F3 Headmaps and PreAmps

[lcoughey]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets a little annoyed trying to find the perfect Seagate donor. I just started to compile a list of Seagate F3 series hard drives, their model, serial, country, date, headmap and preamp information and have posted it on my company website.

F3 Seagate Headmaps and PreAmps

Feel free to share any findings of your own that you'd like me to add to the spreadsheet.

FYI, to see the preamp type, you can find it by ctrl-l via terminal.

[Blizzard]

Thanks for the share! Here is 1 more:
ST1000DM003
Z1D
9YN162-021
HP16
13254
TK
0,1
B2 13

[lcoughey]

Thanks @Blizzard, just added it.

[Blizzard]

I just realized I didn't give you the head map or Country code on the previous one so I updated it. And here is one more.
ST1000VM002
1CT162-500
W1G
SC23
13016
WU
0,1
B2 03

[DataMedics]

@Blizzard Very interesting, from the two you posted they should have compatible heads despite being totally different models. I wonder if the preamp type designations are relative to the model or series.

[Blizzard]

Source of the post @Blizzard Very interesting, from the two you posted they should have compatible heads despite being totally different models. I wonder if the preamp type designations are relative to the model or series.

Your theory is correct, I swapped the heads and both drives ID and have sector access.

Going by the standard matching guide (Donor Drives) what matched?
The model matched (ST1000) if you consider the VM002 to just be the video/pipeline version of the DM003
But this could be argued since the DM and VM are considered different drive families (Grenada | Bacall)

Part number the 162 matched
9YN162-021 | 1CT162-500

The 1 in the serial
Z1D | W1G

Site codes don't match

Dates off by 5 months+

First 2 characters of preamp match

[Amarbir[CDR-Labs]]

Source of the post

Source of the post @Blizzard Very interesting, from the two you posted they should have compatible heads despite being totally different models. I wonder if the preamp type designations are relative to the model or series.

Your theory is correct, I swapped the heads and both drives ID and have sector access.

Going by the standard matching guide (Donor Drives) what matched?
The model matched (ST1000) if you consider the VM002 to just be the video/pipeline version of the DM003
But this could be argued since the DM and VM are considered different drive families (Grenada | Bacall)

Part number the 162 matched
9YN162-021 | 1CT162-500

The 1 in the serial
Z1D | W1G

Site codes don't match

Dates off by 5 months+

First 2 characters of preamp match

Hi,
would like to ask you how you folks interpreter the first 3 markings of serial no .Also the what does the first 2 and the last 2 in preamp donate .These drives are a - in the to work

[Blizzard]

Hi,
would like to ask you how you folks interpreter the first 3 markings of serial no .Also the what does the first 2 and the last 2 in preamp donate .These drives are a - in the to work

I'm guessing the first letter in the serial is a site code. With only a few exceptions (occasionally a W=SU) It almost always matches up as follows:

S=SU
W=WU
Z=TK

Hopefully someone else has more to add.

[DataMedics]

I've definitely determined that the first letter can often be ignored. So a S24 and W24 can generally be interchangeable, as it's a site code like Blizzard already mentioned. I think the second digit relates to the preamp and the third to the head map, but that's just my gut feeling from what I've seen so far. For example the letter "F" as a third digit usually means a full 6 heads on a three platter drive. Whereas "4" usually means 5 out of 6 heads on a 3 platter with a missing head 5.

I haven't figured the whole thing out completely yet, as I've only recently started really keeping track. I'm hoping soon to collect enough information to determine a definite pattern to it.

[osity]

Interesting information.
What's frustrating is that even when you have a full external match (Model, first 3 serial, part number, DOM, country code, firmware) It's still not guaranteed to be a match.
I didn't include preamp as I haven't usually paid attention to it as the drives that usually come in are clickers with fail op errors.

I would assume preamp can't be checked unless your drive stays spinning?

I tried a ST3500418AS-9SL142 (preamp 59 04) as a donor for a ST500DM002-1BD142 (preamp 59 04) and the drive stayed spinning and I have access to 93 where the other drives which had labels that matched perfectly but slightly different preamps just gave servo errors.

[osity]

Would it be safe to assume that a preamp of B2 13 would not be compatible with a CA 07?

[Blizzard]

Source of the post Would it be safe to assume that a preamp of B2 13 would not be compatible with a CA 07?

If the 2nd and 3rd character of the serial number match then you can try. If not then I wouldn't typically waste my time. But sometimes I can't help myself
Working example where preamp doesn't match:
Patient: ST1500DM003
Serial: W240 Date: 13072 Site: WU
Preamp: CC 06

Donor: ST2000DM001
Serial: S240 Date: 12353 Site: SU
Preamp: B4 03

[osity]

Thanks for the example..... It's the wild west with Grenada it seems.