“AFR and MTBF specifications are based on the following assumptions for desktop personal computer environments: .. 2400 power-on-hours per year” , so reads this screenshot is from the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 product manual. Read more…
The link to Seagate data recovery services is https://services.seagate.com/online_request_form.aspx. Fill out the form, and they send you information. If you drop the disk drive off to a UPS store, then they pick up the costs so shipping is free (unless you want to overnight it). The two recovery centers in the USA are in Chicago and Santa Clara. The Seagate (US) 24 Hour Critical Response Number is: Read more…
The nature and scope of the Seagate 7200.11 boot-of-death problem has been blown way out of proportion, and people are making grossly incorrect assumptions. Seagate recently released a failure analysis report under non-disclosure to some (or all, I don’t know) OEM partners and distributors that describes the issue in great detail. Why under NDA? In my opinion, full knowledge of the problem could potentially create a blueprint for virus writers who want to go beyond just erasing files on targeted machines. So to be safe, full specifics aren’t being disclosed (but you can now find a little more info on Tom’s Hardware if you know where to look).
As part of the manufacturing process, Seagate writes diagnostic information to reserved areas of the disk drives. These bit patterns work with the test equipment and drive firmware to perform diagnostic actions such as placing it in a secure lockdown mode. Read more…
The firmware that is supposed to fix the boot-of-death problem on Seagate 7200.11 disks is “In Validation”.
“!!WARNING!!
The software and information in this article could be data destructive and/or render your hard drive inoperable if not followed carefully. It is always recommended to keep a backup of critical data.
This article applies to the following models:
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Drive Family
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Models Affected
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Recommended Firmware Update Status
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Seagate Barracuda 7200.11
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ST31500341AS
ST31000333AS ST3640323AS ST3640623AS ST3320613AS ST3320813AS ST3160813AS |
In Validation*
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Surely this is a temporary thing. The Seagate boot-of-death disk drive identification site worked just fine up till Sunday evening (update … Still offline as of Wed Jan 21st 10:14 PM)
KBK LLP looking for plaintiffs for class-action lawsuit against Seagate
“Owners of Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 hard drives are reporting that their hard disk drives are failing at alarming rates. These failures, which have been reported to be as high as 30 to 40%, are believed to arise from faulty firmware that can cause the drives to suddenly lockup and stop working. We (Kabateck Brown Kellner LLP) are presently investigating a potential lawsuit
In light of the sev-1 Seagate firmware bug that bricks both consumer and enterprise-class SATA disks, I ran the Seagate online tool that tells people if any of my disks are affected by the boot-of-death bug.
Yup, this just isn’t my day. Worse, my affected barracuda drives are running in a Solaris system as part of a zfs-based software RAID file system, and Read more…
Seagate hard drives from the Barracuda 7200.11, DiamondMax 22, Barracuda ES.2 SATA, and SV35 families, Seagate FreeAgent® , and Maxtor OneTouch® 4 may become inaccessible when the host system is powered on. In other words, they turn into bricks. If you are unfortunate to have one of these products and have not upgraded the firmware (i.e. if you are unfortunate enough to have one of these products and don’t cruise the Seagate support site on a regular basis), then a firmware bug will instruct the disk to turn itself into a brick some day when you power it up. Do NOT power off any computer that has the following disk drives until you check the firmware. Seagate is quietly offering free disaster recovery assistance, firmware updates, and software to determine if you have a disk that is running the evil firmware. This “boot-of-death” bug rivals the infamous IBM Deathstar which lead to a successful class-action lawsuit. Read more…
