Updating a Seagate 3.5" HDD on laptop

As the thread says, i bought my self a 3.5" Seagate ST3200542AS for a NETGEAR NAS DUO..so i could keep a centralised copy of documents/software and the lot (to be shared b/w mine and the wifey's netbook) issue is the NAS DUO was having all these weird problems and the support team in NETGEAR said to upgrade the FW.....problem is the FW (despite making an CD) will not allow update over the esata interface of a laptop...and have NO access to a DESKTOP..

first the software in windows will not allow me to select the 3.5" seagate while my 2.5" WD is spinning away in the laptop (DV5T 1009TX) in either USB/eSATA

on cold boot and physically removing the 2.5" WD from the DV5T..while connected to the eSATA.....and still it can't "see the Seagate HDD"

anyone of the hardware guru's here be able to help....

 

Try right clicking on "My Computer"/click "Manage"/click "Storage"/click "Disk Management"/click on your Seagate hard drive partition/make it active & you might have to format it; you will also need to assign it a drive letter.

Some hard drives will not be recognized by Windows until you follow these steps.

 

Perhaps using a USB to SATA converter would let you access the drive, if that's what firmware you're trying to update. Some firmware updating programs are picky about what interfaces they'll use. Or is this software from Netgear? Either way, ask the vendor of the firmware what interfaces are known to work.

 

i tried using a

3.5" drive on the esata port on the laptop (with my laptop drive inside)= can't detect a seagate Drive

3.5" drive on sata-USB bay to the laptop (with my laptop drive inside)= can't detect a seagate Drive

3.5" drive on the esata port on the laptop (without my laptop drive inside)= can't detect a seagate Drive

3.5" drive on sata-USB bay to the laptop (without my laptop drive inside)= can't detect a seagate Drive

 

Sounds like you're SOL unless you get a hold of a desktop.

What's the product name besides Netgear NAS Duo?
You're sure they are not asking you to update the NAS?

 

SOL?? sorry not aware of that acronym..could you elaborate..?

the NAS is the RND2000 (diskless variety) i have populated it with Seagates (because WD's weren't on the HQL and looked like they might be trouble...ah the irony.....) i recently added the 2nd drive a SATA3 variant of the 2TB seagate..that works very well and thankfully was able to recover the data off the ST3200542AS using the NAS DUO..so now NETGEAR NAS people tell me to flash this drive and then check back with them....unfortunately i don't have a desktop and most certainly will not be detected using the ESATA/USB 2.0 ports on my laptop

....the drive is formatted and activated within windows....the windows flashing software detects the drive but upon reboot...it can't detect

 

"S**t outta luck".

Allright, just making sure.
Is the flashing process suppose to flash inside windows or in a DOS environment?
If, in DOS, it could be that your laptop isn't providing it with power.

I don't quite get the whole picture though. Did this drive work before (In a desktop, or more importantly in your NAS), as you're saying you could recover data from it?

What was the exact problem your NAS duo had? It still isn't clear.

When you have your 3,5" drive connected via usb/esata/whatever (this is done directly between the drive and laptop, without the NAS), you can see the drive in windows right?
As in, it's formated correctly and you can add/delete files from it?

 

there are 2 utilities from Seagate....one a windows installer (which boots the system into DOS and then SUPPOSEDLY flashes the drive)

the laptop does not need to supply power, i am connecting the 3.5" HDD via a esata/USB case with external power

the drive worked...still does, but due to some issues (power cycling etc....resolved in the new update) it would hang up the NAS/won't allow it to reboot...had to hard shutdown and power-up to et it to work from a cold boot/restart, it would make continuous clicking sounds... so while it was still powered on WITHIN the NAS i was able to put another seagate and allowed it to sync...whilst i removed this one.

Yes, the drive is connected directly to the laptop via eSATA/USB using an external case/adaptor ,powered by an adaptor

Windows can indeed see the drive