This was one of 2 brand new drives I purchased from Newegg.com. It was just
a replacement for another drive I had.

I staggered the 3 drives in the case so that they were not right on top of
one another and had case fans for cooling. I don't think they were getting
too hot.

In reference to the screws being finger tight, what I meant was that I have
a small bit that was supposed to be used with a wrench or a handle and the
screws were loose enough that I did not have to use the handle for the bit
to loosen the screws. I just took the bit between my thumb and finger and
was able to remove the screws. I tightened them back the same way.

There were no unusual mechanical noises and the drive was spinning. There
was nothing unusual about the way the drive ran or sounded other than the
fact that the controller card can no longer see the drive.

I know I should have had another recent backup just like I tell everyone
else but when I successfully copied the data off of the old hard drive onto
the new one, I thought I would be OK for a little while. Then I sent the old
IDE drive back to Seagate so I don't even have my old drive to fall back on.

Rod


"kony" <spam@spam.com> wrote in message
news:abai035unqo6bsgauokdc2gp1ir9j9i9oh@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 26 Mar 2007 22:30:09 -0500, "Rod"
> <thelanmanNOSPAM@cox.NOSPAM.net> wrote:
>
>>I purchased a new ST3320620AS SATA hard drive to replace another failing
>>Seagate hard drive. I transferred the information from the old hard drive
>>to
>>this new one before I sent the hard drive back to Seagate for warranty
>>replacement.
>
> Did you get the replacement from Seagate?
>
>>I have used this hard drive in a Windows XP Pro environment for
>>less than a month and yesterday my computer blue screened and rebooted. At
>>this point, the hard drive was still somewhat functional because Windows
>>was
>>trying to check that drive letter for errors. Then the computer locked up
>>and I had to turn it off. When I turned it back on, the computer would no
>>longer recognize this hard drive. I have 3 SATA hard drives in this
>>computer
>>and this is the only drive it would not recognize during the bootup
>>process.
>>I tried other cables, power connections, and ports on the SATA controller
>>card without success. I even took it to another computer and it would not
>>recognize the drive either. The drive spins up and is not making any
>>strange
>>noises but the system just does not recognize it.
>
> I suppose it could be the drive's fault, but I would wonder
> if this drive model is just a little more susceptible to
> problems like overheating (due to case placement) or power
> problems, if either of these two issues are present... which
> they might not be, but we can't see the system.
>
>
>
>>
>>When I bought this drive, I also bought another identical drive. I thought
>>that maybe the interface card on the drive had gone bad. I have the tool
>>to
>>remove the 6 screws that hold the interface card onto the bottom of the
>>drive. I was surprised to find that all the screws were just finger tight.
>
> Depends on what you mean, that you can turn them only using
> your fingers, or using a tool in your fingers. There is no
> need for massive torque on a circuit board, but maybe your
> particular drive just didn't have the screws as tight as
> others do.
>
>
> I
>>swapped the interface cards on the 2 drives and cleaned the contacts on
>>the
>>bad drive but it did not make any difference on the bad drive as the
>>system
>>still would not recognize it. However, when I put the interface card from
>>the bad drive on the good drive, the good drive still worked. I don't know
>>what else it could be as the card is the only visible electronics on the
>>drive. I even tried putting the drive into the freezer for about 10
>>minutes
>>to see if that might make a difference.
>>
>
> There's probably another chip or two inside the drive
> cavity, but were there any odd mechanical noises? Was the
> drive spinning?
>
>
>
>>I really need the data off of this drive since I had not made a backup of
>>the drive since it was installed. Does anyone have any idea if the data on
>>this drive might still be intact and how I could get the drive working
>>long
>>enough to get the data off of the drive? Has anyone had any good luck with
>>any commercial hard drive recovery services that are reliable and
>>affordable?
>
> I would expect a recovery service to be able to get the data
> off. As for "affordable", that is relative but I would say
> no, they're all pricey... enough that it is in your best
> interests from now on to back up any valuable data. Since
> this model of drive seems problematic for you, I would not
> make only one backup to the same model drive.
>
>
>
>>
>>I used to hate Maxtor drives because I had so much trouble with them but
>>in
>>the last couple of years, I have personally had about 4 or 5 Seagate hard
>>drives go bad. I'm not very impressed with Seagate hard drives these days.
>>
>
> I never had much trouble with Maxtors, only their first-gen
> 7K2 RPM series, might've been Diamondmax Plus 8, seemed
> poor. Since then I've had roughly as many Seagates fail as
> Maxtors, but it still makes Seagate preferrible in my mind
> since the warranty period is longer - except if the price
> difference exceeds the value of the warranty.
>
> Barring any other evidence, I think I would not use that
> model of drive for anything of value, unless you determine
> it to be a system heat or power problem.