Seagate updates firmware for failed Barracudas
updated 07:25 pm EST, Thu January 22, 2009
Seagate drive firmware fix
Seagate has released a firmware revision that addresses continued issues with certain Barracuda and DiamondMax hard drives that have failed for a large number of customers. The problems began with reports of a bug that caused the drives to lock during normal boot procedures. The company on January 16th released firmware that was intended to address the problem, but apparently caused compatibility issues for some users. Seagate claims that any affected drives will still retain the written data despite the temporary inaccessibility.
Potential culprits include the Barracuda 7200.11, Barracuda ES.2 SATA and DiamondMax 22 drives. The latest firmware update supposedly resolves the compatibility issues from the initial fix. More information is available from the Seagate Knowledge Base.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2002
Updating on a Mac Pro
So I have one of these affected drives in my Mac Pro as a Time Machine Volume..
So far I haven't seen Seagate explain how I'm going to update the firmware in that. Maybe they'll be only too happy to advance ship me a replacement with updated firmware so I can clone my drive to the new drive, then send my drive back to them - all on their dime.
And then probably the alarm clock will go off and I'll find out my drive has toasted itself.
Seriously though, how does one without access to a Windows machine get these drives updated?
Roger