How To Unlock The Original Seagate Drive, Not asking how, showing how Options

[kris5487]

Not sure if this news has circulated yet but a guy named lowtech figured out how to unlock the original (Non slim version) Seagate hard drive. Basically it reflashes the the logic boards firmware and when it is done the drive is unlocked.

You still need to install the drive in your PC and configure it (set jumpers) so the bios can see it but to make it as simple as possible I created a bootdisk based on opendos which will boot the pc, run the autoexec.bat file to initiate the software with the right command line switches. You can find it at the link below.

XRG Seagate Drive Unlock Bootdisk

*EDIT* You will need to download a copy of Winimage to write the IMZ file to the disk, simply copying the file to a floppy drive will not work.

I would be interested to know if the slim seagate drive can be reflashed also?

This post has been edited by kris5487: Oct 16 2005, 10:51 PM

[AfterTheInsanity]

Wow. This looks promising. Can someone verify whether it works or not? Great find kris5487

[Code-Runner]

Well, I honestly was doubtful but I have to try it out anyway. Tested on 3 locked black wraps and all are functional.

It completely re-writes the firmware eliminating the check procedure. This does make the old Seagate drives (Black wrap) functional again and gives hopeful for the rest for an easy solution if recovering the drive is what you need.

Edit

These are the Seagate ST310211A drives to so you are sure.

This post has been edited by Code-Runner: Oct 16 2005, 11:47 PM

[kris5487]

Yeah, I was skepticle at first as well but after I tried it I was impressed. The best part is you dont have to fiddle with any settings or anything, you can even connect four drives and it flashes them all without having to touch the keyboard. I think I recovered about 25 drives

[the stupid one]

Now, if only they could do the Western Digital ones...

[StrictPuppet]

Just curious if the data is recoverable after this, or is the MBR wiped as well?

[Code-Runner]

Just curious if the data is recoverable after this, or is the MBR wiped as well?

It's to recover the hardware and not the software. All data is gone unless you know of a data revocery software for FATX format.

[kris5487]

It's to recover the hardware and not the software. All data is gone unless you know of a data revocery software for FATX format.

No, all it oes is reflash the firmware, it doesnt touch the data so everything is still in place.

[Code-Runner]

No, all it oes is reflash the firmware, it doesnt touch the data so everything is still in place.

I'm going to give it a try again and see if I can view the data off an unlocked hdd, the previous one I tested did not allow me to use it in a xbox again till I formatted it with Slayer but I was rushing through so I was not overly concerned. I was under the impression by the design that it did over write the MBR as well.

[catdog2]

I can confirm that it works for a ST310211A which has been locked using configmagic (I don't currently have one still in its orignal locked state to test).

I recommend downloading the firmware directly from seagate's website rather than 3rd party sites:
http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/utils/...flash_eula.html

I would be interested to know if the slim seagate drive can be reflashed also?

This firmware is not suitable for the slim white drives (ST310014ACE) - see the supported drives in the seagate link above.

[PimpleX]

Nice one, and for those of us who don't have floppy drives anymore and want a bootable CD like me,....

Download the image in the 1st post, extract the .IMA file, fire up nero, choose bootable CD, point it to the IMA file and choose floppy emulation and then burn what appears to be an empty CD, but it will be bootable and run the seagate flash proggy straight off

Worked a treat on a retail locked disk, but it knew when there was an ST310014A on there and said "not specified in family" and returned to the A: prompt.

Someone must have the skills to edit the familly table and try it though, surely

Cheers,

PimpleX

This post has been edited by PimpleX: Oct 18 2005, 10:12 PM

[Code-Runner]

Have you guys tried to access the data after unlocking when using a chip and does it function correctly without corruption?

[kris5487]

Nice one, and for those of us who don't have floppy drives anymore and want a bootable CD like me,....

Download the image in the 1st post, extract the .IMA file, fire up nero, choose bootable CD, point it to the IMA file and choose floppy emulation and then burn what appears to be an empty CD, but it will be bootable and run the seagate flash proggy straight off

Worked a treat on a retail locked disk, but it knew when there was an ST310014A on there and said "not specified in family" and returned to the A: prompt.

Someone must have the skills to edit the familly table and try it though, surely

Cheers,

PimpleX

The tool actually works for a lot of the different drives, but listing them using the comman switch goes by to quickly. It's been awhile since I used dos but it may be possible to pipe it into a file or something.

Anyways i tried looking for the firmware for the other seagate drive but couldnt find it anywhere, the best site i found for firmware is MHDD's Firmware archive but it wasnt there.

[catdog2]

Anyways i tried looking for the firmware for the other seagate drive but couldnt find it anywhere, the best site i found for firmware is MHDD's Firmware archive but it wasnt there.

Just because it wasn't labelled as that drive doesn't mean there isnt firmware for it on that site. Looking under SEAGATE/U-series/U-series 5/ only gives firmware for ST320413A, however from the seagate website link above the v3.39 is compatible with ST340823A, ST330621A, ST320413A, ST315311A, ST310211A, ST38411A (bold is the black seagate xbox drive being unlocked at the start of this topic).

ST320014A-3.07.rar is the closest model available on that site (same drive but 20gig) - I wouldn't be suprised if it used the exact same firmware as the ST310014ACE.

Have you guys tried to access the data after unlocking when using a chip and does it function correctly without corruption?

I put the drive back into a (modded) xbox and it booted the dashboard fine without having to format or reinstall. I then locked/unlocked it a couple of times without any problem.

[Code-Runner]

I put the drive back into a (modded) xbox and it booted the dashboard fine without having to format or reinstall.  I then locked/unlocked it a couple of times without any problem.

Thanks, I definately am having some issues on my side, I did some Slayer formats and locked with DVD2XBOX uploads on the drive. They worked fine in play and rebooting but once I used the tool and unlocked I found some saves to be corrupt. I'm just going to have to check out things on my end.

Also, for the other drives' firmware, I'm going to have to check to see what I have on file. I have a bunch of discs for the PCI-PC3000 that just might have them.