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Firmware fix may only mask the problem
Seagate says that a future firmware fix will solve the problem. But that's not necessarily true. It depends on what the underlying problem is.

The problem could be a simple firmware bug where some algorithm used in the write process does not have a quick timeout along a relatively unused code path. In this case a firmware fix will indeed solve the problem.

But an alternative is that the there is some obscure mechanical, electrical, or other physical issue with the drives. The current recovery algorithm in the firmware could be going through a lengthy process and not limiting the overall length of the recovery time as it should. This would indeed be a firmware bug, and a firmware fix would be to put a limit on the recovery process. But it would not necessarily fix the underlying physical defect with the drive which is causing the errors in the first place. Instead, the drive could still be seeing the same number of errors, just dealing with them in a more timely manner.

Note, I have no knowledge if the bug is strictly firmware or not. But when Seagate issues a fix, they need to be very specific about what was going wrong in the first place.
Posted by: zackers   Posted on: 12/13/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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IMHO...  BitTwiddler | 12/04/08
Sad but seemingly true ...  George Mitchell | 12/05/08
Started going downhill with the Maxtor merger  Dr. John | 12/05/08
I concur  pgit | 12/08/08
others worse  waltmaine | 12/08/08
Drive companies change over time...  zackers | 12/13/08
Thanks  LegendsOfBatman | 12/15/08
RE: Seagate's DRM code ?  Brent R Brian | 12/04/08
Unbelievable...  jmiller1978 | 12/08/08
'senior engineer at a cloud storage company'  GuidingLight | 12/04/08
Que?  Patanjali | 12/05/08
Great little NAS box by he way  Patanjali | 12/05/08
Any company using SATA drive ....  bjbrock | 12/05/08
Just checked, have about 90 1TB with SD15 sad  terry flores | 12/05/08
Why Order more drives?  jakesty | 12/14/08
MADE IN CHINA  NotMSUser | 12/05/08
RE: Seagate's  larahs | 12/08/08
wouldn't expect anythingn less since Maxtor Merge  Morphyous | 12/08/08
Maxtor used to be better than Seagate  914four | 12/08/08
RE: Maxtor used to be better than Seagate  jmiller1978 | 12/08/08
Yes, they started going downhill...  914four | 12/08/08
RE: Maxtor used to be better than Seagate  Racer9x | 12/08/08
Yup, Maxtor wasn't as reliable as Seagate  V@... | 12/12/08
Yup, Maxtor wasn't as reliable as Seagate  Devillin | 12/30/08
Not just Seagate...  Narg | 12/08/08
Not just Seagate!  green alien | 12/09/08
RE: Seagate's  pppaulll | 12/08/08
RE: Seagate's  John_Doe69 | 12/08/08
RE: Seagate's  Harron | 12/09/08
RE: Seagate's  Old Timer 8080 | 12/12/08
PATA Seagate HDD 500GB  michaelleo@... | 12/12/08
Firmware fix may only mask the problem  zackers | 12/13/08
Uhh, they've issued a fix, Download the firmware.  jakesty | 12/14/08
what? they have? link please  confuxion | 12/31/08
Because customers have a right to know what's really going on  zackers | 01/22/09
Class action lawusit  Need1176 | 06/01/09
RE: Seagate's  scjimtanis@... | 08/31/09

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