ohnomydata wrote:
headcrash wrote:
If you go buy an ST31000333AS right now, February 20th 2009, there is a chance that it will come with firmware SD35. In that case you CANNOT FLASH IT WITH ANY PUBLICLY AVAILABLE UPDATED FIRMWARE. There is no firmware update for those of us with this drive/firmware combo, even though some are reported as "affected" by the serial number checker.
That said, if you trust the serial number checker you can check the serial number before you buy. However, I must reiterate that according to Seagate's own field service bulletin, just because a drive is listed as not affected doesn't mean it does not have the firmware bug. It simply means that it was not tested with the offending test equipment during manufacturing, in which case the self bricking feature does not manifest. Unless, of course, the bits at the end of the event log area on disk should happen to flip. But that could never happen.
When you say a chance, do you mean there's a chance the options are:
1) It comes with SD35
2) It comes with SD1B or newer
Is there a bug with SD35 that prevents flashing, or is there a third firmware revision prior to SD35? Cause otherwise, why do they have a firmware solution up and available for download if it doesn't work at all?
Message Edited by ohnomydata on 02-20-2009 06:12 PM
I mean there is a chance that it comes with SD35. If it does, you cannot flash it with any firmware that Seagate has released thus far. There is the implicit promise that they will eventually get around to releasing SD3B (which is rumored to be making the rounds via back channels), but as yet they have not. There is no bug in SD35 that prevents flashing. It is simply that SD1B was not intended to replace SD35 and therefore the flashing utility will not allow you to flash SD1B over the top of SD35. This issue is known by Seagate but it apparently isn't that important to them.
As to whether you will get SD1B or newer I cannot say, but I would not count on it. Not only am I unaware of any new units entering the sales channel with updated firmware, reports from the field say that they have not recalled anything currently in the channel so your chances of getting the affected firmware are high.
Two other possibilities are:
1.) You get an affected 333AS with an SD1x firmware, in which case you can download the SD1B and flash it, or
2.) You get an "unaffected" 333AS with SD1x or SD35, in which case you can take your chances and not flash it.
As I said, "unaffected" means that its firmware has the bug but the thing that prevents it from manifesting the self bricking behaviour is the coincidence that the reserved area on the drive (where the event log is written) did not have a particular pattern written to it by a test tool of a particular type during manufacturing.
So, you could look at the serial number on the drive box, run it through the checker and only buy it if is "unaffected". That would be scenario number 2 above. Just note, though, that (presuming they can actually get the fix right) you'll eventually want to flash the drive unless you think that bits can never change state on a disk platter.
Message Edited by headcrash on 02-20-2009 07:34 PM
Message Edited by headcrash on 02-20-2009 07:35 PM
Are you mocking me?
