Mass Seagate drive failures; Seagate posts info

[BobK]

makes me wonder if there is something deeper going on. I mean if it is indeed a firmware problem, shouldn't all drives with the same firmware be at risk?

Yes, my thoughts exactly.

I'm disappointed with the way Seagate has handled this. No PPC support; the 'subscribe' feature on their web site didn't work for me (to get updates); the web page or the tech support guys could have said 'check back frequently for updates', but didn't; the reply to my email question was generic and of no help. And if I hadn't gotten a cold, I would have gone to a friend's house earlier this week and wasted his time and mine updating the firmware on a drive that didn't need it. Instead, while home sick I happened to check the site last night and found that one of my drives is OK. I realize it takes time for them to figure out what's going on and that the story changes as new info becomes available, but they could have done a lot better with communication. Considering that initially they tried to deny or downplay the problem (according to one account I read), I guess it could've been worse.

[monkey man]

Monkey man I have room for one more drive and the new WD Black is working and performing very well so I think that will be the one to go into that spot.

Yay! Nice one mate.

I'm sorry to hear about this issue's having affected my fello 'Cornies.

[twistedtom]

Bobk it could have been; I could have had one of the bad drives.

Nick the new WD Black's appear to be very good drives; the old Desk star's were not so good, some people called them the "Death star".

[monkey man]

Correct, Tom, and I was one of them. I bought 5 (yes, 5!) in a row and annoyed the store so much (they didn't believe I'd experienced so many failures) that the boss threatened me and said he'd no longer sell to me. I famously bought the entire staff a gourmet lunch that day; I went without dinner and my mum ate lettuce and potatoes.

Bottom line - my IBM experience was unforgettable and extremely stressful. The longest any unit performed was about 20 minutes. All signs suggested each device was perfect (including the sys profiler) until it failed. Death Star, indeed.

[BobK]

This week I took my 750 GB Seagate drive to a friend's Intel Mac to update the firmware. The update was quick and easy, and the drive seems fine. I hadn't had any problems with it before the update, though it was one of the affected drives. I haven't used it much since, so we'll see...

[Shooshie]

Bobk it could have been; I could have had one of the bad drives.

Nick the new WD Black's appear to be very good drives; the old Desk star's were not so good, some people called them the "Death star".

That's what I called them. I watched several go out; some on my computers and some on other people's. Fortunately, I always had backup, but I had one go out during a recording session, losing all that we had recorded that night -- about an hour's worth of tracking. No biggie -- it was all MIDI stuff, so doing it over exactly as it had been done before was just a matter of hitting the record button again on each track, once the drive had been replaced.

My Glyph drive also went out unusually early. Glyphs were known for their durability and dependability. I had paid probably triple for that Glyph vs. what I could have bought a DeskStar for. Once it went out, I figured I'd take out the dead drive and use the box as an enclosure for a Maxtor that I had. Guess what was in that Glyph. If you guessed IBM DeskStar, you were right. I was royally p.o.'d, and wrote Glyph a letter inquiring as to why they charged so much for a reputation built on hot air. Their reply was, of course, total denial. I had paid about $400 for an 80 GB Glyph (or maybe it was 100 or whatever; I don't remember. It was in 2002.) The IBM DeskStar by itself was selling for about $95. Which means I paid $300 for a box with a fan in it.

The hard drive business makes me angry. I just lost a 1TB external Firewire 800 drive last week. Two days before, DiskUtility had said the drive "appears to be OK." Then the drive started hanging. Folders slow to open. Drive wouldn't eject. One day it wouldn't boot. Then it kind of would, but the directory structure was damaged, because when Spotlight would try to index it, it would only go so far then the drive would simply vanish. In fact, this is kind of important. I think I should start a new thread about it. I'm going to put it in the DP forum, because my guess is that a LOT of DP users have this drive.

Shooshie

[billf]

Glyphs were known for their durability and dependability. I had paid probably triple for that Glyph vs. what I could have bought a DeskStar for. Once it went out, I figured I'd take out the dead drive and use the box as an enclosure for a Maxtor that I had. Guess what was in that Glyph. If you guessed IBM DeskStar, you were right. I was royally p.o.'d, and wrote Glyph a letter inquiring as to why they charged so much for a reputation built on hot air. Their reply was, of course, total denial. I had paid about $400 for an 80 GB Glyph (or maybe it was 100 or whatever; I don't remember. It was in 2002.) The IBM DeskStar by itself was selling for about $95. Which means I paid $300 for a box with a fan in it.

I totally agree with you about Glyph. They make pretty boxes with standard drives and charge a lot more than it's worth IMHO. I avoid them totally now.

I'm going to put it in the DP forum, because my guess is that a LOT of DP users have this drive

Good call.

[twistedtom]

That is just a total rip off!

[monkey man]

Unbelievable. Including a DeathStar would only have served to rub salt into the wound... and save Glyph a tidy sum.