Anyone here bit by the "Seagate Barracuda 7200.11" bug?

[jimwhite]

I've been following this thread: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128092 for a while now, and wondering if and when this bug will bite me as I have 12 of the 1tb's in my unRAID box and 8 of the 500mb guys in my desktops.... Since there are probably a LOT of Seagate drive owners who are unRAID users, or vice versa, I wanted your input.

[jimwhite]

Hmmmm..... looks like NOBODY has EVER lost a seagate drive??? 

[ilovejedd]

Hmmmm..... looks like NOBODY has EVER lost a seagate drive??? 

I seriously don't think a whopping sampling size of 6 is sufficient basis for that.

[limetech]

We haven't seen any problems with the 1TB drives, probably have tested around 100 of them.  But the 1.5TB hard drives definitely have problems - in fact we took them down from our Hard Drives page at this time:
http://lime-technology.com/?page_id=37

What we see are I/O time-outs and occasionally complete drop outs.  Interesting, firmware release "CC1J" does seem to work, but we recently got a batch of "CC1H" which is terrible.  Seagate is no help and claim that drives with CC1H can not be upgraded to CC1J.  So at this time we can not recommend them, which is unfortunate because I know many people using unRAID are also using this drive.  It's also possible that we just got a "bad batch" and it has nothing to do with the firmware, but that would be a first.

[bjp999]

I have 2 Seagate 7200.11 1T drives.  They are working fine.  One is my parity disk.  The only problem is that the smart attributes indicate between 10-15 spinup retries.  I've observed this getting incremented every week or two.  I have seen other users smart output as well, and observed these drives often have non-zero spin retry attributes.  Not sure if this will be problematic in the future. 

I have a bunch of 7200.10 drives (750G and 500G), and NONE of them have this issue.  Seagate used to enjoy a sterling reputation, but I think it is getting tarnished.   Unrelated to this, I have switched to the WD drives primarily due to the lower power consumption, but also I believe that the fact that they spin slower will have a positive impact on longevity.  The fact that faster drives are not needed for a media application like unRAID also influenced the decision.  I am very pleased with them.

[Rob_Esc]

...The only problem is that the smart attributes indicate between 10-15 spinup retries.  I've observed this getting incremented every week or two. 

Seagate used to enjoy a sterling reputation, but I think it is getting tarnished.   

I'm experiencing the same thing.   No failures yet, but I'm hawking those drives.

[abq-pete]

I purchased a total of 8 of these 1.5TB.  After issues ranging from ever increasing SMART errors, sector reallocations, firmware issues and not the greatest support from Seagate, I've pulled the all from my unRAID servers.  I just don't trust them... I will wait until WD releases a green power 1.5TB.

Regards,  Peter

[Nyago123]

Excluding my cache drive all four of my drives are Seagate 7200.11:
One 1TB ST31000350AS, firmware SD15, made in Thailand.  This was refurb drive from RMA that replaced a drive that died in another machine (without going into details, I'll assure you that the failure was not Seagate's issue).
Three 1.5TB ST31500350AS, firmware SD1A.  Two were flashed up from SD17, one from SD18, before deployment.

All of the drives come up relatively clean on SMART status, but all have some number of "high fly writes".  A couple of the 1.5TB drives seem to see these high fly writes increasing slowly but surely over time.  My third 1.5TB drive also repeatedly suffers from emask frozen errors (at least one or two per day, usually around spinups / spindowns but one time when the array was being stressed) requiring a "hard resetting link" but the cause of this is unclear to me at this time and so far has not led me to believe it is on the verge of failure.  FWIW, this happens to be the drive most recently purchased and flashed up from SD18.

In general, if I didn't know better and aside from the ritual of flashing them before installation, the drives seems perfectly fine to me and perform very well.  They do have active cooling and run around 39-45C with ambient 23C-26C (74F-80F).  At the same time, I'm not rushing to expand capacity until absolutely needed since I want to see how all this will shakeout...

edit:

I will wait until WD releases a green power 1.5TB.

Or maybe a 2TB, if you believe the rumors. 

[abq-pete]

Or maybe a 2GB, if you believe the rumors. 

I guess we will know later this week.  Wow!

Regards,  Peter

[Romir]

Seagate has now acknowledged the problem and plan on releasing a firmware update for the affected disks next week. A serial number checker should be up on monday.

http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207931

[vca]

I've been following this thread: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128092 for a while now, and wondering if and when this bug will bite me as I have 12 of the 1tb's in my unRAID box and 8 of the 500mb guys in my desktops.... Since there are probably a LOT of Seagate drive owners who are unRAID users, or vice versa, I wanted your input.

I think I have just had a drive die due to this, it was a 1TB unit with SD15 firmware made in China, I think I bought it in July'08.  See my post:

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=3142.0

Stephen

[SuperW2]

So when does everyone bet the 1tb Bargains prices will kick in... try to compensate for the bad press...  Like to get so,e $79 1TB drives... Would be willing to do the BIOS update if they needed em...

Seagate just lost the CEO and President and laid off a bunch of people this past week (40% of internal IT US Staff if rumors are true) <- Unrelated to Issue

Rough week or two all the way around for Seagate...

SW2

[vdtruong]

Seagate is now offering free fixes and data recovery for those effected.

[jimwhite]

If your drive is bricked, and you want to recover the data, here is a working procedure:

The Solution for 7200.11 Seagate HDDs:

Attention: This guide isn't intent for unexperienced users! Is very easy to KILL your HD if you don't follow the instructions with extreme caution. You have been warned! I'm NOT responsible for any damage or data loss it can causes.

You'll need:

- 1 (one) RS232 to TTL (I recommend those with +5V so you can use power from power supply PC).
- 1 (one) RS232 cable
- 1 (one) PC with Terminal software (like HyperTerminal) and RS232 port
- 4 (four) wires (for TX, RX, GND and +5V)
- Some jumpers, or similar (to link TX and RX on Seagate)
- Soldering Iron (optional)
- A fixed firmware from Seagate (to be released around 01/20)
- A torx tool

TX and RX connections from a SATA Seagate 3.5":


Connect TX and RX ports with RS232 to TLL adapter, you'll need something like jumpers in order to do that, or soldering directly to the PCB board. Connect GND and +5V to PC power supply, or similar.

Keep in mind RED wire from supply is +5V, and green or black are GNDs (yellow is +12V so don't use it).

Run HyperTerminal (or your favourite terminal software).

Config the RS232 port to: 38400 8 N 1


Fixing 0 LBA error:

To correct 0 LBA error, you'll need to do a quick format in order to regenerate the partition, just with m0,2,2 and the rest can be left blank by putting only commas or filling out with zeros. At the end you need to use a "ValidKey" code, or 22. So we'll have to enter:

 
F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 (enter)


Now wait 15~30 seconds until something like this appears (it will vary a bit):


 
Max Wr Retries = 00, Max Rd Retries = 00, Max ECC T-Level = 00, Max Certify Rewrite Retries = 0000

User Partition Format 5% complete, Zone 00, Pass 00, LBA 00008DED, ErrCode 00000080, Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs

User Partition Format Successful - Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs


ONLY after the message like above, enter:

 
F3 T>/2 (enter)

F3 2>Z (enter)

Spin Down Complete
Elapsed Time 0.147 msecs


NOW you can turn off everything.

Conglatulations, you done it! (Goodbye money! Oh my! I could be rich!) 



Fixing BSY or CC errors aka BUSY (this will be kinda tough! I recommend a lot practice before to trying):

First you need to remove the PCB from HDA case, after that, connect RX & TX cables, verify that all is correct, and then power supply to PCB.

Explanation: To drives that hangs all the time in "busy" and on terminal (for example: LED: 000000CC FAddr: 0024A051 error codes), in which it blocks the terminal and it doesn't respond to any command, first we'll have to block off the time reading from plates on HD, in other words, power off your HD and DISCONNECT the PCB from HDA, with PCB alone, power up and press CTRL+Z (to enter on CMD mode), now we'll need to access the Level 2:

 
F3 T>/2 (enter)

F3 2>


And enter (to stop the spindle motor):

 
F3 2>Z (enter)

Spin Down Complete
Elapsed Time 0.147 msecs (the time will vary here)
F3 2>



Now the hard part. Pratice a lot without any power (of course), before even trying anything here.

Then mount the PCB back to HDA case, and DO NOT power off or disconnect the PCB from RX/TX (RS232) and power supply !

Now enter (to start the motor):

 
F3 2>U (enter)


You should get something like this:
Spin Up Complete
Elapsed Time 7.093 secs
F3 2>

Then go to Level 1 (by typing /1):

 
F3 T>/1 (enter)


Now lets do a S.M.A.R.T. erase (create S.M.A.R.T. sector):

 
F3 1>N1 (enter)


Now turn off (or power off) the drive. At this point I don't know yet if the drive power off alone after N1 command or not (I'm still need to order my RS232 to TTL adaptor). So, I'll just mention that as "Power OFF/ON" process.

G-List Erase (cert the reserved cyl):

 
F3 T>i4,1,22 (enter)


Power OFF/ON

Partition regeneration:

 
F3 T>m0,2,2,,,,,22 (enter)


You should get something like (in around 15~30 seconds):

 
Max Wr Retries = 00, Max Rd Retries = 00, Max ECC T-Level = 14, Max Certify Rewrite Retries = 00C8
User Partition Format 10% complete, Zone 00, Pass 00, LBA 00004339, ErrCode 00000080, Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs
User Partition Format Successful - Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs


If you didn't get the msg above, then you skipped something important, and turning off your drive now will render an unreadable drive, so be careful.

ONLY after the message like above, enter:

 
F3 T>/2 (enter)

F3 2>Z (enter)

Spin Down Complete
Elapsed Time 0.147 msecs


NOW you can turn off everything.

Conglatulations, you done it! (Goodbye money! Oh my! I could be rich!) 

Reference files (.fbr video [FlashBack] and pdf).

Credits goes to the peoples from:
http://yura.projektas.lt/files/seagate/720011_ES2.html
http://forum.hddguru.com/tutorial-resolve-...ies-t11031.html
http://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/viewtopic.php?p=6012404
http://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/topic1198189.html

Keep in mind I did my best to compile all this information and provide more and better details.

Gradius

Edit: the default speed is indeed 38400 bps

[CrashnBrn]

Has anybody gotten the firmware updates to work? I've been reading that a lot of people are having problems with it.

Edit: Seems like their knowledge base is down at the moment. There also also plenty of horror stories about Seagate customer service on their forums, not good for their reputation.

Edit2: From reading it seems that some of the firmware they release had problems, and killed some people's drives. Be careful when upgrading.