This not mounting Seagate ST1000LM035 model drive came from a 1TB Seagate Expansion external hard drive. The reported issue from the repair shop in Wichita was that the drive sounded healthy, but the computer would not recognize it. The drive would not show up on any computer it was connected to. In this case, the problem was a firmware issue causing the behavior and I was able to get 100% of the data back, but these drives are particularly prone to failure and I wanted to discuss that a little more today.
Rosewood Drives
This model drive is a very popular model and is part of the Rosewood family of drives that Seagate started producing in 2016. Rosewood drives include models such as ST1000LM035, ST1000LM048, ST2000LM007, and ST1000LX015. These models are used in multiple external enclosures including drives by Maxtor, Lacie, and Seagate. Many of the Rugged Mini drives from Lacie actually have these Rosewood series drives inside. While the specs on these drives look good on paper, they seem to be very prone to failure (and the earlier versions of this drive are particularly prone to catastrophic failures).
Not Mounting Rosewood Recovery
If you have a Rosewood series drive, I have the knowledge and experience needed to safely complete a data recovery when it is possible. I have worked on hundreds of these drives and have the experience that a lot of recovery technicians lack when dealing with this particular model. Due to the way the firmware is set up, as well as the process you need to complete in order to replace the heads, it is imperative that the technician working on your drive has a lot of knowledge and experience with these Rosewood drives.
I am looking forward to the day when these drives are no longer so popular because the failure rate is very high and I hate seeing people risk losing important data by using these drives. There are a few reasons I see so many Seagate Rosewood drives that have failed and need data recovery. I will cover each of the design choices that seem to contribute to early failure in these drives below.
The Quest For Thinness
Apple isn’t the only company pushing impossibly thin devices, and hard drive manufacturers are also trying to create thinner drives to fit into thinner laptops and enclosures. This Seagate ST1000LM035 is only 7mm thick, and some of the models have 2 platters squeezed inside that extremely tight space. In order to make the drives so thin, Seagate made the PCB smaller so it would take up less space, as well as having the hard drive label act as part of the cover. The combination of these design choices makes the drive less rigid and more prone to flexing when dropped or pushed.
Complex Firmware
Some of the features that allow the drive to work faster in regular use are prone to problems and can be difficult to remedy. Seagate decided to lock the diagnostic port on these drives, which makes it more difficult to fix issues with the firmware caused by these new and improved features. While you can alter the firmware to allow you to use the diagnostic port to some degree, you are still not able to utilize all the same methods you can use on other drives.
Fragile Parts Making Damage Likely And Recovery Difficult
Especially in the earlier models of this drive, I see the platter degrade much faster than other model drives. This degradation causes all kinds of issues, but especially issues when sectors go bad that are in the service area of the platter. The service area holds the firmware, and as mentioned above, the complex firmware of this drive makes recovery difficult.
The head assembly itself also seems to have more fragile than average sliders. Due to the way the hard drive is designed, it is a more difficult and involved process to replace the head stack, and the parts you are replacing are more fragile as well.
Need A Data Recovery Service On A Rosewood Drive?
As always, I recommend having important data in at least two places. You can’t just steer clear of drives with high failure rates as even the best drives will fail eventually. Having a backup is very important.
If you need your data recovered from a Rosewood series drive, please fill out my recovery quote form and I will get back to you right away. I have a lot of experience with these drives and can help recover the data safely.
External Expansion drive info:
Mobile HDD 1TB, ST1000LM035, FW: RSM7, Site: TK, CT: 2GSXN013Y94B0B
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