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Flashing firmware with linux hdparm command


gingerbeardman

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Has anybody tried updating the firmware using the Linux hdparm --fwdownload directive?

 

http://linuxreviews.org/man/hdparm/

 

It seems it would work, but I'd like to have confirmation from Corsair that the firmware .vic file is the correct format to be used with hdparm?

 

Information about its use to update the firmware other drives:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1038167711 (success on another drive)

http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.hardware.dell.poweredge/38418 (no AHCI)

http://miazmatic.com/wiki/index.php/SFI_SSD_Notes (uses .vic file)

 

This would help for people using non-Windows operating systems such as Linux and Mac OS X, and also Windows users who cannot enable AHCI.

 

Any thoughts appreciated.

 

matt

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bump!

 

I would be keen to find out if this is a viable option.

 

Only owning a Mac, it is somewhat frustrating not having an OSX upgrade path.

 

I also wondered if it would be possible to use the Ultimate Boot Disc to upgrade the firmware on a Mac?

 

Thank you in advance for your reply.

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Thanks for the reply.

 

I cannot afford to be a ginny pig with my drive so will wait for a time when I can get it out and take to a friends to use his windows machine.

 

Are you aware if Corsair are in the process of or are planning to support OSX in the upgrade path? Reeding your forum, it does seem you have a fair Mac users a little upset that there is currently no option for us to upgrade in our native environment.

 

Again, thank you in advance.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Can Corsair confirm that the firmware .vic file is the correct format to be used with hdparm?

 

We have no way of verifying this. Our firmware packages and the update tools both come from SandForce in their complete form. If you need more detailed information, you'd probably need to get it from SandForce or perhaps the developers of HDPARM.

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Well, that was quick...

 

Well, most hard drives and a lot of SSDs do use the SATA standard

commands for FIRMWARE DOWNLOAD, which is all that hdparm does.

 

But in some cases the "firmware file" may actually contain two

images, one for the "firmware bootloader", and another for the

"main image" on the drive. hdparm knows nothing about those,

and really only the drive makers know for sure.

 

Here, I buy *only* drives from ***, because (1) they have a very cool

and simple Linux firmware update tool, and (2) they have frequent firmware

releases to fix bugs sooner than most other brands.

 

My question remains. Corsair need to work with SandForce on this.

 

If other SandForce based brands are doing non-Windows firmware updaters then why aren't Corsair?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was going to try this method on a test drive but after looking at the .pkg file in a hex editor, I'm not totally convinced that it is the correct file. I don't think it's worth even my test drive for this.

 

I haven't figured out a way to decompile the .pkg file into it's components and then get the right file from there. I think it would be too complicated and too much could go wrong.

 

It would be much easier if SandForce provided the correct file for this method. For now, I highly suggest using a live windows environment for updating. I have performed the update on UBCD4Win and it works perfectly fine.

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I may be completely wrong on this but I think decompiling or decompressing or whatever the correct term is would best be done on a MAC........wouldn't it?

 

Not necessarily. Decompressing is probably the more correct term. It's possible the .pkg file is compressed using a file packer like UPX or something, which can be unpacked with the right tools.

 

But most likely there is more than just the binary file with the actual firmware, there is probably a header or something like that has to be removed to make it compatible with hdparm. I think there's too much that could go wrong and it's silly to try and figure out what SandForce did if they could easily tell us or provide us with the raw binary files for firmware updating.

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  • 1 month later...
I don't know what our plans are with regard to non Windows users. If we change our offerings, I'll be posting them in the SSD update section but I am not aware of any plans at this time.

 

Before I bought a new SSD to my new personal non work laptop, I decided to update my firmware on my 2 SSD main drives, one from OZC and one from Corsair.

 

Please Fix Linux Firmware flashing Support in a way we can script upgrades in a simple way, as my future buys will be OCZ unless this is done. Until I noticed this issue I preferred Corsair as it came with a nice mounting bracket.

 

Regards

 

Oggy

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  • 2 weeks later...

To Corsair,

 

In reviewing Corsair product specs it clearly state that the Apple Macintosh OSX is a supported operating system. The operating system supporting your product as a standard Hard Drive is only part of the supportability picture. If the product does not provide the appropriate software for that operating system or procedures to support firmware upgrades then Corsair can not say they support that operating system.

 

Corsair is expecting customers to invest into the Microsoft Operating System at an additional cost; in this example lets go with Windows 7 Home Edition price of $199.00.

 

So in reality your product will cost customers more to ensure we update our firmware in a supported/warranted method:

 

$349 (Corsair 240GB Drive)+$199 (Windows)=$548.00

 

Will Corsair go to their partners and develop a procedure or application to support firmware upgrades within all the OS they claim to support.

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Great post.

 

Sadly, the lack of any decent response so far on the topic most likely means the answer is "no".

 

In fact I'd wager that the people who can even make that call don't even read this forum or know about the issue due to the communication problems inherent in a company of Corsair's size.

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