BQ2 said:aric said:BQ2 said:Beware, as these drives do not work in RAID, as per reviews on Newegg, and Tom's Hardware. Actually, it's all over the net. That's why Dell is dumping them so cheaply.

http://www.google.com/search?q=1.5+TB+Seagate+Freeze&ie=utf-8&oe...

I have 8 of these in my QNAP TS809 running RAID 6. I haven't seen any freezing on them in the 3 months I've been running my box, of course I'm only using it to stream Blu-rays but so far no issues.

These drives from Dell should be the CC1H firmware.

How do you know what firmware they will be?I would be all over this, as I'm in need of a RAID array, but do not want any hassles.

In response to the BOLD I added to your quote...

BECAUSE Dell does not stock items in inventory... they are a JIT (Just in time) manufacturer and buy from multiple sources. They ALSO check the inventory of the people they buy from, for the latest and greatest. They don't BUY old stuff.

*Not a Dell fan. Having worked with them before MANY times, I am NOT a fan of their JIT process.... it means that when I order 2500 PCs from them, ALL of the systems come with DIFFERENT components from DIFFERENT manufacturers, meaning I can't do a single build for software loads and such....*

I've never worked with RAID before...in the event the firmware needs to be updated, can it be done from my NAS (Thecus N4100Pro 4-bay) or do I need to stick it in an enclosure or something? If I can do it from the NAS, does it matter if there's data on the drive or if the RAID is/is not built already? Thanks to anyone who can make an educated guess.

I got mine last month 2nd day air through fedex, shipped in a hdd shipping foam/cutout container. Im using them in a Windows Home Server for streaming movies. workin well and came w/newer firmware

I have 3 of these drives, on from Newegg that needed a firmware update which fixed all issues (the drive had freeze problems before the firmware update and I was NOT using RAID)

I also have 2 from the last Dell deal, both are CCH1 and seem to work fine after a few days of use, again no RAID just standalone. The do run pretty hot though if that is a concern for people.

one other thing, seagate support really REALLY sucked when I was having problems with the first drive. I had to find my own source for the firmware upgrade, seagate took over a week to reply and their reply didn't get me any closer to the firmware. Had I bought that first drive for use at my business I would have been REALLY screwed. Seagate has things under control now but shame on them for not reacting much more quickly to the firmware issues. In general though you would be an idiot to buy new model anything for production IT.

BQ2 said:I don't have an opinion one way or the other about these drives, I'm only going by what I read. Why would people manufacture negative reviews? Are the positive reviews also suspect?
I'd hardly say you don't have an opinion about these drives. You stated your opinion pretty clearly. You are of the opinion that prospective buyers should "beware" and "these drives do not work in RAID" and "that's why Dell is dumping them so cheaply."

Consider this. Here in this thread, I posted positive comments about my direct experience with about 10 of these drives, including several specifically purchased from Dell recently. I own them and use them every day. At the same time, you've posted negative comments about these drives, when you have never owned them or used them and have no direct experience with them at all.

Unfortunately, there's no shortage of goobers eager to repeat negative feedback on something they know nothing about. That may be one reason why there are great deals to be had on this drive, but neither Dell nor Seagate are "dumping" these drives.

My 1.5TB drives from Dell all shipped by UPS. I agree with another poster about the packaging. From Dell they come in the precut foam whereas from Newegg they just use some bubble wrap.

I have 8 in a raid with no issues. I also have a few more I use for backup in an external BlacX. SO far with using 10 of these drives I haven't had an issue.

amark said:TheBoy said:Since 'Deal Hunter staff' is employed to Fatwallet.com, would their 'certified ad-free' posts be considered conflict of interest ? their main goal is to serve the interest of Fatwallet.comProviding good, ad-free deals = good for FWers = good for FW? I'm sure there are others on the FW staff purely responsible for revenue generation via ads and deals with retail stores. It doesn't have to necessarily be done by the Deal Hunters Does it really bother you theboy? Personally I want to use a service that its staff believes and participates in--and this is a good deal. The staff even lets you down-rate their deals if they're not so good, which says a lot about how they feel about the community (and sure, there is self-interest in any business venture, but there's a world of difference in how different businesses treat their clients). Some companies still believe that building goodwill is a worthwhile endeavor and those are usually the places that get my business.

Besides, without the Deal Hunters, we would have never known about the Barraduda, coolest Java-serving drive ever.

i was one of the people that bought these drives before the firmware issue was publicized. yes, the original firmware didn't work worth crap in raid/some linux. the firmware issue was fixed with a patch you had to email in to support to receive. i used a sata to usb cable to patch the drives and then install in my drobo. since then, i have had no trouble with the drives. the drives haven't shipped with the bad firmware for ~6 months. if you really want to be safe, just plug you drive into a non-raid sata controller and use seagate's disk management tool to check the firmware version, _then_ install it in your raid. as others have said, no one should be receiving old drives from Dell anyway.

the bad firmware wasn't all bad... i lost use of the drives and my drobo for a few weeks, but seagate mailed me an additional 1.5tb drive to make up for it

7200.11 drives are buggy..dunn buy.. check reviews
go 7200.12

Toddler said:BQ2 said:I don't have an opinion one way or the other about these drives, I'm only going by what I read. Why would people manufacture negative reviews? Are the positive reviews also suspect?
I'd hardly say you don't have an opinion about these drives. You stated your opinion pretty clearly. You are of the opinion that prospective buyers should "beware" and "these drives do not work in RAID" and "that's why Dell is dumping them so cheaply."

Consider this. Here in this thread, I posted positive comments about my direct experience with about 10 of these drives, including several specifically purchased from Dell recently. I own them and use them every day. At the same time, you've posted negative comments about these drives, when you have never owned them or used them and have no direct experience with them at all.

Unfortunately, there's no shortage of goobers eager to repeat negative feedback on something they know nothing about. That may be one reason why there are great deals to be had on this drive, but neither Dell nor Seagate are "dumping" these drives.

Congratulations! You had a positive experience. But many, many people have not. Many people have had and are still having problems with these drives. After reading an in depth review of the drive, I wouldn't buy it anyway, as it's a poor performer relative to it's counterparts, and it runs hot. Western Digital has several drives that out perform it costing a few dollars more, but with a 5 year warranty. The Dell drives have only a 1 year warranty. Definitely will pass on this, as there are much better choices. But, good luck to those who bought them, and remember this message when the warranty runs out in 1 year.