All I wanted to do was update the firmware for my hard drive...

[Petros_K]

I kid you not. I was on the phone with at least 8 Dell representatives for over an hour, tossed around from one person to another, and not one person could help me with this.

I have a Dell OEM hard drive (but not a Dell computer), manufactured by Seagate, but because it's an OEM Dell part, the firmware is from Dell.

Hard Drive: Seagate model ST3250310NS Barracuda ES.2
Current Firmware: MAOD

I ran a bootable CD version of SeaTools, and it told me that there is a firmware update, and it won't continue testing until I get the firmware. The Windows version also tells me there's a firmware update. However, because this is an OEM hard drive from Dell, when I go to the Seagate website I can't get the current firmware version to download because I have to plug in the serial number, and it indicates this is an OEM part. I spoke with a rep from Seagate and he tells me there is nothing they can do because the firmware for an OEM drive is made by a company like Dell. He told me to contact them.

As I said, Dell has no clue how to help me. They kept asking me for a service tag for the computer. Someone went so far as to tell me that if I have a Dell hard drive but not a Dell system the firmware from Dell will not work because it is designed to work with a Dell motherboard. Of course, this was not a rep in tech support who told me this so I have no clue if it's valid.

However, if you go here:
http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/driverdetails?driverid=WM0W0

You can see there's a firmware version available released in 2013, and I'm guessing it's the most current available. Here's the big question (that nobody at Dell can answer):

If I download and install the driver from the Dell website, is it going to work or will it render my hard drive unusable because I do not have a Dell motherboard? Should I even risk it?

 

[I3LiNdSp0t]

What a story! Glad to hear you made it out alive xD

I have never done anything related to Hard Drive firmware, it should all be standard SATA compatible drives, whatever the firmware. DELL used/uses alot of HDD manufacturers to get their name out.

And nowadays a brandnew 1 TB SATA is around 50 euros or less, even less for a 500 GB one, so imho, it isnt worth the risk if ANY other stock SATA drive will be plug & play anyway.

 

[Petros_K]

Is there a better Hard Drive tester out there than SeaTools?

 

[I3LiNdSp0t]

It is made for Seagate, for Windows and I have personally never used it tbh.

Here is a review about it, I hope it gets you sorted m8 =)

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/gr/seagateseatools.htm

 

[popatim]

As a dell update package it should just run the firmware update utility and be done but as with all work of this type you want to do a full backup of your system before beginning and probably disconnect any/all data drives.

At worst you have to restore and send the seagate back, dispute it with ebay, or contact your CC company for a refund via their protection policies.

 

[Petros_K]

At worst you have to restore and send the seagate back, dispute it with ebay, or contact your CC company for a refund via their protection policies.

Yes. That's what I'm worried about. You'd think it wouldn't be so risky to do something like update firmware...

 

[fzabkar]

@Petros_K, if you can't get Dell's updater to work with your hardware/OS, there is a way to update your drive using Seagate's updater.

Firmware Update for ST3250310NS, ST3500320NS, ST3750330NS, ST31000340NS:
http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/207963en

You would need to make a bootable USB drive using FreeDOS. Extract the relevant components from the Seagate ISO (using 7-Zip), and then replace Seagate's LOD firmware image with Dell's (MA10.fwh). However, Dell's FWH image has a Dell header which would need to be stripped off using a hex editor.

You would then need to use an appropriate set of command options with Seagate's flash utility.

This is not as difficult as it may sound. In fact the hardest part will probably involve creating a bootable USB flash drive.

If you would like to proceed, then let us know.

 

[Petros_K]

@Petros_K, if you can't get Dell's updater to work with your hardware/OS, there is a way to update your drive using Seagate's updater.

Firmware Update for ST3250310NS, ST3500320NS, ST3750330NS, ST31000340NS:
http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/207963en

You would need to make a bootable USB drive using FreeDOS. Extract the relevant components from the Seagate ISO (using 7-Zip), and then replace Seagate's LOD firmware image with Dell's (MA10.fwh). However, Dell's FWH image has a Dell header which would need to be stripped off using a hex editor.

You would then need to use an appropriate set of command options with Seagate's flash utility.

This is not as difficult as it may sound. In fact the hardest part will probably involve creating a bootable USB flash drive.

If you would like to proceed, then let us know.

The reason I won't use the Dell firmware is because of what Dell tech support told me, which is that the firmware is not intended to be run with the drive connected to an HP motherboard, and for all I know, the reason I'm getting a strange clicking and buzzing sound from the drive is because the current firmware written by Dell is producing a glitch. The sound does go away, but not for like three hours after computer startup.

Can the Seagate firmware be flashed by creating a bootable CD?

 

[fzabkar]

Seagate's bootable CD ISO version of the updater incorporates a 1.44MB floppy diskette image.

Does your machine have a floppy drive?

 

[Petros_K]

I have no floppy drive that still works!

 

[Petros_K]

Does anybody know what "Config code: 1311" means on the label specs for the drive? I see that on the drive itself it says "Firmware: MA0D" but can't seem to find any info on what the Config code means.

The more I keep investigating this the more I think the noise is some kind of diagnostic that the drive runs because of the Firmware installed. I see that hard drives made by Western Digital have a feature called "preemptive wear leveling" and I'm wondering does Seagate use something similar.

Note, if I didn't make it clear, I'm trying to update the hard drive firmware mainly because I keep hearing strange buzzing and clicking noises, especially right after the system has been down and then boots up, as if there's some kind of self-testing. The buzzes and clicks last for over an hour, but they do stop if the system is left up and running. For a few weeks I've tried shutting down various services that could be running in the background (e.g., Task Scheduler, Search, SearchIndexer, Event log, defrag, etc.) but the noise persists. It's also not my anti-virus (Avast and Malwarebytes) or firewall (Private Firewall) scanning. The system also checks clean for malware and viruses.

If you're interested in hearing the sound I'm talking about, there's a small clip I made and posted here: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2369897

 

[fzabkar]

That noise sounds like the drive is having difficulty reading, but there is nothing in your SMART report to suggest that anything is wrong. Still, it doesn't sound good.

Seagate drives perform a Background Media Scan during idle periods, but I would think that would sound less clunky.

http://malthus.zapto.org/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=557&p=2119

 

[fzabkar]

Could you try this?

Burn a CD ISO containing Seagate's bootable firmware update for its retail drives. Boot it and then type Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break when you see the menu. This should bring you back to a FreeDOS prompt. Now check whether you can access a USB flash drive by typing "DIR X:", where X: is the drive letter of the flash drive. You will need to ensure that it is formatted with a FAT file system, and you will also need to enable USB legacy mode, or equivalent, in your BIOS setup.

If you can see the USB drive, then there will possibly be a way to apply Dell's firmware.

 

[Petros_K]

That noise sounds like the drive is having difficulty reading, but there is nothing in your SMART report to suggest that anything is wrong. Still, it doesn't sound good.

Seagate drives perform a Background Media Scan during idle periods, but I would think that would sound less clunky.

http://malthus.zapto.org/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=557&p=2119

This is from the manual for a different Seagate hard drive ( ES.2 SAS ) :

"7.5 Media Pre-Scan
Media Pre-Scan is a feature that allows the drive to repair media errors that would otherwise have been found by the host system during critical data accesses early in the drive’s life. The default setting for Media Pre-Scan is enabled on standard products...

*During Pre-Scan write verify commands, write performance may decrease by 50% until Pre-Scan completes. Write performance testing should be performed after Pre-Scan is complete. This may be checked by reading the BMS status. To expedite the scan of the full pack and subsequently exit from the Pre-Scan period, BMS will begin scanning immediately when the drive goes to idle during the Pre-Scan period. In the event that the drive is in a high transaction traffic environment and is unable to complete a BMS scan within 24 power on hours BMS will dis-able Pre-Scan to restore full performance to the system.


7.6 Deferred Auto-Reallocation
Deferred Auto-Reallocation (DAR) simplifies reallocation algorithms at the system level by allowing the drive to reallocate unreadable locations on a subsequent write command. Sites are marked for DAR during read operations performed by the drive. When a write command is received for an LBA marked for DAR, the auto-reallo-cation process is invoked and attempts to rewrite the data to the original location. If a verification of this rewrite fails, the sector is remapped to a spare location. This is in contrast to the system having to use the Reassign Command to reassign a location that was unreadable and then generate a write command to rewrite the data. DAR is most effective when AWRE and ARRE are enabled—this is the default setting from the Seagate factory. With AWRE and ARRE disabled DAR is unable to reallocate the failing location and will report an error sense code indicating that a write command is being attempted to a previously failing location.

7.7 Idle Read After Write
Idle Read After Write (IRAW) utilizes idle time to verify the integrity of recently written data. During idle periods, no active system requests, the drive reads recently written data from the media and compares it to valid write command data resident in the drives data buffer. Any sectors that fail the comparison result in the invocation of a rewrite and auto-reallocation process. The process attempts to rewrite the data to the original location. If a verification of this rewrite fails, the sector is re-mapped to a spare location."


All the above suggests that a Seagate hard drive would have certain self-tests and diagnostics that routinely run at power on.

However, the manual I have for the Seagate ST3250310NS (the hard drive in question) only says: "During periods of drive idle, some offline activity may occur according to the S.M.A.R.T. specification, which may increase acoustic and power to operational levels."

 

[Petros_K]

Could you try this?

Burn a CD ISO containing Seagate's bootable firmware update for its retail drives. Boot it and then type Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break when you see the menu. This should bring you back to a FreeDOS prompt. Now check whether you can access a USB flash drive by typing "DIR X:", where X: is the drive letter of the flash drive. You will need to ensure that it is formatted with a FAT file system, and you will also need to enable USB legacy mode, or equivalent, in your BIOS setup.

If you can see the USB drive, then there will possibly be a way to apply Dell's firmware.

--to apply the Dell firmware? I though the point was to apply the retail Seagate firmware? Remember, my concern is about what the Dell tech told me: The Dell firmware may not work properly with an HP motherboard. I'm still unclear about why the Seagate retail version won't work. I just know when I try to go to the Seagate website, which forces you to enter the serial number for your hard drive, it tells me that an OEM version of the firmware update may be available. I'm only assuming that because their system detects that I've got the Dell OEM hard drive it won't show me the latest update, but I have no clue if the firmware update directly from Seagate will work or not. It's the uncertainty that's preventing me from trying it because I don't want to brick the drive with incompatible firmware.

PLUS, if the noises I'm hearing are NOT an indicator of a potential problem and are only Seagate built-in diagnostics that run when your system is restarted? Then my concerns are actually not warranted, right?

 

[fzabkar]

Some manuals are more detailed than others. If you read the HDD Oracle page that I alluded to, you will see that Background Media Scan and Deferred Auto-Reallocation are also incorporated into regular SATA models. That's what you see in the drive's ConGen parameter dump. As for the noises, I'm not a data recovery professional, so I can't be sure what is going on, but ISTM that it doesn't sound good. When the drive spins up, it should "calibrate" itself and load its firmware from a hidden System Area (SA) on the platters.

I would advise against cross-flashing Seagate's retail firmware over the top of Dell firmware. The firmware exists in two places -- in serial flash memory on the PCB and in the SA. It consists of several modules, not all of which are affected by the update. If you cross-flash with different firmware, you will need to be certain that Dell's OEM firmware modules are compatible with Seagate's retail modules. I have seen some horror stories where people have bricked their drives. For example, there is a thread at this forum where a Samsung user tried to update a retail drive with Dell firmware, with catastrophic results. The reason was that the firmware on the PCB was updated, resulting in an incompatibility with existing modules in the SA.

Sorry, I misunderstood what you were trying to do. I thought you were concerned that Dell's firmware updater wouldn't recognise your hardware, and that this would potentially have bad consequences. If you can update your Dell firmware with MA10, I can't see why the drive wouldn't run on a HP motherboard or any other.

As for Seagate's retail firmware, their are two versions, SN06 or SN16, depending on the drive's part number. However, I would think that your drive would have a Dell part number, in which case you wouldn't know which version to try. In any case, Seagate's updaters usually have a configuration file which screens out those drives and firmware versions which don't qualify for the update. If you try to update them, the updater refuses to proceed. There are ways to force the update, but it would be dangerous.

 

[Petros_K]

...Sorry, I misunderstood what you were trying to do. I thought you were concerned that Dell's firmware updater wouldn't recognise your hardware, and that this would potentially have bad consequences. If you can update your Dell firmware with MA10, I can't see why the drive wouldn't run on a HP motherboard or any other...

The Dell firmware updater should be able to recognize my hard drive because it's a Dell part with a Dell serial number.

As for Seagate's retail firmware [for Dell serial number]...the updater refuses to proceed. There are ways to force the update, but it would be dangerous.

So then the safest thing to attempt would be with the Dell firmware update here: http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/driverdetails?driverid=WM0W0 and remember I haven't even tried this yet mainly because a Dell tech support person (no clue if he actually knew what he was talking about) said that Dell firmware is intended to work on a Dell computer. I have no experience with this, so I'm afraid to proceed not knowing a) if it will render the hard drive unusable and b) may be unnecessary if the sounds I'm hearing for a couple hour and then stop are actually a self-diagnostic of some kind written into the firmware itself.

 

[fzabkar]

I don't know why Dell's tech support told you what they did, but if it were my drive I would try the Dell update. Please don't blame me if things go wrong, though. The decision is yours.

The only caveat that comes to mind is whether Spread Spectrum Clocking is enabled by default in Dell's firmware, as this would be desirable in a server environment for FCC compliance reasons. Sometimes SSC doesn't get along with older motherboards. In fact ISTR that some early Macs had problems in this regard.