I went through all kinds of annoying hell to update the firmware to SD1A on 4 1.5 TB drives. Only now to hear that SD1A sucked too. I just sent the hard drives back and got my money back. Even now, with a supoosedly good firmware fix, I'd wait a long time before coming back to Seagate. I'd have to make sure they've got a stable product again.
The firmware I got from Newegg 1.5TB page did wonders for the 3-5 minute freezing problem I was having under Vista. I forget which firmware that was but it sounds awfully familiar to this.
Either way, it would take an act of god to make my next hard drive a Seagate. Shame too... since I'll be getting five at once.
"Backups, if they were stored on the same drive that was flashed, also became unavailable."
Doesn't backing up a drive....on that drive....sort of defeat the point of a backup? Kinda like putting seatbelts in a car, but you can only put them on after you've been ejected through the windshield.
@jayhawk11: Actually, what they meant was that the person had two identical drives, one for backup purposes. The flash software went ahead and flashed both drives rather than just one... Bricking both.
Maybe Seagate could recall all the bad drives and start building houses for Katrina victims with them. Brick houses that can withstand a hurricane of angry customers.
Recognizing which brands have problems and steering clear of them will save you tons (--TONS--) of heartbreak.
I remember it only took two failed WDs back in the late 90's to keep me clear of the shit quality they were infamous for back in the day.
These problem are usually systemic and given that HDs are always built with the same base components for a given product line, discriminating by brand is probably your best bet until a manufacture sorts itself out.
Then again, they may just buy-out the competition (reference Maxtor) in the loved grab-you-by-the-balls-kicking-and-scream... maneuver.
The earlier problem with the 1.5 TB drives was exacerbated by the fact that Seagate did NOT provide a convenient download link for the firmware update. They obscured it, and it was up to Newegg and various users on deals sites (like SlickDeals, where numerous people discussed this in multiple threads) to put up the download themselves. A type of damage control gone hideously wrong.
There is no good reason why this should've happened: Seagate could have put out a list of affected firmware revisions/serial numbers/other identifying specs, and stressed that you only need upgrade firmware if your case matched those details.
To make matters worse, Seagate didn't respond promptly when asked, either. I emailed them and it took over a week before I got a response; and even then, they wouldn't provide the update without a serial number. I understand this, so I provided my serial number, and endured another few-day wait... only to be told my SN was invalid. This was absolutely not true, as I double-checked it, and sure enough, it was accurate.
I later found out, through no help of Seagate but fellow 1.5 TB drive owners, that my firmware, CC1J, was a newer revision which was unaffected.
Both 1.5 TB drives I have are working fine and I'm pleased with their performance.
I'm not happy with Seagate's lack of simplicity and openness on the issue; they just made things more complicated for themselves and for their would-be customers.
Have there been any reports of drives failing AFTER the firmware update? I've updated the firmware on mine, but I'm afraid to trust it. I think I'm going to put it in an external box and use it for a TimeMachine drive on my Mac. At least then, if it fails, it's only taken the backup with it.
Wow that sucks. Getting my new MOBO tomorrow so I can finish the new setup with 2 1tb Seagate barracudas (32MB cache) in raid 0 and I was really excited. Good thing I haven't opened the boxes yet.
Or I could just roll the dice and see if they work. If they don't, class action lawsuit here I come.
Heh, and here I can remember a day when Seagate released an entire batch of SCSI drives with bad spindles. You could reliably predict their failure time within ~3 weeks based on production date.
01/21/09
01/21/09
What a debacle!
01/21/09
Either way, it would take an act of god to make my next hard drive a Seagate. Shame too... since I'll be getting five at once.
01/21/09
01/21/09
01/21/09
Doesn't backing up a drive....on that drive....sort of defeat the point of a backup? Kinda like putting seatbelts in a car, but you can only put them on after you've been ejected through the windshield.
01/21/09
Maybe Seagate could recall all the bad drives and start building houses for Katrina victims with them. Brick houses that can withstand a hurricane of angry customers.
01/21/09
I think I'm going to stick to Samsung for my HDD needs.
01/21/09
01/21/09
I'm all about brand, when it comes to buying a hard drive.
01/21/09
Recognizing which brands have problems and steering clear of them will save you tons (--TONS--) of heartbreak.
I remember it only took two failed WDs back in the late 90's to keep me clear of the shit quality they were infamous for back in the day.
These problem are usually systemic and given that HDs are always built with the same base components for a given product line, discriminating by brand is probably your best bet until a manufacture sorts itself out.
Then again, they may just buy-out the competition (reference Maxtor) in the loved grab-you-by-the-balls-kicking-and-scream... maneuver.
01/21/09
MAXTOR isent any bedder..
i rember 4 years ago when thair 60 gig dimond max + 9 or 10 went from $80 to $40 i snached one up..
it failed 3 months before the end of the warrenty
then it failed agian 1 month after warrenty...
so yah fujitu and samsung are my buddeys right now...
01/21/09
When WD went to shits 10 years ago, I switched to Maxtor and IBM.
IBM went away then Maxtor started going to shits so I switched to Seagate.
...the circle of life is about to become complete unless Hitachi can make a drive I'm interested in.
01/19/09
There is no good reason why this should've happened: Seagate could have put out a list of affected firmware revisions/serial numbers/other identifying specs, and stressed that you only need upgrade firmware if your case matched those details.
To make matters worse, Seagate didn't respond promptly when asked, either. I emailed them and it took over a week before I got a response; and even then, they wouldn't provide the update without a serial number. I understand this, so I provided my serial number, and endured another few-day wait... only to be told my SN was invalid. This was absolutely not true, as I double-checked it, and sure enough, it was accurate.
I later found out, through no help of Seagate but fellow 1.5 TB drive owners, that my firmware, CC1J, was a newer revision which was unaffected.
Both 1.5 TB drives I have are working fine and I'm pleased with their performance.
I'm not happy with Seagate's lack of simplicity and openness on the issue; they just made things more complicated for themselves and for their would-be customers.
01/19/09
01/15/09
01/13/09
Or I could just roll the dice and see if they work. If they don't, class action lawsuit here I come.
01/13/09
01/13/09
had to be said. sorry seagate, you served me well thus far
01/13/09
01/13/09
01/13/09