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

[ModProbe]

Does someone have the SD15 firmware for ST3500320AS ?

I'd like to revert back to SD15 but impossible to find it....

Don't tell me to contact support.... won't help.

Thanks

[bart_bender]

Hi, i upgrade the firmware to SD1B and the clicking sound persist and freeze my system.

this is the smartctl ouput

smartctl version 5.38 [x86_64-mandriva-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-8 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/                               

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model:     ST31500341AS     
Serial Number:    9VS0BSB8         
Firmware Version: SD1B             
User Capacity:    1,500,301,910,016 bytes
Device is:        Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is:   8                                                    
ATA Standard is:  ATA-8-ACS revision 4                                 
Local Time is:    Sat Mar 14 02:03:31 2009 CET                         
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.             
SMART support is: Enabled                                              

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x82) Offline data collection activity
                                        was completed without error.   
                                        Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0) The previous self-test routine completed
                                        without error or no self-test has ever 
                                        been run.                              
Total time to complete Offline                                                 
data collection:                 ( 617) seconds.                               
Offline data collection                                                        
capabilities:                    (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.       
                                        Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                                        Suspend Offline collection upon new        
                                        command.                                   
                                        Offline surface scan supported.            
                                        Self-test supported.                       
                                        Conveyance Self-test supported.            
                                        Selective Self-test supported.             
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering           
                                        power-saving mode.                         
                                        Supports SMART auto save timer.            
Error logging capability:        (0x01) Error logging supported.                   
                                        General Purpose Logging supported.         
Short self-test routine                                                            
recommended polling time:        (   1) minutes.                                   
Extended self-test routine                                                         
recommended polling time:        ( 255) minutes.                                   
Conveyance self-test routine                                                       
recommended polling time:        (   2) minutes.                                   
SCT capabilities:              (0x103b) SCT Status supported.                      
                                        SCT Feature Control supported.             
                                        SCT Data Table supported.                  

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds: 
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   114   100   006    Pre-fail  Always       -       68082629
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0003   093   092   000    Pre-fail  Always       -       0       
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   020    Old_age   Always       -       92      
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   036    Pre-fail  Always       -       0       
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   067   060   030    Pre-fail  Always       -       5460743 
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       252     
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   097    Pre-fail  Always       -       4       
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   020    Old_age   Always       -       95      
184 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   100   100   099    Old_age   Always       -       0       
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0       
188 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   100   098   000    Old_age   Always       -       720907  
189 High_Fly_Writes         0x003a   098   098   000    Old_age   Always       -       2       
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   053   048   045    Old_age   Always       -       47 (Lifetime Min/Max 47/48)                                                                                           
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   047   052   000    Old_age   Always       -       47 (0 19 0 0)  
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x001a   036   031   000    Old_age   Always       -       68082629       
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0              
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0010   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0              
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0              

SMART Error Log Version: 1
ATA Error Count: 1       
        CR = Command Register [HEX]
        FR = Features Register [HEX]
        SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
        SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
        CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
        CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
        DH = Device/Head Register [HEX] 
        DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
        ER = Error register [HEX]        
        ST = Status register [HEX]       
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,   
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days. 

Error 1 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 165 hours (6 days + 21 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was in an unknown state.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH                             
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --                             
  04 51 00 00 00 00 00  Error: ABRT                

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ff      00:22:17.438  NOP [Abort queued commands]
  b0 d4 00 82 4f c2 00 00      00:22:11.341  SMART EXECUTE OFF-LINE IMMEDIATE
  b0 d1 01 01 4f c2 00 00      00:22:11.332  SMART READ ATTRIBUTE THRESHOLDS [OBS-4]
  b0 d0 01 00 4f c2 00 00      00:22:11.208  SMART READ DATA
  b0 da 00 00 4f c2 00 00      00:22:11.166  SMART RETURN STATUS

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       252         -
# 2  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%       251         -
# 3  Extended offline    Interrupted (host reset)      00%       246         -
# 4  Extended offline    Aborted by host               50%       243         -
# 5  Extended offline    Interrupted (host reset)      00%       240         -
# 6  Extended offline    Interrupted (host reset)      90%       239         -
# 7  Extended offline    Interrupted (host reset)      00%       239         -
# 8  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       170         -
# 9  Extended offline    Interrupted (host reset)      20%       169         -
#10  Extended captive    Interrupted (host reset)      90%       165         -
#11  Extended offline    Interrupted (host reset)      00%        94         -
#12  Short offline       Completed without error       00%        33         -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

¿Exist any solution?

[artex92]

I've bougth WD Caviar Black 1TB WD1001FALS. I'm sure it won't crash like 7200.11 and some new 7200.12.....

It's time to change HDD supplier . Seagate goes like an Maxtor .

Message Edited by artex92 on 17-03-2009 12:12 AM

[archinla]

Hope this info helps. I had two new 1 Gb ST31000340AS in my Mac Pro. About 4 months old, one day one of these drives just failed to mount after a restart one morning.

I downloaded the firmware boot disk from Seagate but it would never boot my Mac, no matter how I tried. A friend with a pc managed to boot up using the same cd though and it succesfully updated the firmware on the drive that had NOT failed (to SD1A). However - the drive that had failed did not even appear.

Via email and web forms Seagate agreed to try to update the firmware if I sent it to them - overnight at their cost via UPS. After the drive arrives at the Seagate subsidiary, i365.com you get emailed a log/pass to track the progress of their recovery attempt. When you first log in it just tells you it has arrived and they will begin work. They also give a time a date target for finishing the work. When that time came and went with no status change I emailed the tech (whose name and email appear on your tracking page) and he emailed back awhile later that they would probably be able to get the data back and the work would be finished the following day.

The following day the work was indeed done. I got a phone call and an email telling me this. the tracking page listed my drive was due to be sent out the next day and two days later it was returned via next day UPS. They notify you that they keep a clone of your drive on hand for 14 days while you investigate your restored drive and data. Then that clone is erased.

Happily the data was still all there. The drive firmware is now SD1A. I immediately backed up everything on there to 2 externals. 

While I'm relieved that I got my data back, and I'm grateful to Seagate for rectifying a bad firmware issue so efficiently I'm going to be wary of this drive for a long while to come and I'll keep this discussion board on watch to follow further developments. 

Message Edited by archinla on 03-16-2009 03:26 PM

[oc613613]

Modprobe; my errors are still continuing, and much like you it's always while i'm just listening to mp3s without much other activity on the drives.  Like you, I am looking to revert back to SD15 - I never reboot and besides, I'm confident I can unlock it from the bsy state if that even ever happens.  We should have never flashed.

I'm giving seagate until the end of the month to fix this.  After that point I'm going WD black.  This isn't worth my time anymore, I'll just pony up and replace the drives.  Congrats on losing another customer seagate.  

 

Message Edited by oc613613 on 03-16-2009 09:18 PM

[Corne]

I am also getting the IASTOR events in my event log - roughly every 2-3 days.

Running W2K3 on an ASUS P5Q board with Intel Matrix Storage. I originally configured a RAID10 with 6 ST3500320AS drives, and also kept a spare available. The disks were installed in November 2008.

Out of a total of 7 ST3500320AS drives bought for the Intel Matrix Storage Raid, 5 has failed so far, starting beginning February - most with the clicking sound and failure to detect in BIOS.

I upgraded all drives in February to SD1A firmware, but that did not stop them failing. I had to buy additional drives just to keep enough spares, because the local distributor in South Africa cannot replace the failed Seagates fast enough. Lately, I am running a RAID10 with only 4 drives, simply because I did not have enough spares, and decided to downsize the storage capacity, since all capacity is not currently required.

It thus seems that the firmware updates does not resolve the Seagate inherent unreliability when used in a RAID or AHCI setup. and that it is risky to use these drives in a RAID without significant additional backups.

While Seagate replaces the drives under warranty, it is in my opinion not worth the hassles and risk, and am considering replacing the drives with WD7500AACS drives - but this is a significant cash layout. How can this additional costs be recovered?

Very disappointed in Seagate. Previous Seagates always performed admirably...

[ModProbe]

---

Corne wrote:

I am also getting the IASTOR events in my event log - roughly every 2-3 days.

Running W2K3 on an ASUS P5Q board with Intel Matrix Storage. I originally configured a RAID10 with 6 ST3500320AS drives, and also kept a spare available. The disks were installed in November 2008.

Out of a total of 7 ST3500320AS drives bought for the Intel Matrix Storage Raid, 5 has failed so far, starting beginning February - most with the clicking sound and failure to detect in BIOS.

I upgraded all drives in February to SD1A firmware, but that did not stop them failing. I had to buy additional drives just to keep enough spares, because the local distributor in South Africa cannot replace the failed Seagates fast enough. Lately, I am running a RAID10 with only 4 drives, simply because I did not have enough spares, and decided to downsize the storage capacity, since all capacity is not currently required.

It thus seems that the firmware updates does not resolve the Seagate inherent unreliability when used in a RAID or AHCI setup. and that it is risky to use these drives in a RAID without significant additional backups.

While Seagate replaces the drives under warranty, it is in my opinion not worth the hassles and risk, and am considering replacing the drives with WD7500AACS drives - but this is a significant cash layout. How can this additional costs be recovered?

Very disappointed in Seagate. Previous Seagates always performed admirably...

---

Funny....

In IDE mode all seem operational... but we don't have RAID... And Vista does not support software mirroring...

[HughR]

---

ModProbe wrote:

---

...

It thus seems that the firmware updates does not resolve the Seagate inherent unreliability when used in a RAID or AHCI setup. and that it is risky to use these drives in a RAID without significant additional backups.

 ...

---

Funny....

In IDE mode all seem operational... but we don't have RAID... And Vista does not support software mirroring...

---

Are you saying that IDE works but AHCI does not?  Odd.  From the drive's standpoint, what would the difference be?  NCQ?

How sure are you of these observations?

(I'm trying to crack this puzzle from the rather contradictory observations of all the different posters on this forum.)

[Corne]

Hugh

Yeah - it is difficult to figure out what is the real reason for failure. From the various posts at various sites, I gathered that the Seagate is less reliable in a RAID setup. But this is based on observation from other posts only.It seems that a few people reached the conclusion that the ST3500320AS drives becomes unavailable for short periods, and this causes the RAID to fail eventually. (The IASTOR messages is possibly an indication of this).

Most ST3500320AS users are possibly less sophisticated, and are using the drives in normal IDE mode, and I guess that is why the number of returns are not very high. (I asked two on-line retailers in South Africa if they had seen more than the usual number of returns, and they both said that they have seen nothing unusual. However, more advanced users will buy components on places such as NewEgg, and build /configure more advanced setups, and if one review the feedback on NewEgg, and compare it with a comparable WD drive, it is clear that the Seagates are statistically significant less reliable, and that the complaints have increased significantly the last few months)

My own setup has until a week ago only consisted of a RAID 10 setup:

• SATA 1-6 all set up as RAID (Intel Storage Matrix) on an Asus P5Q motherboard.
• 6x ST3500320AS were installed in November. (and I had a spare)
• The server is lightly used (it is a server at home, used for storage of documents, music etc)
• Hard disk temperature (on another hard disk used in the same IcyDock enclosures, used for booting W2K3) is reporting 29-35 Degrees Celcius - so I do not think there is an overheating problem.
• The disks started to fail end of January 2009 - roughly one failure per week.
• 5 of these drives have failed so far.
• I upgraded the remaining disks in Feb to SD1A, but the disks kept on failing after that.

I have since reconfigured:

• SATA 1-4 is now a RAID10, with 2 disks WD7500AACS and the other 2 ST3500320AS. (I added WD into the RAID, because I had to buy additional spares due to the slow warranty exchange process, and I surely was not going to buy any additional Seagates!)
• SATA 5-6 has 2 ST3500320AS drives, is still in BIOS identified as RAID, but is in Intel Matrix Bios set up as non-raid. I guess it is then used in an AHCI type of mode? SATA 5&6 is now configured as a software Raid 1 (as set up in Windows Disk Management), and this is now the W2K3 boot / system disk.
• It has only been running for two weeks in this mode, but in this period, another ST3500320AS failed in the RAID10 setup. (SATA 1-4), and no disks have failed in the Software Raid.

I realise it is very inconclusive, but at the moment I am trying all possibilities just to get the situation stable.

HDTune reports a very unstable transfer rate on the RAID10 setup - ranging from about 20MB/s up to 170MB/s. (When the disks were new, the RAID constantly reported more than 150MB/s.)

[HughR]

---

Corne wrote:

I am also getting the IASTOR events in my event log - roughly every 2-3 days.

Running W2K3 on an ASUS P5Q board with Intel Matrix Storage. I originally configured a RAID10 with 6 ST3500320AS drives, and also kept a spare available. The disks were installed in November 2008.

Out of a total of 7 ST3500320AS drives bought for the Intel Matrix Storage Raid, 5 has failed so far, starting beginning February - most with the clicking sound and failure to detect in BIOS.

I upgraded all drives in February to SD1A firmware, but that did not stop them failing. I had to buy additional drives just to keep enough spares, because the local distributor in South Africa cannot replace the failed Seagates fast enough. Lately, I am running a RAID10 with only 4 drives, simply because I did not have enough spares, and decided to downsize the storage capacity, since all capacity is not currently required.

It thus seems that the firmware updates does not resolve the Seagate inherent unreliability when used in a RAID or AHCI setup. and that it is risky to use these drives in a RAID without significant additional backups.

While Seagate replaces the drives under warranty, it is in my opinion not worth the hassles and risk, and am considering replacing the drives with WD7500AACS drives - but this is a significant cash layout. How can this additional costs be recovered?

Very disappointed in Seagate. Previous Seagates always performed admirably...

---

I would normally trim this quote but I don't really know what is irrelevant.  One thing that makes your report interesting is that you have a sample size significantly larger than 1.

I think that drives normally have a significant chance of infant mortality and then have a low but slightly increasing rate of failure over a period of years.

This does not seem to match what you report: you are not observing infant mortality (since they are making it through the first days) but they are dying like flies.

Your failures *sound* like hardware (media errors), not firmware failures to me.  Of course I cannot be sure.  And hardware failures can be created by firmware bugs.

Can you get a SMART report out of a drive once it has failed or is it too dead?