MacOSG: MacBook Seagate hard drives catastrophically failing
Posted by Dave Merten 
Nov 26, 2007 at 7:14pm
If you own a MacBook and all of a sudden it freezes, and/or get a flashing question mark when booting, you may have just lost your hard drive. The drive fails so catastrophically, that even a data recovery service can not retrieve your data.
There are quite a few Seagate hard drives failing in MacBooks. Retrodata, a data recovery service in the UK, has posted the following statement on their Web site.
“It has come to our attention from the sheer volume of this particular drive received for recovery that they have a critical manufacturing flaw.”
“The faulty drives are all Seagate 2.5” drives that are manufactured in China, with a Firmware revision of 7.01. They are also all SATA interface. No other drives seem (at this stage) to be affected.”
“We are receiving quantities of these drives for recovery, and nearly all display the same cause of failure. The read/write heads appear to fail mechanically, quickly causing deep scratches to the platter surface, and rendering the drives practically unrecoverable.”
“Should you have one of these drives in your system, we believe the problem is serious enough to warrant copying all your data off the drive and replacing it with an alternative drive, or a retail-version Seagate drive.”
So, how can you determine if your drive is one of these mentioned? Open your System Profiler in your Utilities folder and look under Serial-ATA for the Revision, which shows the firmware of your hard drive. If yours is indeed Revision 7.01, you should back up your data immediately!
If your MacBook is still in warranty, I would suggest contacting Apple ASAP and get the hard drive replaced. Ironically, if your MacBook is out of warranty, Seagate will not replace the drive (because it’s an OEM drive), even though their retail version of the drive is warranted for five years. They tell you to contact Apple for replacement.
Mac Owners Support Group—aka MacOSG—was conceived by Dave Merten, the former ‘Focus on Mac Support’ guide at About.com. Since it’s humble beginning as ‘G5 Owners Support Group’ back in February 2004, MacOSG has become one of the world’s fastest-growing online Apple User Groups, dedicated to helping Mac users from all over the globe.
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MichelleG Says:
I had the same problem 4 weeks ago. I ended up replacing it with another Seagate drive. Now that I know it’s a defect, I don’t feel so bad. I thought I had broken it.
Bright side for me was ended I ended up upgrading to a 120GB drive. Also, having scheduled backups saved me.
Posted on November 25, 2007
Paul Says:
I was relatively lucky because my original 80GB hard drive failed in my MacBook with just a few weeks warranty remaining, and Apple replaced it. I’m now well out of warranty, but unfortunately my replacement drive is one of the afflicted batch. I was planning to upgrade to a much bigger drive, but for now will keep backing up, which is what saved me the 1st time.
The replacement drive from the afflicted batch was provided by Applecare in April/May 2007.
Posted on November 25, 2007
John Says:
People FOLLOW THE REPLACEMENT advice immediately. My wife’s drive failed 2 nights ago. We went to Apple Retail in the Woodlands Mall in Houston. They replaced the drive under warranty, but nothing was recoverable. In fact, they either feigned disbelief, or really aren’t being told about the flaw because I had to tell them and give them the model ranges of the drives that are failing. I walked right over to a Mac in the store and pulled the page up on Macobserver from November 2nd.
I repeat NOTHING is recoverable on these drives when they fail as they scratch the surface and start clicking as the heads bang across the platters. 56 Gigs LOST. (data backed up, but we’re talking DAYS to reinstall all the apps now).
Get used to this phrase “MADE IN CHINA”. It will be the end of the American economy.
Posted on November 25, 2007
Rick Auricchio Says:
It would be nice if we could have model numbers. You can’t see “Made in China” without removing the drive from the computer. (Though that’s easy to do, I don’t always have convenient access to my clients’ computers.)
Posted on November 26, 2007
Dave Merten Says:
Model numbers affected include ST96812AS and ST98823AS.
Posted on November 26, 2007
Joop Says:
Just after 1 year and a month we got a grey screen and a dark grey folder with a light question mark on top. After that “tak tak tak tak ... sheeek noise” and dead hard disk. Was told the freezer trick would help retrieving back your data. Unsuccessful for me. Is Apple ignoring this Seagate MacBook issue since 2005? I did buy the MacBook in 2006. Shame for the lost documents. Had to buy a new hard disk. Thank you Apple.
Posted on November 27, 2007
John Says:
Apple has acknowledged it finally.
http://www.macrumors.com/2007/11/26/apple-acknowledges-reports-of-macbook-hard-drive-failures/
Posted on November 27, 2007
Symbiatch Says:
I had a Seagate Momentus 7200.2 drive in my Macbook, not that firmware since bought separately. Yesterday it crashed. Spins up but won’t detect it. Great. So this is not just the certain firmware…
Posted on November 28, 2007
Bobby Says:
I had the same unfortunate problem as everyone else. So after i relaxed from loosing all my important data i called apple and explained to them my problem and they are sending me a new hard drive for free. It doesn’t make up for the lost valuable data but at least you don’t have to buy a new hard drive.
Just mention that you have the defective sea gate hard drive and Model numbers affected include ST96812AS and ST98823AS and the version 7.01 and they are sending me a new hard drive.
Posted on December 23, 2007
Geronimo Says:
Apple has confirmed here http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=LCITVYZOMK024QSNDLRCKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=204203468&queryText=retrodat and by telephone (Apple Benelux BV customer service).
Despite these strong warnings, Apple repeatedly has refused to replace the disks in this batch. Apples reasoning is that disks don’t need to be replaced as long as they function ‘properly’. This means Apple burdens its customers with their problem. Not one customer would buy a macbook if told that their disk would have a possible fatal flaw that would make it more likely to crash and fatally injure the data to boot.
Instead of replacing said disks, Apple recommends its customers to ‘make regular backups.’
This is typical of the customer-unfriendly attitude and denial of problems that Apple exhibits (anyone remember the white casings?). The premium they ask for their products should allow them to do a recall for a batch of 80 gig disks. Instead, they choose to leave customers with their problem.
Posted on January 14, 2008
Dimitri Says:
Same happened to me a week ago. Anybody have an update if Apple will recall or replace the affected Seagate drives…
Posted on May 21, 2008
Dave Merten Says:
Dimitri, Apple has been replacing the drives. I doubt if there will be any kind of recall.
Posted on May 21, 2008
Dimitri Says:
thanks dave. i called apple but they refuse to pay for the replacment of the drive even thought the recognize the problem. i a very frustrated and it seems i can’t do anything. will never buy an apple product again in my life
Posted on May 22, 2008
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Dave Merten
Dave was one of the founding guides at ‘The Mining Company,’ now known as About.com, in February 1998. Dave was their ‘Focus on Mac Support’ guide. In 2004 he started ‘G5 Owners Support Group,’ and in 2005, renamed it ‘Mac Owners Support Group.’ In 2006, he started the ‘MacOSG Support Corner’ column here at Macsimum News.
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Jojo Says:
i got that thing just weeks after my macbook one year warranty expired. I had to buy a replacement hard drive
Posted on November 24, 2007