Task 2: Repair SMART tracks of Seagate HDDs

Description: damaged SMART Module is also a common fault of Seagate F3 disks. As

the disk will write log data to SMART module when it is powered on, rebuilding
decoder or trying to read bad sectors etc. As the tracks SMART module locates are
frequently modified, they can easily be damaged.

Related knowledge: What is SMART?

S.M.A.R.T. is short for “Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology”. It is a

feature supported by modern disks. It can monitor the power-on hours, temperature,
internal circuit, dielectric material on platter etc., and record running log of disk to
analyze the possible problems of disk and sending warning in advance to prevent
from data loss.

The manifestation and determination method of SMART module damage:

1. Hard disk cannot be ready after powered on, it stays busy. This symptom is similar
to that of address decoder damage, but the location of fault is different. We need to
tell the difference.

2. Can’t clear SMART information. When trying to clear SMART information with
command in terminal mode, there reports ”Init SMART Fail”. As shown in the figure:

3. Can’t rebuild address decoder module. When trying to rebuild decoder in terminal
mode, there still reports “Init SMART Fail”. As shown in the figure:
The second and third symptoms are the most typical. We can determine that SMART
tracks are damaged by these two symptoms. As damage of SMART tracks will cause
decoder unable to be rebuilt, the above mentioned Seagate three-step strategy
cannot be done. So we need to repair SMART tracks first.

Related knowledge: SA tracks

Part of disk firmware is on platter, it is loaded to memory to run when disk is boot.
As user data is also on platter, firmware data and user data should be separated. So
platter is divided into user area and service area. Tracks of user area are used for
storing user data, they are visible to operating system. While SA tracks are used for
storing firmware, they are invisible to operating system. SMART module, decoder
module and other modules are stored in SA tracks. If these tracks are damaged,
corresponding modules cannot be read, which will cause the disk unable to work.

As for the damage of service area, there are three most common situations: one is
physical scratch, i.e. SA scratch; another is logical error of track, that is ECC
checksum error of sectors, which will cause tracks unreadable; the last is disorder of
module data. For this, we can repair by re-writing module: copy good modules from
disk of same model and write them to the patient disk. Of these three situations,
logical error of track is the most common cause of damage in SMART tracks. So we
will talk about the repairing logical error of track in details:

STEP 1: connect the patient disk with MRT card, and connect USB terminal. Enter
MRT software. As disk with SMART track damage usually cannot be ready, we need
to force into Seagate disk repair tool.

STEP 2: As the next step is done in COM port, we need to set a high baud rate for
communication. This step is optional. Since the default baud rate of Seagate disks
when powered on is 38400, which is very slow, so we recommend setting a higher
baud rate to save time in later operation.
Click “Terminal” -> “Synchronized baud rate”, and confirm the recommended baud

rate 460800. As shown:

STEP 3: As the disk cannot be ready, the program need to work in COM port mode.
Click “Terminal” -> “Serial binary mode”. As shown in the figure:

Related knowledge: Serial binary mode is a working mode of Seagate disk repair
program. This mode works on the basis of terminal mode. That is to say, to enter
serial binary mode, the disk should be able to enter terminal T-Level. After entering
serial binary mode, the terminal window of MRT software will be frozen. It will
neither show data nor accept input command. To exit serial binary mode, you just
need to click the same menu to cancel the checked state. Simultaneously, terminal
window will be activated. You can input command with keyboard. Some function of
Seagate disk repair program can only be used in serial binary mode. As users often
need to enter or exit serial binary mode, there is a corresponding shortcut menu on
the right toolbar. When the button is checked, MRT software works in serial binary
mode. Otherwise, it works in ATA or terminal mode. As shown in the figure:

STEP 4: Click “Tools” -> “Backup and restore tracks” -> “Read firmware by track” to
open the track reading page. If the user hasn’t created working folder, there will pop
up the dialog box of “New folder”. As shown in the figure:

MRT software will create a working folder for each hard drive. The read firmware
files from this disk will be stored in this folder by default. If the disk can be identified,
the working folder will be named according to the model, serial number and
firmware version of the disk. If not, the folder will be named by the current time.
Users can change the name of folder. Click “OK” and then the working folder is
created. Simultaneously, the track reading page will be opened. As shown in the
figure:

There will list all the SA tracks on track reading page. Please note that all the tracks
here are SA tracks. Users can select specified head in the list of “Select logical head”.
In this way, users can check the track list of each head.

Generally, the running firmware of disk is Copy 0, i.e. in head 0. So we usually select
head 0. Right click the track list and click “Select all” to select all the SA tracks of
head 0. Then click “track reading test”. As shown in the figure:

This step is commonly used to test SA. It is to test if there are unreadable damaged
tracks and list them. The test result will be shown in log window.

STEP 5: MRT starts to do read test for selected SA tracks. The unreadable tracks will
be shown in read characters. Please note that SMART module generally locates at 22
– 24 SA tracks of head 0. We can see reading of these tracks all failed. It indicates
that there is damage in SMART tracks. As shown:

In the above test result, we can see that apart from 22 – 24 tracks where SMART
module located, nearby tracks are also damaged. We need to repair them. Note that
SMART tracks are the most important. They must be repaired. While the repair of
other tracks is optional as there is no critical data.
STEP 5: Turn to track reading page. Select 22 – 24 tracks (other damaged tracks are
optional) and check “continue with error”. Then click “Start reading”. As shown:

As there are damaged tracks among the ones to be read, we need to check the
option “Continue with error”, with which MRT will force to read these tracks and try
to get the data to the largest extent. The read track data will be stored in working
folder as files. The bad blocks in the tracks will be filled with “!”.

STEP 6: After tracks are forced to be read, they will be saved as files. Then we write
these files back to tracks. In the re-writing process, the disk will automatically re-
calculate the ECC checksum of each sector. When the damaged tracks are re-written,
they can generally come back to normal.

Click “Tools” -> “Backup and restore tracks” -> “Write firmware by track”. Track
writing page will be opened. There will list the previously read track data files on the
bottom of track writing page named in the manner of “track number_head
number.trk”. Select the previously read track files and click “Write” to re-write the
damaged tracks. As shown in the figure:

Note: If the disk cannot be ready, SATA interface cannot work, so we cannot select
“ATA high-speed transmission” as the transmission mode. For Seagate 7200.12 or
newer disks which support “Serial high-speed transmission”, we recommend
checking the option to make the writing speed higher. Besides, we recommend
checking “Continue with error”, with this option, the program will force to write, the
repairing effect is better.

STEP 7: Wait until track writing is completed. There will report writing status on log
page. As shown:

If there is no error reported, that indicates all tracks are successfully written.

STEP 8: When writing completed, turn to track reading page, check the previously
written tracks and click “Track reading test” to test the tracks. At this time, we can
find that the unreadable tracks can be read now. That indicates track repair
succeeded. Log is as shown in the figure:

STEP 9: Exit “Serial binary mode”, re-execute the command “Clear SMART”. We can
see the command executed successfully.
STEP 10: Then we can use Seagate three-step strategy to rebuild decoder. After that,
power off the disk and then power on. The disk will be initialized. At this time, we
can see the disk is ready. Click “Tests” -> “Basic status”, click “Re-identify the
device”, we can see the disk identified. As shown:

At this point, disk is successfully repaired.

Summary:

We repaired the damaged SMART tracks with SA track reading/writing tool. SA track
reading/writing tools s are the important basic tool of Seagate disk repair. When disk
can be ready, we can repair it by repairing modules. Otherwise module
reading/writing tools in ATA will lose efficacy. At this time, we need to use SA track
reading/writing tool in serial binary mode to work with firmware zone.

We can repair many faults with flexible use of track reading/writing tools. We used
the most simple “read/write” mode to repair disk in this task. This technique is very
effective for repairing SMART track damage. As for the damage of other modules, we
can back up the tracks in which the modules locate in good disk of the same model
and write them to the patient disk.

Related knowledge:

Apart from SA track reading/writing tools, MRT also offers SA ABA reading/writing
tools, which can be opened by clicking “Backup and restore tracks” -> “SA ABA
read/write”. ABA reading/writing tool can use linear ABA address to read/write the
whole service area. As ABA address and CHS address can be mutually converted,
ABA tool and track tool have the same effect. MRT offers converter between track
address and ABA address. It can be opened by clicking “Test” -> “Translator tools” -
> “Track sector address converter”.