Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

[jjmIII]

Guys and gals,

Who has done a firmware update to their 1.5tb Seagate?
Post your experience, and updating instructions.

The following is from Newegg:

Firmware Download Instructions
Drives with with part number: 9JU138-300, 366 and with firmware revision SD17 and SD15 or SD18. Can be upgraded to the FW fix SD1A.

ST31500341AS 1.5 TB
SD1A Firmware load Instructions:

Download Firmware - 8h_SD1A.zip

1 - Unzip the files into a DOS Bootable directory or media. (DO NOT use a CMD Window or command prompt in Windows).

2 - Attach a Single ST31500341AS 1.5TB unit to a compatible system used previously for Seagate HDD interface firmware loads.

3 - Boot the system into DOS and connect to the directory with the firmware files. Then execute the batch file 8HSD1A.BAT

Firmware download.

 

[Denithor]

That's the one thing with working on computers that I absolutely hate: firmware & bios flashing. If something goes wrong you've got a brick.

 

[jjmIII]

Originally posted by: Denithor
That's the one thing with working on computers that I absolutely hate: firmware & bios flashing. If something goes wrong you've got a brick.

You and me both! I was hopeing someone else could lead me in the right direction.

I was going to burn the firmware to CD, and boot to CD to flash.

Am I crazy? At least I have a 5yr warranty......and should get the latest firmware back if I RMA.

Bought drive for $104 at TD with MS cashback.

 

[jjmIII]

OK, I need to make my CD bootable.......any HELP.....Please!!

 

[California Roll]

Can you boot off a USB flash drive? Your particular mobo will let you do that. This is how I DOS flash.

 

[jjmIII]

Well, I'm working off an IP35E not my P5Q, but I did try a bootable floppy. Once to the A: prompt I typed 8HSD1A.BAT and enter, but nothing.....

Funny, but the 1.5tb is now showing as TWO 1.5tb drives. E and F......huh??

 

[jjmIII]

Originally posted by: jjmIII
Funny, but the 1.5tb is now showing as TWO 1.5tb drives. E and F......huh??

Ut-o.....already has errors. Reformatting. These may just be as bad as they say!

 

[jjmIII]

Is anyone else buying these drives besides my dumb-ass??

Drives shows many errors, and under 'My Computer' it still shows as TWO drives!

 

[techmanc]

I just bought one of these to test for upgrades and worked great so I got another to put in my 2 Antec MX-1 drive cases. Now I just ordered 2 more to use as backups for the fist 2 so I hope longterm they work great . As far as installing the firmware updates the 2 drives I have got so far I used Windows Vista 32bit format utility for floppy drive I made a system disk to copy needed system files to a floppy drive. I was getting message disk was full before I could copy all the files so I deleted some unneeded keyboard files that were on floppy to make room. Then I tried to install firmware from my Jmicron based addon controller and it didnt see the drive. I then tried used one of my motherboard sata connection and firmware install fine. The hardest part was making room on my floppy but once I installed firmware all seem file. I copied 500gb and 690gb to the 2 drives and was coping and around 40mb sec np. I just glad I got the backup drives coming as this thing holds so much data it be scary to loose a drive not backed up

 

[Old Hippie]

Originally posted by: Denithor
That's the one thing with working on computers that I absolutely hate: firmware & bios flashing. If something goes wrong you've got a brick.

Me three.

I've single handedly terminated two routers in the past 6 months doing just that.

 

[Deptacon]

I have heard a lot of negatives about this drive. I am running 3 Seagate 640's but need more space... thought about switching to these.... what do you all think? for long term storage of data/media files....

 

[jjmIII]

Originally posted by: Deptacon
I have heard a lot of negatives about this drive. I am running 3 Seagate 640's but need more space... thought about switching to these.... what do you all think? for long term storage of data/media files....

I RMAd mine......junk if you ask me. If it wasn't soo cheap I would have just bought a 1tb.

 

[Zap]

I have three in use right now. Works fine for me, but all I'm using it for is offline storage (two of them) and media storage. Playback straight off the drives work okay too. Knock knock. :frown:

 

[gba]

Originally posted by: Zap
I have three in use right now. Works fine for me, but all I'm using it for is offline storage (two of them) and media storage. Playback straight off the drives work okay too. Knock knock. :frown:

Offline storage does seem like a wise choice for this drive. After thorough testing Tech Report, concluded that it was a fast reader, but a slow writer.

I received my drive earlier in the week, confirmed that it was working under Vista x64, but have not had time to play with it until now. I will be flashing the firmware this weekend, then will write a load of files for archiving from various external and internal drives I have. I am starting to think what I will do with it is just load it up and leave it offline in an external case. I mean, even if my drive is good, why would I want to have a slow writing drive in my machine if I did not have to?

EDIT: Installed my drive to Abit IP35 Pro motherboard and flashed firmware from a bootable USB flash drive without a hitch. Drive is working fine.

 

[hans007]

i installed it and it worked fine. it worked fine before i installed it too...


i used a nero boot cd, and an amd 780g board.

 

[unseengundam101]

I am thinking about getting these drives. Can anyone CONFIRM that all new 1.5 TB seagates are fixed?? I want to use them in Raid eventually.

 

[Emo]

Before you flash make sure to check which drive you have. Drives with 9JU138-301/302 have different firmware than the -300/366. I got a -302 with CC1H firmware during the 15%PP/MS live promo and it's been working great so far.

 

[jjmIII]

Originally posted by: Emo
Before you flash make sure to check which drive you have. Drives with 9JU138-301/302 have different firmware than the -300/366. I got a -302 with CC1H firmware during the 15%PP/MS live promo and it's been working great so far.

I just got mine back from RMA. It is the latest firmware, and working fine.

 

[techmanc]

Well to update from my previous post after I got the first 2 drive on separate purchases which both were working fine. I bought 2 more drive both were failures out of box so I sent them back to newegg for refund. Then I ordered 2 more drives so I could expedite getting the new drives by repurchasing so I will need to wait for newegg to send my credit card a refund. One of the 2 drives on that shipment failed out of box also so did same get one refund - buy 1 more new drive and now I finally have 4 drives working atm. The thing is when you order a bulk drive you get imho a better chance receiving a damaged drives from all the extra packing and shipping. I dont know what kind lack quality control could be going on with these drives that are could be causing problems. That said I flashed the drives that needed an update I haven t seen any problems since installed.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: techmanc
Well to update from my previous post after I got the first 2 drive on separate purchases which both were working fine. I bought 2 more drive both were failures out of box so I sent them back to newegg for refund. Then I ordered 2 more drives so I could expedite getting the new drives by repurchasing so I will need to wait for newegg to send my credit card a refund. One of the 2 drives on that shipment failed out of box also so did same get one refund - buy 1 more new drive and now I finally have 4 drives working atm. The thing is when you order a bulk drive you get imho a better chance receiving a damaged drives from all the extra packing and shipping. I dont know what kind lack quality control could be going on with these drives that are could be causing problems. That said I flashed the drives that needed an update I haven t seen any problems since installed.

It's not that they lack quality control, it's that quality control isn't perfect. The majority of manufacturers use batch testing... they take samples from batches and test. If the samples test good, chances are the rest of the batch are good. Sounds like they don't have enough information yet to determine where the problem lies... whether it's bad platters, bad motors, bad electronics, etc. Whatever the case is, they should be in overdrive getting the problem corrected and getting replacements out to those people stuck with a faulty drive. If they don't get proactive, I'd expect a class action lawsuit in the near future.

 

[techmanc]

I had called Seagate with the 2 bad drive order I got from Newegg. I asked the tech there I talked to after determining both drives were bad about send me new drives with the advanced replacement option. He said he could do that BUT he couldn't promise me I would get a new drive as a replacement, that I probably get a re manufactured replacement and there was no way I was get a used drive for new one. Also the drive would not of been in warranty with Newegg as the serial numbers would be different.

 

[The0ne]

I bought my 2 on the TD/CompUSA deal. CompUSA doesn't accept returns on these as stated on the info page. So I'm trying desperately to contact Seagate to get them RMAed but with no success. Seagate, it seems, is making this difficult to do. CS phone and live chat is always busy and registering your product only yields a "wait for an email response before sending the products back." If you leave the page then you have to register to view the status in which case it is refusing to accept my registration saying I'm not a reseller/distributor.

WTF, these drives and the company have been nothing but pain in the rear!!!!

 

[jjmIII]

I do NOT understand this: My 1.5tb is showing up as TWO drives again under 'My Computer'. Is anyone else having this problem???

I have the latest firmware/drive only weeks back from RMA!!?????!!

 

[AdamK47]

I was having random lockups while playing certain games. I thought it was my overclocking settings, but no matter what I did the lockups still happened. It wasn't until recently I found out about the 1.5TB lockup issues. I wish I had heard about this issue and the fix for it a month ago. It would have saved a ton of time. The drive I have came with the SD17 firmware version. Updating it to SD1A fixed the freezing problem completly. Now I don't have to worry about my overclocking settings since that had nothing to do with the problem.

Edit: When I got the firmware update from Seagate they had them in an exe and iso format. The exe looks for a floppy drive to place the files on and the ISO is for creating a boot CD. Since I wanted to boot off of my flash drive I skipped all that and decided to use the firmware update I found off of HardOCP here. This firmware is only for drives that have the bad SDxx firmwares. I extracted the files to the flash drive, booted off of it, and ran the batch file.

 

[sisq0kidd]

Model: st31500341as
Firmware: sd19

I am having an extremely frustrating time trying to flash my drive. Which firmware do I use? My floppy is the biggest POS as it will not sustain any files transferred.

Any ideas?