SeaTools for Windows User Guide, Rev. 20-Jul-2015, v1.4.0.4

SeaTools for Windows

User Guide

Rev. 08-Oct-2015, v1.4.0.4

Welcome to Seagate's SeaTools for Windows software!

SeaTools for Windows is available in several languages (German, Spanish, French, Italian, English,

Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Russian, Chinese Simplified and Chinese Traditional).

Go the Help menu to select a language.

This file and a PDF version are located in the folder chosen for installation (usually under C:\Program

Files\Seagate\SeaTools for Windows\SeaTools for Windows.en-US.pdf) and are available for printing.

This User Guide contains important information about SeaTools. Please read this entire file before using this

software.

SeaTools for Windows is a comprehensive, easy-to-use diagnostic tool that helps you quickly determine the

condition of the disk drive in your external hard drive, desktop or notebook computer. It includes several

tests that will examine the physical media on your Seagate, Maxtor or Samsung disk drive and any non-

Seagate disk drive. SeaTools for Windows should run on both internal and external hard drives.

Table of Contents

1. Why Use SeaTools?

2. Using SeaTools for Windows

A. Prepare the System

B. Select the Drives to Test

C. Select the Tests to Run

D. Aborting the Diagnostics

E. Viewing the Logs

F. Setting the start up language preference

G. SeaTools Test Codes

H. Miscellaneous Features

i. FDE Password Backup and Restore

ii. Firmware Update Recommendation

3. Advanced Tests and Features

 Firmware Update

 Download Firmware (SCSI, SAS and Fibre Channel only)

 Format (SCSI default format, 512 byte block size)

 USB Erase Boot Tracks

 Full Erase (SATA)

 SED Crypto Erase (Seagate Instant Secure Erase)

4. Bad Sector Found

5. System Tools Shortcuts

6. Serial Numbers, Model Numbers, Part Numbers and Warranty

7. Troubleshooting

SeaTools for Windows User Guide, Rev. 20-Jul-2015, v1.4.0.4

8. Known Limitations

9. System Requirements (.NET 4.0 required)

10. Revision History

11. USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

12. Seagate Technology Support Services

13. Product Return Procedure

1. Why Use SeaTools?

After testing, a large percentage of the drives returned to Seagate for warranty replacement are perfectly

good drives with "No Problem Found" (NPF). Returning a drive for warranty service means system

downtime and inconvenience for you in packing and returning your drive product. Before you send in a drive,

it is in your best interest to determine if a replacement drive is really necessary. This hard disk diagnostic

utility will help you make that determination and possibly save you time and money and preserve your data.

Some typical reasons for No Problem Found are:

* File System Corruption

* Driver Corruption

* Broken Master Boot Record

* Virus and Trojan Attack

* Spyware, Adware and Keystroke loggers

* Hardware Conflicts

In addition to diagnostics tests, SeaTools also offers several features to help you manage your storage

product.

Seagate Instant Secure Erase is available for Self-Encrypting Drives (SED), providing U.S government

accepted media sanitization. See section 3.Advanced Tests and Features.

The Seagate SeaTools software is simple to use. The following instructions will help you get the most out of

this new software tool.

2. Using SeaTools for Windows

A. Prepare the System

You should close all other applications before running a hard disk diagnostic. The main reason for this

is to keep the drive focused on SeaTools as much as possible. Otherwise, Windows will continue to give the

disk drive commands to access data for the needs of the other applications. When that happens, SeaTools

will temporarily suspend its current progress while the drive is busy. This is harmless to the drive and a

routine condition of use; however, it causes the SeaTools tests to take much longer time to complete.

External drives that connect to the system through USB, 1394 Firewire or eSATA do not have the same

background activity as the Internal drive. Internal drives are identified as SATA (serial ATA), PATA (parallel

ATA or IDE), SAS (serial attached SCSI) or SCSI. Most desktop and notebook systems have one SATA or

PATA internal drive.

Power management controls may need to be suspended while doing very long tests. A complete drive

scan may take a few hours to complete. The drive is working on its own at these times and the system may

decide it should go into Stand By or Hibernate modes. Windows XP and Vista Control Panel Power Options

have a setting "Turn off hard disks" and should be set to "Never" during the test.