Potential Problems with Certain 1TB Seagate and Western Digital External Hard Drives

[classithings]

According to Silent PC Review WD and Seagate take steps to fix terabyte drives | silentpcreview.com certain 1TB Seagate and Western Digital hard drives have developed what The Inquirer unhelpfully calls "a new self-bricking feature", in which otherwise-working drives suddenly stop being recognized after a few months of service. The failure appears to be in the firmware, not the hardware itself, and Seagate has stated that data is not actually lost in the failure — it's just not accessible. I use 7 of these drives with my Vip622 to archive essential programs and am concerned about the potential to lose access to the data they contain. So far I have not experienced the "self-bricking" problem.

I would like to know if I can install the firmware fix on my external Dish HDD by connecting the HDD to my pc then reconnecting to the Vip622. In particular, will data be lost if I were to attempt to do this? Any other access prevention suggestions will be appreciated.

If someone has experienced such a problem with a Dish external archive, I would like to know how the problem was resolved.

 

[navychop]

You might wish to ask the manufacturer that question, and report back here to us.

 

[Quantum]

LOL, the 'manufacturer' has done nothing but lie and stonewall for the past six months, because this problem is so large it could bring down the company. And BTW, the problem is not with WD, but with Seagate.

If you want to learn more, here is the seminal thread about the problem:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 Troubles - MSFN Forums

There is now a firmware release which ostensibly fixes the problem. You burn it to a CD, boot the CD, and apply the firmware to the drive, which must be the only one in the system. If your drive is in an external enclosure you must remove it and put it in your computer.

 

[glen242]

I blame all of my Seagate EHD problems on myself. Back when, using a TI99xx computer, I purchased a Seagate 20 Meg HD. I started having problems with it, later called the 'stickun' problem where the read/write heads would physically stick to the platter. A large number of people also had this problem and complained to Seagate. Seagate's answer was that there was nothing wrong with their hard drives. I vowed to never again own anything Seagate again.Fast forward 25 years - Seagate now has (or did have) a technological presence in Pittsburgh, PA. I figure, a home town company and their QA must have improved over the years, so, I buy a Seagate EHD. What a piece of crap! It is half full of stuff I wanted to keep, and now the drive is not recognized, no matter how many cold boots, unplugging the power to the drive for a time, or other recommended fixes.I WAS A JERK, for ever buying any of their products after the 198X problems I had. My computers use nothing but WD hard drives, 5 of them, and have been going strong for many years.DON'T BUY SEAGATE!