If you RMA the device, chances are you will get a refurb back. If your in raid 5 then you wont lose your data because the device will re-build the array - however if your in stripe 0 mode your screwed. Best option would be to run spinrite on the disk, see if it can fix the drive, put it back in the mbwe & see if you can boot it. If so then copy your data to another drive and then RMA it.
Its unfortunate that this problem arose but I seriously doubt the firmware caused it. Chances are it was on its way out anyway.
