TB Models:

  • ST1000DM003: 1TB, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST1000DM004: 1TB, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST1000DM005: 1TB, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST1000DM010: 1TB, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST1000DMZ10: 1TB, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty

2TB Models:

  • ST2000DM001: 2TB, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST2000DM002: 2TB, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST2000DM005: 2TB, 5400 RPM, 256MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, SMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST2000DM006: 2TB, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST2000DM007: 2TB, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST2000DM008: 2TB, 7200 RPM, 256MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, SMR, 2-year warranty

3TB Models:

  • ST3000DM001: 3TB, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST3000DM007: 3TB, 5400 RPM, 256MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, SMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST3000DM008: 3TB, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST3000DM009: 3TB, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty

4TB Models:

  • ST4000DM000: 4TB, 5900 RPM, 64MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST4000DM001: 4TB, 5900 RPM, 64MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST4000DM004: 4TB, 5400 RPM, 256MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, SMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST4000DM005: 4TB, 5400 RPM, 64MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, SMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST4000DMZ04: 4TB, 5400 RPM, 256MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, SMR, 2-year warranty

5TB Models:

  • ST5000DM000: 5TB, 5900 RPM, 128MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, SMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST5000DM002: 5TB, 7200 RPM, 128MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty

6TB Models:

  • ST6000DM001: 6TB, 7200 RPM, 128MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST6000DM003: 6TB, 5400 RPM, 256MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, SMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST6000DM004: 6TB, 5400 RPM, 256MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, SMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST6000DMZ03: 6TB, 5400 RPM, 256MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, SMR, 2-year warranty

8TB Models:

  • ST8000DM002: 8TB, 5900 RPM, 256MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST8000DM004: 8TB, 5400 RPM, 256MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, SMR, 2-year warranty
  • ST8000DM005: 8TB, 5400 RPM, 256MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s, SMR, 2-year warranty

Whether your Seagate Barracuda has head crashes, firmware corruption, bad sectors, or won’t spin up, our professional data recovery specialists have the expertise and donor parts inventory to recover your valuable data.

Key Takeaways for Dead Seagate Hard Drive Issues

  • Hard drive failures are common: They happen all the time, and often without warning.
  • Professional help is best: Trying to fix a broken hard drive yourself can make things worse. It’s better to leave it to the experts, especially for a dead Seagate hard drive.
  • Don’t use a failing drive: If your hard drive is acting up, unplug it immediately to stop further damage. Then, get it to a data recovery service for a free assessment.

If you’re dealing with a broken hard drive, don’t panic. Payam Data Recovery works on thousands of these cases every year. You can learn more about our HDD data recovery service and even get a free data recovery quote to see how we can help with Seagate data recovery in Australia.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does data recovery cost?

The cost can range from $375 to $2000 depending on the problem. We offer a free assessment and quote to test it and confirm before we do any paid work.

What is your success rate?

In most cases the data can be recovered, for a hard drive with a file system problem, basic backup issue, damaged pcb, firmware problem or bad sectors, about 99% and with hard drives with damaged heads it’s about 80-90% depending on several factors like how it failed and the brand or model.

How do I get started?

Complete this form to get a free quote, then deliver it to us: https://www.payam.com.au/free-data-recovery-quote/

 

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