Man I was duped into buying this HDD because it was cheap, now I know why. It is reported that the 7.11 Barracudas with the AD15 firmware has problems and retailers are getting up to a 30% return rate for these bricks.

Physically, your HDD is fine, so the freezing trick will NOT help. Symptons after an uncertain number of booting up your HDD will not be detected by BIOS (and possibly all your other SATA/PATA devices, even non-Seagate ones), or your BIOS reports it having 0GB capacity. Your data is still intact, however, something in the firmware is telling the BIOS that it is busy.

You can read some bits of it here:
http://forums.seagate.com/stx/search?submi...AS&page_size=10
Or search on on google for the ST3500320AS+BIOS

Simply due to the fact that Seagate doesn't want to acknowledge that this is a problem (because they don't want to fix it, not for free anyway) is enough for me to boycott Seagate products for EVER.


Update:

Since there are many questions asking "which model is affected" etc, I'm copy pastaring the potentially affected models here:

http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/self...sp?DocId=207951

Drive Family:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11

Models Affected:
ST3500320AS
ST3640330AS
ST3750330AS
ST31000340AS

Firmware Affected
SD15, SD16, SD17, SD18, SD19, AD14

Recommended Firmware Update:
SD1A

So far, the firmware update doesn't work for OEM drives (P/N) ending with 303. And some claim the firmware update DOESN'T fix the bricking issue, just the cache issue. It's up to you to decide whether or not to update. You are responsible for your data.


More updates (Jan 23):
Here's a firmware to patch the SD15 to SD1A

http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/self...sp?DocId=207951

Download the appropriate ISO file for your drive model, burn it onto a CD (or a USB key if you know how), reboot and if your drive is still detectable, flash it accordingly.

It is not known if the firmware will stop the bricking issue (BSY/LBA0) or cause other issues, but I have successfully flashed the firmware to SD1A on my remaining ST3500320AS, and it has been running for 10 minutes now.

Firmware does NOT fix BSY state drives, I don't know about the LBA0 drives.

This post has been edited by spanker: Jan 23 2009, 10:48 AM

By the way, it seems like if you leave the 1.5 GB operation Jumper alone (instead of removing it for 3GB operation), it is less likely to happen (doesn't mean it won't). Owners of the 500GB and 1 TB model are more likely to face this problem.

Anyone experiencing this problem?


======================================
thanks for mxploit for the simple guide.

A tip to getting your HDD back with all your data untouched shall your Seagate 7200.11 brick:
1. Log on to Seagate's website.
2. Create a support case.
3. A support representative will contact you to confirm that your HDD is facing firmware issue.
4. Once confirmed, Seagate will arrange for UPS pickup to be delivered to Singapore for firmware upgrade.
5. After 10-20 working days, you'll receive your HDD at your doorstep with upgraded firmware and all your data in store.
No more worries about sending your HDD back to local service centres or sending your HDD for Data Recovery services.
Cheers!

Here's a few additional guide : (credit to andy0212)
1) Register & submit ticket at https://partnerreg.seagate.com/pppm/csoregistration.jsp?source=casemgmt&languageselect=en-US
2) AFTER submit, check again the ticket , and update your case by selecting "Yes - Escalate Case to Seagate Support" from the Escalate Case dropdown. (you will receive an email about this)
3) You'll receive an email from customer support to confirm about you harddisk condition. In my case, they asked me this question :

4) After you reply to them, they will email you the Disclaimer on how the process will be done. You need to reply them with your Full Name, complete shipping address with city, state and postal code and contact numbers with country code. This is for FREE Pick Up and return purpose.
5) Within few hours or maybe days you'll get an email from UPS with a few documents attached. You only need to print the UPS Return Label
6) Call UPS Malaysia toll free no. 1800-1800-88 to request a pick up, give them the tracking number stated on your UPS Return Label. They'll give you a date and time to pick up or you can choose which day that you prefer.
7) Ensure that the hard drive is packed in an ESD bag or any anti-static plastic. Then, securely packed it inside a small packaging box and ensure that the drive it is not moving. To have a sponge in between the hard drive would be superb.
8) Wait UPS for pick up and pray that your harddisk arrived safely..

Send your HDD to seagate if you have precious/important data..
Send to RMA if you doesn't care about your data and get a new hdd

This post has been edited by fariz: Jan 4 2010, 05:08 PM

RMA is not an acceptable option for those who value data more than hardware. I've got years of data in there since "migration". And I don't intend to RMA before i recover the data. I'm going to buy a competitor HDD, and then sell off the RMA-ed HDD to you guys.


BTW: Sauce for those who think their safe:

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3...7200-11-failing

40% failure rate!!! And I have 2 of this crap.

This post has been edited by spanker: Jan 14 2009, 02:36 AM

No way dude. my 500 GB bricked on me. Now the other 500 GB is just a ticking timebomb to me.

dude the HDD encasement is sealed, don't think moisture can squeeze their way in, but... you never know.

It's up to you, but a global 30% RMA rate is no joke. That means 1 out of 3 will very likely brick, and the remaining 2/3 have a potential of going wrong, but hasn't.

the xxxxxAS models are affected if they carry the SD15 firmware, which I think is supposed to be OEM package. But some people in MSFN forum said they bought a retail pack and the drive is still the OEM version

There's no firmware, nor will there be one. It's simple, by issuing a firmware to fix the bricked HDD will mean Seagate acknowledges a problem, and this will make them liable in a host of civil lawsuits, including criminal negligence (since now they have a track record of denying the problem). So all you can do is either wait for them to issue a recall (not gonna happen also), or wait for the drive to die, and then RMA, hopefully you will get back another drive that is not the same batch.

supposedly there's a firmware update for sd15, but you'll have to call seagate to get it. Other than that, you'll have to back up your data A.S.A.P hopefully on a non Seagate 7200.11 HDD.

hey, no need to panic. It's only a 30% failure rate, so if you know 1 other guy who has a broken 7200.11, then chances are yours will be safe. That's why Seagate's not bothered with correcting the problem, because people who experienced it will just RMA or bring it to some data recovery and pay the arm and leg instead of suing them as they rightfully should.

Though technically, all 7200.11 drives with the DS15 firmware will definitely have a much shorter lifespan than any other drives, especially if you power cycle often.

Cold reboot, power off then power on. Some people experienced it while the system is running where the OS spits out some error, and the drive doesn't come back on again after rebooting.

I think quattro150 from the msfn forum is thinking of purchasing a the HD Doctor for Seagate fix by salvationHD.com. Apparently the have the kit that fixes this particular problem, but costs USD 600. If anyone knows him, please tell him I'm ready to chip in the pool for recovery.


http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128092&st=80


FYI: I did not buy the HDD from AllnGap, and I'm sure he's not out to get you guys ok?

This post has been edited by spanker: Jan 15 2009, 12:22 AM

Sure thing.

They probably didn't want to acknowledge the problem because they don't know how to duplicate it in their labs, and even if they could duplicate it, they probably couldn't find the cause (since the HDD would've died), and even then, even when they have found the cause and they still need to find a fix which will cause no further problems. I expect the firmware to be out in early February earliest. Till then, I can only keep my fingers crossed with my current functional 7200.11.

Any news on the HD Doctor? Btw, I'm trying to get the RS232 connector for the drive terminal, do you know where i can get one?

---

Added on January 18, 2009, 10:58 pmHmm.... looks like there may be silver lining amongst the clouds after all:

Seagate offers fix for 7200.11 Barracudas, and FREE data recovery for bricked units.

Or is it just wishful thinking?

This post has been edited by spanker: Jan 18 2009, 11:02 PM

Running on SD1A now. Hopefully nothing bad happens to this thing.

The BIOS will probably detect the USB controller and not the HDD. I'm not sure which the firmware will detect, but come on, is it really that hard to open the casing and plugging some cables?

Where did you get the TTL converter?

Hi guys, good news. I just revived my bricked 500 GB 7200.11 using the serial - TTL connection. It was a b**** finding the TTL connector (i searched entire Jalan Pasar and no one seems to know what it is) but in the end I used a modified DKU-5 data cable and following the MSFN barracuda fix did the trick.

---

Added on February 4, 2009, 12:54 amFor those of you who upgraded to the SD1A firmware, you're not out of the woods yet.

Apparently there's a problem with the fixed SD1A firmware (v2, the one which fixed the auto bricking of 500GB barracudas). Read on here:

http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/messag...&thread.id=8569

http://stx.lithium.com/stx/board/message?b...cending&page=10

What can I say, back up your data now.

This post has been edited by spanker: Feb 4 2009, 12:56 AM

Your scenario reflects that you have a configuration problem of your BIOS, not a HDD problem.

My suggestion:
1) Back up your data
2) Make sure you have all the tools necessary for restoration in case the HDD gets locked in BSY or LBA0 mode

It's not the supplier's fault, it's Seagate's fault. You'd think by now all these big corporations would have known how to cut costs intelligently by now, but that's never the case.

in case you guys haven't found it yet, the "solution" to fix a bricked HDD is here:


http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128807