Technology@Wooster

The Office of Information Technology has identified an issue with the MacBook line purchased for faculty and staff last year. Some of the Seagate hard drives installed in MacBooks that have matching model numbers (ST96812AS and ST98823AS) and firmware versions of 7.01 may lead to failure or data loss. Users can locate the firmware revision for their hard drives by going to Mac OS X’s System Profiler program, looking under Serial ATA.

According to a November 6, posting by Powerpage.org, “In test cases, ‘The read/write heads are detaching from the arm and plowing deep gouges into the magnetic platter,’ said Retrodata Managing Director Duncan Clarke. ‘The damage is mostly on the inner tracks, but some scratches are on the outer track — Track 0 — and once that happens, the drive is normally beyond repair.’”

Apple and Seagate are currently investigating the problem. There is no word yet on a recall from either group.

More information on the problem can be found at the following website:

http://www.techworld.com/storage/news/index.cfm?newsid=10532

The Office of Information Technology will be closely monitoring this problem and will alert users of any changes.

In the mean time, regular data back-ups are recommended. Each faculty and staff member is provided network storage space on Wooster’s file server. Important data files should be saved to the network storage space. Files stored on network storage spaces are routinely backed up by IT. Information on how to access these spaces can be found at the following web site:

http://www.wooster.edu/technology/help/networking/NFA.pdf

Bacause network storage space is limited, users are discouraged from storing personal MP3 or Wav files, Photos, and other multimedia files on these storage drives.

Questions can be directed to the Employee Help Desk at 330-287-3000 ext. 1111.