Segate releases second firmware update

SEGATE announced the release of its second fix for a firmware problem that has caused some of their hard drives to stop working. This latest patch is supposed to correct a problem with the original "fix" which caused some 1-T Barracuda 7200.11 hard drives to stop working. The first firmware updated was released back on Jan 16, 2009. "We regret any inconvenience that the firmware issues have caused our customers," the company said in an e-mailed statement.

Segate has stated that very few of their customers have experienced problems with the update but their forums were flooded with complaints of the 1-TB Barracuda 7200.11 as well as the 500-GB Barracuda 7200.11 freezing up suddenly. They have acknowledged that this problem extends to other equipment such as the Barracuda ES.2 and the DiamondMax 22. Segate has indicated that users should not lose any data as a result of the firmware headaches but they are offering a free data recovery service for anyone affected that is unabel to retreive their files.