I did a 840 SSD firmware upgrade with only my Macbook Pro

[imorton]

Hello Gang, I just wanted to "giveback" to the forums since I have been helped by so many people here. I just finished upgrading my firmware on my 256gig Samsung 840 SSD.

1) downloaded the "Mac OSX" ISO from Samsung
2) Used Disk Utility to burn it to a CD/DVD.
3) Rebooted and selected the newly burnt CD/DVD and followed the firmware upgrade procedure.
4) Firmware upgraded to DXT07B0Q and everything running great.
5) I also enabled Trim by using Chameleon SSD Optimizer. Super easy, and other good tweaks with this application.

I do have to mention that I tried for 3 hours to create a bootable USB Key with the Samsung firmware ISO, yet I never was able to get Disk Utility to do it

Has anyone else managed to upgrade their firmware on their Samsung 840 SSD? How did you do it?

IAN...

[johnnnw]

I just did this with my 840 Pro a few days ago. Worked great. This would of been helpful though. Nice job.

edit: Don't you just LOVE this SSD? What a beaut. Worth the extra cost no doubt. These write speeds are amazing.

[imorton]

Originally Posted by johnnnw

I just did this with my 840 Pro a few days ago. Worked great. This would of been helpful though. Nice job.

edit: Don't you just LOVE this SSD? What a beaut. Worth the extra cost no doubt. These write speeds are amazing.

I wish I had found instructions like this first. It took me a long time to find all the little bits of info to upgrade my firmware.

Now you, your lucky, the 840 Pro.. I wimped out and got the 840 because I really don't do enough "write intensive tasks to warrant the extra $75 for the "Pro model".

I am sure that you enjoy the 450+ write speed. The standard 840 still isn't a wimp either... lollll

It boots up in 14-16 secs and is a pleasure to use. Now if only my optical bay caddy would arrive, as I want to throw my "old" Vertex2 SSD in the optical bay caddy

I'll use that 2nd SSD to have an internal Time Machine and CCC clones done daily... I wonder how quick those will be, internal SSD to internal SSD?

[johnnnw]

Originally Posted by imorton

I wish I had found instructions like this first. It took me a long time to find all the little bits of info to upgrade my firmware.

Now you, your lucky, the 840 Pro.. I wimped out and got the 840 because I really don't do enough "write intensive tasks to warrant the extra $75 for the "Pro model".

I am sure that you enjoy the 450+ write speed. The standard 840 still isn't a wimp either... lollll

It boots up in 14-16 secs and is a pleasure to use. Now if only my optical bay caddy would arrive, as I want to throw my "old" Vertex2 SSD in the optical bay caddy

I'll use that 2nd SSD to have an internal Time Machine and CCC clones done daily... I wonder how quick those will be, internal SSD to internal SSD?

I'm too scared to do the optical bay upgrade. I have Apple care and well I know I can just remove the drive and put the optical back in if needed, I don't want to risk it. Just too expensive of a machine.

I ALMOST put two 840 Pro's in RAID 0. That would of been amazing. Probably almost 1000 read/write. Maybe one day.

[nephron8]

I do have similar set up of internal ssd to ssd.
Both ports are sata 3 enabled in my latitude 6520 so my back up completes at like 230~250 mbps for copying the stuff.

[imorton]

Originally Posted by johnnnw

I'm too scared to do the optical bay upgrade. I have Apple care and well I know I can just remove the drive and put the optical back in if needed, I don't want to risk it. Just too expensive of a machine.

I ALMOST put two 840 Pro's in RAID 0. That would of been amazing. Probably almost 1000 read/write. Maybe one day.

I have AppleCare too, but it seems like a really simple upgrade and easy to "revert" back to stock condition should any issue arise.

Maybe I'll try the Raid options out and see how the performance is?

----------

Originally Posted by nephron8

I do have similar set up of internal ssd to ssd.
Both ports are sata 3 enabled in my latitude 6520 so my back up completes at like 230~250 mbps for copying the stuff.

Sounds like it's super fast...

I'm curious to see the speed of copying on the sata bus?

I like the idea of having 2nd internal SSD having Time Machine and a clone backup.

[johnnnw]

Originally Posted by imorton

I have AppleCare too, but it seems like a really simple upgrade and easy to "revert" back to stock condition should any issue arise.

Maybe I'll try the Raid options out and see how the performance is? [COLOR="#808080"]

I wouldn't raid if one is a slower SATA connection or an older SSD. It might hinder your performance rather than using one good new SSD (840).

[imorton]

Originally Posted by johnnnw

I wouldn't raid if one is a slower SATA connection or an older SSD. It might hinder your performance rather than using one good new SSD (840).

Good point

And since the 2nd SSD is a sata2 SSD, I think I'll just use it for backups and storage.

Maybe the next Macbook Pro's will have some really high speed bus technology and Raid already incorporated in them

[johnnnw]

Originally Posted by imorton

Good point

And since the 2nd SSD is a sata2 SSD, I think I'll just use it for backups and storage.

Maybe the next Macbook Pro's will have some really high speed bus technology and Raid already incorporated in them

Well RAID 0 is pretty risky, because if one fails stuff is gone forever with pretty much no chance of recovery. So for this reason Apple won't do this, think of all the pissed off customers.

The current Macbooks already have SATA III in both the main bay and optical drive bay, so that doesn't need to be a future wish. I meant because the SSD was old, not knowing what year your macbook was. If it's a 2012 it will definitely have sata III in the optical drive bay. (i think)

[imorton]

Originally Posted by johnnnw

Well RAID 0 is pretty risky, because if one fails stuff is gone forever with pretty much no chance of recovery. So for this reason Apple won't do this, think of all the pissed off customers.

The current Macbooks already have SATA III in both the main bay and optical drive bay, so that doesn't need to be a future wish. I meant because the SSD was old, not knowing what year your macbook was. If it's a 2012 it will definitely have sata III in the optical drive bay. (i think)

That's where I'm not sure until I install the optical bay caddy. My MB Pro is an early 2011 13" and there seems to be a lot of uncertainty about wether the optical bay sata will do sata2 OR sata3

Right now it doesn't matter since the SSD that will go in there is an older sata2 Vertex2. I'm sure it will still be plenty fast. I presume copying stuff there will be @250-275 Mbs (near the sata2 limits)

[vistadude]

I just got a samsung 840 and did a firmware upgrade in windows. It took about 2 seconds to do.

My IPOPS performance sucks although I'm on SATA 2, but read and write are reasonable at ~200 MB/sec.

[imorton]

Originally Posted by vistadude

I just got a samsung 840 and did a firmware upgrade in windows. It took about 2 seconds to do.

My IPOPS performance sucks although I'm on SATA 2, but read and write are reasonable at ~200 MB/sec.

I'm sure it's blistering compared to the old disk based hard drive?

I noticed a difference going from a sata2 Vertex2 SSD to the sata3 Samsung 840 SSD (standard not Pro)

The Pro model wasn't worth the @$75 difference since I don't really have a high "write mode" workflow

[johnnnw]

Originally Posted by vistadude

I just got a samsung 840 and did a firmware upgrade in windows. It took about 2 seconds to do.

My IPOPS performance sucks although I'm on SATA 2, but read and write are reasonable at ~200 MB/sec.

Not everyone has the option to use Windows for a firmware upgrade though unfortunately.

[imorton]

Originally Posted by johnnnw

Not everyone has the option to use Windows for a firmware upgrade though unfortunately.

That was my problem too, no real access to a Windows desktop machine.

I tried in vane to get the firmware upgrade done via a USB Key, but to no avail.

That's why I wanted to list the easy to do instructions on a Macbook using just a CD/DVD SuperDrive

Quick and Painless...

[CarreraGuy]

Quick question, apologies I haven't read entire thread here...

Thanks for the links and I have burnt my cd and booted into the firmware utility. The English grammar is a bit rough on the eyes, here is a copy/paste:

WARNING:

YOU MUST TAKE BACK UP OF ALL DATA ON THE DRIVE AS THE FIRMWARE UPDATE PROCESS WILL OR MAY CAUSE THE LOSS OF ALL PRE-EXISTING DATA.

Where it says "will or may" cause loss of all pre-existing data... does that mean it wipes my drive just to update the SSD's firmware?

Thanks in advance,
Kurt

[imorton]

Originally Posted by CarreraGuy

Quick question, apologies I haven't read entire thread here...

Thanks for the links and I have burnt my cd and booted into the firmware utility. The English grammar is a bit rough on the eyes, here is a copy/paste:

WARNING:

YOU MUST TAKE BACK UP OF ALL DATA ON THE DRIVE AS THE FIRMWARE UPDATE PROCESS WILL OR MAY CAUSE THE LOSS OF ALL PRE-EXISTING DATA.

Where it says "will or may" cause loss of all pre-existing data... does that mean it wipes my drive just to update the SSD's firmware?

Thanks in advance,
Kurt

In my case, it didn't touch my data, but YMMV. I would have a complete and functional backup before doing the firmware upgrade just to be safe

[CarreraGuy]

Originally Posted by imorton

In my case, it didn't touch my data, but YMMV. I would have a complete and functional backup before doing the firmware upgrade just to be safe

The warning message wording is confusing, it implies it may wipe the drive just to do a firmware upgrade? Why would it need to do that? I have backups but it would still be a pain to restore everything... ugh frustrated. I'll just live without it until Samsung upgrades their english translator

[alphaod]

Originally Posted by CarreraGuy

The warning message wording is confusing, it implies it may wipe the drive just to do a firmware upgrade? Why would it need to do that? I have backups but it would still be a pain to restore everything... ugh frustrated. I'll just live without it until Samsung upgrades their english translator

It's a disclaimer, so you can't sue them if your lose your data, even though data loss is unlikely.

[Swiss-G]

Originally Posted by imorton

Hello Gang, I just wanted to "giveback" to the forums since I have been helped by so many people here. I just finished upgrading my firmware on my 256gig Samsung 840 SSD.

1) downloaded the "Mac OSX" ISO from Samsung
2) Used Disk Utility to burn it to a CD/DVD.
3) Rebooted and selected the newly burnt CD/DVD and followed the firmware upgrade procedure.
4) Firmware upgraded to DXT07B0Q and everything running great.
5) I also enabled Trim by using Chameleon SSD Optimizer. Super easy, and other good tweaks with this application.

I do have to mention that I tried for 3 hours to create a bootable USB Key with the Samsung firmware ISO, yet I never was able to get Disk Utility to do it

Has anyone else managed to upgrade their firmware on their Samsung 840 SSD? How did you do it?

IAN...

My experience is you need to use a DVD rather than a CD to burn the ISO. You will find plenty of posts in the 840 thread.

[tvhaugen]

I did the same thing a few weeks ago following the instructions on this forum. It worked perfectly and I am loving having an SSD in my Macbook Pro!

[imorton]

Originally Posted by Swiss-G

My experience is you need to use a DVD rather than a CD to burn the ISO. You will find plenty of posts in the 840 thread.

Good point as I had a look and mine was a blank DVD that I used. All I know is that wasted hours trying to make a "bootable" USB Key

[CarreraGuy]

Originally Posted by Swiss-G

My experience is you need to use a DVD rather than a CD to burn the ISO. You will find plenty of posts in the 840 thread.

I used one of my my cheap unused CD-R to burn the image and was able to boot fine. However I didn't upgrade the firmware because of the strange warning message.

[imorton]

Originally Posted by CarreraGuy

I used one of my my cheap unused CD-R to burn the image and was able to boot fine. However I didn't upgrade the firmware because of the strange warning message.

Hmmm, so apparently a CD will work just a well. In regards to the warning about backing up before upgrading the firmware, I think that is just to protect themselves.

You should always have a current "backup" before doing something like that anyways...

[Mr.Bullitt]

Thanks for this!

I just replace my failing 500GB Seagate HD with a 500GB Samsung 840. The downloaded .iso image burned to a CDR boots easily in the "free DOS" interface. Loading the new firmware was snappy..

[iArch]

Originally Posted by imorton

Hello Gang, I just wanted to "giveback" to the forums since I have been helped by so many people here...

Thanks for taking the time, Ian. I tossed a 500 GB 840 into my 2010 MBP 4 months ago. Always been an if it ain't broke don't fix it kinda guy, so I waited till many others had updated their firmware to make sure all was good with it. Anyway, backed everything up, burned the dvd, restarted holding down alt, chose the dvd, and bada bing. Maybe 6 minutes start to finish, including waiting for the burn.

Thus far this 840 has proven to be a super upgrade, even on my old SATA II MBP. If I were shopping for another SSD today, I'd buy the same one all over again, especially given the expected price drops.