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Seagate Firmware Update Bricks 500GB Barracudas
Voidsinger writes "The latest firmware updates to correct Seagate woes have created a new debacle. It seems from Seagate forums that there has yet to be a successful update of the 3500320AS models from SD15 to the new SD1A firmware. Add to that the updater updates the firmware of all drives of the same type at once, and you get a meltdown of RAID arrays, and people's backups if they were on the same type of drive. Drives are still flashable though, and Seagate has pulled the update for validation. While it would have been nice of them to validate the firmware beforehand, there is still a little hope that not everyone will lose all of their data."
But, seagate has always been restrictive of handing out their firmware, so such updates required calling in with your serial so that the people who had access to hand out the firmware could check a) model, b) part number, and c) current firmware just to make absolutely sure that they were giving the right firmware out. This has been a procedre that has worked for YEARS up until now.
A procedure which would work better would be to make the patcher recognize whether the firmware is appropriate to the drive, and just refuse to run it if it is running against the wrong drive. Like basically everyone else on the planet. Even your average wifi router has an id in its flash format.
IF the drive is powered down when there are 320 entries in this journal or log, then when it is powered back up, the drive errors out on init and won't boot properly - to the point that it won't even report it's information to the BIOS.
That's fucking stupid. When the drive errors heavily, it can get into a state where it just disappears? That's a support NIGHTMARE.
Please understand, this firmware had to go through five different checks to make sure it applies to the specific conditions to qualify sending to a customer, before now. 5 chances for us to go your drive needs the other (or none) firmware update. Suddenly, it's down to ONE check, and even that was more designed for a contingency just incase the wrong firmware was sent out.
Of course, it starts bricking drives.
Again, this is NOT an of course. If I try to apply the firmware for some other laptop to my laptop, the firmware update tells me to go fuck myself. Seagate should have done the same. To do otherwise is incompetent and no amount of excuses will change that.
Seagate does care about their customers. They just got caught with their pants down, twice in a very short period of time! So, they're wanting to double, triple, and quadruple check the firmware so it doesn't brick anymore drives.
In this case, "caught with their pants down" is "caught being incompetent".
A quick fix is even more necessary right now. The people abused by this are the people who buy the big disks. That's not the group you want to alienate.
I hope this clears up a few things. I may or may not be able to answer questions if you have any.
The question I'd like answered is how everyone forgot that Seagate sucks. I got started with Seagate disks as a teenager and had all manner of disks that would seize up at the drop of a hat - any hat. I have whacked more Seagate drives with the handle of a screwdriver than I can count. To me and anyone else who was into computing in the same era, they were and always will be known as "Seizegate". Because I grew up in Santa Cruz, the disks were everywhere, and I could get them used for a buck a meg when other people were paying two.
WD FTW!
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
4 digit UID and you think CD's are made by a laser blistering foil.
Wow.
I'm sure you know all the correct specifications for 5 1/4" drives though.