Seagate sweeping issues under a rug

K

Kaizer

Gawd
Joined
Jul 9, 2001
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As many of you most likely know Seagate has had some firmware issues with their drives. Seagate has gone from being responsive, to just straight denial of an issue. Try mentioning Firmware in any thread on their forums and they immediately move the thread to a monstrous thread with so many issues and subjects in it, it has become useless.

Mods threaten you with a ban if you even try to talk about how the SD35 firmware cant be updated with the latest firmware drivers. I was sent a pm:

From: AlanM Add AlanM to Friends|Ignore AlanM Date: 02-17-2009 10:36 AM

I am sorry you are experiencing such problems, but it is not the case that the firmware for ST31000333AS "doesn't work". Maybe YOU have had problems, and I have sympathy for that, but it is just false to spread that all around.

Their email system is backed up "forever" due to some "glitch" they keep talking about, so you cant email for support. The phone lines have been down randomly, and they censor the forums. There are many posters having issues, and getting no help from Seagate. This is one company I will never be purchasing from again. Worst. Support. Ever.
 
I wonder if it's just bad QC on Seagate's part or if they are just putting out inferior drives. I remember not even a year ago everyone would recommend Seagate and ever since the 7200.11 drives everyone is staying away.
 
From the ~1 month I spent observing the seagate forums, I've found the mods to be complete assholes and the support system is completely unresponsive.


Maybe YOU have had problems, and I have sympathy for that, but it is just false to spread that all around.
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This only drives the point home.
 
I think Seagate has done as good a job of handling a very large problem as any other manufacturer would. I have several Seagate drives and checking them to see if they need firmware updates has been dead simple. Turns out only my 1.5TB needed to be updated. I don't have any problems with how they handled this issue. As for forum moderators being assholes, what else is new, except on [H]ard|Forum of course :D.
 
Problem, when most people have a problem with hardware, they expect the OEM to fall on their sword for them. What makes it worse is that when they do have an issue which affects many users...it seems that everyone wants their issue to be that issue. It is human psychology. It is just how we react. Therefore Seagate must operate on the logical method. While you may have a solid proof, you have to understand that they must follow a protocol to ensure that the vast majority of problems are solved at a fair cost and not solve all the problems at any expense.

As for them wanting ban you for telling people how to flash their drives, SO WOULD I. You have to realize that there are many different drives of a very similar type with very different firmware. Accidentally putting the wrong firmware on the drive may brick it. If it was based upon your advice on the Seagate forums, it technically makes THEM responsible. Seagate has said time and time again, in regards to firmware, is to follow their outlined process.
 
Trepidati0n said:
Problem, when most people have a problem with hardware, they expect the OEM to fall on their sword for them. What makes it worse is that when they do have an issue which affects many users...it seems that everyone wants their issue to be that issue. It is human psychology. It is just how we react. Therefore Seagate must operate on the logical method. While you may have a solid proof, you have to understand that they must follow a protocol to ensure that the vast majority of problems are solved at a fair cost and not solve all the problems at any expense.

As for them wanting ban you for telling people how to flash their drives, SO WOULD I. You have to realize that there are many different drives of a very similar type with very different firmware. Accidentally putting the wrong firmware on the drive may brick it. If it was based upon your advice on the Seagate forums, it technically makes THEM responsible. Seagate has said time and time again, in regards to firmware, is to follow their outlined process.
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I couldn't agree more. These guys are in a huge issue, the last thing they need is bad advice or false things to be spread around.
 
I have a 500G that was on the list. Had no trouble flashing it. But it did and still does cough up errors according to Win7. The fact is the drive's firmware has multiple quirks AND there are a bazillion versions of the firmware, making thier job infinitely more complex than anyone would wish.

Someone at Microsoft got the scoop on what they were doing to recoup "bricked" drives, and shared that on one of MSFM forums. Turns out the drives has a rs232 port to talk to the cpu onboard. So you make a little adapter, and diddle some keys in a terminal program, and wakey wakey Mr Brick.

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128807

For people skittish about sending thier drives in for "data recovery".

So far other issues in the firmware, like the smart errors, remain unaddressed and annoying. Oh well.

In this economy, Seagate could very well be committing suicide ultimately. Certainly the door is open for thier competitors to make market share headway if they push comparable products at a good price.
 
Trepidati0n said:
Problem, when most people have a problem with hardware, they expect the OEM to fall on their sword for them. What makes it worse is that when they do have an issue which affects many users...it seems that everyone wants their issue to be that issue. It is human psychology. It is just how we react. Therefore Seagate must operate on the logical method. While you may have a solid proof, you have to understand that they must follow a protocol to ensure that the vast majority of problems are solved at a fair cost and not solve all the problems at any expense.

As for them wanting ban you for telling people how to flash their drives, SO WOULD I. You have to realize that there are many different drives of a very similar type with very different firmware. Accidentally putting the wrong firmware on the drive may brick it. If it was based upon your advice on the Seagate forums, it technically makes THEM responsible. Seagate has said time and time again, in regards to firmware, is to follow their outlined process.
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The problem here I wasnt telling ANYONE how to flash anything. Ive only been asking WHERE I can get working firmware for my drive. Thats it. Thats a bannable offense now. the problem has been there isnt working firmware for people with a drive with SD35 firmware on it. I would understand if I was giving people false information.. but ive yet to do anything like that. Ive only been asking for information, that Seagate is refusing to provide.

Plus the drives I have are coming up as having bad firmware according to their serial checker, so im not just barking up their tree just because. I just want the firmware Seagate promised over a month ago. Now its just a sit and wait game since you cant ask about the firmware on the forums anymore. Threads are automatically closed now. Emails to tech support are also just automatically checked off as solved.
 
And now I was banned for posting their support number in the forums. Talk about Nazi moderators. Never buying Seagate again. I dont care how cheap it is per GB.
 
When I was getting my 500GB 7200.10, Seagate was the brand to buy. Now, their reputation sure has taken a hit. I haven't had any first-hand experience with problems using their products (knock on wood) but I'm going to think twice next time I purchase a hard drive. There are not many hard drive manufacturers out there so people have fewer options.
 
One of my two Seagate 1TB 7200.11 drives stopped working. I called them and I was told it was because of the firmware issue. They offered me free data recovery but I'm concerned about the privacy the hard drive's content. Has anybody gone through this with Seagate?
 
I think I'm gonna cry. :eek: I picked up two Seagate ST310005N1A1AS-RK hard drives on sale in January at Frys. I have always had good luck with Seagate drives in the past. Well after reading the forums, I just opened up one of the boxes and I have ST31000333AS HD with the SD35 firmware (Frys tag marked them as ST31000340AS drives). They were slated for a new build but now I think I wasted $200.00 since it has been over 30 days and I can't take them back, I guess it is hurry up and wait for a possible recall :rolleyes:
 
GP40X said:
I think I'm gonna cry. :eek: I picked up two Seagate ST310005N1A1AS-RK hard drives on sale in January at Frys. I have always had good luck with Seagate drives in the past. Well after reading the forums, I just opened up one of the boxes and I have ST31000333AS HD with the SD35 firmware (Frys tag marked them as ST31000340AS drives). They were slated for a new build but now I think I wasted $200.00 since it has been over 30 days and I can't take them back, I guess it is hurry up and wait for a possible recall :rolleyes:
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Can't you just flash them to the revised firmware? Sure, it may not totally fix the problem but it probably will help your situation a bit.
 
GP40X said:
I think I'm gonna cry. :eek: I picked up two Seagate ST310005N1A1AS-RK hard drives on sale in January at Frys. I have always had good luck with Seagate drives in the past. Well after reading the forums, I just opened up one of the boxes and I have ST31000333AS HD with the SD35 firmware (Frys tag marked them as ST31000340AS drives). They were slated for a new build but now I think I wasted $200.00 since it has been over 30 days and I can't take them back, I guess it is hurry up and wait for a possible recall :rolleyes:
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Go back to FRY's and ask for store credit from the manager instead of a refund.
Tell them that you are a loyal customer (hopefully you are) and that there are issues about these drives all over the web and that you have been working for a solution that you can't find. FRY's will not lose money, they will get sent back to Seagate and replaced down the road. It's worth a shot.
 
I think if you were to look at the percentage of failure on any of the major manufacturer's units, you'd probably find they're all pretty close to each other. Personally, I buy Seagate, WD, and Hitachi and avoid Maxtor like the plague. I've had my share of occasional issues, but nothing major. One drive that stands out for me was an old Seagate Barracuda IDE unit that lasted me for 6 years constantly-spinning. That's not bad, lol.

If I were in the market for a new HDD, I'd keep these particular Seagate drives at arms-length until a new batch comes out or perhaps even a new model altogether.
 
E.E.L. Ambiense said:
I think if you were to look at the percentage of failure on any of the major manufacturer's units, you'd probably find they're all pretty close to each other. Personally, I buy Seagate, WD, and Hitachi and avoid Maxtor like the plague. I've had my share of occasional issues, but nothing major. One drive that stands out for me was an old Seagate Barracuda IDE unit that lasted me for 6 years constantly-spinning. That's not bad, lol.

If I were in the market for a new HDD, I'd keep these particular Seagate drives at arms-length until a new batch comes out or perhaps even a new model altogether.
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Maxtor = Seagate now, if you didn't already know. I'm lucky I only bought one Seagate, and that's simply for data replication purposes.
 
Mav451 said:
Maxtor = Seagate now, if you didn't already know. I'm lucky I only bought one Seagate, and that's simply for data replication purposes.
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Yeah, I knew that. I still avoid the name from days-past, lol. I can't tell you how many times I was burned by Maxtor!
 
E.E.L. Ambiense said:
Yeah, I knew that. I still avoid the name from days-past, lol. I can't tell you how many times I was burned by Maxtor!
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If Seagate wants to see our trust back, I want to see them visibly provide proof that anything and EVERYTHING Maxtor related has been demolished, removed, and destroyed. Otherwise, the weakest link will drag them down, and that's their Maxtor acquisition.
 
Mav451 said:
If Seagate wants to see our trust back, I want to see them visibly provide proof that anything and EVERYTHING Maxtor related has been demolished, removed, and destroyed. Otherwise, the weakest link will drag them down, and that's their Maxtor acquisition.
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QFT!
 
My trust in Seagate has been fading since the 7200.10 days. Not that I have used a Seagate drive since the 40 MB one in a 286. For me it's been Maxtor, Western Digital (avoid both), and Hitachi plus Samsung (Samsung is highly recommended, Hitachi is a fine choice too). So far I have had zero HDDs dying on me *knocks on wood* :)

With these recent issues surrounding Seagate HDDs, it'll be a long time before I'll consider buying a Seagate HDD.
 
I have to say that they did take care of the problem for me. I sent them my drive, they flashed it and overnighted it back to me. All my data was untouched.
 
To each their own. Back when 10GB was a big drive I had 5 WD drives brick in just over a month (in three different rigs no less). I stayed away form WD until I picked up a Raptor 10 2 tyears ago for my last build. Now I just bought two 6400AAKS drives from Axiontech today for the new build. So things change. I would get Hitachi but they are getting hard to find in a Brick and Motar store. All you see theser days are the same 15 or so WD and Seagate drives and Frys usually ahve a few Hitachi and Samsung OEM drives. Things are getting thin if you want to actually walk into a B&M store and buy some drives these days. BTW I had one for INFAMOUS IBM "Deathstar" hard drives that lasted over 6 years in the wife's net mule. I think it may have been the last one alive. ;)
 
off-topic but i recently rma two drives with damage from bad power cable.. seagate cost me 10$ to ship and the WD cost me 5.. seagate sent back same dead bad hd (i contacted them prior and asked if i should rma and they said yes) and wd sent me a new blue version of the hd..

another note.. i have a 640gb wd aaks that had bad block but still works (pretty sure it was also making weird noises going to rma after i back it up)

i always loved seagate till recently.. just the fact it cost me 5$ less to rma a WD drive makes me lean toward them
 
The firmware and support issues don't bother me that much actually. It's the fact that Seagate cut their warranty down from 5 to 3 years that pisses me off the most. Combined with all of the Seagate issues mentioned here, it doesn't really make me want to recommend Seagate HDDs to all of the guys and gals in the General Hardware subforum.
 
WD, WD... Never ever will I toss one in my desktop. I've stuck by my word for 6 years now.

2 advanced replacements = 2 DOAs

Call up for a third, got to a supervisor and was treated like a thief.

"We cannot send you another until you send the other drives back and we check in the other two drives"

Geesh, you have my credit card information, idiot.

I took all the drives and tossed them in the trash can. I felt bad because they overnighted the drives, but they can just eat it.
 
Seagate's poor quality control issues make me sick.

I had purchased a 1TB Seagate drive about 6 months ago, only to see it malfunction after about a month. RMA'd it, got a new (refurbished) one and after 4 months of usage, it has died on me. Actually, I wouldn't consider it dead, but windows cannot see it at times and when it does get detected, it does not allow me to transfer my data to another drive. It will hang and eventually lock up the entire system.

This is unacceptable since this appears to be a wide spread issue with certain Seagate hard drives.

At the moment, this shitty drive is now sitting inside a box ready to get shipped back to Seagate. The only issue is the data I have inside the drive as I would like to retrieve it. I may try the solution linked on this thread since it has worked for many.

Anyway, I will never buy from Seagate, ever. I have about a dozen hard drives (desktop and notebook types). So far I have had only two hard drives fail on me, the 1TB Seagate and a Hitachi 7200rpm notebook HDD. The only hard drive to fail after a RMA is the 1TB Seagate. And what's the deal with Seagate sending back a refurbished drive? Hitachi sent me a brand new spanking drive although the drive was 1.5 years old. Seagate sends me back a refurbished one and the hard drive barely used for the month I had it. Anyone else seeing something wrong with this picture?

I have 6 WD HDD's, including a Raptor, Velociraptor, and a 7200rpm notebook drive and none of these have failed so far.

This only leads me to be believe that WD Quality Control > Seagate QC.

So long Seagate, I will never trust you with my data ever again.
 
Raptors are alot better made than other HDDs. I am staying away from Seagate till they fix their issues.
 
This all reminds me when WDC had problems with there 1.6GB drives back in the 90's the had a very high fail rate and was a big fasco just like this is turning out.

fact is seagate has a problem. and they need to fix it (if they havent already) no doubt this will dent there rep. for some time however time will pass and all will be good just like WDC has done...
 
hbidad said:
WD, WD... Never ever will I toss one in my desktop. I've stuck by my word for 6 years now.

2 advanced replacements = 2 DOAs

Call up for a third, got to a supervisor and was treated like a thief.

"We cannot send you another until you send the other drives back and we check in the other two drives"

Geesh, you have my credit card information, idiot.

I took all the drives and tossed them in the trash can. I felt bad because they overnighted the drives, but they can just eat it.
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1) Sounds like it's a problem on your end.
2) You already have 2 drives on your side and refuse to send either of them back? No company in the world is going to send 3 drives into a proverbial black hole. All you had to do was ask them to send you shipping slips.
3) I've NEVER in my lifetime received DOA hardware. Getting two in a row is good evidence of user-side problem. Not much different from DFI bashers who can't get their mobo working.
 
WD had their 1.6GB lemons, then IBM introduced the DeathStar. Fast forward to late 2008 and it looks like Seagate has shot themselves in the foot. It's no longer a matter of preventing harm to their reputation--that's already been done. On Friday in a meeting as I was reviewing some storage upgrade plans, my boss (the CEO) cracked a joke "you better not be putting Seagate hard disks in there!" then went on to talk about his two dead Seagate drives and how a blue shirt at Best Buy was snickering with another about Seagates while they overheard. It's too late, their reputation has been hit. The best thing they can do is fix these problems, and try to bring the best-in-class products to market, at the lowest cost, for a few years to win people back.

It's not easy. WD took a long time back then, and IBM's storage division never really recovered from their 45GB lemon.
 
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