Barracuda 7200.11 hard drive owners just can’t seem to catch a break. Last week, Seagate revealed that a number of the drives (along with some Maxtor and ES.2 offerings) had a firmware “bricking” bug that could render them inoperable, and it said users could install a firmware update to eliminate the issue.
Well, according to a new thread on the Seagate forums, the new firmware can actually brick drives after a successful update. A number of folks are complaining of unusable Barracuda 7200.11 500GB drives (model number ST3500320AS) after installing the update, and one user has complained of a similar problem with a 1TB model. The drives reportedly become inaccessible, much like when the bug in the previous firmware version reared its head.
On the upside, several users have reported success flashing back to the AD14 firmware, which apparently predates the initial bug—and they say their data is intact. Others will probably want to get in touch with Seagate tech support and ask for that free data recovery service. (Thanks to TR reader Pete for the tip.)
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