Seagate releases a firmware fix for the firmware fix

[AgentGOD]

As you all know, Seagate's famous 7200.11 lineup of drives has had a firmware bug that caused drives to die spontaneously on a random power up, and they released a firmware to address and fix this issue.

However, the firmware update bricked all 500 GB drives flashed with this update, and Seagate received numerous complaints on Seagate's web site alone.

Today, Seagate releases a fix firmware for that firmware, still dubbed version "SD1A".

There are reports from users with the affected 500 GB drives saying that it worked perfectly after flashing, and even de-bricks the previously-bricked drives (from flashing):
http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/...thread.id=6927

Personally, I have not flashed this new firmware yet, and both of my drives have SD15 (stock). If anyone can confirm that this new firmware is truly fixed and is flashable on the ST3500320AS with SD15 please let us know!

[Particle]

Excellent news! I eagerly await the results from owners.

[Jamesrt2004]

Excellent news! I eagerly await the results from owners.

you mean if there ARE results


If it doesn't work there will be no results as they don't have there computers haha!
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and what about the people who now have all there HD broken?? and can't flash them to fix etc??

[Particle]

The OP made it sound like those bricked drives can be brought back to life.

[ToTTenTranz]

And if a guy has only one hard drive and it's bricked, how is he supposed to flash the drive?

[[XC] Lead Head]

you mean if there ARE results


If it doesn't work there will be no results as they don't have there computers haha!
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and what about the people who now have all there HD broken?? and can't flash them to fix etc??

The drives are only bricked in that the drive itself cannot access the platters. Seagate said multiple times that reflashing the drive with the new firmware will bring it back to life. The actual workings of the drive is still fine. Like if you have a bad bios-flash on your video card. You pop in another video card, and have the flashing utility flash to the borked card.

If a person only has one drive, then they can go to a friend and have them burn a CD with the new firmware. But I'm assuming anyone who actually had the knowledge to know to try a firmware flash would have a backup solution

[tylerw13]

i flashed both my 500 gig hds and they are working well now...even my bricked one that died on me months ago is back up and working!! my other was part of my raid and it was fine as well...no data issues or anthing

[Sparky]

Good to know... I'll advise my friend who has a new seagate 1TB drive.

[highoctane]

i flashed both my 500 gig hds and they are working well now...even my bricked one that died on me months ago is back up and working!! my other was part of my raid and it was fine as well...no data issues or anthing

Thats good to know!

[AgentGOD]

Excellent news! I eagerly await the results from owners.

I got two 500 GB 7200.11's as in sig. Both have SD15 as stock firmware. One of them I got in June 2008, and the other is from RMA. I actually got two drives in June, and only one is here with me, the other is the RMA like I said. I have them in Matrix RAID, and was first hesitant to flash the update.

Anyway, I successfully flashed the new firmware to both of my drives at once.

What I did was first unplug my Caviar Black from the SATA port (for obvious safety reasons), and then I saved my OC settings (ty P5Q OC profiles), and reset the BIOS to default settings. Then I set the SATA mode to "IDE Enhanced" so that the drives are out of RAID mode as far as the BIOS is concerned. Then, I booted from the CD and simply followed the instructions to flash. Each drive takes 15 sec to flash. Then it tells you to "Press any key" and it will power-cycle the drives (the PC too).

I turn on PC to confirm the drives are working, and indeed they are. Then I load my original OC profile back, and turn off the PC. I plug in the Caviar Black, turn back on, go into BIOS to fix boot order, and presto... Windows boots and all my data are still there the Matrix RAID with RAID 0 and RAID 1 works perfectly.

So there you go, my story.

Pictures of the flashing:

[Face]

Personally, I have not flashed this new firmware yet, and both of my drives have SD15 (stock). If anyone can confirm that this new firmware is truly fixed and is flashable on the ST3500320AS with SD15 please let us know!

I have the same drive, but I think i'll wait a bit more before I do anything. Just to make sure it's really safe. I just hope it won't die before i get to it, because it's started giving me very weird noises all of a sudden in the last few days.

[AgentGOD]

I have the same drive, but I think i'll wait a bit more before I do anything. Just to make sure it's really safe. I just hope it won't die before i get to it, because it's started giving me very weird noises all of a sudden in the last few days.

Worked for me, just tried it. I posted exactly what I have and did in a previous post. It did not kill my RAID array.

Weird noises sound like a hardware failure, not firmware Should get that checked out ASAP.

[XS Janus]

OK those pics are like taken with the first color camera ever!

[AgentGOD]

OK those pics are like taken with the first color camera ever!

Camera phone actually In poor lighting.

[JohnZS]

My 3500320AS flashed perfectly, it seems to be less slugish on POST now and boot but this might be the placebo effect?
John

[003]

My 3500320AS flashed perfectly, it seems to be less slugish on POST now and boot but this might be the placebo effect?
John

No that happens some times... like for me after a heavy OC failure and the PC resets, it takes forever to detect the drives and drive controller.. anybody else ever notice that?

And lol.. debrick the bricked drives.. I love it.

[AgentGOD]

RAID array is healthy and working, with both HDDs using the "new" SD1A:

[safan80]

now if seagate wants to make people happy they should release working 2TB hard drives before march.

[Speederlander]

Pictures of the flashing:

No offense but spend $9.95 and get a better camera.

[Mr.Guvernment]

unreal, i think their QoS department should get some new peopleware in it.

[STaRGaZeR]

now if seagate wants to make people happy they should release working 2TB hard drives before march.

You mean 2 months after WD(WD20EADS)? That makes me sad instead of happy.

[eleeter]

Flashed 2 1TB units, worked fine.

I strongly recommend that when people do this, they disconnect all other hard drives except the ONE being flashed. And set your BIOS to standard ATA mode.

[AgentGOD]

No offense but spend $9.95 and get a better camera.

I didn't feel like getting my Digital Camera.

Flashed 2 1TB units, worked fine.

I strongly recommend that when people do this, they disconnect all other hard drives except the ONE being flashed. And set your BIOS to standard ATA mode.

I'd say just disconnect all NON-Seagate HDDs before doing this. It wouldn't be good if it flashed your precious Caviar Black. I made sure to unplug it from SATA before flashing. Then I let the tool do its work and flash both of the 500 GB's at once.

[safan80]

You mean 2 months after WD(WD20EADS)? That makes me sad instead of happy.

can't count that drive until it's in stores available for purchase(not backorder or preorder crap).

[tiro_uspsss]

now if seagate wants to make people happy they should release working 2TB hard drives before march.

I've lost too much faith in them - I'm staying away from Seagate for ~6 months if I can - I'm gonna go WD for the 2TB (providing the WD2TB *isnt* 6x333GB platter design)