I have to admit, out of the 13 plus years I’ve been repairing computers (hobby turned nightmare)… if I were to keep a log of hard drive failures, Seagate internal hard drives have let me down more times than any other brand. They are generally cheaper compared to the likes of Western Digital and perhaps Hitachi and Samsung HDDs… but at what cost… quality? Maybe.
My Western Digital, Hitachi and Samsung HDDs have outlasted my Seagate ones time and time again and when I lost yet another Seagate drive last month I think that was the last straw for me. Thank goodness I have backups but there a few more recent items that haven’t been backed up yet and the failed drive is totally unreadable yet spins. Usually, when spinning happens, I’m able to run it through some recovery programs and retrieve my files. Not in this case though and it’s frustrating.
Seagate does offer Data Recovery Software which may help if the drive is still readable to some extent otherwise it’s a no go. The other option available os to send in your hard drive to Seagate’s In-Lab Data Recovery for their team to take a closer look. I ended up sending in my failed Seagate 750 GB hard drive. There is a $49 Evaluation Cost charge to start the process (shipping label provided) and will later cost me several hundred dollars if Seagate is able to retrieve my data. We’ll see what happens.
You do have to properly pack your hard drive to send in. I bought an anti-static and anti-shock protective case, and stuffed it in a Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box and filled in the sides with crumpled paper to keep the protective case snug. Taped the shipping label on and dropped it at the post office. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Maybe I just have bad luck with Seagate internal HDDs but so far my record shows that they consistently fail on me. I’m sticking with Western Digital, Hitachi and Samsung internal HDDs from now on. I admit though that I recently bought a LaCie Rugged Portable Hard Drive. LaCie is a premium brand of Seagate technology, and reviews on the LaCie rugged drives have been fairly positive. I have also been carrying around a LaCie PetiteKey for many years now and it still works great… it’s attached to my keys so you can imagine the abuse it takes. Let us hope LaCie remains a premium brand of Seagate.