Seagate Rosewood Data RecoveryST1000LM035 / ST2000LM007
If your Seagate Backup Plus Slim is beeping, stop powering it on. The Rosewood architecture (7mm height, 90g chassis) causes heads to stick to the platter surface. We use specific preamp matching and firmware unlocking to recover these drives daily at our Austin lab.
Is Your Drive a Rosewood?
Rosewood is Seagate's internal codename (also known as the Julius family) for their 7mm 2.5-inch mobile drives manufactured from 2016 onwards. According to Aesonlabs, a Canadian data recovery lab, these drives make up 80% of their incoming hard drive recovery volume due to their ubiquity and fragility.
You can identify a Rosewood drive by its thickness (only 7mm) and the top cover. Unlike older drives with a rigid steel lid, Rosewood drives often use a heavy-duty foil sticker as the top seal.
Common Enclosures:
- Seagate Backup Plus Slim (2016+)
- Xbox Game Drive (2TB Green/White)
- PlayStation Game Drive (PS4/PS4 Pro)
- LaCie Rugged Mini (USB-C)
- LaCie Porsche Design Mobile
- Various HP, Dell, Lenovo Laptops (7mm bay)
Model Number Reference
| Model | Capacity |
|---|---|
| ST1000LM035 | 1TB |
| ST2000LM007 | 2TB |
| ST2000LM015 | 2TB |
| ST1000LM048 | 1TB |
| ST500LM030 | 500GB |
| ST2000LM009 | 2TB |
| ST1000LX015 | 1TB |
Check the label on the internal drive assembly. If it starts with ST and contains LM, it is likely a Rosewood.
Why Rosewood Drives Fail
To fit 2TB into a 7mm profile, Seagate made engineering compromises. Understanding these failures helps explain why professional recovery is necessary.
90 Grams, No Torque
The Rosewood chassis weighs only 90 grams. The spindle motor is miniaturized to fit the 7mm z-height. When the heads contact the platter (stiction), the motor lacks the torque to break them free. It tries to spin, fails, and emits the characteristic beep code.
The SMR Kill Command
These drives use Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) with a complex Media Cache (MCMT). Running standard repair commands like m0 (translator regeneration) on a Rosewood will wipe the Media Cache, permanently destroying the mapping to your data.
Locked F3 Terminal
Unlike older drives, the firmware terminal is locked by default. Accessing the System Area to fix corruption requires a specialized handshake to patch the ROM in RAM. Without this, the drive remains in a BSY state and will not mount.
The Physics of Data Destruction
Why the Freezer Trick Kills Rosewoods
A common myth suggests freezing a drive to shrink metal components. On a Rosewood, this is fatal. The read heads fly on an air bearing less than 10 nanometers thick. When you remove a drive from a freezer (-18°C) to room air, water vapor condenses instantly. A single condensation droplet is roughly 15,000 nanometers high.
Spinning the drive with condensation creates a head crash equivalent to a plane hitting a mountain. The slider shatters, and the data is scraped off.
The Software Risk
If your drive is beeping, software cannot help. The beep is the sound of the motor failing to spin.
Every time you plug it in, the drive attempts to spin up. If the heads are stuck, they are dragged across the platter surface. After 10-20 attempts, the magnetic coating is stripped, leaving a ring of bare aluminum. Once this rotational scoring occurs, recovery is impossible.
Our Recovery Process
We do not just swap parts and hope. Rosewood recovery requires a forensic protocol that respects the drive's unique architecture.
- Preamp Matching: We validate the donor part not just by model, but by the preamp vendor code (Agilent, TI, or LSI) found on the head connector. A mismatch here means the heads won't read, even if they fit physically.
- Safe Unstick: We use specialized tools to lift the heads vertically off the platter before moving them to the ramp. Dragging them back (a common amateur mistake) leaves scratches.
- Firmware Stabilization: We patch the ROM to unlock the terminal, then modify System File 93 to disable background processes. This stops the drive from trying to reorganize itself during the imaging process.
- MCMT Repair: If the Media Cache Management Table (Sys File 348) is corrupt, we reconstruct it in RAM to allow access to user data without triggering the translator paradox.
Turnaround Times
- Firmware-only (drive spins)1-3 days
- Head unstick/swap3-7 days
- Multiple donor attempts7-14 days
Already Tried DIY?
If you powered it on once or twice, damage may be limited to a small area. If you ran multiple scan attempts, the damaged area is larger. We will tell you during evaluation if the damage is too severe to justify the cost.
Watch Real Rosewood Recovery
See the process for yourself. These videos from our YouTube channel demonstrate the specific challenges of the Rosewood architecture.
Head unstick procedure on a beeping drive
Complete recovery workflow and explanation
Transparent Pricing
We do not use bait-and-switch quotes. You get a firm quote after our free evaluation. If the data is unrecoverable, you pay nothing.
$400 - $600
Drive spins but is not detected. Includes unlocking the diagnostic port and repairing the translator.
No Data = No Charge
$600 - $1,000
Drive beeps or clicks. Heads are stuck to the platters or failed. Includes donor parts and clean bench labor.
No Data = No Charge
Unrecoverable
If the magnetic coating is stripped (rotational scoring), we tell you the truth and charge $0.
$0
Competitor Comparison
Big data recovery firms like DriveSavers typically charge $2,000 to $3,500 for the same Rosewood head swap procedure. They use the same PC-3000 tools we do. The difference is their marketing budget.
Related Symptoms
Beeping or Buzzing
Motor cannot spin. Heads stuck to platters (stiction). Primary failure mode for Rosewood.
Learn more →Clicking or Ticking
Heads cannot find servo tracks. Indicates head damage or preamp failure.
Learn more →Not Detected
Computer does not see the drive. PCB failure, firmware corruption (MCMT), or weak heads.
Learn more →Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my Seagate Backup Plus Slim beeping?
What happens if I run recovery software on a beeping Rosewood?
Can I use the freezer trick on a Seagate Rosewood?
Why is Rosewood recovery more difficult than older drives?
How much does it cost to recover a Seagate Rosewood?
Not a Rosewood? We recover Western Digital, Toshiba, HGST, Samsung, and other brands.
All HDD Recovery →Rosewood drive beeping?
Stop powering it on. Mail it to our Austin lab for evaluation. No data, no charge.