I purchased a few Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache drives ( Model ST3500320AS ).

I installed it and ran HD Tune and it told me that the drive model number was ST3500820AS, but it should have been ST3500320AS. It also told me that it only had 8MB cache, but it should have had 32MB. The wrong model number ST3500820AS was confirmed when I went into the bios screen.

I did some searching on the internet and found a few other people was having the same problem. Apparently Seagate has shipped some of these drives with the wrong firmware which disables most of the buffer. My firmware was SD04.

I upgraded the firmware using the firmware from Seagate's website and the drive now has the correct model number. However, HD Tune now tells me that my buffer is now 0. Sandra is not telling me the cache size (Only for my other drives). Now I don't know if these programs are misreading the cache or if all my cache has now been disabled? Is any one else having this problem? Is there any other software that can identify the amount of cache or a way of testing the cache?

Here is the links to Seagate:

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup...nloads/cuda-fw

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup.../cuda-fw-disty

id of rmaed it. But does this mean people ca unlock theirs to get 32mb cache as well i wonder.

Just checked mine and they are both the correct model.

That's good to hear... I can't check the other drives until I get into work on Monday.

It might be possible, as they probably make them all the same because its cheaper.

Yeah mine's correct too.

You may have just saved some people some money

Its the same with another one in the office

omg, just found this thread by accident.

I too just bought a 500gig 7200.11 (ST3500320AS).

Ran HDTune and it reported that it was the correct model number with firmware SD04, but said it had "0" buffer. I Followed the link by the OP about some of the 7200.11's reporting the wrong amount of cache, downloaded the firmware and flashed it.

HDTune now reports the BIOS as being AD14 (correct supposedly), but still says it has "0" buffer

I just got this back from seagate.

The firmware upgrade was the same as the one I used before. He is saying the software will not be able to recognize the cache?

I had ordered another drive and it arrived today and it had the correct model number but again software is saying 0 cache.

Has anyone seen the cache size in any software?

Crazyswede, seems like we have the same problem.

The only program that gives info about HDD cache that I've tried is HD Tune and that reports 0 cache for my 7200.11. I haven't tried Sisoft Sandra yet, but I expect that will not report the cache size as you have said.

This all seems very suspicious to me. I mean.. why would they release a new firmware that fixes the problem of the cache being incorrectly reported, then say that software will not report the cache size

Does anyone know of any other software that will report HDD cache size?

TIA

i have a 160gb seagate which should have a 16mb cache but various system tools tell me its got 8mb. i think were being diddled!

Any chance we could get some advice from OCuk on this. Was just about to order my rig this weekend and it included 3 of these drives.

My Firmware is SD15 - should I update?

I think I'm going to have a look into this

Stelly

I got one yesterday with the ST3500320AS code.

Wish I looked in here 1st before transfering over 280GB of files to it.

The clicking is the only thing thats annoying, but the firmware upgrade is supposed to fix this problem also.

Did any of you lot update the firmware with files on the drive and are the files ok.

I have just checked and both of my drives are only showing 8MB. Surely OcUK should be sorting this out for us??

I also bought this drive at the weekend, and although it reported the model number correctly, it had the SD04 revision of firmware. I ran HDtune and it showed no cache, so I searched the internet and found the new firmware which installed fine using the floppy, though it appears people have had problems using a CD.
It still benchmarks exactly the same with good results, well outperforming the -10 I have, but not being able to read the cache is a worry as I have become cynical over the years. Seagate must be able to test these at the factory, so why don't they update seatools so it can determine the cache size?
It is strange!

I contacted seagate with the following:

"I have purchase 2 x Barracuda 7200.11 from Overclockers.co.uk.

Using Everest I can see that the cache is listed as 8MB on both of these drives and the model number is ST3500820AS for both drives.

The serial numbers of the drives are: XXXXXX, XXXXXX.

I understand that you can provide me with updated firmeare to fix this issue."

The response was:

"Thank you for your E-mail inquiry.

With regards to your query, I understand that you are looking for Firmware update, because of the risk to data and the HDD hardware, it has not been Seagate policy to send out firmware updates for PATA/SATA drives. PATA and SATA firmware is specific to the onboard chipsets which can change during the manufacturing life. Improper application of firmware can quickly cause the data on a drive to be lost or for the drive itself to become lost and useless."

Any Suggestions??

Considering the comments on their web site which accompanies the link to the firmware update the response you received is a bit odd. Clearly you want your drive to function to spec, and if the drive is reporting only 8k cache then it is not to spec, and I would either RMA it, or insist on the firmware update. They may be a bit nervous as the web has reports of people having problems with the CD being used to update. Considering you are supposed to disconnect all sata and pata devices except the 7200-11, how do you leave the CD connected?
I used my floppy drive and it worked fine.
Retailers should be helping a lot more here, this is clearly a problem where confidence in a good drive is being damaged due to poor communications.
What is needed is a utility that will correctly read the cache size.
Brian

Yes I agree. Obvoiusly I have responded to Seagate, I think they missed the point of my original email so I have stated it more clearly.

For those in a simarlar situation I have found the software available to download from this thread.

I must confess that I am nervous about performing the firmware upgrade though. Has anybody done it?

As per the instructions, I used the exe file which told me the target floppy would be overwritten, (did not use the CD iso). It wrote the floppy and I then restarted into the bios to make the floppy the first boot device, left the bios and saving the change, then powered down.
I then disconnected the power from my numerous hard disk drives and the CD, (left the 7200.11 connected), then powered back on.
It boots from the floppy then shows you a readme which tells you to to what I had already done, i.e. disconnect all sata and pata leaving only the 7200.11 connected. Press escape to bypass the readme, then it goes to a Dos prompt. Type in FLASH and hit enter.
It loads the image from the floppy, and cycles through devices and of course should only find the 7200.11. It does a nerve tingling count down from fifty something, but suddenly tells you to power down, and not to press ctrl del alt.

When I reconnected all the drives and powered up, I went into the bios, but everything was OK.
It is nerve racking doing any form of reflashing, so it is up to you, just use a floppy to avoid problems warned elswhere on the Net.

Hope this helps,
Brian

I'm still running on the SD04 firmware since my model number is being reported correctly, the unknown cache size (not) being reported to Windows/BIOS doesn't bother me since the performance hasn't seemed to affected it at all.

Ive also had this problem, and both software testing things have said 0kb buffer, so I just installed the firmware ad14.

Sanda now says its at the AD14 rversion/firmware, but still HDTune and sanda report 0KB buffer???

im confused..

Just noticed the post asking if it was OK to update the firmware with data on the drive. I did, it was my C drive at this stage, and it was OK, but I did have the original C drive sitting next to it.

Brian

hey guys, is this performance chart about right for this drive?



reports 0kb, updated to AD14 and removed jumper, previous bench was this,

I have updated one of my 2 drives as I have a mirror, the RAID rebuilt itself. everything seems fine but Everest originally reported the cache as 8MB with the SD04 firmware and it now reports it as unknown.

Is there a reliable way of checking the cache is now 32MB? Has anybody else had this issue?

My readings are virtually the same testing with Vista,

47.3 min
103.3 max
83.3 ave
12.5 access
165 burst

I suspect the burst is a bit lower as I use all my drives in IDE mode.
Compared to the other drives, including a 500gb 700.10, the performance is well up.
With such a fast drive, its difficult to know how the cache is contributing, but like most people, I would like to be able to confirm it with a utility.

Can anyone confirm if there has been any affected 320GB drives?

There is nothing on the website about 330GB drives - only 500 and up.

I have completed firmware update on both drives and although both cache values are listed as unknown in everest the RAID rebuilt substatially faster once both firwares were upgraded. This seesm to make a substantial difference.

upraded mine also (via CD no problem @ all)

Makes no difference with any software seeing the cache because according to Seagate no software can see 32mb cache drives @ the moment.

Good thing about the firmware upgrade it does stop that annoying clicking noise.

Not changed much in performance either think the actual minimum transfer rate was faster before the update than it is now.



The temps seem to be hot on this drive even with a spot cool fan pointing @ 2 drives.

OP seems to contradict itself, is the ST3750330AS affected?

Only if the model number of your 750Gb differs from it.

To those that have flashed there drives. Roughly how long does it take to do?

Once you type in "flash", it takes about half a minute to read in the code and find the drive, once it starts to write, it counts down from fifty something, so about a minute or so to write the new firmware.
That is using a floppy, just rough figures, using a CD may be quicker.

I've got 4x 500gb's all reporting 6mb cache - when they should be 32.

But for some reason, i feel they are really slow - whats the best way to benchmark raid 5 configurations?

i flashed mine too a few days ago, still reports 0mb cache but it has changed the firmware to AD14 :S

Apparently though, some benchmarks cant detect caches larger than 16mb - sounds bs to me. lol

screwd by seagate Lol

What about mine guys? its a 32mb 500GB seagate drive and model number is: SE3500620AS, so it differs from the ones listed.

Do I need to do anything? Because something is seriously wrong with my system anyway as I get random split second freezes on either desktop, films or gaming. Driving me round the bend.

I still don't understand why software can't detect the larger cache.... We should email one of the software companies and see if they can give us an explanation.

...well mine is still working ok.

Going to go and test mine now. Yet to install anything on them so will run a few benches before flashing, flash, then try again. See if I get a difference in speed.

Checked out my drives before flashing them. HD Tune reported one to have 8mb cache, and the other to have 0 cache.
Ran the benchmark on both of them, both scored near as damnit the same thing.



Flashed both drives from the iso. Now both drives show as 0 cache.
Performed like so:



Barely any difference, starting to wonder whether there was nothing wrong with the drives, and that all that flashing the firmware has done is changed how it appears to various software. Each time I ran the benchmarks the transfer rates would varies 1 mb or 2 either way. That second image was the slowest min read, the other benches were quicker but had a few spikes, or a slower max speed etc.

Will be running mine in Raid-0 - should be nippy
Ofcourse - all important stuff backed up to other drives.

hdtach is alot better imo

For you mate




Pretty much the same score except for the much higher burst speed in hdtach.

I just set up two drives for my dad, 500GB 7200.11's, and i'm worried about this now. The boot drive is making a damn clicking noise every now and then, and cache sizes are reported as "0kb" in Diskcheckup. Everest says "unknown".

I could't find the cache stat in SANDRA though anywhere on the HD report?

Model no: ST3500320AS. Firmware version is SD15. Arghhh!