A warning to all seagate hard drives users and buyers

It has hit the news:

SEAGATE'S FLAGSHIP desktop Barracuda 7200.11 drives, in particular the 1TB (ST31000340AS) units, are failing at an alarming rate and prompting outrage from their faithful customers.
A new self-bricking feature apparently resides in faulty firmware microcode which will rear its ugly head sometime at boot detection. Essentially the drive will be working as normal for a while, then - out of the blue - it'll brick itself to death. The next time you reboot your computer the drive will simply lock itself up as a failsafe and won't be detected by the BIOS. In other words, there's power, spin-up, but no detection to enable booting.

*www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/374/1050374/seagate-barracudas-7200-11-failing.
Its pretty obvious, a hard drive fails if its an improper power supply or if the hard drive are poorly made. Over 2 years I had 3 seagates 500GB being changed constantly and all were Made in Thailand ones. Accel frontline at chakala (now shifted to saki naka), Mumbai said that they just got a small amount of batch were a defect and my 3 drives drying in 1 month's time being a co-incidence was plain silly comments. There have been many complaints all around the web that seagates has drastically dropped their quality control. Even the thermal sensors arent soldered properly and showing a whooping 42 degrees celcius how the thermal sensor that I have on my nzxt case gives me a somewhat rough idea of 34 which is the same with another WD I have in my system.
People who want to buy seagate drives and think its more stable compared to WD- think again.Seagate allready made efforts to cut down warranty period from 5 years to a hilarious 3 years on new hard drives. This pretty much proves the confidence in their own product.

Hmm... So Seagate GONE.
WD already had some issues in the past.
I am thinking of looking at Maxtor or Hichachi now.

MAXTOR is an affiliate of SEAGATE, AFAIK.

Yes, Maxtor indeed is owned by Seagate and I have just got a 1TB Maxtor Basics external HDD. I hope that Maxtor manufactures their disks independently from Seagate (someone please say I am right!!)

Looks like Seagate has once again descended to the depths. They had a tough time coming out the last time they were down.

Yeah, I had bad experience too with Seagate HDDs.

hmm. that's news. time to move to samsung???

I believe WD is the way to go. 5 years on site warranty ought to be enough for anybody. And they have the raptors

MetalheadGautham said:
Hmm... So Seagate GONE.
WD already had some issues in the past.
I am thinking of looking at Maxtor or Hichachi now.

What's wrong with WD?

640GB AAKS is known to be pretty fast but also known to be pretty unstable. Not sure about newer ones, but AACS 640GB, though speed is by 50MB in average it is stable enough compared to AAKS. Newer AAKS are said to be more stable, however its more of a speculation than I actually seen. AACS versions are known to save power. Dont know about samsung, but I think hitachi are pretty good. Its pretty obvious though that the only way one will know about the credibility of the products if news and personal reviews are shared. Its not the first time, but I have seen sellers requesting buyers to take back the negative reviews and are willing to pay full amount back in exchange. Same funda seems to be followed in Ebay and other markets as well.
This isnt the first time that quality drops down the drain when sales volume jump high. Newer versions of altec lansing mx5021's built seems to be lower than the 1 1/2 year old ones. The rubbber coat on logitech mx518 tear away all thanks to sweaty palms. According to logitech its not supposed to happen, but it does happen.
Computer components and electronic items are something which should be bought based on manufacturer's hype. People often misunderstand the concept between reputation and hype. The first is power supply and the second is motherboard followed by hard drives and flash drives. To an odd crowd, if one never heard of the company then means its either in the niche or infamous company.

This is exactly what had happened to me, same god damned symptoms

, after 1 month use hdd just went BOOOOM

, no more detected by the bios :!:

, just dead and thats all, replaced and running fine till now, but only been a month

, lets see what happens

. Thank heavens I didn't purchased the 1 TB ones.

I learned something;

Rule-1.Back-Up your data.

Rule-2.Follow Rule 1 like there's no tomorrow

Anurag_panda said:
What's wrong with WD?

Heard some warranty issues.
Anyway, I guess if Hichachi is costly, WD IS the best choice available.

Are those 16MB Buffer 640GB Capacity ultra cheap WD HDDs still in the market ? For how much is one available ?

V

So how is Samsung HDDs overall ?

BSOD said:
I believe WD is the way to go. 5 years on site warranty ought to be enough for anybody. And they have the raptors

*images.istheshit.net/uorxudax.png

My friend got his brand new 250GB Seagate replaced twice already. It showed the exact same symptoms as described in the first post. Getting it replaced is a huge ball of mess.

^^hahaha..and I thought I was the most unlucky one to replace my herd of 6, 5 times.

^I didn't know that. But yeah after this experience I would stay away from Seagate. I had my WD 320GB HDD going kablooey on me after 6 months but got replaced in an orderly fashion. The next HDD upgrade for me would directly be a 1TB drive. Now the question is which one?

Whoa!! So Seagate IS going bad. Logged in to check which HD to buy. My Seagate just died on me

Most of my data is backed up, so nothing much to worry. So, I should go for a WD?

P

So will we update the firmware of the hard disk????

Spoke too soon, my replaced HDD died, again, within 1 month

.

I got two crashed HDD in just two months, stay away from Seagate. Its happening just as the post above described. AND the released FW update(SD1A) didn't work on my friend's hdd(1 TB drive), he's too afraid to shut down his pc. It seems Seagate finally lost it, time to buy a WD 640GB(AAKS) drive, any forum member got one?

D

hey guys i also have two seagate hdd's--an 80gb ide that is 3 yrs old & a 360gb sata that was purchased on the last week of may 08....both of these are currently running fine..i boot from my 80gb ide & my 360gb(usable 335gb) is just for data storage...should i also be concerned?

sekhar_xxx said:
hey guys i also have two seagate hdd's--an 80gb ide that is 3 yrs old & a 360gb sata that was purchased on the last week of may 08....both of these are currently running fine..i boot from my 80gb ide & my 360gb(usable 335gb) is just for data storage...should i also be concerned?

If the 360GB HDD is 7200.11 model, its screwed, if its 7200.10 or 7200.9 or anything else its absolutely fine.(the model no. is printed on the HDD lebel on the top right corner). 80GB models are not affected.

i was wondering why my 500 GB HDD was being replaced 3ice last 6 months

tkin said:
If the 360GB HDD is 7200.11 model, its screwed, if its 7200.10 or 7200.9 or anything else its absolutely fine.(the model no. is printed on the HDD lebel on the top right corner). 80GB models are not affected.

Ooh ok will surely check those 7200.xx types then, but are u sure thats the only check we can do to ensure wether HDD is good or bad ?? (abt seagate)... !! im planning to get a 2nd HDD so plz suggest sumthing above 200GB...
--------------

Seagate offering firmware fix and free data recovery for the following:

Barracuda 7200.11
ST31000340AS
ST3750330AS
ST3640330AS
ST3500320AS
ST31500341AS
ST31000333AS
ST3640323AS
ST3640623AS
ST3320613AS
ST3320813AS
ST3160813AS

Barracuda ES.2 SATA
ST31000340NS
ST3750330NS
ST3500320NS
ST3250310NS

DiamondMax 22
STM31000340AS
STM3750330AS
STM3500320AS
STM31000334AS
STM3320614AS
STM3160813AS

ashu888ashu888 said:
Ooh ok will surely check those 7200.xx types then, but are u sure thats the only check we can do to ensure wether HDD is good or bad ?? (abt seagate)... !! im planning to get a 2nd HDD so plz suggest sumthing above 200GB...
--------------

Get Western Digital, I despise Seagate and if you buy it, soon you'll spend most of your time travelling to and fro to the survice centre, any hdd starting with "Sea" and ending with "Gate" is a ticking time-bomb.

desiibond said:
Seagate offering firmware fix and free data recovery for the following:

Barracuda 7200.11
ST31000340AS
ST3750330AS
ST3640330AS
ST3500320AS
ST31500341AS
ST31000333AS
ST3640323AS
ST3640623AS
ST3320613AS
ST3320813AS
ST3160813AS

Barracuda ES.2 SATA
ST31000340NS
ST3750330NS
ST3500320NS
ST3250310NS

DiamondMax 22
STM31000340AS
STM3750330AS
STM3500320AS
STM31000334AS
STM3320614AS
STM3160813AS

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!
A BIG LAUGH.

First of all OEM drives are not supported for free Data recovery, and Retail drives are not sold in Kolkata(believe me, I searched)

Second reason is,(read here)
1.*www.tomshardware.com/news/seagate-500gb-1tb-firmware-update,6867.html
2.*forums.seagate.com/stx/board/messa...&thread.id=5625&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

Everyone-PLEASE BOYCOTT SEAGATE, they are drowning in their own S**T

P.S- No offense to you

^^
thanx for the update.. will enquire abt WDs now..

(btw, using a Seagate 7200rpm 160 GB SATA-I hdd for the past 3 yrs w'out any problems) maybe these newer drives hv this problem )

------------

Cheers n e-peace...

Seagate has fixed SD1A firmware bug. They released the 2nd version of it. It will
bring the bricked drives back to life as they said.

This new firmware upgrade corrects compatibility issues that occurred with the firmware download provided on our support website on Jan. 16

I've read in seagate's forum that it brings back bricked drives to life.

I've one of those ST3500320AS ( 500GB 32MB Buffer Model )
FW Version: SD15

the first buggy version of SD1A firmware has the file name of : MooseDT-32MB-SD1A.ISO
Am I right guys.

Flashed just 5 minutes ago with SD1A firmware the 2nd version.
The file name is : MooseDT-SD1A-2D-8-16-32MB.ISO - Can you guys confirm that the file name is different from the 1st version of SD1A firmware.

*support.seagate.com/firmware/MooseDT-SD1A-2D-8-16-32MB.ISO

*forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=6813
*forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=4771

*seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207931
*seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207951

D

ok...my 360gb SATA(usable 335gb) hdd is of 7200.10 rpm...so is it safe? also i visited the seagate website but couldn't find my hdd in the product list...my hdd's model no is--
3M-ST3360320AS(this is what shows up in the bios)..this model no was nowhere in the list of products(barracuda list)....the strange fact is there is no 360gb model listed on the website...in my computer management>disk management panel it shows capacity as 335gb. i bought the hdd back in may 08.how come it is not listed in the website?

topgear said:
Seagate has fixed SD1A firmware bug. They released the 2nd version of it. It will
bring the bricked drives back to life as they said.

I've read in seagate's forum that it brings back bricked drives to life.

I've one of those ST3500320AS ( 500GB 32MB Buffer Model )
FW Version: SD15

the first buggy version of SD1A firmware has the file name of : MooseDT-32MB-SD1A.ISO
Am I right guys.

Flashed just 5 minutes ago with SD1A firmware the 2nd version.
The file name is : MooseDT-SD1A-2D-8-16-32MB.ISO - Can you guys confirm that the file name is different from the 1st version of SD1A firmware.

*support.seagate.com/firmware/MooseDT-SD1A-2D-8-16-32MB.ISO

*forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=6813
*forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=4771

*seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207931
*seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207951

Yes, the second firmware, the one you mentioned fixed the bug, but i still won't buy Seagate ever.

sekhar_xxx said:
ok...my 360gb SATA(usable 335gb) hdd is of 7200.10 rpm...so is it safe? also i visited the seagate website but couldn't find my hdd in the product list...my hdd's model no is--
3M-ST3360320AS(this is what shows up in the bios)..this model no was nowhere in the list of products(barracuda list)....the strange fact is there is no 360gb model listed on the website...in my computer management>disk management panel it shows capacity as 335gb. i bought the hdd back in may 08.how come it is not listed in the website?

Your drive is safe, it may fail like normal drives but is not affected by the widespread FW bug. Its O.K.

@ tkin

Have you got that WD 640GB AAKS drive ?

topgear said:
@ tkin

Have you got that WD 640GB AAKS drive ?

NO

,
Unfortunately Seagate is so popular here in kolkata

, no store stocks WD drives over 160GB, after a hefty search all day I found some WD Caviar Green (WDxxxxAACS) drives of 500, 640 and 1TB size.

I'm really pissed off, store guys said I may need to wait for months to get AAKS or AALS(black) which haven't shipped for long.

Green drives are good and reliable but has 5400RPM spindle speed and only 70MBPs transfer rate. So these are damn slow.

So what do you think, should I wait for AAKS or get the AACS one??

BTW-Lynx Chandigarh has some AAKS, are they reliable?

I think Lynx Chandigarh is reliable and I think you can also order online from itwares.com

Jupiter International Ltd.
(WD Volume Distributor)
30 Jadunath Dey Road
4th Floor
Kolkata - 700012
India
Phone: +91.33.2212.1406
Fax: +91.33.2212.1404
*www.jil-jupiter.com

Lalani Infotech Ltd
(WD Volume Distributor)
25 Ganesh Chandra Avenue
Kolkata - 700013
India
Phone: +91.33.2211.5285
Fax: +91.33.2211.6452.

Give a call to these and tell them that h/w vendor is saying to wait for a month to get a HDD. ask them for other options.

desiibond said:
I think Lynx Chandigarh is reliable and I think you can also order online from itwares.com

Jupiter International Ltd.
(WD Volume Distributor)
30 Jadunath Dey Road
4th Floor
Kolkata - 700012
India
Phone: +91.33.2212.1406
Fax: +91.33.2212.1404
*www.jil-jupiter.com

Lalani Infotech Ltd
(WD Volume Distributor)
25 Ganesh Chandra Avenue
Kolkata - 700013
India
Phone: +91.33.2211.5285
Fax: +91.33.2211.6452.

Give a call to these and tell them that h/w vendor is saying to wait for a month to get a HDD. ask them for other options.

Well then, let me tell you my whole experiance. After the store guy failed to prove that WD6400AAKS and WD6400AACS are same he called some guy claiming to be regional manager of WD in East India.

He first tried to explain about WD6400AACS's features which I obviously knew, felt like he was reading the text on WD website, the same crap about Intellipark and Intelliseek and so on. Later he said that both WD Caviar Black(AALS) and WD caviar Blue(AAKS) has been discontinued and he never let me speak, just babbled about the ecofriendlyness and kept holding to his point. I felt really really pissed off, just walked out of the store.

Its toal CRAP, I need some help, the only thing that concerns me is the HDD packing quality done by Lynx, its OEM drive so bad packaging by them might damage the drive. I can pay some cash for packaging if needed, just need to confirm with the Store owner, isn't he on the forum?

BTW-Lalani doesn't even keep 160GB WD, I went there, now that's irony.

Ya. I also searched for 640GB AAKS on december on every shop possible but found none.

Some shopkeepers even don't know 640GB hdd does exists.

Seems like you have to order it out from lynx-india.

I have only one doubt though - If someone buy a hdd from there will they get local warranty.

topgear said:
Ya. I also searched for 640GB AAKS on december on every shop possible but found none.

Some shopkeepers even don't know 640GB hdd does exists.

Seems like you have to order it out from lynx-india.

I have only one doubt though - If someone buy a hdd from there will they get local warranty.

Well, USA users get warranty for hdds purchased from Newegg so why shouldn't we, but still, what concerns me most is the packing and shipment quality. Looks like AACS is the way

, might wait for another month or so.

But some gfx cards distributors ( like aditya ) doesn't offer warranties if you don't buy it from local place.

Read about this in here when a guy was trying to buy his Sapphire . So at last he bought a palit gfx card.

tkin said:
Its toal CRAP, I need some help, the only thing that concerns me is the HDD packing quality done by Lynx, its OEM drive so bad packaging by them might damage the drive. I can pay some cash for packaging if needed, just need to confirm with the Store owner, isn't he on the forum?

u can call him or ask in lynx forum *www.lynx-india.com/nonbeta/forums/

K

all those ppl looking for a 1TB drive , try the hitachi deskstar 1tb model ... its good ... fast and reliable ... available in most places ... this is my second hitachi ... no problems as yet ...*www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145233

Well guys I ditched Seagate finally. Got WD5000AACS 500GB drive, its the 5400RPM GP series, but HDtune shows;

AVG Read-74.5MBPs(good).
Seek-14.8ms(NCQ disabled, beats the 7200RPM Seagate drive).

This drive rocks, and I forgot to mention the noise, THERE ISN'T ANY, very very quiet, and cool, just love it, with 5 yrs onsite warranty.

Hey, congrats mate. BTW why didn't you get the 640GB model ?

Is this that drive :
*www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=338

It comes with 16MB buffer and is meant for :

Environmentally friendly PCs and external storage requiring lower power consumption and cool, quiet operation.

So it's running cool n quiet

topgear said:
Hey, congrats mate. BTW why didn't you get the 640GB model ?

Is this that drive :
*www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=338

It comes with 16MB buffer and is meant for :

So it's running cool n quiet

Yeah, its performing better than expected, really quiet, I can't even hear the sound from one feet away with open case, no vibrations at all, good access, O.K so far

BTW- I was lucky to get this one, only one shop in entire Chandni-Chowk got me one, seems most shops aren't even interested

Shop is;

Velocity Compu System
25B, C.R Avenue
Kol-700 072
Ph-2212-9564/9410

^^ Technically, its performing what the drive should. But the seagate drives subconsciously brought down the expectations down the drain because of sub standard ones circulating.
Sorry for bringing this bit late since I am helping other Indian tech forums. Digit will require as much as time I invested in chip forums to make people aware about hardware since many people are giving absolutely wrong advice. In Indian tech forums, quantity posts seem to over power quality posts. I request users not to blindly take an advice for granted and make efforts to google about a review. Most really good reputed reviewers for the time being are johny guru and hardware secrets. User reviews are not always right since not many users test their new hardware entirely.
I request the ethical advisors that are in digit to help people out and make the forum content stand out in quality. We have been there when we were taken for a ride so its necessary to give quality advice. As for people who are giving vague aside- beware.

The Sorcerer said:
^^ Technically, its performing what the drive should. But the seagate drives subconsciously brought down the expectations down the drain because of sub standard ones circulating.
Sorry for bringing this bit late since I am helping other Indian tech forums. Digit will require as much as time I invested in chip forums to make people aware about hardware since many people are giving absolutely wrong advice. In Indian tech forums, quantity posts seem to over power quality posts. I request users not to blindly take an advice for granted and make efforts to google about a review. Most really good reputed reviewers for the time being are johny guru and hardware secrets. User reviews are not always right since not many users test their new hardware entirely.
I request the ethical advisors that are in digit to help people out and make the forum content stand out in quality. We have been there when we were taken for a ride so its necessary to give quality advice. As for people who are giving vague aside- beware.

^^What are you actually trying to say?

Anyway first of all I would like to give you a small tip, although I only hang around the Digit forum and have limited knowledge,

STOP POSTING LONG POST IN PARAGRAPH FORM, NO ONE CARES TO READ THEM.
Please use appropriate paragraphs, and numbering if necessary, make your point clear with as little words as possible.

Rule no 1 with forums-Write less read more.

About the drive, actually I did some background on the drive and Its performing better than the internet reviews said, may be due to small size(all reviews on th net are of the 1 TB model).

Seagate always made quality drives, they are no 1. for some reason right, but they really screwed up this time, most affected users won't get a Seagate drive(or will not use it as boot disk) for a long time, I may give Seagate another chance in future but not till I pass out and get a job.

^^ Why you flaming me? Only the first comment was for you. The other comment is for in general. Besides, just because you dont read, doesnt mean someone is not reading.

The Sorcerer said:
^^ Why you flaming me? Only the first comment was for you. The other comment is for in general. Besides, just because you dont read, doesnt mean someone is not reading.

I'm sorry to have offended you

, wasn't my intention, I've never flamed anyone in my life, it was just a fair warning, if you post those long paras someone else will flame you, really hard this time, I've seen this happen previously.

It would be better if you wrote posts to the point,(like the above quoted one).

Cheers to life and peace

BTW- May be I was a bit stressed out

, sorry.

^^ No re. I was actually confused than being offended

. That's how I am- most of the times. All cool

. We are all in the same team (Teh red team heh heh

)

tkin said:
Yeah, its performing better than expected, really quiet, I can't even hear the sound from one feet away with open case, no vibrations at all, good access, O.K so far

BTW- I was lucky to get this one, only one shop in entire Chandni-Chowk got me one, seems most shops aren't even interested

Shop is;

Velocity Compu System
25B, C.R Avenue
Kol-700 072
Ph-2212-9564/9410

Hey thanks buddy for the info.

guys seagate has recently launched Barracuda 7200.12 Desktop Hard Drives...
wht u guys say.. is this drive going 2 hav same prob as the 7200.11 drives???

im also having the same prob as mentioned.. i hv 250gb 7200.11 drive n im just not shutting my pc off...

i hav 2 buy 500gb.. just went thru reviews.. ppl suggest WD RE3... me going mad..
wht 2 do.. buy a 500gb internal hdd or a 250gb external hdd(still confuse wht 2 buy seagate or wd).

guys plz help yaar......

edit: check this out :- *www.xcpus.com/GetDoc.aspx?doc=123&page=1

Just buy the green version of 500GB from western digital. Seeing that you have a 250GB, its pretty obvious this will be a secondary drive.

thanx 4 ur reply yaar.. but im in the mood of selling my current one(250gb barracuda 7200.11), bcoz its not reliable(i think bcoz, its giving me that prob, pc starts nothing on the screen, i remove hdd n start pc, pc starts showing my xfx logo, again plug in hdd and never shut down the pc)

H

I have a Seagate 500 GB Hard Disk. ST3500320AS. Do i have to go for a firmware update!!! I have it for the past 6 months now. Till now no problems!!! If I do go for a firmware update then what are the steps to do it and what are precaution that I should take????

hell_storm2006 said:
I have a Seagate 500 GB Hard Disk. ST3500320AS. Do i have to go for a firmware update!!! I have it for the past 6 months now. Till now no problems!!! If I do go for a firmware update then what are the steps to do it and what are precaution that I should take????

Yes, you need it, once your HDD usage goes beyond a certain value(for me 400 hrs) it will lock up, and then data will be lost forever.

Go to this link and follow steps very carefully- *seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207951

REMEMBER TO BACK-UP ALL IMPORTANT DATA BEFORE UPDATING(should it fail).

Steps in short;
1.Download ISO image.
2.Burn it to a disc.
3.Shut down PC and disconnect all HDDs except the seagate(ST3500320AS).
4.Boot from the disc.
5.Follow instructions when the Firmware update software runs.
6.Wait patiently and DO NOT TOUCH PC OR DISCONNECT POWER.
7.When update is done it will either restart or will show you to Recycle Power(then you need to manually restart pc).
8.Boot into windows and download and install this software- *www.hdtune.com/ (the free version will do).
9.Run HDTune and click drive info button to check Firmware, should show SD1A.

P.S-You need to disable AHCI mode for SATA in bios if it is enabled(change it to IDE).

I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU MESS THIS UP, I DID IT AND IT WORKED FOR ME(also for some other members), you may seek the help of a Professional if you're not sure.

I've updated my 500GBs firmware with Seagate 80GB Sata connected.

topgear said:
I've updated my 500GBs firmware with Seagate 80GB Sata connected.

I did it too, but its not recommended as Seagate's first firmware(that corrupt the drives), returned errors with multiple drives, why take unnecessary risks.

E

BSOD said:
I believe WD is the way to go. 5 years on site warranty ought to be enough for anybody. And they have the raptors

And why am i suffering ? Every time my 320 Gb hdd fail i return it and again i get it back in this repeated precess i ve lost more than a year time

Right now i am waiting for my hdd to reach Wd , professional courier sucks too

^^ You pmed me recently about the psu. As you said you are using the frontech currently. Dont expect any devices to run properly on a sub standard psu.

Seriously, my Seagate HDD is already making some noise when accessing.. Is that a problem?

^^ There's no harm keeping a backup if possible. If you can afford to change the hard drive, please do so. Once or if the seagate goes bad- you can always rma it and use it at a last resort or use it to keep non important data.

blueshift said:
Seriously, my Seagate HDD is already making some noise when accessing.. Is that a problem?

No, its normal, the Seagate drives have the best build quality ever, the sound is normal, but Firmware problem sucks, otherwise the 7200.11 are excellent drives.

I've been considering to buy a Seagate 7200.11 500GB next week. Can someone please confirm whether the latest firmware is working fine?

The newer firmwares are working fine. T

The newer firmwares are working fine. The newer drives which are in avail now with new firmwares have reported any issues yet. Just make sure the important data is backed up every now and then.

Thanks The Sorcerer.
Any idea where I can get the firmware updates?
Also if there is an update for my model, should I apply it first, or should I wait until the first error occurs?

Go to seagate website & download the firmware and install it.

You shouild update the firmware before any kind of error occurs.

I've also updated mine 500GB's firmware. Check this post for more info.
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1039229&postcount=28

Well I cannot find the download page at Seagate site. All I found is this: *seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/news.jsp?DocId=207931. This page tells how to detect whether the HDD is affected, but no link to firmware update.

Can you please give me the exact link of the firmware download page?

Here is the direct link for 500GB hdds :

*www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/downloads/firmware/MooseDT-SD1A-2D-8-16-32MB.ISO

Thanks for the link topgear. :smile:

I bricked my 1TB today. Lost about 550GB of important data.

anubisX said:
I bricked my 1TB today. Lost about 550GB of important data.

Did you update the firmware?

Just saw this thread.
LAst month bought a 320gb Seagate Free agent passport size external hard drive. Is that also facing any problems like the ones mentioned here?

Nope. I knew nothing about the firmware update. Now, I will buy another HDD and implement RAID 1.

R

Hey guys i have just received seagate 1 TB hdd

ST31000333AS
Firmware: CC1H

will this be faulty as well or has seagate solved the faulty drive issues with the cc1h firmware??

M

i've had the same CC1H hdd .

afaik from seagate site and other sites, CC1H is NOT affected. It should theoretically work just fine.

D

I am thinking of buying a seagate freeagent go external hdd- 500gb. Should i switch to another brand?are only internal hdd's affected or external ones as well?

D

I am thinking of buying a seagate freeagent go external hdd- 500gb. Should i switch to another brand?are only internal hdd's affected or external ones as well?

I would consider maxtor or WD as of now- but I doubt there's any issue with external hard drives.

R

maldyzooks said:
i've had the same CC1H hdd .

afaik from seagate site and other sites, CC1H is NOT affected. It should theoretically work just fine.

cool that's a sigh of relief...

quick questions...
how long have you had that drive?
what config are you using it in?

Just saw the post, Last month bought Seagate FreeAgent|Go 320 GB USB HDD,Is it affected ? or is it 7200.11 rpmed ?

Please someone reply....

No. That's not affected.

There are some 7200.12 rpm drive failure which are cropping up on other Indian tech forums.
-----------------------------------------
Posted again:
-----------------------------------------
There are some 7200.12 rpm drive failure which are cropping up on other Indian tech forums. Although if the failure is from the user's end or from hard drive's end is unknown.

S

My 500 GB HDD just died last week. It is the same firmware issue. Apparantly I didn't know about it and did not flash the firmware before it died. I spoke to Seagate about this and they said that the drive can be fixed by just updating the firmware. Since the drive is no longer detected by my system, I cannnot flash it. I need to take it to them.

The strange part is that, he has give me a TOLL Free number in the US whom I should ring and they will get it fixed for free.

I told them I am in india, they have no clue if Seagate India can do anything about here.

Anyone knows if I can get it fixed in India?

Where do you live ?

I guess youe-mailed seagate online support. So they gave you a international toll free num.

Just go to your local vendor & ask him about the local seagate service center. He should be able to tell you where to go.