Seagate 7200.11 hard disk firmware upgrade

  • Thread starter Thread starter Man-wai Chang ToDie (33.6k)
  • Start date Start date
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Man-wai Chang ToDie (33.6k)

Are you affected?

Welcome, Seagate hard drive owners. A number of Seagate hard drives
from the following families may become inaccessible when the host system
is powered on:

Barracuda 7200.11
DiamondMax 22
Barracuda ES.2 SATA

Once a drive has become affected the data becomes inaccessible to users
but the data is not deleted. Seagate has isolated this issue to a
firmware bug affecting drives from these families manufactured through
December 2008.

http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/c...tLanguage=selfservice&DocId=207931&NewLang=en

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Man-wai Chang ToDie (33.6k) said:
Are you affected?

Welcome, Seagate hard drive owners. A number of Seagate hard drives
from the following families may become inaccessible when the host system
is powered on:

Barracuda 7200.11
DiamondMax 22
Barracuda ES.2 SATA

Once a drive has become affected the data becomes inaccessible to users
but the data is not deleted. Seagate has isolated this issue to a
firmware bug affecting drives from these families manufactured through
December 2008.

http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/c...tLanguage=selfservice&DocId=207931&NewLang=en
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, Seagate always tells their customers to go through a
Salesforce.com server to get Seagate updates, uh huh, sure. If Seagate
contracts customer service to some other company, they must provide a
means for that agency to send e-mails through the Seagate mail hosts so
those customer service e-mails originate from a Seagate domain. The
similar is required whenever providing update downloads. Customers
aren't going to know who is Salesforce.com and will automatically assume
it is a phish of a Seagate site.
 
Are you affected?

Welcome, Seagate hard drive owners. A number of Seagate hard drives
from the following families may become inaccessible when the host system
is powered on:

Barracuda 7200.11
DiamondMax 22
Barracuda ES.2 SATA

Once a drive has become affected the data becomes inaccessible to users
but the data is not deleted. Seagate has isolated this issue to a
firmware bug affecting drives from these families manufactured through
December 2008.

http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?Tab=sear...
Click to expand...

I was looking through those drives on Newegg the other day after
finding a hidden coupon code to discount already a sale with free
shipping -- specifically the 750G (noting its related 500G). Single
platter constructs with somewhat slimmer dimensions than usual
offering potential cool-running characteristics. Then went after the
750 on Seagate's site to get to the bottom, and Seagate wasn't listing
the model. Newegg also wouldn't publish the warranty. Which,
naturally, begs Joe Reviewer to come up with -- 'Well, Seagate
apparently isn't standing with its normal 5-year backing on this
one.' Come on people, how about one or the other makes up their mind
and get the act rolling.
 
Man-wai Chang ToDie (33.6k) said:
Are you affected?

Welcome, Seagate hard drive owners. A number of Seagate hard drives
from the following families may become inaccessible when the host
system is powered on:

Barracuda 7200.11
DiamondMax 22
Barracuda ES.2 SATA

Once a drive has become affected the data becomes inaccessible to
users but the data is not deleted. Seagate has isolated this issue
to a firmware bug affecting drives from these families manufactured
through December 2008.

http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/c...tLanguage=selfservice&DocId=207931&NewLang=en
Click to expand...

Seagate have changed this a dozen times in the last few days. At first
my drive was pronounced "clean", now it's on the list. I have had this
drive (the 7200.11, 750 GB, SD15 firmware) for about 1.5 years and it is
used extensively and there has not been a single problem.

Of course, now that I've said this, it will fail within the next few
hours. I've been happy with Seagate drives and the 5 year warranty is
still in effect for the drive, but a firmware update?

This being the first brush with a problem and Seagate service, I have to
say it's very disappointing to see that they are acting like they have
no idea what they're doing. I think I'll replace this with a WD
drive...I've always had good luck with them.
 
RobV said:
http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/c...tLanguage=selfservice&DocId=207931&NewLang=en

Seagate have changed this a dozen times in the last few days. At first
my drive was pronounced "clean", now it's on the list. I have had this
drive (the 7200.11, 750 GB, SD15 firmware) for about 1.5 years and it is
used extensively and there has not been a single problem.

Of course, now that I've said this, it will fail within the next few
hours. I've been happy with Seagate drives and the 5 year warranty is
still in effect for the drive, but a firmware update?

This being the first brush with a problem and Seagate service, I have to
say it's very disappointing to see that they are acting like they have
no idea what they're doing. I think I'll replace this with a WD
drive...I've always had good luck with them.
Click to expand...

Rob, firmware updates are entirely normal from drive manufacturers,
and it's also normal for them to modify their bulletins and advisories
when they find a bug. Bug reports go from the field to their labs,
and they try and find the extent of the problem. Obviously they
can't test all possible hardware configurations and scenarios.

Some HD manufacturers are better than others about fixing bugs,
And Seagate is one of the better companies.
 
Rob, firmware updates are entirely normal from drive manufacturers,
and it's also normal for them to modify their bulletins and advisories
when they find a bug. Bug reports go from the field to their labs,
and they try and find the extent of the problem. Obviously they
can't test all possible hardware configurations and scenarios.

Some HD manufacturers are better than others about fixing bugs,
And Seagate is one of the better companies.
Click to expand...

"Seagate Firmware Update Bricks Barracuda 7200.11 HDDs"
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=14011

Paul
 
Are you affected?

Welcome, Seagate hard drive owners. A number of Seagate hard drives
from the following families may become inaccessible when the host system
is powered on:

Barracuda 7200.11
DiamondMax 22
Barracuda ES.2 SATA

Once a drive has become affected the data becomes inaccessible to users
but the data is not deleted. Seagate has isolated this issue to a
firmware bug affecting drives from these families manufactured through
December 2008.

http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/c...tLanguage=selfservice&DocId=207931&NewLang=en
Click to expand...

This explanation was posted by someone claiming to be a current
Seagate employee:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1098793&cid=26542735

- Franc Zabkar
 
Rob, firmware updates are entirely normal from drive manufacturers,
and it's also normal for them to modify their bulletins and advisories
when they find a bug. Bug reports go from the field to their labs,
and they try and find the extent of the problem. Obviously they
can't test all possible hardware configurations and scenarios.

Some HD manufacturers are better than others about fixing bugs,
And Seagate is one of the better companies.
Click to expand...

Well, thank you for that encouraging news! I've purchased a lot of disk
drives over the years (various brands) and this is the first time one
came up with a problem that needed a firmware update. Guess I've just
been lucky.

The thing that concerns me about this particular problem is that it can
fail at any time; there's no warning and apparently does so at startup.
At first, it was said that if this occurred, data would not be
accessible, but now it's "may be inaccessible". Since this is my boot
drive, I'm anxious for a fix. Guess the system will stay turned on for
a while. ;-)

I also ordered a WD drive that I will use to backup the Seagate. Needed
to have a backup drive anyway, this just gave me the impetus to get it
ordered.

Thanks again!
 
Rob, firmware updates are entirely normal from drive manufacturers,
Click to expand...

Does my drive need a firmware update?
http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=206091

"Field support for firmware updates involves robust and compatible
tools, backwards compatibility and data safety. These features are
designed into Enterprise class SAS, Fibre Channel and SAS interface
disc drives.

Desktop and Mobile SATA and PATA drives are not designed for firmware
updates in the field in the vast majority of cases."

- Franc Zabkar
 
Are you affected?

Welcome, Seagate hard drive owners. A number of Seagate hard drives
from the following families may become inaccessible when the host system
is powered on:

Barracuda 7200.11
DiamondMax 22
Barracuda ES.2 SATA

Once a drive has become affected the data becomes inaccessible to users
but the data is not deleted. Seagate has isolated this issue to a
firmware bug affecting drives from these families manufactured through
December 2008.

http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/c...tLanguage=selfservice&DocId=207931&NewLang=en
Click to expand...

New SD1A firmware has just been released:
http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207931

- Franc Zabkar
 
Rob, firmware updates are entirely normal from drive manufacturers,
and it's also normal for them to modify their bulletins and advisories
when they find a bug. Bug reports go from the field to their labs,
and they try and find the extent of the problem. Obviously they
can't test all possible hardware configurations and scenarios.

Some HD manufacturers are better than others about fixing bugs,
And Seagate is one of the better companies.
Click to expand...

Nothing normal about this -- looking up my latest drive purchase, I
may be affected. Can't really determine specifics, as there don't
appear to be any. It's a sure-fire quagmire into Seagate's forums, as
well an extensive concern among site discussions. All I know is my
drive doesn't seem any the worse for a model that's suspect (I've got
it blocked from a pretty old PCI SATA card, and would have to remove/
reconnect it get to a serial# confirmation, diagnostics for a firmware
rev#, etc). Which doesn't mean much, as there no consensus among
conjectures as to what's causing some drives to "brick themselves in"
and stop communicating, or whether the update on seemingly unaffected
drives poses added risk (some ended up on the RMA route after an
update, some disabled NCQ for buffer/streaming issues and misgivings).

A sad state for a better company. On their site the bricked model
numbers run the gamut, from 500G to 1.5T models. . ."a small number
[of drives...] which may result in data becoming inaccessible after a
power-off/on operation". Funny it just seems to get worse, that 1.5T
is getting more than a fair share of focus. 80% reduction from last
year's stock prices. Though did notice one network/IT type with big
HD budgets somewhat sadly say his experience wouldn't indicate WD's QC
is in any sense the better conclusion.
 
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