• A Great friend to the HardForum with a great kid that he is trying to get a scholorship to continue his schooling. Please give hime a vote! Only 24 hours left! Thanks.
    If you have an VOTE FOR KEENAN!

Seagate 500GB HD problem

V

vsrdan

Gawd
Joined
Jun 29, 2005
Messages
663
I ordered this HD and started using it few days ago. Since then I found out that it is actually ST3500820AS (8MB cache) model, but not the advertised ST3500320AS (32MB) model. According to Seagate (see page 6 here) this is a 8MB model. The sticker, however, says it is ST3500320AS.

Both BIOS and Windows XP says it is ST3500820AS.

How could this happen? Should I ask for a refund/replacement? Man, I was thinking that I got a 32MB one. Grrrrr....:mad:
 
vsrdan said:
I ordered this HD and started using it few days ago. Since then I found out that it is actually ST3500820AS (8MB cache) model, but not the advertised ST3500320AS (32MB) model. According to Seagate (see page 6 here) this is a 8MB model. The sticker, however, says it is ST3500320AS.

Both BIOS and Windows XP says it is ST3500820AS.

How could this happen? Should I ask for a refund/replacement? Man, I was thinking that I got a 32MB one. Grrrrr....:mad:
Click to expand...

Absolutely. I would first try through NewEgg, then if they dont want to play ball, step it up to Seagate, they would be rather upset if they knew an authorized re-seller is mislabelling their drives. If you purchased with credit card, youre safe, if both company's (doubtful though) refuse to offer a replacement or refund, your credit company will refuse payment, and you wont be billed. So long as you havent paid the credit card bill yet. Good luck with this, and keep us posted.
 
BTW, I already contacted NewEgg about this (by e-mail). No reply yet.

The other problem is that I need more space to backup data if I were to return it. This is going to be bad :(
 
I just bought this drive about a week ago and I see the same thing. Actually, I just noticed it now that the OP brought it up. It's labelled as ST3500320AS but Windows (haven't looked at the bios yet) shows ST3500820AS. I've been digging though the Seagate site and I can't find any mention of a drive with the model number ST3500820AS (other than the pdf the OP found). Searching through the product database I came up with this. They only list 2 7200.11 500GB hardrives, the 16mb and 32mb cache models. Also I found in this pdf, there's no mention of an 8mb cache model. What this all means, I don't know. I'd like to believe I didn't get screwed over but somehow I don't think that's the case.


Digging through Google I found this thread at storagereview.com. It seems other people are having this same issue.


I want to work this out too. I think I might contact Newegg as well and see what they say. If they don't help I'll go to Seagate to try and straighten this out.


Edit: I checked my drives in HD Tune v2.53. It correctly shows my Seagate 320GB drive as having 16mb cache but it shows my 500GB drive having 8mb cache.... :mad:
 
Update:

NewEgg is asking me to return it for a replacement. I don't know if that's going to help. I mean, if they sent me another drive labelled ST3500320AS (which is actually a mislabelled ST3500820AS) I'll end up with the same problem.

I don't think this is NewEgg's fault. Seagate has screwed up labelling the drives (probably??). They have mislabelled an 8MB cache drive as a 32MB cache one.

As I read elsewhere, Seagate's return process is not "customer friendly".
 
Thanks for the update. I agree with you, I think it's Seagate's fault, not Newegg's. The drive is labelled incorrectly so there's no way of Newegg knowing that fact. I'm sure they just go by the white label and call it a day. It wouldn't be possible for them to pop each drive into a computer to double-check the model number.


I don't see any problem returning it to them. If you do end up with another 8mb cache drive I would imagine Newegg would help you out again until you get the drive you paid for.


I think I'll do the same thing as you and try to get a replacement. The drive I have works great but it's not exactly what I paid $100+ for....
 
Sent it back (RMA) to NewEgg. I really think Seagate screwed up this one though. Now I am back to shopping for a HD.
 
Did they fix it yet? I need to get a HD and I like Seagate the best. I want their .11 HD and the smallest one is 500GB. I don't know what else to get if that's messed up.
 
DaNotoriousDOM said:
Did they fix it yet? I need to get a HD and I like Seagate the best. I want their .11 HD and the smallest one is 500GB. I don't know what else to get if that's messed up.
Click to expand...

Well, I am not getting a replacement. I'll seek a refund and get another brand. This 500GB 7200.11 is messed up by Seagate. Selling a 8MB cache drive as a 32MB cache one is pretty bad. I don't know why they (Seagate) do not recall this product.
 
I just received this drive from Newegg the other day, was going to build a new computer later this month around xmas. I hope this does not happen to me. I think I am going to have to test it out on my current computer
 
That bites, however I have had nothing but good experience dealing with Drive rma's through Seagate. I would not e-mail though, pick up the phone and talk to a live person.
 
First I waited for the 8800GT to get in stock, now I have to wait for Seagate for fix the .11 series. My PC is already outdated and I haven't finished building it yet.
 
Looks like Seagate is facing a quality control problem with their "high-capacity" drives. See here. I have not seen "customer rating" below 70% for Seagates (even these "unreliable" ratings are low).

Finally Seagate has released a solution for 8MB/32MB cache problem in ST3500320AS (see here), but trying this would be a risky thing for most users.

Seagate definitely have lot of hardware failures, too.

BTW: I ended up buying a Samsung 750GB (this one).
 
Thanks for the heads up i was considering getting one of these also.
 
Son of a....I just got this drive ready yesterday to ship back to Newegg for a replacement. I didn't have a chance to drop it off so it's still sitting on my couch a few feet away. Should I not bother going through with the RMA now? I've already paid for the shipping back to Newegg, but that's only a few bucks. I'd rather get this back in my case and working properly with just a firmware update than waiting for Newegg to send a new one.
 
evilcartman said:
Should I not bother going through with the RMA now? I've already paid for the shipping back to Newegg, but that's only a few bucks. I'd rather get this back in my case and working properly with just a firmware update than waiting for Newegg to send a new one.
Click to expand...

I'd send it back anyway. Seagate's "big" drives are not as good as other brands (at least for now - just my opinion).

HD makers should realize that it is not the hardware cost that matters most when the drive is full of data. It is the reliability. Seagate has not paid much attention to quality/reliablity of these (500GB. 750GB, & 1TB) drives. Rushing to catch-up with other brands has somehow backfired on Seagate.
 
and the disaster goes worldwide

hi from spain, in the past 2 weeks i have purchased 2 supposedly seagate barracudas st3500320as from a local retailer called appinformatica.

first one was labeled and displayed by bios as a st3500320as.

but the one i got yesterday although is labelled the same way is shown in bios as st3500820as.

googling i have found more or less all the same webs as you, like the storage review post of special k user, and this thread itself.

now my personal contribution,

i have noticed and noone mentioned it earlier afaik that the hard disk displaying correct model is PRODUCED IN CHINA as read on label while the WRONG ONE is labelled as PRODUCED IN THAILAND.

and now my question

seagate says they are really st3500320as hard disks with real 32mb cache size and that upgradind firmware sd04 to firmware ad14 will solve this problem, that hard disk will then show the correct model name in bios (st3500320as instead of st3500820as) and that will use the total 32mb cache instead of the only 8mb.

HOW I CAN ASSURE THAT THERE ARE REAL 32MB CACHE INSIDE THE HARD DISK I HAVE PAID FOR IS WHT WORRIES ME

does any know of a software we can use to determine if our hard disks really have inside 32mb of working cache, because it would be very easy for seagate to make a firmware update like ad14 that only changes model name in bios just to make ppl think they have a working st3500320as while having instead a RENAMED ST3500820AS.

i would appreciate fast reply if you know about any program to detect hard disk cache as i should talk with my local shop as soon as i can if i will need to change this product.
 
What's funny is that I was one of the first ones to get these drives from Newegg (I posted the first review on them). I actually purchased two initially which were made in Taiwan and purchased a third later, which was made in China. All three have the same firmware, which is supposedly the bad firmware..........now get this: All three show as the proper model in BIOS and in my Intel Matrix Storage software.

For shits and giggles I flashed the China one to the new BIOS. I had to do a low-level format of that drive to get windows to install. I'm not going to flash my Taiwan drives since even though they have the 'bad' firmware, they still show as the proper drive models, and my performance with these drives leaves me to believe that they indeed have 32megs of cache. Here's my screenshot of them in Matrix stripe........notice how the speed doesn't drop off like I see in alot of other drive tests:

HDTune3.jpg


IntelMatrixRAID.jpg
 
massiveoverkill would you pls post an image of the info tab of hdtune for that hard disk you have upgraded the one that displayed st3500820as that now shows as st3500320as

ive done with mine not still upgraded and shows as this

ST3500820AS.gif


ah, and if anybody speaks japanese or have the time and a translator take this link to a 23 pages japanese post of the kind wannakillsomeseagatebadasses

http://http://forum.coolaler.com/showthread.php?t=166451&page=4
 
Sorry, but the that hard drive that I upgraded (didn't really need it as it still recognized the 32 megs before the flash) is in a box I made for a co-worker and I no longer have it.

Here is the info for my rig. My striped info tab doesn't show any information, but my mirrored specs recognizes the full 32 megs (same hard drives on Matrix RAID):

HDTune4MirrorInfo.jpg
 
I don't get it. Mine shows 0 cache. Should I flash the BIOS?

HD Tune: ST3500320AS Information

Firmware version : SD15
Serial number :
Capacity : 465.8 GB (~500.1 GB)
Buffer size : 0 KB
Standard : ATA/ATAPI-0 - SATA I
Supported mode : UDMA Mode 6 (Ultra ATA/133)
Current mode : UDMA Mode 5 (Ultra ATA/100)
Click to expand...
 
Well, at least it's not reporting 8, plus you don't have the bad firmware code. Post a screenie of your HD Tune benchmark.
 
No, I meant post the first tab, the actual benchmark. You're firmware is one revision newer than the affected ones, so you may be OK.
 
DaNotoriousDOM said:
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/other_downloads/cuda-fw-disty

Their firmware requires a floppy to flash the drive. I don't have a floppy.
Click to expand...
The zip file contains an ISO. You can burn the ISO to a CD.

Just wanted to mention that I bought this same drive from newegg last week. It came with the new firmware. I just removed the jumper (to enable SATA2), popped it in, tested it with Seatools, and everything appears to be fine. Seems zippy. All good here.

As for blanket statements about "Seagates failing more" etc. Though this may be true, please remember that you can probably find someone saying the exact same thing about just about any brand. :)

So far, I've had pretty good luck with Seagates after I finally migrated from Maxtors a few years ago (not that I had a choice!).
 
While I don't really agree with this, I do agree that this is an unforgivable error on Seagates part and an explantion is in order.

IMHO...

vsrdan said:
I'd send it back anyway. Seagate's "big" drives are not as good as other brands (at least for now - just my opinion).

HD makers should realize that it is not the hardware cost that matters most when the drive is full of data. It is the reliability. Seagate has not paid much attention to quality/reliablity of these (500GB. 750GB, & 1TB) drives. Rushing to catch-up with other brands has somehow backfired on Seagate.
Click to expand...
 
Well son of a ....

I bought one of these 2 weeks ago to replace one of the six 300gb drives that failed in my Windows Home Server.

I just checked, and yep. I have the issue.

I've downloaded the firmware and will flash in a bit.

NOTE: I can't help but think that it would be wise to detach the drive from the Windows Home Server JBOD prior to doing the update so that's what I'm going to do. This could, unfortunately, take a while.

I wonder if those with this drive in a RAID configuration have to worry about this? Busting a Raid-0 over this would not be pleasant.
 
MassiveOverkill said:
That performance is right on with the 32 meg cache drive. That with the fact that it's actually showing up as a 320AS, and you don't have the SD04 firmware convinces me you don't have to flash.
Click to expand...

Hi guys, I actually have the same harddrive as my primary drive, and in HDtune it's showing up as 0, so I ran the benchmark test, and it was nearly identical to DaNotoriousDOM's except that the burst rate was 98.8 mb/sec. It's also showing up as a 320AS. Do I have the wrong drive too?
 
So, once we flash the drive to AD14, how can we tell that its the full 32mb?

I see 0 in hdtune, and seatools doesn't work in vista x64....


hmm
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top