r/Seagate

I'm setting up a new 4-bay RAID 5 unit and I wanted to figure out if these Seagate 30TB EXOS M hard drives are CMR or SMR ? I was told to steer clear or SMR but the product literature isn't clear about what it is. Thank you in advance!

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1905376-REG/seagate_st30000nm004k_exos_m_internal_hard.html

Hi everyone, so on June 9th I opened an RMA for 2x 20TB ironwolf HDD’s and 1x16TB skyhawk surveillance HDD with Seagate. After I opened it I reached out to Seagate to see if they would be nice enough to issue a free shipping label as I had heard others got one for free just by asking. CS said sure and issued me one no fuss. So I shipped them out. Days go by and no update even though tracking number is marked as delivered to Seagate and signed by them.

June 19th: i reach out to seagate if there’s any update as it has now been a week that drives were delivered to them and my RMA portal showed 0 updates, not even a “received” update. CS tells me the drive is currently in the re-certificarion and testing stage. I inform CS agent that i had sent 3 drives under the single RMA and shipping label they provided. CS says that yes correct that i should get an update soon.

June 22nd: after reaching out to CS everyday and getting nowhere i file a BBB complaint as they seem to respond to issues there.

June 26th: Seagate “Corporate response team” member called “Steven” reaches out and tells me that they can’t find my hard drives because the package never had any in the first place. So they won’t be helping me further. They tell this to BBB and BBB considers it answered and closes complaint. I immediately respond that that’s not possible as I had shipped all drives and CS agent had confirmed they were received and were currently being processed.

June 30th: after some pressure, Seagate agrees to file a claim with UPS. They ask for proof of purchase, which I provide to them. They tell me it’ll take a 8-10 days.

July24th: they say that UPS needs more information and ask for any pictures of the hardrives or hard dives in the box while being dropped off. Fortunately I always take pictures of hard drives I buy and where I buy them from to keep track of them properly and not mix up receipts. So I send them the pictures of the actual drives showing SN,PN, etc. I inform them I unfortunately didn’t take video/picture of HDD’s in the package dropping them off.

July 28th:I reach out if there’s anything at all from UPS as I didn’t hear back anymore since 24th when I provided the pictures and told them to let me know if they could view them, or needed me to upload them to Google Drive or something. I’m told they got the pictures but investigation is ongoing by UPS.

However i checked the tracking number on UPS site. It had been closed since July 20th with “Proof of delivery”. I assume the Corporate response team member Steven filed the claim as entire package not delivered. When it was and it was even signed for by them, and CS had previously said drives were in the recertification/testing stage.

July 31st: they email back saying UPS is not communicating with them or providing any information they requested. Therefore they can’t help me until they can communicate with UPS. I reply that same day that it’s not right that the customer has to deal with all this just because UPS and Seagate can’t communicate. I request information like claim number, inspection notes, receiving photographs, UPS decision.

August 11th: after ghosting me for days, they respond with basically the same thing. And decline to provide any information other than UPS claim number.

Today I sent them a demand letter via certified mail, along with replying with a copy of it to the email chain. My next step is probably small claims court. It’s insane that for a company this large they are this terrible with customer support.

TLDR: sent in 3 expensive hard drives using a Seagate provided UPS shipping lable over 2 months ago. Seagate/UPS lost/stole the HDD’s. Seagate filed a claim. UPS closed claim, Seagate corporate support team and UPS aren’t talking to each other, so the customer is screwed because of “no communication” between UPS and Seagate. Demand letter has been sent today.

Hi, hoping someone can help with what’s best to do. I have one portable seagate HDD 2tb hard drive and one seagate expansion desktop drive HDD 2tb that have both stopped working. When I plug them into my MacBook they will make a mechanical jamming sound every second or so. They won’t appear in finder or even in disk utility so I have no way of accessing them. How do I fix this? Tia! I’m based in the south of England if that’s any help :)

Bought four 14tb drives for my NAS last year. Sold on Amazon via a reseller in the Uk.

One of them started throwing errors, so I started the RMA process, sent in on 15/07, confirmed as received on 17/07.

No contact initiated by Seagate since and RMA tracking not updated, after several back and forth with support saying it was being looked at. Today I received the following -

Following a detailed review by our warehouse team regardingRMA XXXXXXXXXX (Serial Number: XXXXXXXX), we have received an update on the investigation. While the drive was initially reported as a discrepancy, a subsequent visual inspection determined that the submitted drive exhibited signs of tampering. As a result, the warranty claim has been classified as an invalid claim under Seagate's warranty policies.
* *
Based on the assessment, the submitted IronWolf Pro 14TB drive is not eligible for warranty coverage, and therefore no repair or replacement can be provided. In accordance with Seagate policy, tampered or unauthorized drives are also not returned to customers, as returning such products could allow them to re-enter the market.

I have emailed back asking for more details.

Amazon don’t want to know unless I can return the drive.

So I am now out a 14tb drive and don’t exactly have the cash lying around to replace it at the current prices.

Has anyone had a similar experience or have a higher up contact at Seagate they can point me towards?

Bought Seagate Ironwolf 8TB not even a year ago. Was using it just fine til this morning. Never skipped a beat. It was put inside one of those Chinese caddy storage, placed on top of my desk and then connected to my laptop via USB B to USB A port. Since I’m against this way of HDD usage, I was saving and building a desktop on the side. Cutting straight to point, this morning, I turned off laptop running my NixOS. Took the HDD out. Connected it to the desktop with SATA POWER + SATA DATA cable and desktop wasn’t turning on. Switched the SATA power cable and system booted but to my surprise no HDD was detected ever.
Then to make sure it’s not my desktop, I placed it back into my caddy and connected it to my NixOS laptop and it is not being detected anywhere now. Seems like HDD doesn’t spin up anymore.