# Seagate Offers Firmware Fix for All Problematic Barracuda 7200.11 Hard Drives



## malware (Jan 18, 2009)

Seagate has issued an official statement today, acknowledging all recent problems with some Barracuda 7200.11 drives. Based on the information posted in the company's forums here, select Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB 3.5-inch hard drives made in Thailand, suffer from a firmware issue that bricks the HDDs after a short period of time. After three to five months of normal operation these defective hard drives will suddenly lock-up as a protective measure and prevent the system from recognizing the drive from then onwards. In most cases the information won't be lost, but the drive will be completely useless, changing the drive's electronics won't help much either. This problem occurs not only to the 1TB Barracuda models, but to Seagate 1.5TB, 640GB, 500GB, 320GB and 160GB Barracuda 7200.11 drives, along with some Maxtor and ES.2 models. That's pretty disturbing, but now Seagate will provide its customers with an updated firmware if their drive is problematic.


Here's the full statement from the company's spokesman Mike Hall:


> Seagate has isolated a potential firmware issue in certain products, including some Barracuda 7200.11 hard drives and related drive families based on this product platform, manufactured through December 2008. In some circumstances, the data on the hard drives may become inaccessible to the user when the host system is powered on*.
> As part of our commitment to customer satisfaction, we are offering a free firmware upgrade to those with affected products. To determine whether your product is affected, please visit the Seagate Support web site at http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207931.
> 
> Support is also available through Seagate's call center: 1-800-SEAGATE (1 800 732-4283)
> ...



The following are potentially affected models:







It is important however to use the online serial number validation tool to verify whether or not your specific drive is affected as not all drives of the same model necessarily share the same firmware revision.

*View at TechPowerUp Main Site*


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## malware (Jan 18, 2009)

I would like to thank our forum member *wiak* for this story.


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## kenkickr (Jan 18, 2009)

I'm glad I've been going to Western Digital for my 1Tb drives and 500Gb.  We haven't seen this issue at work but reading reviews on Newegg about the 1.5Tb issues scared me enough to go to the W.D. side.


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## newtekie1 (Jan 18, 2009)

This has been a known issue with the 1.5TB and 1TB drives for a while.  Basically, if you have firmware SD19 or lower, you are affected.  I fought this issue for about a week, with drives dropping out of the RAID array at least once a day, requiring the machine to be powered off, and a lot of hope that the drive would come back and the array would finish a rebuild.

After RMAing one drive, I found out about the firmware issue. I emailed seagate about the issue, and it took them over 2 weeks to finally email me back with the firmware fix.  Which I applied to the other two drives without issue.

Just FYI for those that need the firmware update.  I had to remove the drive from my dedicated RAID controller and connect it to the onboard SATA controller.  The firmware updater would not detect the drives when they were connected to my RAID controller.  This wasn't in the included Seagate documentation.  I was kind of annoyed by the updater not detecting the drives, after Seagate took so long to respond, they sent me an updater that didn't work...but then I switch the drives over and it worked on the onboard controller.  No data was lost doing this though, I didn't even have to rebuild the array.


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## AddSub (Jan 18, 2009)

Many retailers are selling these potentially troubled drives for cheap. I saw a Seagate 1.5TB drive on TigerDirect for around $100 the other day. They are dumping them. This is going to do some serious damage to Seagate in their distribution channel.

Personally I haven't bought a Seagate drive in 5+ years and when I heard they were buying Maxtor a while back I knew their quality would suffer. I've been buying WD almost exclusively since 2004. Samsung seems okay too. Not a single WD or Samsung failure so far.


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## fafa21 (Jan 18, 2009)

shit my drive is afected and i have no idea on what to do thier site is confusing and i dont know how to get the frimware


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## kenkickr (Jan 18, 2009)

fafa21 said:


> shit my drive is afected and i have no idea on what to do thier site is confusing and i dont know how to get the frimware



Looks like there are two methods.  You can call them @ 1-800-SEAGATE (1 800 732-4283) and give them either/both the Part Number and Serial Number so they can properly assist you.  The other method is by email here,http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/about/contact_us/ and select Technical support,  and again you must give them the part number and serial number.  

There are two ways to get the Part and Serial number.  Pull the drive out and you should see a P/N and S/N, this is what you are looking for.  The other method is to boot from a Seatools CD, the one for DOS http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools, and it will list the part number and serial number.


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## Laurijan (Jan 18, 2009)

I wonder how many customers are able to do this firmware update


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## AddSub (Jan 18, 2009)

> I wonder how many customers are able to do this firmware update



I wonder how many of these drives are sitting in various HP/Dell/Gateway crap-boxes all over the world while their owners go about their business oblivious to any potential trouble.


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## mechtech (Jan 18, 2009)

I have a 640gig version, firmware SD13, but using my serial on seagates website says its not affected, but then again I think my drive was made in China.  I miss the drives that used to be made in Korea, they seemed to have better quality control.  Capatilism, greed, and the almighty dollor ftl.

I would gladly pay an extra 20 bucks for a drive that goes through more stringent QC.

Oh well, so far so good for this 640gb, hopefully the firmware fixes all these issues for everyone.

edit*  PCWizard can be used to find the HDD serial and FW #'s


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## fafa21 (Jan 18, 2009)

well thier site is not working well i have made 2 diff logins allready and each time it says that my login is wrong "Your login attempt has failed. The username or password may be incorrect, or your location or login time may be restricted. Please contact the administrator at your company for help." so im kinda pissed i gess im going to have to call them thats going to take for ever. so their no other way of geting this frimware update?


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## [I.R.A]_FBi (Jan 18, 2009)

where can ig et one of these for dirt cheap?


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## BazookaJoe (Jan 18, 2009)

Thank you Seagate - I have already lost 1Tb as a result of my loyalty to your product - Thank you for taking my initial technical reports posted to your official forums SO very seriously almost 6 Months ago when my first drive simply "Died" - And a VERY SPECIAL  thank you for then deleting my (and many others) thread so that thousands of others could also suffer similar losses.

Thank you for simply doing nothing about this for as long as you possibly could, and completely refusing to cooperate in any way with anyone trying to develop their own fix for what we had already identified to be a flaw in your firmware.

Thank you for caring so very much about your customers.

Lets hope the whole world learns a lesson from your fanatical dedication to customer service & support...

PS : Thanks for reducing yer drive warranty by 2 years as well - Is this yer way of saying "Heads up!" ?


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## selway89 (Jan 18, 2009)

Oh great! My new 500GB drive is affected :*(

Anyone know where to get a newer firmware?

Iv had the drive since the new year and has large amounts of university stuff on, looks like ill be spending time backing up!


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## CDdude55 (Jan 18, 2009)

Says mines is not affected, but does it really matter, i haven't had trouble with it at all, and it was bought before DEC 08.

Only people that need to worry are the people who recently bought one.


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## CDdude55 (Jan 18, 2009)

I also have a WD Caviar SE SATA drive 160GB, that two has been working well. I do prefer WD and my OS was originally installed on the WD HDD but i went to reinstall and it installed on the Seagate, no problems tho has been working well for some time now.


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## Homeless (Jan 18, 2009)

I wonder if now would be a good time to get one of those 1.5tb drives.  Right now they're a little over a hundred and might drop even further with the 7200.12 release


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## djisas (Jan 18, 2009)

damn it!!
all i have are .11 drives 2x 500 + 2 x320...
It comes a little late one of the 320 died on me probably because of that i contacted support and got a reply like 2 weeks latter when i had already sent my drive back for replacement, but they wouldn't be able to help at all as they didnt have any fix for the problem at the time, and so i got my drive back...

Now im moving on to all western digital black edition newest edition before any other one dies on me, and maybe ill see if i can change their firmware after i back them up...


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## LASTSAMURAI (Jan 18, 2009)

*Well  I have the affected drive.*

seagate st3500320as I have tried to contact them for I only have about 4 months left  I also have 9 other hdd seagates but this are old,when I went to log in to get support, which  actually wrote down all the info about registration just in case, guess what  I had to re-register because I was non existent  as register seagate customer. I have e-mail them and no response tried 7 times woopii and there online support nothing usefull to help,they recommend not updating the firmware cause ti might render the hdd useless it seems there not really moving fast enogh ones this is resolved no more seagate I have bought junk from them.it stinks to high heaven.


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## djisas (Jan 18, 2009)

Me no more seagate, western digital is finally picking up on the speed and technology side, they might be slight more expensive but they are the best...


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## DarkMatter (Jan 18, 2009)

OMG one of my brother's 500 GB HDD suffers from exactly this and it just happened this week.  What are the chances? It's like Divine Intervention, just when we need it: we were going to talk to the store tomorrow to know if they could fix the problem, as no recovery program can detect the drive and if they couldn't help (most probably anyway, although they do have some labs), then contact seagate. Hearing this news just made me soo happy. I hope we can recover all the info, he had some important recordings he made there...


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## LASTSAMURAI (Jan 18, 2009)

Ok just got off the phone with them and she said that by tuesday I will received an e-mail in how to go about fixing this issues of mmammmoth size head trauma and told her about the issue of how I had to re-register again.


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## red268 (Jan 18, 2009)

Already had one brick on me, but the company would only do a direct replacement. So I'm sitting here using another one right now. Hope this one is ok/updates ok!!


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## LASTSAMURAI (Jan 18, 2009)

yea I know how you feel but at this moment this pc that I am using is the one with the seagate issues I am with you on that,but I did back up this here system on another hdd that I put away just in case all would not be well.seagate said that tuesday i would received instruction on what to do.I wonder that is why I had to activates windows again about 2 months ago after !!!!!!!!!!!.


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## LASTSAMURAI (Jan 18, 2009)

by the way I am planning of byuing that intelQ660 CPU i HAVE READ GOOD REVIEWS ON IT,great set you have there.


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## nemesis.ie (Jan 18, 2009)

Did anyone find out what are the affected (and fixed) FW revisions?


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## selway89 (Jan 18, 2009)

Sorry to say this but what a diabolical website and service.
I haven't registered before so naturally I set up an account so I can email someone who will give me the update. Great all for doing that.

But why when I have tried 2 different emails and other combinations etc does it not let me login.
I have tried IE and FF.
I have yet to recieve an email on the accounts I have tried to use. I have tried lost password and that is no use.

If this is considered a large scale problem (which I would consider it as) do they not publish the updates without having to contact them and signup etc. Makes far more sense.
I have to try keep backups of my precious data and hope the drive does not conk out on me!

I think this will be my last Seagate drive!

Rant over


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## DaJMasta (Jan 19, 2009)

kenkickr said:


> Looks like there are two methods.  You can call them @ 1-800-SEAGATE (1 800 732-4283) and give them either/both the Part Number and Serial Number so they can properly assist you.  The other method is by email here,http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/about/contact_us/ and select Technical support,  and again you must give them the part number and serial number.
> 
> There are two ways to get the Part and Serial number.  Pull the drive out and you should see a P/N and S/N, this is what you are looking for.  The other method is to boot from a Seatools CD, the one for DOS http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools, and it will list the part number and serial number.



The kicker is, there is no way to update the firmware preemptively.  You have to wait for the drive to fail before sending it in, or send it in now and be without/risk your data now.  Hopefully my drive won't be affected, as it is the only one in my system and I'd rather not do without it for a while.


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## newtekie1 (Jan 19, 2009)

DaJMasta said:


> The kicker is, there is no way to update the firmware preemptively.  You have to wait for the drive to fail before sending it in, or send it in now and be without/risk your data now.  Hopefully my drive won't be affected, as it is the only one in my system and I'd rather not do without it for a while.



If your drive is affected, they email you the link to the update, and you can apply it before you even notice the drive has a problem.  You don't have to wait for the drive to start to fail, and you don't have to send them the drive.  So, yes, there is a way to update the firmware preemptively.



nemesis.ie said:


> Did anyone find out what are the affected (and fixed) FW revisions?



I believe firmware revisions SD19 and earlier are affect.  At least that is on the 1.5TB drives.


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## Sapientwolf (Jan 19, 2009)

I wish I had known this sooner, I had two 500GB 7200.11 drives crap out on me.  One did it right away, the other did it 4-5 months later.  I bought 2 500GB WD drives instead.


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## EarlZ (Jan 19, 2009)

For a drive that is more expensive than WD, this is surely a big mess up


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## wiak (Jan 19, 2009)

other reason you guys should do backup of your documents folder and pictures folder


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## DaJMasta (Jan 19, 2009)

newtekie1 said:


> If your drive is affected, they email you the link to the update, and you can apply it before you even notice the drive has a problem.  You don't have to wait for the drive to start to fail, and you don't have to send them the drive.  So, yes, there is a way to update the firmware preemptively.



Awesome, I didn't get that from the first read.

Though I registered at their site to contact their email support a few hours ago, still no confirmation and my user ID doesn't work yet.


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## buggalugs (Jan 19, 2009)

Ye Seagate is noobs.


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## Melvis (Jan 19, 2009)

O crap i have one of those HDD's the 500GB one, but its a few months old now (3-4), would i be in trouble? or is it only effecting more recent HDD's?

I already had to replace that 500GB^ before because the first one i got was getting load and getting a grinding noise.

I think ill be going back to WD next time for my next comp.


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## qwerty_lesh (Jan 19, 2009)

Would be nice if the serial check page was up


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## wiak (Jan 19, 2009)

*Seagate Barracuda 7200.11*
ST3500320AS
ST3640330AS
ST3750330AS
ST31000340AS
Download: http://support.seagate.com/firmware/MooseDT-32MB-SD1A.ISO
More info: http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/self...sp?DocId=207951

*Seagate Barracuda 7200.11*
ST31500341AS
ST31000333AS
ST3640323AS 
ST3640623AS
ST3320613AS
ST3320813AS
ST3160813AS
In Validation*
More info: http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/self...sp?DocId=207957

*Barracuda ES.2 SATA*
ST31000340NS
ST3750330NS
ST3500320NS
ST3250310NS
In Validation*
More info: http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/self...sp?DocId=207963

*DiamondMax 22*
STM3500320AS
STM3750330AS
STM31000340AS
STM31000333AS
Download: http://support.seagate.com/firmware/MooseDT-32MB-MX1A.ISO
More info: http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/self...sp?DocId=207969

*DiamondMax 22*
STM31000334AS
STM3320614AS
STM3160813AS
In Validation*
More info: http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/self...sp?DocId=207975


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## H82LUZ73 (Jan 19, 2009)

I have this model ST3500320AS with SD15 but it is like from last April,Should I update the firmware?


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## 2wicked (Jan 19, 2009)

I have a DiamondMax 22 STM31000340AS
and when I try to flash it I get an error that it's not a seagate lol


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## selway89 (Jan 19, 2009)

Thanks for the links wiak!

Burnt the CD and booted etc, scanned for devices and my drive were there. Hit "D" to flash my model, then after abit it says device not found or something along those lines, expected "my drive number"

I'm really un-happy with Seagate at the moment!


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## 2wicked (Jan 19, 2009)

selway89 said:


> Thanks for the links wiak!
> 
> Burnt the CD and booted etc, scanned for devices and my drive were there. Hit "D" to flash my model, then after abit it says device not found or something along those lines, expected "my drive number"
> 
> I'm really un-happy with Seagate at the moment!


Everyone in the seagate forums seems to have the same issues with the firmware update.


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## fafa21 (Jan 19, 2009)

im allso having the same problem this is total bs im never buying from seagate again


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## H82LUZ73 (Jan 19, 2009)

When you boot it says -303 drives why they all seem the same to me with sd15,Would 303 not be newer then the -300 models being sold?Even though the numbers are lower.Its ok just took my Vista install off one of my drives and using it for drive D now and the st3500320 AS is not connected or plugged in for power....waiting for the firmware for -303 models.


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## djisas (Jan 19, 2009)

i just checked my 2 320 cudas, the old has the sd11 firmware, while the new has the sd22, the new one might be safe while the old might suffer the same fate if i have luck, if it fails ill just get a new one from the store and ill have my data backed up previously, not that i had lost anything important, it just pissed me off when it happened...


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## qwerty_lesh (Jan 20, 2009)

the firmware only fixed problematic 1tb drives ending with p/n - 303
that same firmware actually bricks 500gb drives, plus probably other capacities.
They pulled it from the site for 'verficitaion' 

It turns out it was actually the second firmware seagate had offered for the 7200.11
and according to the forums over there, they do have newer firmware past the SD1A (which is the one they had offered) (first one was under 1mb second was 1.6 somthing)

Good work seagate, youve just flushed your reputation down the toilet.


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## oily_17 (Jan 20, 2009)

Yeah just a warning to anyone with the SD1A firmware that has not flashed it yet...you may want to take a read here before doing so.

http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=5625&view=by_date_ascending&page=1


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## debate11 (Mar 1, 2011)

oily_17 said:


> Yeah just a warning to anyone with the SD1A firmware that has not flashed it yet...you may want to take a read here before doing so.
> 
> http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=5625&view=by_date_ascending&page=1



Es una pena que una empresa de la trayectoria de seagate haya llegado tan bajo.  Dos años ya hacen que continuamos con el problema del firmware...

La unica solucion que encontre hasta el momento es la de llamar a empresas de recuperacion como OnRetrieval, Onrescue, Ontrack, entre otras para que nos recuperen los datos.

Esto es debido a que la garantia de Seagate no cubre los datos, solo el dispositivo...

Veremos que final tiene este tema.

Saludos


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## yogurt_21 (Mar 1, 2011)

2 year old thread necromancy and then responding in a foreign langauge fail.


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## Completely Bonkers (Mar 1, 2011)

Well you are doing half the bumping   hehe

Actually, I found this bump useful. I also had a .11 drive. Was problematic. This is the first I heard of a firmware fix/update. And if I find an old .11 in the drawer, old PC, or NAS, (hey wait, was that my problematic linkstation? Hmmm...)

But my -ve experience with that drive encouraged me to jump off Seagate and try Samsung which I would otherwise never have bought for a HDD. And now I'm very happy with Samsung, both F1s and 2.5" drives, and buy them by choice.


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## Mr McC (Mar 2, 2011)

debate11 said:


> Es una pena que una empresa de la trayectoria de seagate haya llegado tan bajo.  Dos años ya hacen que continuamos con el problema del firmware...
> 
> La unica solucion que encontre hasta el momento es la de llamar a empresas de recuperacion como OnRetrieval, Onrescue, Ontrack, entre otras para que nos recuperen los datos.
> 
> ...



"It is a shame that a company of Seagate's standing has fallen so low. Two years and we still have the firmware problem...

The only solution that I have found, to date, is to phone recovery companies such as OnRetrieval, Onrescue, Ontrack, amongst others, to have them retrieve the data.

This is due to the fact that Seagate's guarantee doesn't cover the data, only the device...

We'll see how this issue turns out.

Cheers"

_I know how it turned out for me: swapped for a Samsung and haven't looked back._


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## djisas (Mar 2, 2011)

Well, let me join the party...
I actually bought a seagate .12 after one of mine died, but ive also bought a samsung f3 1GB after that, cheap, fast and reliable...

With all this 2 died on me...


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## BazookaJoe (Mar 2, 2011)

Well, after a LOT of research, and failed attempts I was able to REPAIR all of my failed 7200.11 Seagate drives and recover EVERYTHING on all of them.

It's Important, I think, to point that out - that the drive is NOT broken - and is just suffering from a firmware programming error (In the Majority of cases) - it IS POSSIBLE to unlock the firmware, and REPLACE the firmware with a totally safe one - rendering the drive completely repaired.

Don't just throw yer drives away


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## Completely Bonkers (Mar 2, 2011)

Thanks for the tip/experience Bazooka. When I find my "archived" .11 drives, I'll attempt a restore via firmware upgrade.


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## djisas (Mar 2, 2011)

BazookaJoe said:


> Well, after a LOT of research, and failed attempts I was able to REPAIR all of my failed 7200.11 Seagate drives and recover EVERYTHING on all of them.
> 
> It's Important, I think, to point that out - that the drive is NOT broken - and is just suffering from a firmware programming error (In the Majority of cases) - it IS POSSIBLE to unlock the firmware, and REPLACE the firmware with a totally safe one - rendering the drive completely repaired.
> 
> Don't just throw yer drives away



I tried all sort of things to fix them, they where unrecognizable by the bios or any program, so i sent them back to the shop and got me new drives which i sold right away...
Even tried replacing the pcbs since i had repeated drives from same generation but didnt solve anything either...


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## BazookaJoe (Mar 2, 2011)

djisas said:


> I tried all sort of things to fix them, they where unrecognizable by the bios or any program, so i sent them back to the shop and got me new drives which i sold right away...
> Even tried replacing the pcbs since i had repeated drives from same generation but didnt solve anything either...



Yes, as I said the FIX is to Re-Program the PCB on the drive itself with a NEW working Firmware.

Finding the correct information was really difficult - but Once I had it, actually DOING it was reasonably easy.

In my case I had drives containing information that I was NOT willing to simply throw back to the store, and as it turned out they are completely recoverable with the right help.

I'm just saying to anyone else reading that if you have important data on a "failed" 7200.11 drive - you MUST know that it is probably NOT failed, and can almost always be recovered.







I had to build my own Rs232/TTL Shifter - as I cannot buy them in my country, but I just built this one on project board for less than $5 in component costs, and once you have a ttl shifter using very specific procedures you can log into the drives console interface in "Hyper Terminal", and prompt the drive to reset the corrupt data in its firmware which allows the drive to start up normally again (And does NOT damage your data on the drive)

Now the Mo-Bo bios can detect the drive again -you can boot it up, then you just upgrade the firmware and you're done - drive 100% fixed - faulty firmware is now replaced and it will live on a full happy healthy life.


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## newtekie1 (Mar 2, 2011)

Just an FYI, the 7200.11 drives I had at the beginning of this thread, that I flashed with the fixed BIOS 2 years ago, are still going strong in my main rig. *Knock on wood*


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## Mr McC (Mar 2, 2011)

djisas said:


> Well, let me join the party...
> I actually bought a seagate .12 after one of mine died, but ive also bought a samsung f3 1GB after that, cheap, fast and reliable...
> 
> *With all this 2 died on me*...





newtekie1 said:


> Just an FYI, the 7200.11 drives I had at the beginning of this thread, that I flashed with the fixed BIOS *2 years ago*, are* still going strong* in my main rig. *Knock on wood*


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## erocker (Mar 2, 2011)

newtekie1 said:


> Just an FYI, the 7200.11 drives I had at the beginning of this thread, that I flashed with the fixed BIOS 2 years ago, are still going strong in my main rig. *Knock on wood*



I have one of those drives and still going strong. I have two 7200.12 drives in Raid 0 that have been perfect for over a year and a 1tb 7200.12 that has also been perfect.

Of course, this is the internet. Any type of problem with hardware gets easily overhyped by forum members thinking all of these drives will blow up. I can't say I don't find overdramatic internet folk not entertaining post above me included.


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## BazookaJoe (Mar 2, 2011)

Yeah - to repeat myself - once properly re-flashed the drives are 100% OK - there is nothing AT ALL wrong with the drives, and there never ever was - they just had a batch with some bad SOFTWARE programming - and if you correct the software , they are just as good as any other drive.

AND even when the software failed - the *DRIVE DID NOT* - your data is (or was if you decided to throw the drive away) still 100% in tact and can be fully restored in about 5 minutes with a TTL shifter / Rs232 interface.


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## brandonwh64 (Mar 2, 2011)

I had 3 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11 drives die on me and i never seen this thread


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## erocker (Mar 2, 2011)

brandonwh64 said:


> I had 3 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11 drives die on me and i never seen this thread



When buying any storage device (or any other device for that matter), it's always good practice to check the manufacturer's website for any kind of firmware updates.


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## brandonwh64 (Mar 2, 2011)

Thanks erocker  i even RMAed them all three times and they didnt mention it to me about there being a fix. i got tired of RMAing and sold it


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## Melvis (Mar 3, 2011)

I still have one of these drives, didnt even bother Flashing it, and it still is going strong. Ive had more problems with the later drives (1TB & 500GB) then back then. Im getting sick of these bad Seagate drives. I have had no issues with any WD's in the past few yrs.


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## djisas (Mar 3, 2011)

You mean problems with the 12th generation??


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## BazookaJoe (Mar 3, 2011)

So far every Seagate 7200.12 drive I have used has been a dream - perfect, fast & quiet.

I stopped using WD years ago because almost every WD drive I have ever sold develops bad sectors or other failure like.. 2 days after manufacturers warranty expires, but I have Seagate drives well over 9 / 10 years old now that still run all day every day, and just don't give up.

I don't have ONE WD drive over 3 years old in any machine I have ever sold still running in any of my customers anywhere - because they just crap out after 3 years + 

I was REALLY pissed off when I started having 7200.11 failures - and Seagate's terrible response to the problem aggravated me even more - but it was just ONE programming mistake made by ONE human being - and ALL human beings make mistakes, every single one of us.

It didn't cost me any data - they where all recovered, and all restored to perfect working order, and I'm quite happy to accept that one wobble on what has otherwise been for me a virtually perfect run of Seagate drives over the last 15 years + (Almost ALL of which are still working and those that where thrown out where dumped because the Customer wanted bigger drives down the line , and for no other reason - I only ever suffered ONE GENUINE failure of seagate Hdd, a 7200.9 I think it was - suffered genuine head failure)


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## cdawall (Mar 3, 2011)

bump for a 2 year old thread that was dead let it die again


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## Melvis (Mar 3, 2011)

djisas said:


> You mean problems with the 12th generation??



Ummm i guess so if it means 7200.12 is that generation?


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Mar 3, 2011)

I saw this thread in the latest posts section and said to myself "lol not again." Then quickly realized this thread is 2 years old.


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## Frank Sardina (Nov 20, 2014)

_lenovo e3000 has seagate 7200-11 loaded window 7 in it its saying can,t find driver whats wrong
_


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## vAiO (Mar 13, 2015)

I had a Seagate Baracuda 1TB 7200.11 HDD which one day wouldn't be recognised on BIOS or load windows at all. I found out that these drives have this firmware bug and after doing a quick search I found this complete FW-FXR kit on youtube










which repaired my drive in less than 30 minutes. I also repaired a couple of friends drives with it and even got a small profit out of it 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	





Yes there are cheaper solutions like what is mentioned here but I found it safer for my data to spend 25Euro for this kit (which also include click by click repair software) than to buy random adapters and try to decode messages....

I bought mine from Amazon but it is also avaliable on ebay.


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## JackFrost (May 10, 2015)

Here I am with my daughter's 10 year old Dell and a Seagate drive that may have the firmware glitch.  Probably does have the firmware issue as the model and firmware build all match the problem ones.  It is doubtful that my daughter did a firmware update. It appears to be too late to fix the drive but after reading the thread comments I have my own experience to add.  I pulled the drive and ran it on a usb adapter on my regular PC.,  It would run for about 3 minutes and then totally die.  I found that cooling spray on the electronics card would revive it for up to nearly 10 minutes.  I recovered all the data files but am wondering if it is worth the trouble to fix the firmware.  The link to Seagate in the original article is dead and I have not tried Seagate directly to see if they still even offer the update.  With better drives so cheap now I probably will just junk it but 500 Gb is big enough to save for other uses if it can be fixed with just a little investment in time.


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## 95Viper (May 10, 2015)

I believe, they are part of Fujitsu now... you can go to this link (Firmware Check); or, this one (Seagate Download finder) and get the files.

Also, directly, here:  Firmware Update for ST3500320AS, ST3500620AS, ST3500820AS, ST3640330AS, ST3640530AS, ST3750330AS, ST3750630AS, ST31000340AS
And, here:  Firmware Update for ST31500341AS, ST31000333AS, ST3640323AS, ST3640623AS, ST3320613AS, ST3320813AS, ST3160813AS


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## vk1dx (Apr 9, 2018)

Brilliant - the links are broken.  My Barracuda is frozen and I would like to see if it is affected by this issue.

And yes I apologise firstly for stirring up an old topic.  

It was only through Google that I found this site and thought it would be useful to try and recover the drive.  It stood idle for most of the time.  Silly tossing out a 1Tb drive if it can be fixed.

Phil


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## nemesis.ie (Apr 9, 2018)

Time to contact Seagate support I think.  Do let us know how you get on please,

Edit: The links are working for me.


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## vk1dx (Apr 9, 2018)

nemesis.ie said:


> Time to contact Seagate support I think.  Do let us know how you get on please,
> 
> Edit: The links are working for me.


Maybe you are correct. I also followed 95Viper's hints and checking that out before I contact Seagate.  Thanks mate


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