Should I update my hard drive firmware to support AAM and NCQ?

[Trianian]

I just bought a bunch of Seagate drives for my first FreeNAS build. The firmware they're shipped with isn't even listed at Seagate, I think it's because I pulled them from retail enclosures. (Why? Because they were fully half the price of the same model # bare drives).

In referencing the firmware versions at smarthdd.com, there are only two listed differences; support for Command Queuing Optimization (NCQ) and support for Acoustic Management (AAM). The version loaded on my drives supports neither, the version I can update to supports both.

Are those features in any way advantageous in a FreeNAS build?

I may update anyway as I do have concerns that the f/w I have now may be specifically designed for external enclosures. I'm thinking it may have some some aggressive spin-down routine or other feature that's not optimal for NAS use.

 

[krantz]

Did you manage to update the firmware of the disks within Freenas? if so -- how did you do it?

 

[cyberjock]

Seagate as a general rule doesn't give out firmware updates unless you can prove definitively that you are a victim of a bug that is clearly fixed in a future version. This has always been an Achilles's heel with Seagate. The only firmwares I've ever seen then give out was when 1 out of every 255 boots would brick the drive. Whoops!

 

[paleoN]

Seagate as a general rule doesn't give out firmware updates unless you can prove definitively that you are a victim of a bug that is clearly fixed in a future version. This has always been an Achilles's heel with Seagate.

Seagate?

 

[cyberjock]

Notice that the post is from 2009. That's when they had that exact firmware bug I mentioned in my post. The 1 out of 255 boots would turn the drive into a brick, so they HAD to release a public update. The RMAs were killing their business. I had one of those drives then, and I still do have it, but its in a box now.

Seagate has never been quick to make public firmware updates of any kind. In fact, if you search the forums and you call their tech support multiple times you'll get several people that say you have the latest, but then 1 person will say there's an update. Then, sometimes they'll tell you there's an update but they won't let you flash it yourself, you have to mail them the drive. I hate it because I have a bunch of drives that smartd reports as being bugged firmware, but Seagate has no public release. You must mail them the drives and I'm not going to mail them 8 drives just for a firmware update on drives I won't trust enough to use even after the update.

 

[titan_rw]

Weird. I upgraded a bunch of my Seagate drives firmware fairly recently just by searching for the drives model number and "firmware" in Google. Downloaded the firmware from Seagates site, wrote it to USB flash, and flashed away.

 

[cyberjock]

You'd be the first person I've heard of since their 2009 firmware screwup to actually get and flash a firmware update. Maybe they've changed their policies somewhat..

 

[cyberjock]

I know I have several drives that are flagged by smartd as having known bugged firmware versions on the hard drives, but when I check for an update it says there aren't any.

 

[krantz]

Sorry guys, my question remains: can I update the hard disk firmware within freenas? or I have to plug the disk somewhere else and then do it?

 

[cyberjock]

That's a question that is totally based on the manufacturer of the hard drive and what they provide for the firmware update tools.