Lemur
01-21-2009, 21:20
I've been hearing about the newest Seagate HDs. Specifically, hearing that they are duds, death balls, places you don't want to park your data. They denied it, of course, even while shedding their CEO (http://www.crn.com/storage/212800163) and restructuring.
At long last they've copped a plea (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090121-seagate-cops-to-widespread-hd-problems-vows-full-support.html):
Seagate had to issue a firmware update for the 7200.11 1.5TB drives. Although most worked without issue, a significant minority of buyers reported that the drives would randomly pause for 15-30 seconds while under load or when configured in a RAID array.
At the time, the issue was blamed on Seagate's rush to push a 1.5TB drive out the door while other HDD companies held their own maximum capacities at 1TB. This explanation worked as long as the problem stayed confined to the 1.5TB series, but it hasn't. Earlier this month, reports began to surface that various 7200.11 drives were failing. Although detected in BIOS (often after lengthy delays), all data on the drives was inaccessible. On January 16, Seagate updated its knowledge base with information on which drives were affected, appropriate software tools for determining the specific model information of one's hard drive, and the appropriate firmware update.
Unfortunately, that has not been the end of the issue. A number of Seagate customers with hard drive models on the company's list trotted off to apply the new firmware, only to discover that the update either A) didn't work or B) bricked a drive that had formerly been in perfect working order. We spoke to Seagate representative Michael Hall, who affirmed that the originally posted firmware had a "glitch" of its own that had failed to fix the original problem or even created it where it hadn't previously been present.
The "good" news is that this unexpected issue has itself been fixed via a further firmware update. If you've already updated and had no issues, you won't need this new version, but it should fix any problems the first firmware caused for those of you unlucky enough to encounter it. Seagate has repeatedly stated that this problem, while frustrating, should not cause data loss. In the event that you do lose information, however, the company has pledged to provide free data recovery services.
So who here would buy one of these, and demonstrate that they truly believe Seagate has fixed the problem? The 1.5TB drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337) is selling for stupid cheap. Care to put your data on it?
At long last they've copped a plea (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090121-seagate-cops-to-widespread-hd-problems-vows-full-support.html):
Seagate had to issue a firmware update for the 7200.11 1.5TB drives. Although most worked without issue, a significant minority of buyers reported that the drives would randomly pause for 15-30 seconds while under load or when configured in a RAID array.
At the time, the issue was blamed on Seagate's rush to push a 1.5TB drive out the door while other HDD companies held their own maximum capacities at 1TB. This explanation worked as long as the problem stayed confined to the 1.5TB series, but it hasn't. Earlier this month, reports began to surface that various 7200.11 drives were failing. Although detected in BIOS (often after lengthy delays), all data on the drives was inaccessible. On January 16, Seagate updated its knowledge base with information on which drives were affected, appropriate software tools for determining the specific model information of one's hard drive, and the appropriate firmware update.
Unfortunately, that has not been the end of the issue. A number of Seagate customers with hard drive models on the company's list trotted off to apply the new firmware, only to discover that the update either A) didn't work or B) bricked a drive that had formerly been in perfect working order. We spoke to Seagate representative Michael Hall, who affirmed that the originally posted firmware had a "glitch" of its own that had failed to fix the original problem or even created it where it hadn't previously been present.
The "good" news is that this unexpected issue has itself been fixed via a further firmware update. If you've already updated and had no issues, you won't need this new version, but it should fix any problems the first firmware caused for those of you unlucky enough to encounter it. Seagate has repeatedly stated that this problem, while frustrating, should not cause data loss. In the event that you do lose information, however, the company has pledged to provide free data recovery services.
So who here would buy one of these, and demonstrate that they truly believe Seagate has fixed the problem? The 1.5TB drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337) is selling for stupid cheap. Care to put your data on it?