Seagate SATA drive reliability?

[Daniel Prince]

Has Seagate fixed their SATA drive reliability problems or are they
just as bad as they used to be? If the drives have been fixed,
which model numbers are fixed? Thank you in advance for all
replies.

 

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Thats getting harder now that there is only Seagate and WD,

The others have been absorbed by one of those two.

And the WD history on bad drives isnt exactly what you might call brilliant either.

Currently I am hoping that some brands like Samsung will continue with
the same reliability as they had before they got absorbed, hoping that
the absorber will conitnue with the operation that makes them, but it
hard to see that they will keep developing new drives that way etc.

All but one of the dead drives I have here are WD. The exception is a
Seagate IDE drive that sat unused for many months after its 5-year
warranty had already expired.

I have four 500GB Seagate SATA drives, one of which had to have its
firmware upgraded; one 1TB SATA also five 2TB Barracuda XT drives and a
2TB LP, all purchased just before the big price rise.

Perce

 

[Krypsis]

Has Seagate fixed their SATA drive reliability problems or are they
just as bad as they used to be? If the drives have been fixed,
which model numbers are fixed? Thank you in advance for all
replies.

After having 3 of 5 1 TB drives fail, I avoid them all and buy other
brands...

 

[Krypsis]

Like which ones?

Most are WDs; 500, 1TB, 1.5TB and a recent 2TB but bought a pair of
Samsungs a while back. Think they were 500s from memory. Have 4 Lacie 1
TB external USB drives but have no idea what drives are used in them.
Bought them just before the Seagates started dropping off their perch! I
would have checked them to see what brand they used had I known about
the Seagate issue prior.

 

[Krypsis]

I forgot to mention that I started using a new Seagate ST3500320AS 500
GB HDD on 12/27/2008. I had to RMA it before its five years warranty
expired.

Now you know why they cut the warranty back to 3 years....

The 5 year warranty was the kicker for me but I got bit anyway!

 

[GMAN]

Has Seagate fixed their SATA drive reliability problems or are they
just as bad as they used to be? If the drives have been fixed,
which model numbers are fixed? Thank you in advance for all
replies.

The 7200.11 series i believe was the troublesome firmware ones and i have had
no iissues since they fixed their firmware.

 

[Rod Speed]

Daniel Prince wrote

After having 3 of 5 1 TB drives fail, I avoid them all and buy other brands...

Thats getting harder now that there is only Seagate and WD,

The others have been absorbed by one of those two.

And the WD history on bad drives isnt exactly what you might call brilliant either.

Currently I am hoping that some brands like Samsung will continue with
the same reliability as they had before they got absorbed, hoping that
the absorber will conitnue with the operation that makes them, but it
hard to see that they will keep developing new drives that way etc.

 

[Krypsis]

The 7200.11 series i believe was the troublesome firmware ones and i have had
no iissues since they fixed their firmware.

I was told the firmware fix provided no guarantee. As proof, one of my
supposed fixed ones bricked itself. Don't even trust the 7200.12
variants any more.

 

[Robert Nichols]

I have four of the identical model 1TB HDDs in my RAID box.
I kept the boxes because they have "5 yr warranty" printed
on each box.

It's good that the boxes have a long warranty. So many boxes fail
when the glue degrades after just a couple of years. ;-)

 

[Arno]

It's good that the boxes have a long warranty. So many boxes fail
when the glue degrades after just a couple of years. ;-)

Or they could just ignore you. Netgear still has 20 of my network
cards that dfailed after 4 years.

Arno

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

Has Seagate fixed their SATA drive reliability problems or are they
just as bad as they used to be? If the drives have been fixed,
which model numbers are fixed? Thank you in advance for all
replies.

Are you treating your Seagate drives like your cat?

Probably the best thread about the problem Seagate had with its
7200.11 series drives and the DIY solution:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/128807-the-solution-for-seagate-720011-hdds/page__st__1650

Back in 2010, StoreLab, a Russian data recovery company, published
these results about drive reliability:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/hdd-reliability-storelab,2681-2.html

They said the Seagate 7200.11 was unusually failure prone and that
Hitachi drives were the most reliable. OTOH I believe a French data
recovery company said Hitachis were the worst.

 

[Mike Tomlinson]

I have four of the identical model 1TB HDDs in my RAID box.
I kept the boxes because they have "5 yr warranty" printed
on each box.

2--China.
1--Thailand.
1-Singapore.

So, they should be ok based on my experience thus far.

Bet you the Chinese ones fail first.

 

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo <[email protected]

They said the Seagate 7200.11 was unusually failure prone and that
Hitachi drives were the most reliable. OTOH I believe a French data
recovery company said Hitachis were the worst.

You can't just go by the maker. All drive makers turn out a model that
is a turkey from time to time. Examples: IBM (now Hitachi) with the
DeathStar 75GXP, Seagate with the Barracuda 7200.11.

 

[Mike Tomlinson]

Duh.... Half the drives are Made in China....

That's a *whoosh* then.