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

[Radical Dreamer]

Hi,

I own a ST3500320AS HD and I've just read about Seagate's critical firmware upgrade and other issues with various HDs.

I'm extremly worried about losing my data and my worst fear is losing my data in a HD crash.

I've downloaded Drive Detect, and I'm using revision SD15.

Am I at any risk? Should I upgrade my firmware version?

The latest update includes a readme.txt file which was written on11-Mar-2008 but doesn't states what has changes / fixes the firmware update includes.

Moreover, I have no means of backing-up my data, since I do not have another HD to copy my data to.

So is it safe upgrading the firmware when the HD contains data? Am I in risk losing my data doing the upgrade process?

P.S.

I couldn't download the firmware upgrade when using Firefox....... :-/

Message Edited by Radical Dreamer on 03-14-2009 12:40 PM

[graham.k]

First, you really need to find a way to backup your data. I wouldn't trust ANY hard drive to "never" fail.

As for whether you need to apply a firmware update: Start with the serial number checker.

http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207931

If it says "no", then you might want to contact Seagate tech support to double-check.

FWIW, I have a similar HD (same model, same firmware) purchased in February. I haven't updated the firmware because I haven't yet received a straight answer on whether I need to do this.

SD15 has issues, but they may not actually affect you. Note also that Seagate recommends backing up your data before applying a firmware update.

The "BSY" issue shouldn't affect you if your drive was manufactured recently. See Seagate's explanation of the problem here:

 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128807&pid=828394

Note that Seagate does not recommend that end users attempt the repair procedure documented on that page.

[Cantbecanit]

They might not recommend it Graham, but I can confirm it works, so that's up to whoever is effected to take the risk or not.

As for the shall I flash or not, that's gonna be a case of how old the drive actually is, any drive bought today can be of an manufactured age of a year or so depending on how long the reseller had it in stock tbh, best thing I can suggest if you want to flash it is to get a tub of DVD-RW's and move all your files onto them before flashing it, that way worst case is you are out of pocket to a drive if it goes up the wall.

[aachen]

If you do not update to the current firmware version, then you might run across the actual problem,i.e. that the drive isn't found anymore at all. At that point you would not be able to correct the problem by yourself! Because, if the controller doesn't find the drive, you do not even have a chance to flash on your own. Therefore, I'd apply the new firmware ASAP

[graham.k]

I disagree. Seagate's explanation of the problem states that they have eliminated the case that triggers the BSY bug by making a change to their manufacturing process. So if your drive was manufactured after they made that change, you should be safe (though you may still be affected by other SD15 bugs).

[TuantaQ]

Be carefull, please check your PN number as shown in this link
http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=8968

I have same St3500329AS, update from SD15 to SD1A, now it is bricked. I wait to have new SD1A to reflash it.

[gl7]

I have 5 units of ST3500320AS, purchased and used within 1 years, upgraded to latest SD1A from SD15 when it released, firmware upgraded successfully for all 5 drives without any backup.

2 days ago, 1 of the drive start to fail, error message "delayed write failed", one day later the drive producing high pitch spinning noises and drive is hang frequently when acessing the data, i am lucky to backup the data before that.

yesterday, another 1 drive fail, again, with error message "delayed write failed", and found 1 bad sectors, still, i am lucky to backup the data. It happen once and scare the shxx out of me because the drive is missing from BIOS detect before i can do the backup, but thx god the drive re-appear after i power cycle the computer.

Both new drives i get is WD 1TB, i already loses the trust to Seagate product furthermore they change from 5 years to 3 years warranty, no quality/price/warranty advantage anymore. Going to get the other 3 drives change as soon as possible. now i believe that is not just a simply firmware issues.

I suggest you to do so, get another new drive, the old seagate 500GB can be used as a non-important secondary backup drive, if the data is so important to you, before doing the firmware upgrade.

Message Edited by gl7 on 03-16-2009 02:43 AM

Message Edited by gl7 on 03-16-2009 02:48 AM

[AlanM]

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graham.k wrote:

See Seagate's explanation of the problem here:

 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128807&pid=828394

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Please know that the instructions found there are not necessarily endorsed by Seagate.
For information from Seagate, please see the following forum posts:

Firmware Update Locations and instructions  
Firmware FAQ