Ambilight_Chris

First - Mods if this post is more appropriate for one of the other Seagate threads please move it. I didn't want to clutter up those threads on how to fix BSY errors with this post, so that's the reason I'm creating a thread. Thanks!! I purchased a 500GB 7200.11drive with SD15 firmware from Circuit City in the fall of 2008. It had been humming along nicely until a reboot when it could not be detected. We all know the story as to why that is etc. What's interesting is how Seagate responded when I contacted them. I had read that Seagate would recover the drive for free so I decided to go that route because I had some sensitive data on the drive. I was summarily told by many that my drive was not among those affected by the firmware issue and that only drives tested on a certain piece of equipment were affected. They did say that they'd replace the drive however. Hmmmm OK. I went ahead and recovered the drive myself using the excellent instructions on this site. I then decided I'd upgrade the firmware. When I entered my drive's serial number into Seagate's site it said there was no update available. When I use their drive detect software it clearly showed my model number. On Seagate's site when I brought up the support page for my model number it also said I should update the firmware. Hmmm ok. At this point I decided I'd have Seagate replace the drive. After many phone conversations because I didn't want to pay $20 to have them advance me a drive given I'd had to repair it myself and transfer the data off once already, they finally agreed to send me a new drive and waive the $20 fee even though "it's impossible that your drive was affected". When I got the shipping notification I noticed something very strange. They were not sending me a 7200.11 drive with the newer firmware or the 7200.12 drive that is the latest release. They were sending me a 7200.9 drive that seemed to be originally released several years ago. I called to inquire why that was and was very surprised to learn that if you entered the serial number for my drive into Seagate's system (verified by multiple reps) it showed up as this older type of drive. WOW! How convenient that my drive is suddenly not affected by the firmware issue because it's not even a 7200.11 drive anymore! Eventually, Seagate sent me the right drive (7200.11 with SD1A firmware) free of charge and I'm done with that mess. In conclusion, I can only guess that the serial number confusion was not an accident. It seems pretty logical to me that Seagate, rather than recover these drives for people for free, decided to just make them disappear. What's really insulting is the $20 they try to charge you to offset the costs of their blunder. I just wanted to let anyone know who runs into this problem to make sure to have Seagate verify the drive model number with your serial number on first contact. I now understand why I was continually told my drive couldn't be affected, according to their system it was 3 years older than it was! Chris