Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 drives failing

[EzyStvy]

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. Continued

Ouch. Hate it when things like this happen

[shadowpr]

Here is another link to a thread on the Seagate forum talking about it: http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/...cending&page=1


I have the suspect drive myself.

It's mainly the ones with SD15, and made in Thailand.

[phigdon]

Is it just the 1T drive or all Seagate SD15 drives? I have a 500gig and 640gig that I put in my system last year. both have been running fine so far with no issues.

[shadowpr]

I've read a bit about a few 500gb drives, but it seems to be more geared towards the 1tb, and even the 1.5tb drives.

Like I said, the ones that are complaining have sd15, and were made it Thailand.

[liambl]

Glad I chose WD then.

[amdalex]

How many 500gb drives are affected, I just bought one and don't want it to fail.

[shadowpr]

Like I said, it's mainly the 1tb drives. Any failure of the 500gb could be purely coincidental and have nothing to do with this problem.

I wouldn't worry about th 500gb drives. I have one, and it's been fine for over a year so far.

[glc]

It's not just the 1tb .11's - in the past year in family machines I've had the following problems:

500gb 7200.11 - died within a week.
250gb IDE - died after about a year
250gb 7200.10 - died after about a year (this was just yesterday)

All have been or will be replaced on warranty, but Seagate just reduced the warranty coverage down to 1 to 3 years on everything but the enterprise drives. As of today, I'm going back to WD for all new purchases.

To replace the one that just died last night, I ordered a 640gb WD Black. The warranty replacement for the Seagate will become an external.

[freakitchen]

Originally Posted by glc As of today, I'm going back to WD for all new purchases..

Likewise. For years now I've bought very little other than Seagate. When asked why, I've always replied along the lines of 'because I've heard very few bad reports about their drives'. As of today, I can only really apply that reasoning to Western Digital.

It seems to me - from my own experience as well as that gained here - that Seagate, Western Digital and Samsung have consistently been producing reliable drives for the past 2 years now. It's unfortunate for Seagate that they've had a 'blip' with their latest offerings, but for data storage, you've gotta make the most informed choice you can. I'm running a 1TB 7200.11 drive that's 2/3rds full at the moment.

[glc]

I still won't trust Samsung. I just can't let go of the bad taste in my mouth over how consistently bad they used to be.

[freakitchen]

I hear what you're saying on that score, G, and I don't actually own a Samsung drive at the moment. But on a UK forum I browse, Samsung hard drives are recommended pretty much above anything else; put simply, a LOT must get bought on the strength of those recommendations, and I've seen very, very few complaints over the past 12+ months. The benchmarkers, as well, have nothing but praise for them for their speed. I am tempted to give them a try, but if I'm being honest, I'll probably end up sticking with the WDs.

[not important]

I frequent two forums dedicated to DVD reauthoring and a majority of the members are from the U.K. They also seem to favor the Samsung drives. I'll just go to WD for awhile.

[liambl]

The only reason I can see needing a Samsung drive is in a silent HTPC, Samsung drives have always been quiet, at the expense of reliability.

I have been very pleased with my WD3200AAKS at least, very quiet and fast and best of all it still goes.

[glc]

The Samsung drives that soured me were neither quiet or reliable.

[Masaki 7-11]

I used to buy mostly WD hard drives, however due to the lower prices at my local computer store (memoryexpress), I've bought mostly Seagate hard drives for most of my computers (except for my main computer), I'm currently using 3 Seagate 7200.11 500GB Hard Drives on various computers. Is there any way that I can check the reliability of the hard drives? I've used HDTach before, but it doesn't seem to indicate too much about reliability other than consistency in speed.

[rjfvillarosa]

After making a post in the Windows 7 beta thread I noticed the harddrive I have used for the install is a Barracuda 7200.7
I will be dissapointed if that fails.

[glc]

The .7's seem to be fairly reliable.

Masaki, one of the keys may be the firmware revision.

[Masaki 7-11]

Looks like my local computer store (memoryexpress) got a large batch of Samsung hard drives which are selling on average $10 less than Seagate (which in turn sells for $10 less than WD). It looks like I'll probably switch over to Samsung for most of my drives since the price is good and there isn't that many problems with them anymore.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by glc The .7's seem to be fairly reliable. Masaki, one of the keys may be the firmware revision.

I'll take a look at the firmware revisions, is there any way to update the firmware revision on hard drives on my own (is it a good idea) or would I have to get the drive shipped to Seagate if I wanted to get the firmware updated? I'm assuming that the firmware can be updated since most products that have it usually has a means to have it updated. The first two Seagate 7200.11 500GB that I have are about 6 months old and the last is less than a month old.

[shadowpr]

http://techreport.com/articles.x/16221

[shadowpr]

Here is one list (unofficial) of drives that people have been having problems with: http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/....id=4683#M4683

This is from seagate forums, and made by members there.

[mplsmelo]

Interesting. I just returned a brand new 500gig Seagate (ST3500320AS---fw SD15) as it wouldn't format properly. Never got so far as to install an OS. Now, I'm tempted to return it's replacement as it is on "the list" and replace it with a wd (which I do have as my primary HD).

[kram 2.0]

A 320GB 7200.10 Seagate HDD failed on me for the second time - once originally, then again on the warranty-returned drive. I'm sending back the drive today and they agreed to upgrade my order to the 7200.11...I'm starting to wonder whether that was a good idea.

kram

[shadowpr]

Originally Posted by kram 2.0 A 320GB 7200.10 Seagate HDD failed on me for the second time - once originally, then again on the warranty-returned drive. I'm sending back the drive today and they agreed to upgrade my order to the 7200.11...I'm starting to wonder whether that was a good idea. kram

I've been reading that the newer drives they are comming out with have the improved firware. Not sure about the refurb drives they are sending people though.

I'm still reading up on this.

[shadowpr]

Seagate Responds: http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/cr...p?DocId=207931

It looks like there will be a way to update firmware.

I'm going to check this article out and see what it says, and if it will work.

Hopefully this will help others.


EDIT: If you are already affected, you might still be in luck. Seagate appears to be offering free data recovery: http://techreport.com/discussions.x/16246



This is how a company should respond to a situation like this. They should have responded sooner, but at least they are making an effort to make it right.

[pam123]

Firmware update here : http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/cr...p?DocId=207931

[glc]

You have to register in order to send Seagate an e-mail.

[shadowpr]

I was reading that the firmware won't be available till Tuesday.

Guess we have to wait till then.

[Force Flow]

Last time I asked for a firmware update, I just contacted support via chat on their contact page. Going though their ticketing system didn't work at all.

[kram 2.0]

Interesting. Well, at least if the RMA-refurb 7200.11 drive is bricked, there's some reassurance. Seagate support is generally rather helpful if something goes wrong.

I am annoyed by their standard return policy though - user pays for shipping, else user pays Seagate so that they can provide packing material and shipping. I wonder if this return process deviates from that policy...

kram