Maximum PC

I bought 3 retail Seagate 1TB Barracuda 7200.11 drives largely based upon the excellent review given by MPC (9). All 3 have failed (2 within the last week) and as a result I am now facing a costly data recovery procedure. It seems that many problems with these drives have been encountered and although I can get replacements from the retailer (new drive) or Seagate (refurbished unit). My lost data still serves as a costly lesson.

I have a couple comments/questions:

1. Can anyone recommend an economically reasonable data recovery solution from a mechanically failed HD?

2. I wonder if the uncharacteristically high failure rate of these drives warrants a rescinding of the 9 score (it was on the BOTB list for a period of time as well). Moreover, I wonder if some pressure should be brought to bear upon Seagate to at least acknowledge the poor quality of this product.

It seems such a failure in many other professions including my own would not be so well tolerated.

Your help/guidance in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Anton

Welcome to the forums Anton!

I would point my finger at your PC's components (mobo/PSU) before I pointed them at Seagate. Don't tell me you're actually surprised refurbished units had a short life span.

Seagate can recover your data

Thanks for the reply and thank you for the warm welcome. I've been a MPC reader for quite some time.

Here are my PC's components:
Vista Ultimate x64 SP1
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9450 @ 2.66GHz
ASUS P5E3 Premium
Crucial Ballistix 2x 1GB DIMM DDR3 1600 (7-7-7-20 4-27-8-4)
Asus ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2
2 x WDC WD3000GLFS-01F8U0 300GB
3 x ST31000340AS 1TB (all failed)
TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S203N
Creative X-Fi Platinum
Dell Laser MFP 1815
Dell 2408W 24" LCD monitor
PCP&C 750 Silencer Quad
Coolermaster CosmosS


Interestingly, other older HDD in the PC are functioning normally. Whereas even a replacement (retail) ST31000340AS 1TB already has a frequent (43461) Raw Read Error Rate and (23470) Seek Error Rate. The remainder of the system checks out perfectly using Sandra'09 among other diagnostics.

I know that refurbs have a shorter lifespan. That's why I purchased retail drives. That is also why I will replace the failed drives from the retail channel to avoid refurbs from Seagate. Yes the drives are all under warranty (even using the tool you linked to). Although replacing them for them to only fail again seems pointless.

Seagate can recover the data at a hefty price yes.

The net is littered with references of failures amongst these units. I just wondered whether the manufacturer should acknowledge this and whether a product of this ilk deserved a "9" from an esteemed reviewer such as MPC.

Anton

I take back my finger pointing http://tinyurl.com/a2tezv


Seagate has an Official st31000340as 1TB barracuda epic fail thread on their forum This looks badtoo. 189 post end up locked and tagged with "COVERUP & Questionable."

For Seagates sake. I hope the 7200.12's fair better than the 7200.11 series.

For the time being despite the 5 year warranty, I will be avoiding them.

Nonetheless not the picture of a MPC "9" after all is said and done.

Thanks for your input.

Anton

You've missed the point entirely.

Actually I wasn't looking for a firmware fix at all. I'm well aware of the firmware issues (ie. which firmware, where it was manufactured, etc) but this only scratches the surface. The 7200.11 series has an extremely high mechanical failure rate in addition to the firmware related problems. I was merely pointing out that such a product doesn't deserve a good review from MPC first of all and second, some or whatever pressure that can be brought by "THE Dog" should be placed squarely on seagate.

Not looking for a quick fix nor a boo hoo. Just setting the record straight. I've rectified my issue.

Anton

IIRC, they put their review of that drive in the magazine shortly after it was released. It's rather hard to fault a product for being this faulty if it's brand new and hasn't been on the market long if at all. In MPC's defense, they had no idea it would turn out to be a lemon.

shades of the IBM deathstar, start a class action.

bigtoyota479 - "IIRC, they put their review of that drive in the magazine shortly after it was released. It's rather hard to fault a product for being this faulty if it's brand new and hasn't been on the market long if at all. In MPC's defense, they had no idea it would turn out to be a lemon."

I'm not faulting them for their initial verdict. At the time it seemed to be a very good product. Hind sight is always 20/20. But, wouldnt you agree that a "9" verdict should reflect a product that performs at that level for more than days or a few months? Scientific journals publish erratum all the time. If new data become available in time which are contrary to an original report it gets published. Its not about being right or wrong about a product. Its not a personal reflection of anyone at MPC. In fact, I have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for MPC and I will continue to be a devout reader.

However, it would appear that the product in question is horrible. And to be quite honest Seagate justly deserves to have the "9" revoked in addition to a swift kick in the pants.

With regard to the idea of a class action. Who knows it may come to that. Eventually the truth comes out and the consequences aren't far behind.

No need to protect anyone as this wasn't meant as an attack on anyone or anything.

Anton

Doc, you have a very valid point. The Samsung F1's have had issues as well as Seagate, but not nearly as bad. My personal thoughts are right now, I don't recommend 1TB drives very often. The 750GB drives have a proven track record though and typically, I stick with Western Digital.

I hope you have a good ending to your story. I do agree that the Dog should take this up. But I doubt Seagate will respond with any useful info. Probably offer up a standard corporate line of BS that doesn't directly address the issue.

Its not just the 1TB drives. The 1TB ST31000340AS model is getting most of the spotlight but the 7200.11 series has issues. MPC's Best of the Best is on the list

I stopped buying WD when I was informed they settled/lost a capacity lawsuit a few years ago. I was entitled to some sort of refund but decided it was best to cut my losses & take my business elsewhere. I haven't had much trouble with faulty drives either.

It absolutely is the entire series of 7200.11 drives with issues. The 1TB drives seem to enjoy the most publicity, but other hdd in the series are also problematic. Interestingly, the plot thickens as the 1.5TB version beat out the Velociraptor in the most recent edition of MPC in a head to head comparison. The decision makes sense on the surface , but who knows in time this might turn out to be a similar bust. No one has a crystal ball.

Thanks for your input.

Anton