Data Recovery Training: Seagate

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Seagate Data Recovery Training Course

The Hard Disk Doctor for Seagate hard drives is a newly released, advanced hardware-software combined solution for data recovery needs on all types of Seagate hard disk drive. With many powerful hard drive recovery / restore and repair functions, the Hard Disk Doctor is easily installed on any desktop / laptop / server via USB (USB protocol 1.1 or above) and runs on Microsoft Windows 98 / 2000 / XP. With a full English language program interface, training and support, this tool is a must-have for data recovery and HDD refurbishing companies.

The following excerpt is taken from Computer Science Labs' Data Recovery Course for Seagate Hard Disk Drives.

1. Seagate Classification

Seagate is now the the largest manufacturer of hard disk drives since its acquisition of Maxtor. There are many hard drive 'families' associated with Seagate consisting of:

  • U6, U7, U8, U10, UX: Commonly know as the U family. U6 is very common but the others are rarely seen.
  • U5 and U9: These belong to the U family but use the Barracuda technology. U5 is equivalent to Barracuda 4 and U9 is equivalent to Barracuda 7.
  • K1, K2, K3, K4 and K5: These belong to the Barracuda family. Factory level repair is not available on these drives. 'Factory level' means that the drive is working on the PCB board only, it has nothing to do with the platter and internal drive at all. Due to the increment of the density of the microcode stored on the PCB, parts of the code were moved to the hard disk platter after the release of the K5 family. Thus, when drives after the K5 cannot load the whole discrete contents from PCB and the platter, the drive will just work in Factory mode. This is commonly seen in the following examples:
    • Head is damaged
    • HDD has physical defects
    • Head crash
    • PCB error, location of the Service Area is not correct
    • FW is corrupted
  • K7 (ALPINE, PUMA, PUMA2 and APLUS), K8 (TONKA), U9 (TONKA2, TONKA15, TONKA40 and TLITE1HD), K10 (NHAWK1HD, GALAXY, GALAXY2D), laptop drives (SATURN, NEPTUNE, MERCURY, MERC2 and VENUS) and all new Seagate (labelled as Maxtor) drives:: All these drives have the Factory level facility. If the head is damaged on these drive, the drive will be under Factory level control from the command mode.

2. Modules of Barracuda

There are just 10 main modules related to the Barracuda family. The structure of the firmware is quite simple which makes data recovery from the Barracuda family a lot easier.

  • Module 0 ALT: This is the G-list module
  • Module 1 ATA: This is a ATA module which stores the protocols of the ATA communication and interface. It’s a very important module. After doing a SELFSCAN (except when the flow starts from either N2 or N5), this module will be damaged.
  • Module 2 CERT: SELFSCAN codes
  • Module 3 CERT TAB: SELFSCAN flow - Modules 2 and 3 are not important for the normal operation of Seagate drives.
  • Module 4 INFO: Stores the HDD parameters including the model number, SN , LBA and so on. If a change to the model number or LBA is attempted but fails, this usually indicates the the sectors containing this module are damaged or that the module has become corrupted.
  • Module 5 PL: This is the P-list module.
  • Module 6 TS: This is the T-list module which is the compressed version of P-list.
  • Module 7 APP: This is a loading module. This is quite similar to the loading module 41 in Western Digital hard drives.
  • Module 8 SECT: This is an unimportant script module.
  • Module 10 SMART: This is a SMART module as in many conventional drives.
>> The course includes all hardware, software, training materials and one years support. Students who complete the course will become professionally accredited, be able to fully diagnose, repair and restore data from damaged Seagate hard disk drives, and gain a training certificate. The course is run throughout the year, for further details, please visit the Computer Science Labs web site (http://www.computersciencelabs <dot> com), or click here to register your interest.


The popular Seagate 'Barracuda' series of hard disks are cheap, reliable & offer huge storage potential. When they go wrong, you can use the tools from this course to diagnose and repair them....


Students completing the training course will be able to fully diagnose, repair and recover data from damaged Seagate hard drives.


The older Seagate 'U' series of hard disks are easily identified by their black rubber sleeves. The 'U' series has been replaced by the 'Barracuda' series but are still quite common. These drives can be diagnosed and repaired also.