In the last couple of years, I have heard a great deal about the firmware issues of the Seagate 7200.11 drives, and I have decided to offer to fix the drives. If you happen to have one of these drives with frozen firmware (BSY or 0 LSA problem), I'll take a look at it essentially for free. There are a couple of caveats. You must pay for round trip shipping. Priority Mail each way is about five bucks. And, you must be in the U.S. (I have been known to make exceptions to the U.S.A. only rule for those who ask nicely.)
I'll try to fix the drive, but can't guarantee success. And you agree to assume and retain all risks. So, if you have a frozen 7200.11 that you believe has the BSY or 0 LSA problem, just follow the submission instructions below.
my email address: @allenwan.com">@allenwan.com
List of some affected model numbers (this list is not exhaustive)
My address is:
Allen Wan
PO Box 810891
Dallas, TX 75381
You can ship just the bare drive. If you wrap it in bubble wrap please wrap the bare drive in aluminum foil first to protect from ESD. The original packaging that the drive came in is also a good option.
I give myself up to two weeks to turn the drive around. In practice, I usually will turn the drive around within half a week.
I also upgrade the firmware to the latest version b/c otherwise, there's nothing stopping this from happening again.
Assuming it's just the bare drive, throw in $5 to cover Priority Mail return shipping. Cash is preferred.
Send me an email with (1) Your return address, and (2) the serial number of the hard drive. This makes it easier for me to figure out where to return the drive if I get them mixed up.
Also please enclose printouts of all of emails that you have sent me.
Please at least pretend to follow the instructions, especially the items on the checklist.
UPDATE: 2011-05-28 There is some debate out in the blogosphere about whether you can keep using a debricked drive. I wouldn't. My understanding is that the log being filled is an error log and the fact that it is advancing suggests less than ideal behavior. The drive might last much longer but I don't see a good reason to risk it. Drives are very cheap right now. That said, having been burned once, you really should implement a backup scheme so the damage from a failed harddrive is minimized.
UPDATE: 2011-04-13 Please be aware that rush requests will be declined. This is a FIFO system. No cutting in line. Also, it's really important to print out ALL emails that you have sent and include them with the drive.
UPDATE: 2011-04-07 Door to door shipping time is between a week and two weeks currently with Priority Mail. Also I do not provide rush service. I do this in my free time so I get to it when I get to it.
UPDATE: 2011-01-21 Turn time on my end is generally a day or two. I allow myself up to two weeks but I still kind of enjoy unbricking drives so I usually do them right away. Door to door is about a week because of shipping each way. Also, sadly, this last week, I had my first failure. I encountered a drive that appeared to be a traditional hard drive failure. NOT all 7200.11 failures are due to the firmware issues, although it still appears that the vast majority probably are.
UPDATE: 2011-01-18 Currently turn time is around a week door to door. The vast majority of that time is spent in transit. Currently, the most time consuming part is unpacking the drives. For some reason people feel compelled to use excessive amounts of tape. Please don't over tape.