Seagate Issues Firmware Update Following Hard Drive Problems

Hard drive manufacturer Seagate has acknowledged a firmware issue in certain products, including some Barracuda 7200.11 model hard drives manufactured through December 2008 that has been causing many drives to freeze up during data transfers or failing all together.

For users affected by the issues Seagate is now offering a firmware upgrade that it says will fix the issue as well as data recovery for drives that are already bricked. Here's the full statement from the company's spokesman Mike Hall:

Seagate has isolated a potential firmware issue in certain products, including some Barracuda 7200.11 hard drives and related drive families based on this product platform, manufactured through December 2008. In some circumstances, the data on the hard drives may become inaccessible to the user when the host system is powered on.

As part of our commitment to customer satisfaction, we are offering a free firmware upgrade to those with affected products. To determine whether your product is affected, please visit the Seagate Support web site at http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207931.

Support is also available through Seagate's call center: 1-800-SEAGATE (1 800 732-4283)

Customers can expedite assistance by sending an email to Seagate (discsupport@seagate.com). Please include the following disk drive information: model number, serial number and current firmware revision. We will respond, promptly, to your email request with appropriate instructions. There is no data loss associated with this issue, and the data still resides on the drive. But if you are unable to access your data due to this issue, Seagate will provide free data recovery services. Seagate will work with you to expedite a remedy to minimize any disruption to you or your business.

For a list of international telephone numbers to Seagate Support and alternative methods of contact, please access http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/about/contact_us/

According to the Seagate knowledge base entry, the issue may affect a large number of drive models with Seagate recommending that users with 1.5TB, 750GB, 640GB, 500GB, 320GB, and 160GB Barracuda 7200.11 drives, along with some Maxtor and ES.2 models, all install the firmware update.

The company hasn't provided a direct link for the firmware download, instead they are urging users to use the following tools and instructions to determine if you have one of the affected products. If you do, it is recommend that you update the firmware on the disk drive to prevent this condition:

• Click here for instructions on how to find the serial number on your drive.
• Click here to use the online serial number validation tool to check whether your drive requires a firmware update or not.

When typing in your serial number into the validation tool, make sure to use ALL CAPS. Using lower case characters will invalidate the result. If the online serial number validation tool states that your drive is affected, you need to contact Seagate Customer Support for a firmware update to your hard drive.