Barracuda XT, Barracuda, Barracuda Green, DiamondMax and other desktop SATA and IDE drives

[s0ulfly]

I came here after getting Seagate 2TB ST2000DM001 drive, being disturbed by very loud "CLICK" sound - some times per hour, maybe more.
Reading through the forum, I found that CC4H firmware is out and probably it can help with that auful noise which was a disaster, irritating too much.

I found a little improvement with it: I don't hear that loud 'click' anymore for now, but "chirping" (not that loud as "click") is occuring every time when I dont use the drive for more then minute, and after accessing it again drive "clicks": not so loud "click" I experience previously, but still noticeble.

I'm very curious, why Seagate still hasn't provide a firmare with just disabled 'sleep' feature, like it has been done with my other Hitachi 2TB drive - it makes no stupid sound... ABSOLUTELY.
Guys, maybe I'm inattentive, but I haven't seen an official statement from Seagate that the issue is known and they will help us with disabling. We have all forums in my country are being full of complaints...

[Ajiki-kun]

I have a 2TB (ST2000DM001) hard drive I bought last month. I've had to return it once for this chirping issue, only to get back a replacement that had the same. Now I'm out of the store's replacement window, and am stuck with this drive, sink or swim.

The drive I have is at firmware CC9C, and, from what I can tell from what other users have posted, I'm now also stuck with this firmware, because there is no upgrade path for CC9x firmwares.

Never mind all the horrible things I could say about Seagate, because it's pointless at this stage in time. I just want to know one thing.

Is there EVER going to be an upgrade for CC9x firmware users?

As Seagate's phone agents have informed me, I have the option of sending the drive back for a replacement that can be upgraded... at my own expense.

I'm not all cut up about the +$10 I would have to pay in shipping, but you can't tell me to be happy about it, either, since that's still a tenth of the cost of the drive, as well as that being after the month I've had to deal with the grief of owning this loud thing.

I simply want to know that if there's never going to be an update to this hard drive's firmware, then I'll pay it, get the new hard drive, and quietly sulk so you'll never hear from me again.

However, if I do pay it, and it turns out they were working on a fix, then oops! I am jerked around once again.

Please, could I get a final word on this?

[Nessy]

I have a 2TB (ST2000DM001) and the chirping sound is loud, incredibly loud and somewhat frequent. This has me pretty worried about the drive, and it is only a few weeks old. Is there no fix for this? I know the retailer would take it back, no questions asked, and I am tempted.

[drbass1]

I have the 2TB ST2000DM001 drive and it does make those unpleasant sounds here and there. Kind of sounds like it's struggling but I've learned to ignore it. It's still working and I still have all of my data so far.

[AndroAsc]

So does the new firmware really fix the problems on the Seagate drives? Can anyone confirm if the start/stop count is normal after applying the latest firmware?

[portomomo]

The new firmware does indeed solve the "chirp" sound coming from our seagate drives but it is NOT a solution for the underlying cause, the parking disk heads for some power saving reasons.

With the new firmware, the heads are still parking, increasing the LOAD CYCLE COUNT attribute monitored by the SMART function of the disks: this parking stresses the mechanism more than keeping the heads flying over the surface. Our disks are designed to withstand the stress of 300.000 parking cycles (source: Seagate data sheets), after that the disk could fail.

I´ve experienced more or less 40 parking cycles/hour before the firmware update:

40 cycles/hour = 480 cycles per day = 175.200 cycles a year = esteemed disk life (Seagate states 300.000 cycles) of 1,71 years (that are 625 days, or better, 1 year and 9 months).

Way too short for my use as a backup solution.

After the firmware update I had exactly the same numbers.

The question remains. is Seagate selling disks designed to fail after 2 years?

i don't think so (I doubt that they are willing to loose they reputation in such a stupid way), but where is the official statement from Seagate saying: Dear customers, don't worry, it's a feature, our disks are guaranteed to resist"?

[Agent24]

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portomomo wrote:

The new firmware does indeed solve the "chirp" sound coming from our seagate drives but it is NOT a solution for the underlying cause, the parking disk heads for some power saving reasons.

With the new firmware, the heads are still parking, increasing the LOAD CYCLE COUNT attribute monitored by the SMART function of the disks: this parking stresses the mechanism more than keeping the heads flying over the surface. Our disks are designed to withstand the stress of 300.000 parking cycles (source: Seagate data sheets), after that the disk could fail.

I´ve experienced more or less 40 parking cycles/hour before the firmware update:

40 cycles/hour = 480 cycles per day = 175.200 cycles a year = esteemed disk life (Seagate states 300.000 cycles) of 1,71 years (that are 625 days, or better, 1 year and 9 months).

Way too short for my use as a backup solution.

After the firmware update I had exactly the same numbers.

The question remains. is Seagate selling disks designed to fail after 2 years?

i don't think so (I doubt that they are willing to loose they reputation in such a stupid way), but where is the official statement from Seagate saying: Dear customers, don't worry, it's a feature, our disks are guaranteed to resist"?

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Well the fact they only have 1 year warranty fits with that, don't you think?

I think you're wasting your time waiting for a magical firmware update. Either use a software to disable APM and if that doesn't work since you're using a NAS, sell the disks and get something else.

[Nessy]

Mine is 5 years and the serial number indicates its not part of the firmware update. Is there no word from Seagate on this issue?

[Agent24]

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Nessy wrote:

Mine is 5 years and the serial number indicates its not part of the firmware update. Is there no word from Seagate on this issue?

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Yours might be old enough to have been manufacturered when the warranty was still 5 years.

The newer ones only have 1: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148834

[Nessy]

It was purchased a few weeks ago, a retail box, not an OEM product.