Thread: Got a Seagate Harddisk ? BEWARE !

The seagate Barracuda 7200.11 family of harddisk have a problem with the firmware (embedded code in disk ) due to which the data becomes inaccessable and also the disk may not be detected by OS or BIOS.


Some of the other models manufactured by seagate like .ES , Maxtor may also be affected by this problem.(Note oly specific models are affected). If you have any these models please search on google to see if your specific model is affected.

Known & Reported as Affected Models :

ST31000340AS , Seagate Barracuda ES.2 , Maxtor Diamond Max22 (SN STM3500320AS) with MX15 Firmware , Seagate ST3750330AS, HP TouchSmart IQ500 , Seatgate Momentus PSD 120g , ST3500320AS , ST3500620AS

To find out your HDD details :

Download and install this software (there are lots of s/w for this)

Screenshot - the model name, serial number and firmware are the necessary details.


Problem :

There are two common errors on Seagate 7200.11 HDDs (caused by bugs on firmware):

- 0 LBA error: it happens when your BIOS can recognize your HDD at POST moment, but as an 0MB drive.

- BSY error: it happens when your HDD enter on a halt state, or BuSY state. In this condition, your HDD will not be recognized by BIOS at POST moment.

Seagate's explanation: (Technical Stuff , skip if unnecessary)

Description
An issue exists that may cause some Seagate hard drives to become inoperable immediately after a power-on operation. Once this condition has occurred, the drive cannot be restored to normal operation without intervention from Seagate. Data on the drive will be unaffected and can be accessed once normal drive operation has been restored. This is caused by a firmware issue coupled with a specific manufacturing test process.

Root Cause
This condition was introduced by a firmware issue that sets the drive event log to an invalid location causing the drive to become inaccessible.
The firmware issue is that the end boundary of the event log circular buffer (320) was set incorrectly. During Event Log initialization, the boundary condition that defines the end of the Event Log is off by one. During power up, if the Event Log counter is at entry 320, or a multiple of (320 + x*256), and if a particular data pattern (dependent on the type of tester used during the drive manufacturing test process) had been present in the reserved-area system tracks when the drive's reserved-area file system was created during manufacturing, firmware will increment the Event Log pointer past the end of the event log data structure. This error is detected and results in an "Assert Failure", which causes the drive to hang as a failsafe measure. When the drive enters failsafe further update s to the counter become impossible and the condition will remain through subsequent power cycles. The problem only arises if a power cycle initialization occurs when the Event Log is at 320 or some multiple of 256 thereafter. Once a drive is in this state, there is no path to resolve/recover existing failed drives without Seagate technical intervention. For a drive to be susceptible to this issue, it must have both the firmware that contains the issue and have been tested through the specific manufacturing process.

Corrective Action
Seagate has implemented a containment action to ensure that all manufacturing test processes write the same "benign" fill pattern. This change is a permanent part of the test process. All drives with a date of manufacture January 12, 2009 and later are not affected by this issue as they have been through the corrected test process.

Recommendation from seagate
(This was merely their official statement, they didn't honour it, all u will get is a replacement )

Seagate strongly recommends customers proactively update all affected drives to the latest firmware. If you have experienced a problem, or have an affected drive exhibiting this behavior, please contact your appropriate Seagate representative. 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.

Alternatively ....

The best thing to do if your disk is not affected yet, will be to take complete backup of data and get your disk replaced from seagate (if ur a pro, u can flash the firmware to the latest version).

IF your HDD is already facing this problem, the solution is present in the source of this article, althought its not guaranteed to work ! However lots of people have reported success in recovering their data.


Unfortunately, seagate has not fully accepted that the fault lies in its hardware, so when I tried to check in its website if my model was affected it denied that mine was affected(I tried in dec). So seagate's website may not be reliable. Also most of its forums are severely moderated. People report varying replies from customer support, so you may as well try your luck.

source

Useful reference. Rep +

Originally Posted by meetdilip

Useful reference. Rep +

I haven't got it..

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.

That is not what Seagate's local rep told me. He said there is no guarantee for data and they can not recover any data. They can only give a replacement.

Originally Posted by 18lama

That is not what Seagate's local rep told me. He said there is no guarantee for data and they can not recover any data. They can only give a replacement.

That was merely their official statement. That's their policy under standard conditions, ie when random disks fails fail. But since this's is a specific case where all drives in that particular model are sure to fail, so that was their announcement.

Obviously they are not honouring their own words, in which u would have already heard about, ( except in exceptional cases where their arms where twisted )

If your HDD has a problem maybe I can try to guide you or you can read article mentioned in the source above.

Thanks but the faulty HDD has already been replaced since it was under warranty.

Originally Posted by 18lama

Thanks but the faulty HDD has already been replaced since it was under warranty.

can you post the following details of ur new HDD : Model & Firmware No...

Originally Posted by newprouser

can you post the following details of ur new HDD : Model & Firmware No...

the model no is: ST3500418AS

firmware no: CC34

Originally Posted by 18lama

the model no is: ST3500418AS

firmware no: CC34

Do you know the same info for ur previous HDD ?

unfortunately no.

Originally Posted by 18lama

unfortunately no.

Ok. thanks.

very very useful-ly important post....
i dont know how to rep, otherwise had doned

Originally Posted by mail2sc

very very useful-ly important post....
i dont know how to rep, otherwise had doned

Click the "grey" balance icon below the user's profile photo...

Upgrading firmware is always the best choice, but i have NO seagates! WD ftw.

My WD is always over heating sometimes it goes upoto 65C btw i've heard tat WD's are easily zapped by static elec more so than others, so if u ever handle it b careful...

ya thats why i lost all my wd's while holding them without anti static wrist bands on numerous occasions... (this is sarcasm lol)

m8 anything in the comp can be zapped very easily by static charge if its present. it can ruin ur processor in a sec ,
but i dnt think this statement's true, it must be a rumour started by seagate fanatics :lol:

as for the heating, 65 is not much when u leave the comp on for hours, but my 2 wd disks stay at 40C when the samsung (ya its still chugging along m not gonna invest anymore in this crap cpu) is at 55. it depends a lot on the amount of read/write activities and the ambient temp.

:lol: :lol:

Yup all electronic stuff fry, but ... hmmm, that statement was made by a guy who works in a data recovery company, so probably he's right, the funny thing is that the fried drives report themselves as 2 Tb drives in BIOS. (checkout - YouTube - Hard Drive Recovery Part 4.mp4 )

seriously man 65C is a lot I've used about 4 different HDD, they barely cross 55, but 65 is wat too much.. Infact some of the plastic behind the platters seems to have kinda melted.

Now I've planned to install a CPU fan for cooling it, problem is I can't mount it anywhere, and its moving so much that I wonder if feviquick will hold it

yes u shud use a fan for them then...! using a fan is never bad for hdds.

My HDD Seagate 320 GB, just stopped working yesterday.
It is ST3320813AS, the dealer here is not co-operative (last time I had a problem with my WD HDD he did not help much except to buy it back at half price and gave me this HDD ). So this time, I am thinking to directly contact the Seagate India. I have to send it to Chennai for replacement. Its warranty is till 21/11/2013. Somebody told me they had a service center in Bangalore. Is it true, if so may I have the address or Tel No. from any of the forum members ? Thank you guys in advance.

I got the Toll-free number of Seagate,it is 1800 425 4535, from Google and I came to know that they have a service center right in Mysore, near my house. I have given it for replacement/repair.
It seems that earlier they would give a replacement immediately, now the policy is that it has to go to Chennai for inspection. If they find that the fault is due to voltage fluctuation and/or power-supply problems they will refuse to honour the warranty ! It would take 5-7 days for the replacement/rejection to arrive.
Thanks everybody for the help !