2 TB Seagate Barracuda LP ST32000542AS Firmware Issues

[BRiT]

Mod note:

I went Dexter-style and split this thread from this original one in the Good Deals forum:

EXPIRED : Seagate ST32000542AS 2tb $69.99

Please continue to use that thread for all discussion of price and availability of the 2 TB Seagate LP drives.  Please use this new thread for all discussion of the firmware update procedures, issues, etc.  Thank you.

- Raj


They typically come with CC34, however CC35 is the latest. Yet Seagate has not updated their firmware updater to recognize the new serial numbers on the drives, so you have to force the firmware update.

That was the case a few months ago, and I suspect it's still the case today. I will know for certain when my 2 drives arrive.

[queeg]

Thanks for the heads up BRiT.  Here is a thread talking about that issue.  

Seagate 2TB ST32000542AS CC35 Firmware upgrade

[WeeboTech]

Got 2 today from newegg. Thanks for the heads up guys!

Hey Weebo...

Two questions:

1)  Do you know what firmware is installed on them?
2)  Which NewEgg warehouse did they ship out of?  CA, TN, or NJ?

I dunno, I have not received them yet. They will most likely ship from NJ since I am in NYC.

[BlackClouds]

Recieved these from amazon.com at the price match, but amazon shipped them in a large box with very little padding.

[CTD4X4]

I bought 2 of these from amazon for 69.  Do these just work out of the box ?? No special jumpers or anything needed for Unraid.

[queeg]

I bought 2 of these from amazon for 69.  Do these just work out of the box ?? No special jumpers or anything needed for Unraid.

You may need to update the firmware.
http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=9146.msg87749#msg87749

[Loch]

Parity Drive (1.5 WD EADS) is showing some "pending reallocation" sectors which I presume are new.

It seems many are jumping on these due to the price. Any concerns on the reliability compared to say the WD EARS or Samsungs?

[queeg]

UPS truck delivered the first of five of these drives that I ordered.  This one from TigerDirect ($59+shipping) is packaged really well.  It came with firmware CC34 which I updated to CC35 (had to force it).  It's being precleared now. 

[CTD4X4]

I got both my drives from amazon. Both have cc34. Do i have to upgrade to 35? Or is it just recommended? Updating seems complicated to me.

[Jomp]

I got both my drives from amazon. Both have cc34. Do i have to upgrade to 35? Or is it just recommended? Updating seems complicated to me.

It's just recommended from my understanding. I had a few on CC32/CC34 that ran 24/7 for about a year, no problems.

[queeg]

I got both my drives from amazon. Both have cc34. Do i have to upgrade to 35? Or is it just recommended? Updating seems complicated to me.

The update process isn't overly complicated.

First download the iso image and burn it to a cd.  You can use ImgBurn to do the burning.
I have a computer with a single hard drive in a hot swap bay.  I powered it down and pulled out that drive and insert the new 5900 rpm drive.
Then, boot the machine using the CD.  It shows some disclaimer page that you press ESC to go past.  The menu of choices appears and you click "D" to install the firmware which takes about a few seconds.  Then you power down...swap back the drives and that's it.

Except for some drives (like mine) I had to force the update because the installer didn't contain the model number for my drive.  Doing the force isn't too bad either.
To force, instead of pressing "D" I entered CTRL+C which dumps you out of the menu to a command line prompt.  
From there you type:    FDL486A -m Hepburn -f HECC358H.LOD -s -x -b -v -a 20
The updated takes the few seconds and then returns to the command line prompt.  You power off the machine and swap the drives - all done.

[queeg]

The second drive arrived (it came with CC34) and even though it's ST32000542AS is on the update tools list I still had to force the update.  
Note:  Remember to set the Sata chipset to Native IDE in bios before flashing.  Otherwise the drive might not be found by the tool.

When I rebooted after flashing the drive it showed up (still in IDE mode) as having firmware CC38.  This is really odd because I thought the tool was supposed to flash it to CC35.  I'll check it again with udev when I start a preclear on it.  I'll begin preclearing this drive as soon as the first one finishes sometime this afternoon.  It's been preclearing for 23 hours so far.  

Another bit of information is that I put the first drive in my IcyDock's rightmost slot which is the hottest slot.  The LP drive runs about 5 degrees cooler than the 7200 rpm drives.  

Edit: The firmware is CC35 in unRAID.

[CTD4X4]

Thanks Queeg, I'm going to try it on my old PC I have laying around. I need to get a molex to sata power adapter 1st, thats an old power supply with no sata power connectors. Luckily the mother board has 2 sata connections.

[burtjr]

Just flashed mine tonight, pretty straight forward although I too had to force. I kept it in AHCI mode disconnected all other hard drives recognized drive and loaded firmware with no issues.

[buxton]

Any issues doing the firmware update after it is precleared? Thanks.