Seagate isolates 'potential' Barracuda flaw
Offers free firmware upgrade, data recovery
After reports that its 1TB Barracuda drives are failing at an unusually high rate, Seagate says it has isolated a "potential firmware issue" that would seem to be the cause of this worldwide plague.
The company will provide a free firmware upgrade for those affected by the problem, and if you've lost data thanks to this firmware issue, it will provide free data recover services as well.
In a statement, Seagate says the firmware problem affects "some" Barracuda 7200.11 hard drives and "related drive families based on this product platform." And it explains that "In some circumstances, the data on the hard drives may become inaccessible to the user when the host system is powered on."
You can determine whether your product is affected by visiting the Seagate support site here.
Support is available through Seagate’s call center, which can be reached by dialing: 1-800-SEAGATE (1-800-732-4283).
Seagate also says that customers can expedite assistance by sending an email (discsupport@seagate.com). The company asks that you include your drive's model number, serial number, and current firmware revision.
The company does not believe that the firmware problem will cause data loss. But data has been lost, it promises to help find it. "There is no data loss associated with this issue, and the data still resides on the drive," Seagate's statement reads. "But if you are unable to access your data due to this issue, Seagate will provide free data recovery services. Seagate will work with you to expedite a remedy to minimize any disruption to you or your business."
You'll find a list of international telephone numbers for Seagate Support and alternative methods of contact here.
Seagate emphasised that there is no safety issue with these products. ®
COMMENTS
Let's not rejoyce too soon...
@ John Bishop:
Have you checked your drive's cache since the reflash? People report on Seagate's own forum that after reflash their cache comes back as 0MB.
If that's truly the case (but who knows? Seagate does not answer questions in their own forum), then this "fix" is not a fix, but a deliberate disabling of one of your drive's features.
New firmware means no data recovery needed
Installed the new firmware last night and it restored the PC to it's previous state
It;'s the firmware that was knacked - once restored to working everything came back OK
John
Anyone got a screenshot of the original Seagate promise
Now that Seagate are apparently reneging on their original promise to recover our data for free has anyone got a screenshot of the original promise to do it? All I can find are reports from other people, not Seagate.
Bob
LImits to data recovery service
Sent to me:-
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You reported on the 18th that Seagate was offering free data recovery services for their dead drives. Apparently that's no longer the case. When they issued that firmware update that bricked all their 500GB 7200.11 drives (apparently they don't believe in testing) they also amended their firmware update page: http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207951.
"As Seagate does not warrant the data on your drive, In addition to regular back-ups, if possible, your data should be backed up before upgrading the drive firmware."
This is echoed in this forum post: http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=4457.
"This is a good place to reiterate part of Seagate's warranty policy: -- What Does Our Warranty Not Cover? Our warranties do not cover any problem that is caused by (a) commercial use; accident; abuse; neglect; shock; electrostatic discharge; heat or humidity beyond product specifications; improper installation; operation; maintenance or modification; or (b) any misuse contrary to the instructions in the user manual; or (c) loss passwords; or (d) malfunctions caused by other equipment. Our limited warranties are void if a product is returned with removed, damaged or tampered labels or any alterations (including removal of any component or external cover). Our warranties do not cover data loss – back up the contents of your drive to a separate storage medium on a regular basis. Also, consequential damages; incidental damages; and costs related to data recovery, removal and installation are not recoverable under our warranties. -- This is not unique to Seagate. We know of no storage company that includes data recovery as part of their product warranty.
Again, please make sure that you always have a backup of all important data. A backup is defined as a copy of data in a second, separate storage media of whatever kind. More information on backups found here.
Feel free to discuss do-it-yourself fixes. Please be aware that some, many, or all may void the drive's warranty, so if you have any questions about the method you see here, your best bet is to contact Customer Service directly whether by phone, email, or chat."
Looks like they're not offering it after all. Which I suppose is logical from a business standpoint. Providing data recovery for all those bricked drives wouldn't be cheap.
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Chris
Seagate pays theregister?
You people (as in: the register et al) are apparently quick enough to report when Seagate "fixes" things, but not to be heard from when their "fix" f**ks things up even more. How big is your take anyway?
