Read/write drives equipped in some MacBook, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini models are apparently malfunctioning in some Seagate hard drive models that are loaded with firmware Version 7.01.
Seagate Model numbers include ST96812AS and ST98823AS. Macintosh users can check the firmware revision of Seagate drives by going to System Profiler and looking under Serial-ATA look for the revision number.
Older computers that are not affected list their hard drives under ATA, instead of Serial-ATA.
Seagate (official website)
Seagate Technology (NYSE: STX) is a major American manufacturer of hard drives, founded in 1979 and based in Scotts Valley, California. The company is registered in the Cayman Islands. Their hard drives are used in a variety of computers, from servers, desktops, and laptops to other consumer devices such as digital video recorders, the Microsoft Xbox and the Creative Zen Micro line of digital audio players. Seagate is the world’s largest computer hard disk manufacturer and the oldest independent hard disk maker still in operation.
Seagate was traded once traded as a public company under the symbol “SGAT” on the NASDAQ system, then moved to the NYSE system under the symbol “SEG” in the 1990s. In 2000, the company was taken private by an investment group composed of Seagate management, Silver Lake Partners and Texas Pacific Group in a 3-way merger-spinoff with Veritas Software; Veritas merged with Seagate, which was bought by the investment group. Veritas was then immediately spun off to shareholders, gaining rights to Seagate Software Network and Storage Management Group (with products such as Backup Exec), as well as Seagate’s shares in SanDisk and Dragon Systems. Seagate Software Information Management Group was renamed Crystal Decisions in May 2001. Seagate re-entered the public market in December 2002 on the New York Stock Exchange as STX