Very interesting. Still I think it's stupid for Seagate to store 0000h. If they were to store FFFFh then that would equal to 31.999MB which most people be quite happy with and will be more acceptable than 0 MB or N/A as reported by many drive testing tools when they thing the drive has actually no cache. And if the specification is out-of-date then push for a change, don't hide behind it...

I just upgraded 5 of my ST31500341AS drives. My drives were PN# 9JU138 - 300 (all the same) with original SD17 firmware which I updated to SD1A a few weeks ago. They are now running the SD1B firmware. No data loss or bricking issues. You can upgrade as long as your drive is PN# 9JU138 - 300 or PN# 9JU138 - 336 and has firmware versions from SD15 through to SD1A. The only issue I have is that HD Tune doesn't seem to be able to report any cache (Buffer = n/a)...

New firmware just released for the following drives (1.5 TB included!): ST31500341AS ST31000333AS ST3640323AS ST3640623AS ST3320613AS ST3320813AS ST3160813AS http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207957

Where did that come from?

Yes, I am aware of that fiasco. But the SD1A firmware for the 1.5 TB drive was released back in November for the stuttering issue on RAIDs. I thought they were different firmwares as one is for the 1.5 TB drive and the other is for the 1 TB drive. The ISO image for the 1.5 TB drives that I used is called Brinks-4D8H-SD1A.ISO but the one that was released recently for the 500/750/1 TB drives was called MooseDT-32MB-SD1A.ISO. Are you saying they are the same? Can you confirm if a 1.5 TB drive flashed with the Brinks-4D8H-SD1A.ISO FW has both the stuttering and bricking issues fixed? My drives had FW SD17 and I updated them without problems.

I thought you said the ST31500341AS with SD1A FW was not affected as the SD1A FW has the "bricking" and "stuttering" issues fixed.

And to stop the whining a bit and one small laugh, this is the latest Seagate drive:

http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.php?p=2995837&postcount=19

This really pisses me off. How can a link to your comments in Slashdot be a "promotion of third party websites". BS! These comments have been the best source of information I have received from Seagate (albeit indirectly) in the last 3 weeks! AlanM seriously needs to change his attitude. I am sure his got some policies to follow but a link to a Slashdot article where you can get more information about the HDD issues is certainly no harm nor publicity. I would certainly prefer Seagate to be posting updates officially in their forums but as they don't this is all we have...

That I totally agree. My main complain on this issue has been lack of information. I will gladly wait 3 more days (or 3 more weeks) for working FW that is confirmed to fix all issues.

Another excellent response which I also needed to know. Do you have any recommendations for the sort of writing test we should do?

I don't agree with this. Even if you don't have a procedure to deal with the issue you should at least inform your customers of the possible drive failure and keep them updated of the developments. Keeping the issue secret doesn't make it go away. Some people might be able to save their data if they are warned in advance and make a backup. Of course you can say "you always should make backups" but I can also say "you not make faulty products"...

You might be right but I don't think acting like an "ostrich" putting your head in the sand like nothing is happenning is going to stop the lawsuits. While Seagate might not have acted in bad faith about these issues it is clear that they look like they did that as only after the issue was made public in major sites they aknowledged instead of being pro-active in warnign customers since they knew about the stuttering for long. Sure you can expose yourself to lawsuits but sure that's better than lossing customers for ever.

Thanks maxtorman, I think I might have enough confidence now to start using them instead of scrapping them on eBay for whatever I can get and buy Samsung or WDs. I agree with the potential lawsuits, but I think this is not about accepting liability, but about being informative and direct with your customers. If I were Seagate this is what I would with immediate effect:

1) The first thing Seagate needs to do is write a BIG apology to all its affected customers. They have caused a huge problem for thousands of them so the least they could do is apologize. No one can sue you for an apology as far as I know.

2) KB articles are not good enough. They are not clear on what's affected and what's not. People - like me - have many questions not covered by them, Create a new web page to describe ALL the issues that have recently affected Seagate drives. Be clear and direct, explain with complete technical details all the issues and why they appeared. You are mostly dealing with hard-core techies here, as more details you give the more in control of the situation you will look. If you are not sure about something, then say it. It's OK to be unsure, it's not OK to hide or not provide correct information. Keep this page updated every 6 hours for now or whenever major developments require so. Post any new developments in a clear and concise manner. Stop making "silent" changes to KB articles. Any updates or new information need to be posted clearly indicating what has changed, why and the date and time of the update.

3) Ask your Seagate Forums moderators to STOP deleting or MODERATING their forums. They have a really bad attitude to this issue and they are not helpful at all. It simply appears like they are trying to hide what's going on. They need to stop doing this and start helping people on getting the information they want. Tell them to stop directing people to Seagate Support, is nearly impossible to get to them.

4) Ask your customers NOT to contact Seagate Support unless it's absolutely necessary. You can't stop the flood of calls but you can hopefully slow it down a bit.

5) Confirm that a free "data recovery service" will be provided as this was mentioned by many news sites but it has not been made public by Seagate and a lot of customers want to know this is true. Implement a special fast-track "unbricking" service for affected users with immediate effect for those that have urgent needs for their data. Apply common sense when dealing with these cases (i.e. "I can't access my mp3s" is not urgent whereas "I need to submit my essay today" is). If you are already working in a process then post this and post an ETA as to when it will be ready.

6) Make sure ALL your Support Agents are aware of all the measures taken. Re-direct all queries to the aforementioned "news" page. There needs to be a SPOC (single point of contact) for these issues and the information needs to flow quickly. Telephone is not good for this specially when you have thousands of angry customers calling you.

7) Provide a link to download the SD15 Firmware for those who "bricked" their drives with the earlier FW update. The damage is already done, and this can't do more damage really (I think) and might help some people get access their data.

8) Ask Support Engineers to start answering some questions in the Seagate Forums. People need reassurance and you guys need to show you are on top of the issue. No one from Seagate has faced their customers directly so far, you are the first.

9) Finally provide FW updates to fix all the issues and for love of god, TEST IT properly.

As you can see most of what I ask is common sense. I don't think you can get sued for the things I ask for. You can put a big disclaimer at the bottom of the news page and that should do it.

My $0.2c

maxtorman, you are The Man indeed! I have been trying for weeks to get the answers you just posted. I cannot understand why is so difficult for Seagate to give clear and precise information about these issues, like you just did. Most of the moaning and whining I read about them is simply lack of information. I wish Seagate would step up to this problem and communicate to us, it would make such an improve. With a couple of comments in Slashdot you gave us more information (and real information) than Seagate ever gave us. I got a quick question regarding your 3) response. So are you saying that the 1.5 TB with the SD1A has both "bricking" and "stuttering" issues fixed? I ask because the "stuttering" issue is much more older than the "bricking" so I thought it was recently discovered. I got 6 of these drives and I can't really use them until I am sure they won't die in masse! Again many thanks for your comments and your balls to post them.