Seagate’s ST3000DM001 which effects its Backup Plus and GoFlex 3TB external HDD has seen unprecedented failure rates in recent months. Seagate ST3000DM001 is the first 3TB hard drive to use three platters at 1TB each. Other models use 4 or 5 platters to generate a total 3TB capacity.

The data densities are causing problems and there are unexpectedly high failure rates across many different users and environments – both desktop and server. So what can be done if you have one of these drives or worse still, you are trying to recover data from a failed hard drive?

Although Seagate are happy to replace defective drives, replacement drives are also prone to failure. Seagate may even refund the cost of the drive, but there is no chance they will pay for data recovery. If you have one of these drives, we suggest simply replacing it soonest. There is little the user can do themselves if their drive has already failed.

The only option if you want to have a go yourself is to try Seagate’s Do-It-Yourself software. Even if your system does not detect the hard drive, Seagate’s software may still detect it. If there are mechanical problems or multiple bad sectors effecting the software from reading the source code, unfortunately you will need specialists.