New Ultra 4 RNDU400 and 3TB Drives

Cmaker3 wrote:
...I believe at times that these things have a mind of their own. :-)

Me too :D

Looks like I'm not through with my problems. I can't seem to be able to update the drive's firmware. This is what I did.

1. Ran discmgmt.msc which asked me to choose to activate or initialize the drive either as MBR or GPT. Since I didn't know what in heaven's name I should choose I cancelled the whole process since I knew I had SeaTools installed and could run tests and get drive information.

2. I have earlier downloaded from Seagate's webiste the firmware update "Barracuda-ALL-GRCC4H.exe". I ran it which rebooted my system into a linux-based system. Everything flashed so fast that I only saw a glimpsed that it stopped updating at 50% of the process because of something (either incorrect drive or drive not found -- not sure of message because it just flashed by and rebooted). After rebooting back to Windows I still can't see the drive from "My Computer" but I see the drive in SeaTools.

In the drive's label is a note that says to visit seagate.com/beyond-2tb. DiscWizard doesn't seem to be what I need so I did more searching and decided on the "Barracuda-ALL-GRCC4H.exe".

I also have a multi-boot partition system on my main drive. I have Grub managing my boot partition (I think) which gives me a choice of Windows 7 (default) or Ubuntu (more for my education). I'm not sure if this could affect the rebooting of the firmware updating app from Seagate but I guess that I should mention it here.

Other than that I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Any ideas or suggestions.

As always, thank you very much.

discmgmt is useful for confirming that the PC detects the drive, and also convenient for deleting NAS partitions/volumes on drives you are re-purposing. However, you don't want (or need) to initialize/format the drive with it, since you are not using it in your PC. You will never see the drive in "my computer" unless you chose to format it for Windows - which in this case is not what you want to do.

Try downloading the seagate detect utility (http://support.seagate.com/firmware/drive_config.html) and see if it finds/enumerates your drive. Also confirm that your drive has the correct part number as well as the right model number.

You can also try the bootable CD version of the firmware update tool, that would eliminate any issues with your boot partition.

You're right on the money. :-)

I've been "quiet" for the past 2 days due to maintenance issues. I did read from the Seagate.com Community Forum and there is a suggestion to update the firmware via the bootable CD version, just a you suggested. But before proceeding, I'm doing what I should have done -- backup all my partitions -- and this is what's taking up so long -- mainly because I'm running out of drive space. But I'm almost done and will be doing the drive firmware update later today and hopefully do a factory default.

I read that it takes about 30 min. for a factory default with 1 disk. Any idea how much longer if I put both disks in at the same time for the factory default?

Thanks.

Well there would be a lengthy resync that would take some hours to sync the disks sector by sector. Though you could access the volume during this time at reduced performance.

Not a problem as long as I can access them.... cuz I still have issues with the Seagate hdds. I can see them in Windows 7 with SeaTools, discmgmt.msc, Windows Device Manager but not in Seagate's drivedetect.exe (which is in the bootable CD). Also I tried updating the firmware via the bootable CD but it can't see the hdd. I figure it's either a BIOS issue or I need a USB Dos driver for the hdd. Which is which I can't tell. Poking around Seagate's support area gave me a headache. Gives you the runaround with links here and there and everywhere. I can also see the drive using Acronis Drive Monitor and report's the size correctly 3000.59 GB.

I checked the BIOS and under System Configuration | Sata Operation is configured for RAID mode. I tried changing it to ACHI (2 other options available: ATA and Disabled) but a warning is displayed:

Attention! Changing the setting may prevent your operating system from booting or require a reinstall.
Attention! The E-Module and other eSATA devices only function in ACHI or RAID mode.

Also in the Settings | General | System Information it says under Device:
Primary HDD: = 500 GB HDD
Second HDD: = none
Fixed Bay Device: DVD +/- RW
Minicard SSD Device: none
System eSata Device: none
Dock eSata Device: none

Can someone suggest the next steps I should take or what my problem is? BIOS or DOS device driver or something else?

Thanks.

Finally did it. The solution? The SATA-to-eSATA cable finally arrived in the mail. I used it and plugged the drive directly to my eSATA port and bingo, the system tray popped with the drive model. Drivedetect saw it and gave the firmware of the drive. And using the bootable CD to update the firmware ran without a hitch...

It is now doing a Resync. I accidentally unplugged the ReadyNAS at about 25% but I just plugged it back it, turned it ON and it just continued where it left off. Can't wait till it's done. The thing though is that it earlier showed only 2.7TB of free space. Is that normal? or should I do something to recover like 300GB of free space?

Thanks guys. Couldn't do this without your help. I guess I should consider this case closed and marked: SUCCESSFULLY INSTALLED. :D

If you downloaded the BIOS update software for the drive from Seagate's site (Barracuda-ALL-GRCC4H.exe if it's the 'Windows' Firmware Updater) Run it, with the drive connected. The laptop will reboot, and it should detect the drive if it's connected to your eSATA port. It will list all drives connected to the onboard SATA chip, but will only attempt to update the correct drive (as only it has the correct model number). It's not important for "Windows" to see the drive at all.

However, for other people who may be wondering, these disks need to be partitioned as GPT format if going into a desktop computer permanently - not MBR.

Once the laptop reboots, power it off again, swap drives and repeat the proceedure.

If you download the DOS/ISO version of the updater, you could use a CD-RW and create a boot CD with it, and if the connectors are compatible, possibly swap the laptop's own cabling for it's own drive to the new drive for the duration of the update. Then replace them back afterwards. The main thing is the drive being seen by the laptop's BIOS and the firmware updater utility.

The problem you have here is that if the NAS hasn't been shipped with Firmware 4.2.16 or above, it *may* not see the drives either, which means you won't be able to update it's firmware. Ask someone if they have any old 3.5in SATA HDD (Size unimportant as long as it's not over 2TB lol) and use that to put in the NAS to do the initial setup. Obviously, bear in mind the NAS will probably wipe the drive as part of the setup, or you may have to have it wiped prior.

EDIT: Oops - didn't see the second page of the thread lol. With regards the drive's reported size, yes this is normal. Formatted capacity of a drive is always less than advertised capacity. For several reasons. One of which being the unit of measure used to calculate drive sizes. Google it and you'll find doezens of articles on the subject. Congratulations on getting there though. :)

gibxxi wrote:
However, for other people who may be wondering, these disks need to be partitioned as GPT format if going into a desktop computer permanently - not MBR.

Thanks for the info on GPT and MBR. Reading the text on GPT (from discmgmt.msc), this would have been my choice. But I was unsure even if I knew that the drives won't be used on the laptop.

gibxxi wrote:
The problem you have here is that if the NAS hasn't been shipped with Firmware 4.2.16 or above...

Luckily I didn't have this issue. But I'm sure that there's always a workaround for something.

gibxxi wrote:
EDIT: Oops - didn't see the second page of the thread lol. With regards the drive's reported size, yes this is normal. Formatted capacity of a drive is always less than advertised capacity. For several reasons. One of which being the unit of measure used to calculate drive sizes. Google it and you'll find doezens of articles on the subject. Congratulations on getting there though. :)

Thanks. :D