Seagate 7200.12 clicking & slow ... now OK?

(Posted over at SPCR as well. But I'm thinking [H] members may have more experience / insight on this issue.)

I bought a single-platter 500GB seagate 7200.12 about a year ago. It's been OK until about 2 months ago - I noticed it making some rather loud clicking noises. But they would come and go periodically. As the clicking sessions happened more frequently, I ran HDTune and - whoa - 60MB/s reads? OK, poor performance + loud clicking = a problem somewhere, right?

I ran SeaTools. SMART and short tests report no problems. But the long test just hangs. For over a day - no progress. So something's wrong.

Seagate's RMA process now requires a SeaTools error code. But since SeaTools didn't finish or give me an error code, I had to use the error codes on Seagate's site:

Self-Service SeaTools Test Codes
http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/seatools/seatools-test-codes.html

Hmm... Do I pick "noisy" or "poor performance"?. I picked "poor performance" thinking it's more objective. With an RMA number, I'm preparing to box up the drive.

Before shipping the Seagate back, I decided to secure erase the whole drive (shred -vfz -n 3 /dev/sda).

Then, out of curiosity, I reinstalled Win7 Ultimate x86. Downloaded and installed HDTune. And I'm basically back to full performance! And it's not clicking! WFT!



What should I do with this drive? If I send it in, the replacement comes only with a 90-day warranty. There is still the balance of 3 years (around 2 years) left on the factory warranty. Should I hold on to it until it really fails? I'm hesitant to trust it with anything important.

I bought a 120GB OCZ Agility 2 when Newegg had the $239 shell-shocker deal, so that'll be going into this machine tonight. But I'm unsure what to do with the Seagate...

Contact Seagate and explain the situation. It's entirely possible that you can't generate an error code, they know this is a potential situation so, explain everything as you just explained it here, get the drive replaced, done. You already know something is fishy with it, you're already questioning the trust of the drive's capabilities, so don't waste more time wondering what you should be doin' when you can just get 'er done.

Apparently I misunderstood Seagate's replacement drive warranty policy. I though you just got 90 days. Period. So I'd be forfeiting the balance of my 3-year factory warranty. After re-reading, I see that this is not the case.

http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=202271#16

Seagate said:

Q. How long is the limited warranty for the replacement drive?
A. The remainder of the original limited warranty or 90 days, whichever is longer.

Click to expand...

I will contact them directly.

Jay_S said:

Seagate's RMA process now requires a SeaTools error code.

Click to expand...

I hadn't done a Seagate RMA in years, but had two bad drives sitting around that was either time to toss or RMA... I chose to RMA... This was just a week or so ago...

Seagate's website barely asked any questions... Model & serial numbers to determine warranty status, that was it...

Absolutely nothing about codes, or even what was possibly wrong with the drives...

Tolyngee said:

Absolutely nothing about codes, or even what was possibly wrong with the drives...

Click to expand...

Here's a screen grab:


This comes after starting RMA process for a single drive. The multiple drive form doesn't ask for the Seatools test code.

Jay_S said:

This comes after starting RMA process for a single drive. The multiple drive form doesn't ask for the Seatools test code.

Click to expand...

I actually did it as two single drives, although I did take the ARMA route... You get the replacement drive first, in proper boxing, with a return label, so Seagate knows it should be properly packed (your own damn fault if you somehow screw it up all on your own now...), and knows the return tracking # already...

All for $19.99... Proper packing and shipping already costs just about $20 anyway...

(I just wasn't sure if a 320GB drive had a value of $20 anymore... Although I did get a 400GB replacement, so probably isn't a loss in the end...)

ps Weird... I could swear "occurs duellists" was my words to type as well...