Seagate ST2000DL003-9VT166

Hi,
I'm happy to say that i've had a very positive experience with Seagate on this issue.

I called the European support number listed on their website and got through to a very nice chap called Hans W (who was actually in the Netherlands). I explained the situation with the drive firmware, and that I would need replacement drives with a specific firmware version.

Luckily, he had heard about this problem previously from a colleague so was aware that they needed to do 'something' about the drives. He asked me to email him the details and the URLs for the Netgear article on the subject, the forum thread (this one) and the Netgear HCL for the NAS.

After a couple of days, I got call back - good news! He'd looked at the links i'd posted and was happy to replace the two dodgy drives with a completely different model, the ST2000DM001 (the same model as someone earlier in the thread mentioned they received as replacement). I was told he'd specifically picked this model as it was listed on the HCL for the NAS and has the same cache, SATA spec and size as the crappy ones.

The replacements are the re-manufactured drives, which I was a bit annoyed about (since my drives were originals and the only fault was Seagate's own crappy firmware), but i'd rather have two working drives than a couple of paperweights. The new drives are a slightly better performance spec, being 7200 not 5900 speed; so I can't really complain... i'm just being picky :)

I'd also explained to Hans that I needed to swap out the drives before I could send the faulty ones in to them - obviously because I needed to replace them one at a time and allow the array to re-sync. He was quite happy to send out the replacement drives on good-faith - he didn't even take a credit/debit card number to insure I did actually return them... but from what i've read in this thread, I don't think the European support can do that. All I will say about them offering to do that is, if they offer the same service to you; don't abuse it - they could quite easily refuse to send the new drives out before receiving the broken ones first. So lets keep the ball rolling on the trust, yeah? :)

The replacement drives arrived quickly (via UPS), and i've returned the dodgy ones in the packaging the new ones arrived in. From my first call to Seagate to receipt of the replacement drives was about a week.

All in all, i'm very satisfied with how Seagate have handled this - and I have nothing but praise for Hans W, who took the time to research the issue here and select the replacement model by checking the HCL himself.

If anyone would like to reference my RMA process with Seagate (I'm not sure if this number is valid worldwide, or just in the European system), feel free to do so: 2101878723.

I hope people can have my luck with this - it sounds like i've had a very smooth ride! :)

Darren.

PS: If you ever check this thread again Hans W from Seagate support in NL, you have my great thanks :) And know that my relay of this support experience to business colleagues has led them to consider Seagate very highly for future purchases.