Check your Seagate drives

[Percival P. Cassidy]

I just bought a new-in-the-box 500GB Seagate SATA drive with the same
Model# on the box as the others I have, but the Model# showing in the
BIOS screen is different from that of the others (which are different
from that on the boxes anyway).

This latest drive had the bad firmware, and I have done the update.

The moral is: don't rely on the Model# on the box and assume that your
drive has no problems if that number is not on the list.

Perce

 

[cjt]

I just bought a new-in-the-box 500GB Seagate SATA drive with the same
Model# on the box as the others I have, but the Model# showing in the
BIOS screen is different from that of the others (which are different
from that on the boxes anyway).

This latest drive had the bad firmware, and I have done the update.

The moral is: don't rely on the Model# on the box and assume that your
drive has no problems if that number is not on the list.

Perce

Out of curiosity, where did you buy it?

 

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Out of curiosity, where did you buy it?

Staples. Possibly old stock, since the sticker on the box said $119.99,
whereas the flyer said reg. price $99.99. It was on sale for $69.99, and
I had a coupon for a free $10 gift card for purchases of $50 or more.

But it would have to have been *really old* stock if the Model numbers
increase as time goes on (but they could be more or less random): it's a
smaller number than on the ones I had already, bought possibly as long
as two years ago.

Perce

 

[Rod Speed]

Staples. Possibly old stock, since the sticker on the box said
$119.99, whereas the flyer said reg. price $99.99. It was on sale for
$69.99, and I had a coupon for a free $10 gift card for purchases of
$50 or more.
But it would have to have been *really old* stock if the Model numbers
increase as time goes on (but they could be more or less random):

Seagate model numbers arent either.

it's a smaller number than on the ones I had already, bought possibly as long as two years ago.

That isnt unusual with seagate model numbers.

 

[8-Track]

Percival P. Cassidy wrote in comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage:

I just bought a new-in-the-box 500GB Seagate SATA drive with the same
Model# on the box as the others I have, but the Model# showing in the
BIOS screen is different from that of the others (which are different
from that on the boxes anyway).

This latest drive had the bad firmware, and I have done the update.

The moral is: don't rely on the Model# on the box and assume that your
drive has no problems if that number is not on the list.

Perce

I've been doing some research on these drives as I just had a 500G SATA
Seagate suffer the "Boot of Death" and it's only a few months old. The
7200.11. I wish I'd known about the firmware problem earlier 'cause now
it's hooped. My last good backup was Feb. 17.

WHAAAAAAA! I'll get a new drive but all my CD and DVD rips are gone.

I know ... BACKUP, Backup and backup some more. I've got a 1T USB with
2-500G 7200.10 IDE drives and I haven't found any negative reports ala
Google so some stuff is saved.

Seagate seems to have little mention of the problem on their site but
its all over the forums etc. Some mention of re-packaging like what you
describe and speculation that Seagate is trying to avoid a recall of
these SATA drives in all sizes. Some real sad stories out there with
lots of money lost or spent on data recovery. Seagate wants $700+.
Screw that.

WD is next for me!

 

[Rod Speed]

Percival P. Cassidy wrote in comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage:


I've been doing some research on these drives as I just had a 500G
SATA Seagate suffer the "Boot of Death" and it's only a few months
old. The 7200.11. I wish I'd known about the firmware problem
earlier 'cause now it's hooped. My last good backup was Feb. 17.

WHAAAAAAA! I'll get a new drive but all my CD and DVD rips are gone.

I know ... BACKUP, Backup and backup some more. I've got a 1T USB
with 2-500G 7200.10 IDE drives and I haven't found any negative
reports ala Google so some stuff is saved.

Seagate seems to have little mention of the problem on their site but
its all over the forums etc. Some mention of re-packaging like what
you describe and speculation that Seagate is trying to avoid a recall
of these SATA drives in all sizes. Some real sad stories out there
with lots of money lost or spent on data recovery. Seagate wants
$700+. Screw that.

WD is next for me!

I prefer Samsungs myself.

 

[Arno]

Percival P. Cassidy wrote in comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage:

I've been doing some research on these drives as I just had a 500G SATA
Seagate suffer the "Boot of Death" and it's only a few months old. The
7200.11. I wish I'd known about the firmware problem earlier 'cause now
it's hooped. My last good backup was Feb. 17.

It is not really a lifetime related issue, more a random one.

WHAAAAAAA! I'll get a new drive but all my CD and DVD rips are gone.

I know ... BACKUP, Backup and backup some more. I've got a 1T USB with
2-500G 7200.10 IDE drives and I haven't found any negative reports ala
Google so some stuff is saved.

Seagate seems to have little mention of the problem on their site but
its all over the forums etc. Some mention of re-packaging like what you
describe and speculation that Seagate is trying to avoid a recall of
these SATA drives in all sizes. Some real sad stories out there with
lots of money lost or spent on data recovery. Seagate wants $700+.
Screw that.

HDD manufacturers try to hide their troubles, Seagate is currently by
far the worst, but somebody else will doubtlessly take that place
soon. My personal approach is not to trust any HDD manufacturer ever
again, and always have known-good (i.e. compared) backup.

And, yes, you need to read to follow the news (one reason
I read this forum) to find out who has screwed up in what
way.

Arno

 

[8-Track]

Rod Speed wrote in comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage:

I prefer Samsungs myself.

Agreeable and another alternative to a failing company like Seagate. As
this is the first HD failure that I've had since I started messing with
computers in '87 that was unrecoverable I certainly won't be paying out
good cash for another SG.

They are supposedly sending me out an updated 500G.

Wanna buy a hard drive? :0)

 

[8-Track]

Arno wrote in comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage:

HDD manufacturers try to hide their troubles, Seagate is currently by
far the worst, but somebody else will doubtlessly take that place
soon. My personal approach is not to trust any HDD manufacturer ever
again, and always have known-good (i.e. compared) backup.

Believe me, I'm not done giving myself a good ass-kicking yet. I've got
a box full of old drives loaded with everything since DOS 6.2 on up to
XP and they all were working when they were retired. Even have an old
XBox 10Gig that I got from a friend and found the unlock codes and
procedures for and it was working fine when I cloned it and put it away.

And, yes, you need to read to follow the news (one reason
I read this forum) to find out who has screwed up in what
way.

Arno

Normally I would do a little research before buying any component but
never having a problem with Seagate I just cloned the 320G Seagate to it
and carried on. I needed one of my 320s for the kid's comp when I
upgraded mine and built her a new one.

I'm hitting the double nickel in a couple of months so it may have been
a mad cow moment. Yeh, that's it. That's my story and I'm stickin' to
it! lol

 

[Percival P. Cassidy]

BTW, the drive I bought most recently at Staples was in a box identical
to the original ones (predominantly white), but at BestBuy I see the
same model in a more compact package (predominantly black).

I've been doing some research on these drives as I just had a 500G SATA
Seagate suffer the "Boot of Death" and it's only a few months old. The
7200.11. I wish I'd known about the firmware problem earlier 'cause now
it's hooped. My last good backup was Feb. 17.

WHAAAAAAA! I'll get a new drive but all my CD and DVD rips are gone.

I know ... BACKUP, Backup and backup some more. I've got a 1T USB with
2-500G 7200.10 IDE drives and I haven't found any negative reports ala
Google so some stuff is saved.

Seagate seems to have little mention of the problem on their site but
its all over the forums etc. Some mention of re-packaging like what you
describe and speculation that Seagate is trying to avoid a recall of
these SATA drives in all sizes. Some real sad stories out there with
lots of money lost or spent on data recovery. Seagate wants $700+.
Screw that.

I am sure that I read in another on-line discussion a report that
Seagate was retrieving date and restoring it to the same drive -- with
the updated firmware -- and no indication that the person reporting had
had to pay. After all, it was Seagate's screw-up.

WD is next for me!

All the dead drives I have lying around here are WD.

Perce

 

[Arno]

8-Track wrote:

BTW, the drive I bought most recently at Staples was in a box identical
to the original ones (predominantly white), but at BestBuy I see the
same model in a more compact package (predominantly black).

I am sure that I read in another on-line discussion a report that
Seagate was retrieving date and restoring it to the same drive -- with
the updated firmware -- and no indication that the person reporting had
had to pay. After all, it was Seagate's screw-up.

Apparently some people are getting that. May be a matter of luck
or geographic region.

All the dead drives I have lying around here are WD.

Well, the only one without a major screw-up is Samsung.
But their time will likely come as well.

Arno