back to article Firmware update kills Lenovo Home Media Network HDDs. Here's how to resurrect them

A Lenovo firmware update “killed” the cloudy version of the Home Media Network Hard Drive, according to a bunch of customers that took to its support forum to vent their frustration. A firmware update to the catchily-titled version 3.2.8.30031 was recently released - so customers installed it and waited for the product to re- …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And people are surprised, why?

    Remember, customer support folks are just script readers in India.

  2. Tezfair
    Stop

    Rarely update firmware

    I know it's supposed to be the right thing to do, but I can count on one hand the number of firmware updates I have ever done on anything. Scares me to think I could bork a server, or in this case essentally lose the data. Unless there is a critical need, it will stay on the original FW

    1. foxyshadis

      Re: Rarely update firmware

      True, but then you always wonder, did it crash/corrupt that file because it was just old, or because I didn't update firmware for 3 years? It's a tough spot, especially when you get changelogs that point to something similar.

      1. JEDIDIAH
        Mushroom

        Re: Rarely update firmware

        It shouldn't matter either way. Certainly HARDWARE should not be shipped in a broken state. The idea that a consumer should ever have to do a firmware update just shows how bad things have gotten. The sound engineering once expected out of hardware has fallen prey to the same sort of "ship it broken, we can patch it later" that once primarily dominated only computer games.

        It's a disgrace.

  3. MiguelC Silver badge

    RE:"Others may just choose not to buy Iomega or Lenovo again"

    That's the only Iomega reference in the article, which is all about Lenovo. Why the diss then?

    1. Cameron Colley

      Re: RE:"Others may just choose not to buy Iomega or Lenovo again"

      There's this magical thing called google which would tell you the answer in a few seconds. Are you new to the world wide web?

      1. Havin_it
        Mushroom

        Re: RE:"Others may just choose not to buy Iomega or Lenovo again"

        Ooh, bet you're fun at parties.

        I, for one, was wondering the same thing, so I'm glad the OP asked, because the result is that another commentard has actually answered it for me, right here, which saved me having to research it, however minor an effort that might be. (So thanks also to the answerer.)

        Also, I don't get the impression this was intended, but it serves as a bit of deserved public shaming for someone who DID do something wrong, namely the author who omitted the appropriate background information from the article (or the sub-editor who dropped a paragraph that explained that bit, but left the hanging mention of Iomega).

        I guess I kinda just advocated being an elitist prick there, so I'll go easy on you, but you might try thinking outside your own bubble when choosing your targets.

    2. Well Known Cowherd

      Re: RE:"Others may just choose not to buy Iomega or Lenovo again"

      Lenovo bought and rebranded the IOmega units. My Iomega EZ turned into a Lenovo EMC with one of the last flashes.

  4. Well Known Cowherd

    this happened to me. Drive was borked, spent 30 hours scanning and restoring all my pictures and junk off it. Threw the whole thing in the bin and got a Qnapp afterwards.

    It was a slow pile of garbage anyhow. you couldn't even stream high res movies off of the damn thing.

    Good riddance, and a lesson in making backups more frequently.

  5. gnasher729 Silver badge

    Does anyone how this plays with UK consumer protection laws? Usually as a consumer buying in the UK (and other EU countries), you get some protection if you buy a product that was already faulty when bought (even if the fault wasn't visible at the time, and therefore it breaks down much too quick). No protection obviously if you caused the fault, or someone else caused it.

    But what if the product was just fine when you bought it, but then the manufacturer tries a firmware update and that breaks it?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not effected but....

    as much as I love the Lenovo products I DO own, I recognise that they are a CHINESE company; and the Chinese have never really understood the concept of "Customer Service".

    This will have to change if they want to compete effectively on the world markets, right now they are selling on price, but if they ever want to move upmarket, the punters will want to know that they can get the support they need when they need it.

    I have a number of Chinese company products that are good.... but could be great if they ever got around to fixing minor niggles in the firmware; including an £50 ICE unit that does everything digital far better than big names like Clarion, but clips a tiny fraction of a second off of the start of every track.

  7. Unicornpiss
    Thumb Down

    Taking a page from Sony?

    Have they been learning from Sony on how to alienate customers and deny liability?

  8. paulf
    Thumb Down

    "Others may just choose not to buy Iomega or Lenovo again."

    I think I made that decision (Re: Iomega) about 9 years ago after one of their Rev drives went kaput about a month outside the 2 year warranty. Options? New drive = £hundreds or chargeable support event (Eur 12) but no repair/replacement offered for out of warranty devices (see option 1).

    Since the drive and backup software had always been flaky (at one point it regularly generated BSODs when backing up) I figured it was time for a different backup system.

    Looks like not much has changed so thanks for the heads up about Lenovo!

  9. Grease Monkey Silver badge

    "The moral of the story is always back up before performing a firmware update. Others may just choose not to buy Iomega or Lenovo again."

    And that's why I have no sympathy for these idiots. Wouldn't be at all surprised to hear the upgrade advised a backup, but these lusers chose to ignore the advice and whinge later.

  10. PeterM42
    FAIL

    Why would ANYONE....

    .....including Lenovo actually BUY ANYTHING Iomega?

    Those of us with long memories remember their outrageous "Click of Death" but NO SUPPORT fiasco.

    Since then, I have always stopped my users buying Iomega.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like