Seagate Hard Drive Fiasco Grows

AnInkle writes "Two months after acknowledging that their flagship 1.5TB Barracuda 7200.11s could hang while streaming video or during low-speed file transfers, Seagate again faces a swell of complaints about more drives failing just months after purchase. Again, The Tech Report pursued the matter until they received a response acknowledging the bricking issue. Seagate says they've isolated a 'potential firmware issue.' They say there's 'no data loss associated with this issue, and the data still resides on the drive;' however, 'the data on the hard drives may become inaccessible to the user when the host system is powered on.' If users don't like the idea of an expensive data-laden paperweight, Seagate is offering a firmware upgrade to address the matter, as well as data recovery services if needed. By offering free data recovery, Seagate seems to be trying to head off what could become a PR nightmare that may affect several models under both the Seagate and Maxtor brands."

Comments

Say what?

[nametaken]

" They say there's 'no data loss associated with this issue, and the data still resides on the drive;' however, 'the data on the hard drives may become inaccessible to the user when the host system is powered on.'" ...so, my data is there, I just can't see it? That's reassuring.

Re:Say what?

[SpaceLifeForm]

Not yet.

This definitely sounds of firmware bloat,
and the resultant problems due to complexity.

Why, I remember, back in the day, when I could
easily separate the media from the electronics.

Head go bad? Move the media to another drive.
In seconds.

Yes, it wasn't the fastest to access, but it
was reliable, and if you encountered problems,
not that difficult or time-consuming to recover.

The greatest danger was dropping the media
and bending the media making it really bad
to put into a drive.

If you don't know what I'm talking about,
you are young and inexperienced.

Re:Say what?

[marvinglenn]

Your data is more secure if you keep the computer powered off, in the first place.

Re:Say what?

[FlightlessParrot]

But, that's the long-awaited Write-Only Memory.

Re:Coming to a disaster near you.

[Anonymous Coward]

So you're the one who keeps sending me internets all the time.

Re:Coming to a disaster near you.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why anyone would trust hard drives with names like Fireball and DeathStar is beyond me.

Re:Coming to a disaster near you.

[Architect_sasyr]

Because none of us are worried about raptor attacks...

Re:Coming to a disaster near you.

[camperdave]

Because none of us are worried about raptor attacks...

Are you kidding? It's a matter of life and death!

Re:Coming to a disaster near you.

[tylerni7]

I don't know, my DataDestroyer has been pretty reliable over the years.

Re:When did Microsoft get control of Seagate?

[Have Brain Will Rent]

Wait a minute. You purchased two drives for use in a critical application and they had to work with a particular controller you already owned - and you didn't test the configuration when you received the units but instead waited months and until the need was critical??? Geez, I wouldn't be broadcasting that around too loudly if I were you.