Hard Disk Repair | DataRecoveryUnion.com

What does “Low Level Formatting” mean?

Actually the term “low level” is a bit of a misnomer. The low-level process first used years ago in MFM hard drives bears little resemblance to what we now call a “low-level format” for today’s SATA and ATA (IDE) drives. The only safe method of initializing all the data on a Seagate device is the Zero Fill erase option in SeaTools for DOS. This is a simple process of writing all zeros (0’s) to the entire hard disk drive.

Why would I want to Zero Fill my drive?

The most common reasons to Zero Fill a SATA or ATA (IDE) hard drive are:

to remove a virus that cannot be removed without destroying the boot sector.
to change from one operating system to another and wish to remove everything from the drive.
to erase confidential information for privacy reasons.
to scan for bad sectors that can be detected and replaced with good spare sectors when writing to the sectors.

By design, modern disc drives maintain spare sectors for reallocation purposes. Usually, sectors become difficult to read long before they become impossible to read. In this situation the actual data bytes in the sector are preserved and transferred to the new spare during a sector reallocation. Similarly, when a disc drive writes data (like a zero fill erase procedure) and encounters a problem, the drive firmware retires the problem sector and activates a replacement before giving successful write status.

How to Zero Fill my hard drive?

Zero Filling a SATA or ATA (IDE) drive destroys 100% of the data on the drive. Make sure the drive is completely backed up before proceeding.
The Zero Fill erase option in SeaTools for DOS is the best method for use with Seagate hard drives. Some system BIOS may include a Low-Level Format option; these should be avoided, as they may produce undesirable results.

SeaTools for DOS can be downloaded from Here. It includes three Erase (Zero Fill) options. Zero Fill writes zeros in each data sector for the complete capacity of the drive and cleans up most defects.

The download routine for SeaTools for DOS creates a bootable CD or floppy diskette. Boot from the CD media or diskette to start SeaTools for DOS. After startup, it is a good idea to test your drive. The Basic Short Test takes less than a minute to complete. The Basic Long Test can take several hours to complete, depending on the capacity of the drive. When you are ready to erase the drive.

Select the drive you want to erase. Then select one of the three zero fill Erase functions.

Erase Track ZERO: Erases just the first 63 sectors on the drive which takes less than a second to complete. This procedure removes the Master Boot Record (MBR) and Partition Table. This will cause the drive to look “empty” to a new installation of the operating system.

Timed Erase: Erases sectors for various time limits up to 5 minutes. These options will overwrite the sectors at the beginning of the drive where the majority of the static operating system files reside.

Full Erase: Erases every data sector on the drive and takes a long time to complete. This procedure can easily take several hours to complete. The advantage of this option is to discover and reallocate any defective (hard to read) sectors to good spares. This option comes closest in concept to the original idea of a low level format.

When the process completes, reboot the system from the operating system install CD and follow the instructions to prepare (partition and format) the drive and install the operating system.

Hard Disk Repair

6 Reasons BIOS will not detect or recognize your drive

DATARECOVERYUNION.COM15 years ago7 years ago02 mins

There are 6 main reasons why a system BIOS will not detect the presence of an internal hard drive. Here is a list of them. They are not in any particular order, but you can follow these steps one by one to troubleshoot this problem:

After verifying that your ATA or SATA port is set to Auto-Detect or is enabled, if you find that your disk drive is not being detected (auto-detected) by the system BIOS, try the above steps to try and isolate/troubleshoot the problem.

If you have completed the above checks and procedures and the drive is still not properly detected, please attempt to use Seatools for DOS (see the tutorial here) to test the drive. If SeaTools does not detect the drive after the steps followed above, or an error code that signifies drive failure displays, you can begin a warranty replacement order.

Hard Disk Repair

6 Reasons BIOS will not detect or recognize your drive (2)

DATARECOVERYUNION.COM15 years ago4 years ago02 mins

Reason 2: Incorrect jumper settings on the drive

Serial ATA: If you have a 3.0 Gbit/sec SATA drive that is not being detected by your 1.5 Gbit/sec SATA controller, or it causes your system to lock up when connected to a 1.5 Gbit/sec SATA controller, you may need to jumper your 3.0 Gbit/sec SATA drive to the slower speed of 1.5 Gbit/sec for the system to recognize it properly.

Jumper settings for Seagate SATA drives

Jumper settings for Maxtor-brand SATA drives

ATA: It is recommended that all Seagate ATA hard discs supporting the Cable Select jumper option be configured as Cable Select. If your computer system was built prior to October 1998 and does not support UDMA 66 or greater you will be required to use the Master/Slave jumper settings.

Jumper settings for Seagate ATA drives

Jumper settings for Maxtor-brand ATA drives

When using Cable Select jumper settings on your ATA drive, all devices connected to the UDMA cable must also use the Cable Select setting. The cable decides master/slave device detection when the cable select jumper settings are used.

Hard Disk Repair

6 Reasons BIOS will not detect or recognize your drive (3)

DATARECOVERYUNION.COM15 years ago4 years ago03 mins

Reason 3: Drive is not spinning up

If the drive is not receiving power or receiving an incorrect level of power, it will not spin up. To check to see if this is the cause of the BIOS not detecting the hard drive, follow these steps:

Power off the computer.
Open the computer case and remove the data cable from the hard drive. This will stop any power saving commands from being sent.
Turn on the system. Check to see if the hard drive is spinning. If you touch the side of the drive you should feel a slight vibration. If you do nothear or feel the hard drive spinning, the drive did not start.If you cannot determine whether the drive is spinning:
1. Boot the computer and listen carefully.
2. Shut the computer down.
3. Disconnect the power cord from the computer itself.
4. Disconnect the power cable from the hard drive in question.
5. Reconnect the power cord to the computer itself.
6. Boot the computer up to see if the drive sound was audible before. And,
7. Then repeat, only reconnect the hard drive and listen for it to spin up.
Switch power cables with a device like a CDROM or DVDROM drive, so that you are using a known-good power cable.
Check the power supply on your computer to determine whether it is providing sufficient electrical power to operate the drives and devices you have in your computer.
If the drive is still not spinning, connect it in another computer if possible.
Connect the drive in a SATA-USB enclosure or something similar if possible.
If the drive does not spin up after all of these steps, please visit the Warranty page to begin a warranty replacement order.

Hard Disk Repair

6 Reasons BIOS will not detect or recognize your drive (4)

DATARECOVERYUNION.COM15 years ago4 years ago02 mins

Reason 4: Faulty or Unplugged Data Cable

Always inspect the motherboard and hard disc connections for bent or misaligned pins. Folding, crimping, pinching, or creasing data cables can cause the wires to break inside the insulation, leaving the exterior of the cable looking normal. When in doubt of data cable condition, replace it.

For SATA cables, Seagate recommends using cables shorter than 39.37 inches (1 meter).

Here are some images of Serial ATA cables.

The BIOS will not detect a hard disc if the data cable is damaged or the connection is incorrect.
Serial ATA cables, in particular, can sometimes fall out of their connection. Be sure to check your SATA cables are tightly connected to the SATA port connection.

The easiest way to test a cable is to replace it with another cable. If the problem persists, then the cable was not the cause of the problem.

For ATA drives, Seagate recommends using UDMA cabling with a maximum length of 18 inches. UDMA cables have color coded connections which require proper orientation when connecting.

Blue connector – always connects to the motherboard.
Grey (middle) connector – is used for slave devices on the cable.
Black connector – is used for master device connection.

See this image:

Hard Disk Repair

6 Reasons BIOS will not detect or recognize your drive (5)

DATARECOVERYUNION.COM15 years ago4 years ago04 mins

Reason 5: The Serial ATA motherboard drivers are not properly loaded (especially in Windows XP/2000)

When you install Windows XP/2000 on a drive that will be the boot drive (ie, the C: drive), when it comes time to install Windows, the drive may not be detected. Here is the proper procedure:

Insert the Windows XP/2000 CD/DVD into the CD/DVD drive.
Power down the computer.
Mount and connect the Serial ATA hard drive.
See here for an interactive flash tutorial illustrating this.
Power up the computer.
For some add-in SATA controller cards, you will need to press the F6 key to install drivers as the Windows setup screen launches.
-You may never have noticed the “F6” option before, since it happens at the bottom of the screen and is visible for only a few seconds during a standard install. What you most likely encountered during the setup process was a screen which came up informing you Setup could not find any drives installed on your computer, and it could not continue, much like the screen sample below:
To be able to hit the F6 button, you must restart the Setup process, and watch the bottom of the screen after pressing Enter on the “Welcome to Setup” screen. There will be some moments of files being loaded, and then you should see a message appear which says “Press F6 if you need to install a 3rd party SCSI or RAID driver”. This message will only stay on the screen for a couple of seconds, so press F6 as soon as you see it appear.
After this is done, you will see other messages appear, and it will act as though nothing is happening, but eventually a screen will appear which will allow you to install the drivers for the add-in SATA controller. The screen will look like the sample below:
After you press S, the driver install process will continue and the floppy diskettes will be needed. Further instructions will be furnished after the driver install process has ended.
Insert the floppy diskette containing the drivers for the add-in Serial ATA controller.
Once the drivers are loaded, proceed with the normal Windows XP/2000 installation.

A few further notes on the driver diskette:
For the hard drive to be detected in a new installation, the drivers for the add-in SATA controller/motherboard must be loaded at the beginning of installation.

The drivers for the controller/motherboard can probably be found either on the CD that came with it or on the manufacturer’s website. These drivers do not come from Seagate; they come from the motherboard manufacturer. Simply load the required drivers on the diskette and have it ready.

Hard Disk Repair

6 Reasons BIOS will not detect or recognize your drive (6)

DATARECOVERYUNION.COM15 years ago4 years ago02 mins

Reason 6: Hard disk drive not enabled in the BIOS

Most personal computers display a brief message about entering System Setup soon after the power is turned on. System Setup is also called the “System BIOS” or sometimes the “CMOS Setup” – each is a name for the same thing.

For example, on Dell systems you will see “F2=Setup” in the upper right hand corner during the computer boot-up. This means to press the F2 key to enter Setup (the BIOS). Different computer manufactures have different methods to enter Setup, so please check your system documentation for specifics. How to access/enter Motherboard BIOS

System setup is where the date and time are stored and where startup preferences like NumLock or Passwords are defined. In addition, many hardware settings are defined in System Setup.

In particular, hard disk drives are often controlled here. At the simplest level, hard drives are numbered in Setup as Drive 0, Drive 1, etc or sometimes as Primary Master, Primary Slave. Which ever way these are named, they have a basic ON / OFF setting (sometimes AUTOMATIC or something similar). If your drive is not detected it may be because it is turned OFF in System Setup.

In most cases, the boot drive is Drive 0 or Primary Master. When you add a second drive to the system, it may be need to be enabled by turning it ON in System Setup.

Hard Disk Repair

3 Methods to burn an ISO Image onto a CD

DATARECOVERYUNION.COM15 years ago3 years ago05 mins

Just like the old boot floppy diskettes, CD or DVD-ROM discs can boot to a DOS or other operating systems. Just copying files to the CD will not work because the CD will need a master boot record and other hidden Startup operating system files. Instead, the preferred method is to create a single file, an image of a bootable CD, called an ISO image. Most CD-ROM burning applications recognize this type of image file. Once the ISO file is burned as an image, then the new CD is a clone of the original and bootable. Besides the bootable OS, the CD will also hold the various software applications that will be run from the CD.

Method 1: Nero – Burning ROM

Nero Burning ROM can be used to record a CD from a .iso file. This programs is available from Nero Software, or you may already have it on your computer.

Steps to create a CD if you have installed Nero – Burning ROM:

Download the ISO CD image to a folder on your computer.
Insert a blank CD in your CD-RW drive.
Start Nero Burning.
Follow the wizard steps to select Data CD creation.
When the wizard closes, click Burn Image on the File menu.
In the Open dialog box, select the ISO file, and then click Open.
In the wizard, click Burn to write the image to the CD.

Method 2: EasyCD Creator

You can use Roxio/Sonic EasyCD Creator to create a CD from a .iso file. This program is available from Roxio/Sonic, or you may already have it installed on your computer. When the program is installed, it is automatically associated with the .iso file extension in Windows Explorer. Steps to create a CD if you have installed EasyCD Creator:

Download the .iso CD image to a folder on your computer.
Insert a blank CD in your CD-RW drive.
Start the EasyCD Creator program.
The Quick Start section may be available on your version; if so, click to open it.
If not, choose Copy.
Either way, choose Burn Image.
Browse to the folder in which you saved the .iso image.
Click the button for Burn Image.

Method 3: Alex Feinman’s ISO Recorder (Freeware)

This freeware can be found here.

You must simply install the software and reboot your computer if instructed. Once that is accomplished:

Insert a blank CD in your CDROM drive.
Find the .iso file that you have downloaded onto your computer, for example, onto your Desktop.
Right-click on the .iso file.
You will see a “Copy Image to CD” option on the dropdown menu. Select it.
The CD Recording Wizard should appear. Simply choose Next and Finish. The CD will eject when completed.

This freeware should support Windows Vista and Windows XP/2000.

* MacOS Disk Utility

Insert a blank disc.
From the Desktop, click on Utilities (or in some cases, Applications, and then Utilities).
Launch Disk Utility.
From the File menu, choose Open Disk Image.
Select the ISO image to be burned.
In the list of volumes, you will now see an item representing the ISO file. Select it.
Click the Burn button and follow the instructions.

Hard Disk Repair

Hard Disk Drive Firmware Search Engineer

DATARECOVERYUNION.COM15 years ago11 months ago02 mins

As we know, firmware damage is the main reason which causes the hard disk data lose. When we encounter this problem, we should rebuild the firmware first. By this time, we need some professional tools, such as PC3000. (About the PC3000 tool). With the professional tools, we also need to find the matching firmware, so I made this searching tool as below:

You just need to input your firmware model number, for example: input ‘HitachiHTS541616J9AT00’, then you can find the firmware which you are looking for. Although this searching tool is not perfect, its accuracy rating is good.

These firmware data which are used for the searching tool are from http://files.hddguru.com and http://www.firmwarebase.com.

Firmware Search Engineer Code(Copy this code to your website):

<form action=”http://www.google.com/cse” id=”cse-search-box”>
<div>
<input type=”hidden” name=”cx” value=”016304681005895250528:a7qpcruki2s” />
<input type=”hidden” name=”ie” value=”UTF-8″ />
<input type=”text” name=”q” size=”31″ />
<input type=”submit” name=”sa” value=”Search” />
</div>
</form>
<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://www.google.com/cse/brand?form=cse-search-box&lang=en”></script>

If you know any other hard drive firmware download websites, please do not hesitate to share them with me. With your helping, I can make this search tool better. Thanks!

Hard Disk Repair

How To Completely Clean Data From Your Hard Drives And SSDs? (Part I)

DATARECOVERYUNION.COM15 years ago3 years ago05 mins

With stories abounding of identity theft aided by information lifted from discarded storage devices, you want devices you no longer plan to use to have no usable information when they head out the door. Here’s how to wipe them clean.

Why Erasing Files Is Not Enough

Sure, you could erase the contents of the drive, but keep this in mind: the act of erasing a file does not remove it from a storage device.

When you erase/delete a file from your computer, it’s not really gone until the areas of the disk it used are overwritten by new information. If you use the normal Windows delete function, the “deleted” file is sent to the Recycle Bin until the space it uses is required by other files. If you use Shift-Delete to bypass the Recycle Bin, the space occupied by the file is marked as available for other files. However, the file could be recovered days or even weeks later with third-party data recovery software. As long as the operating system does not reuse the space occupied by a file with another file, the “deleted” file can be recovered.

With SSDs, the erased file situation is even more complex. SSDs store data in blocks rather than in sectors as with magnetic storage. Overwriting a block was previously used involves copying the contents of the block to cache, wiping the block’s contents, delete the block to be overwritten from cache, writing the new data to cache, and rewriting the block with the new data. As an SSD is used with files that are deleted or changed frequently, the performance can drop unless the drive (and operating system) support a technology called TRIM that wipes out deleted data blocks as soon as the file using the blocks is deleted. TRIM is supported by Windows 7 and by some late model SSDs, but not by older Windows versions. So, disk wiping can be both a security feature and a performance improvement strategy.

Data Wiping Versus File Erasure

While erasing files simply marks file space as available for reuse, data wiping overwrites all data space on a storage device, replacing useful data with garbage data. Depending upon the method used, the overwrite data could be zeros (also known as “zero-fill”) or could be various random patterns.

Products that can be used for wiping hard disks might not be suitable for wiping other types of drives. In this article, we will look at methods for securely wiping hard disks, USB flash memory devices, flash memory cards, and SSDs.

Zero-Fill a Hard Disk

Time Needed: several hours (varies with size and speed of drive)
Software: Hard disk utility software from your drive vendor
Media: blank CD or floppy disk

Although writing zeroes across the entire hard disk surface (aka “zero-filling”) is not sufficient to meet government data sanitation (disk wiping) standards such as DoD 5220.22-M or the more comprehensive Standards and Technologies (NIST) Special Publication 800-88, overwriting the entire hard disk prevents most types of data recovery from being successful.

Here’s where to get zero-fill software from hard disk vendors:

Hitachi

Drive Fitness Test
Select the Erase Drive feature to zero-fill your hard disk.

Samsung

HUtil
Use Tool, Erase HDD to zero-fill your hard disk.