eAegis - Seagate Update

Posted on 03 16th, 2009

We are pleased to announce our latest testing on the Seagate ST31500341AS drives with the correct firmware stipulated by Seagate seems to have the stability we would expect from a drive to be deployed in a RAID environment.

Of course we at Aegis can only provide guidance on a testing and integration level, as far as reliability and quality of components are concerned guidance can be provided by the manufacturer – Seagate.

The Seagate ST31500341AS Drives are warranted for 3 years directly with Seagate.

Further details of the drive can be found on their Website – Please CLICK on this LINK

Current Products tested and Supported with the 1.5TB Drives.

NETGEAR ReadyNAS NV+
NETGEAR ReadyNAS PRO Business Edition
QNAP TS-509
QNAP TS-639
QNAP TS-809
Thecus N5200PRO
Thecus N7700
Thecus N8800


Posted on 02 17th, 2009

All Seagate drives supplied from today will have the latest firmware update as required by Seagate for all our Seageate Desktop ES and Enterprise ES/ES.2 Drives. For further information, see notices sent by Seagate below.

Technical Support Division
For and Behalf of eAegis.com

READ UPDATE

Seagate Firmware Update

Posted on 01 26th, 2009

We received the following response from Seagate to our email send to support requesting the firmware fix for all ES.2 drives.

Thank you for contacting Seagate Support.

A firmware issue has been identified that affects a small number of Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 hard drive models which may result in data becoming inaccessible after a power-off/on operation. The affected products are Barracuda 7200.11, Barracuda ES.2 SATA, and DiamondMax 22.

Based on the low risk as determined by an analysis of actual field return data, Seagate believes that the affected drives can be used as is.

However, as part of our commitment to customer satisfaction, Seagate is offering a free firmware upgrade.

Please follow this link
(http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207931)
to enter the Knowledge Base article(s) detailing the steps to update your drive.

In the unlikely event your drive is affected and you cannot access your data, the data still resides on the drive and there is no data loss associated with this issue. If your drive is no longer accessible, contact us directly for further assistance at http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/about/contact_us/.

NOTE: If you have contacted Seagate Support regarding a separate issue or about another product, please visit http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/about/contact_us/ to submit an email.
Thank you.

Seagate Support

So, it seems we may not all need to upgrade our drives unless we have an issue with our drives, this does seem more inline with would should have happened and what needs to happen when a situation of this nature occurs.

Seagate Firmware Issue

Posted on 01 22nd, 2009

After all these years of learning best practice methods, we all find ourselves yet again at the barrel end of a hard disk manufacturers shotgun.

Seagate 1TB Barracuda drives are failing at an alarming rate, with users complaining of a plague of such failures spreading across the globe.

What exactly is the issue?
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 (ST31000340AS with firmware level SD15) drives made in Thailand are failing at boot time with a firmware error that is said to lock the drive up and render it inoperable.

Links to discussions:-
A comprehesive thread about this firmware failure problem is being debated on a Seagate forum. Frustrated users have complained that postings and threads have been removed by moderators.

The advice seems to be do not upgrade your drive unless it has failed, then comes the condradiction, how confusing is it to list the drive model and firmware revision that has been effected and these match your drives, what to do?

In our workshop at our workplace we test drives and clearly have seen failures dating back to November 2008, but any faulty drives are rejected and replaced with new. In general we have customers whose drives have not failed although they fall into the category of required firmware upgrade issued by Seagate.
Rule of thumb?, do not fix it until it is broke!.

Seagate firmware details including upgrade can be found at:-
Firmware Update for ST3500320AS, ST3500620AS, ST3500820AS, ST3640330AS, ST3640530AS, ST3750330AS, ST3750630AS, ST31000340AS

Firmware Recommendations for Barracuda 7200.11, ES.2 SATA, and DiamondMax 22 Drives

Firmware Update for ST31500341AS, ST31000333AS, ST3640323AS, ST3640623AS, ST3320613AS, ST3320813AS, ST3160813AS

Firmware Update for ST3250310NS, ST3500320NS, ST3750330NS, ST31000340NS

Seagate issues a few cautionary notes:-

!!WARNING!!
If the firmware upgrade installation instructions are not followed properly the firmware upgrade could be data destructive and/or render your hard drive inoperable. As Seagate does not warrant the data on your drive, In addition to regular back-ups, if possible, your data should be backed up before upgrading the drive firmware. Additional information on backing-up the contents of your drive can be found at www.seagate.com. Though this firmware upgrade to your product is a change to the product the terms and conditions of your Seagate warranty for the product will remain effective to its normal expiration. For other warranties on your product please consult the warranty documentation provided by your supplier.