I am sorry for the confusion. The more general firmware article goes to great pains to qualify that it is speaking generally, for most cases, such as when it says:
"The short answer is: Firmware updates are not necessary for most users."
And that is precisely true. For most drives and most users, no firmware update is necessary. And in fact, the firmware issues you see talked about on this board for the last few months do not apply to even close to a majority of the drives out of these families that are out in the market, regardless of what more shrill voices who claim to know better may say. You are looking for an official answer from Seagate - that is an official answer. I am unsure whether many people will like it, but it is the truth. Anyway, the other relevant Knowledge Base articles are focused directly on specific drive models, so they are the exception, not the rule, and that more general article is stating the general rule.
Now, if you indeed do need a firmware update for your specific Barracuda 7200.11, Barracuda ES.2, or DiamondMax 22 drive, you can contact Tech Support and even in most cases download the update from the website just like that. If your drive is defective and is under warranty, it will be replaced under warranty, and the replacement drive will always have the most updated firmware available. I hope that helps to clarify.
