Seagate Firmware Problem

Seagate drives with 500GB, 750GB, and 1TB capacity of the Barracuda 7200.11 family running with the original firmware have a well-known bug that can render a drive inoperable. No data is lost, but without specialty tools the data is inaccessible to the end user.

If a drive of this family is still working properly, the firmware should be updated ASAP:

CLICK HERE for Firmware Updates for Seagate Products

If a drive is no longer seen by a your computer, but doesn't exhibit any signs of physical failure like grinding noises, etc., The Data Rescue Center can fix your drive and update the firmware to prevent this from happening again.

Please contact us IMMEDIATELY if you're experiencing this issue.

More Detailed Information

There is a widely known issue among Data Recovery Labs and IT Departments around the world, pertaining to certain versions of the Seagate 7200.11 family of hard drives. 

This firmware corruption stems from a manufacturing test process that incorrectly set an event log process. This incorrect setting combined with a certain data pattern written to the drive’s service area can create an “Asset Failure”. This failure causes the drive to hang and as a result of the hang the drive will enter a failsafe mode to protect itself from further damage. Once the drive has entered into this state it cannot resume normal operation until corrective actions are performed.

The drive can be heard spinning and starting up normally. It will then fail to be detected by the computer’s BIOS (or by your Operating System if the drive is contained in an external enclosure and connected via USB, FireWire or eSATA). The drive will not make any noises out of the ordinary. If any noises such as clicking, grinding or beeping are heard, then it is highly likely that your drive is suffering from another type of hard drive failure. If this is the case, you should call The Data Rescue Center immediately to discuss the best course of action to take to save your valuable data.

The one positive aspect to this type of hard drive failure compared to other types of hard drive failures is that the failure does not affect the user data contained on the hard drive itself. This means that all of the user data is still contained on the drive in the exact state that it was in before the failure occurred. Thus, if the corruption is corrected the drive will return to a normal operating state. At that point you can resume use of the hard drive. It would also be wise to duplicate any important data contained on the drive to ensure you do not incur any future data loss.

If you believe that you have a Seagate drive from the 7200.11 Family that is affected by this firmware corruption, contact The Data Rescue Center and we can help you to resolve your data loss issues. This type of hard drive failure can be very costly to resolve if it ends up in the wrong hands.

The Data Rescue Center can resolve this type of failure for a reasonable service fee.