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Crucial M4 new firmware

T5BRICK

T5BRICK

macrumors G3
Original poster
Aug 3, 2006
8,315
2,410
Oregon
*edit* If you aren't having issues with your current firmware, it is probably advisable to avoid upgrading. I wasn't having any issues, but I can't help but tinker with things.

Also, if you do choose to upgrade, BACK UP YOUR DATA. Chances are nothing bad will happen, but it's better to be safe.

Looks like Crucial updated the firmware for the M4 series of drives from 000F to 010G recently. I went through the upgrade process and it was very quick and painless. I don't see any major differences, but the release notes were enough to convince me to try the update.

As per the crucial website:
Improved Trim response time
Improved power-on-to-ready time (known as POR, or TTR for Time-to-ready)
Improved resume-time from low power modes, and improved reliability of warm reboot
Improved power consumption by disabling HIPM (Host Initiated Power Management)
Click to expand...

I ran the BlackMagic disk benchmark and I didn't see a noticeable difference in speed(it was faster by about 1%, I'm sure it's within the margin of error of the test), but the promise of better power consumption sounds good to me.
 
Last edited:
johngrussell said:
Thanks for the heads up. Please post link to update and any other info about how to etc.
Click to expand...

It's on the Crucial website:

http://www.crucial.com/support/firmware.aspx

You'll have to select the drive and it'll give you links to the instructions PDF as well as the .zip file containing the .iso you'll need to burn to CD. If you're using a USB drive, they've got instructions for installing the .iso onto a USB drive as well, but I didn't use that method.
 
T5BRICK said:
It's on the Crucial website:

http://www.crucial.com/support/firmware.aspx

You'll have to select the drive and it'll give you links to the instructions PDF as well as the .zip file containing the .iso you'll need to burn to CD. If you're using a USB drive, they've got instructions for installing the .iso onto a USB drive as well, but I didn't use that method.
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the info! So how did you hear about this update? Did you randomly check their website? Also does updating the firmware erase the drive, therefore having to do a restore after updating? Thanks!
 
Irock619 said:
Hey thanks for the info! So how did you hear about this update? Did you randomly check their website? Also does updating the firmware erase the drive, therefore having to do a restore after updating? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Someone in another thread was asking me about updating the M4 before they installed their OS. I went to the site to link them to the instructions and I noticed that the firmware version had changed.

I updated mine with no issues at all(so far). No data loss or anything. I'm mainly interested in the better power consumption, as I figured most of the people in this section of the forums would be

If you're going to update, just make sure you have a backup of your data! It's unlikely that anything will happen, but if it does you'll have your data.
 
T5BRICK said:
Someone in another thread was asking me about updating the M4 before they installed their OS. I went to the site to link them to the instructions and I noticed that the firmware version had changed.

I updated mine with no issues at all(so far). No data loss or anything. I'm mainly interested in the better power consumption, as I figured most of the people in this section of the forums would be

If you're going to update, just make sure you have a backup of your data! It's unlikely that anything will happen, but if it does you'll have your data.
Click to expand...

Cool thanks. I wonder if there's a bang list we can get on to know about future updates. I will update today and see how it goes. I have a drive connected USB that backsup with TM every hour. Not worried about loosing data :)
 
Irock619 said:
Cool thanks. I wonder if there's a bang list we can get on to know about future updates. I will update today and see how it goes. I have a drive connected USB that backsup with TM every hour. Not worried about loosing data :)
Click to expand...

The drive has been out long enough, i wouldn't expect many more updates. Most people aren't even going to think about firmware updates unless they're having issues, or can't stop tinkering with things. :)
 
T5BRICK said:
The drive has been out long enough, i wouldn't expect many more updates. Most people aren't even going to think about firmware updates unless they're having issues, or can't stop tinkering with things. :)
Click to expand...

Just updated the firmware via CD. I wanted to use USB but I couldn't find a way to do it. The USB installer is for windows. I called Crucial tech and he was very helpful and recommended that I use a CD to update the firmware. The whole process took less than 5 minutes.

As for future updates, the tech said that we shouldn't see anymore updates for a while, and that any future updates will not improve read/write speeds.
 
Irock619 said:
As for future updates, the tech said that we shouldn't see anymore updates for a while, and that any future updates will not improve read/write speeds.
Click to expand...

I didn't notice any improved R/W speeds moving from 000F to this firmware either.

Anyway, even a marginal improvement is great if it's free. :D
 
Coolio. Seems like a worth-while upgrade given the trim and power updates. Glad I didn't go for a Samsung SSD or I'd have to skip the PITA upgrade methods.

Reading over the install guide it seems most of the updates are to make the drive play nice with Windows 8. The more detailed power savings info is below, emphasis mine.

Power consumption improvements for some notebook computers
• HIPM (Host Initiated Power Management) is no longer supported. In some notebook computers HIPM can interfere with the SSD’s ability to get into and stay in low power modes using DIPM (Device Initiated Power Management). Using DIPM alone is the most efficient method to conserve SSD power.
• SATA pin 11 (Device Activity Signal) is electrically isolated from the host when the SSD is in low power modes. This eliminates a potential leakage path which could draw unnecessary power while the SSD is in sleep or hibernate. This does not affect most computer systems.

I'm guessing this update won't do squat to my MBP.
 
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I also upgraded my brand new 512GB M4 earlier. Everything went seamlessly.

However, I'd like to ask one thing... When I upgraded, I got the following msgs:

Current Firmware Revision is: 010G
Ressetting Drive...
Drive Reset command issued.
Finished.
A:\>

And it didn't move from here on so I had to manually shut down my MBP and turn it back on. Is it supposed to be that way, or should it have restarted my Mac by itself?
 
jon08 said:
I also upgraded my brand new 512GB M4 earlier. Everything went seamlessly.

However, I'd like to ask one thing... When I upgraded, I got the following msgs:

Current Firmware Revision is: 010G
Ressetting Drive...
Drive Reset command issued.
Finished.
A:\>

And it didn't move from here on so I had to manually shut down my MBP and turn it back on. Is it supposed to be that way, or should it have restarted my Mac by itself?
Click to expand...

Step 9 on the instructions:

Remove the bootable media and shut down your system by pressing and holding the power button.
Click to expand...
 
SSD into ODD Caddy or HD slot?

Hi everyone.

I've just bought a Crucial M4 SSD, Model Crucial CT256M4SSD2 for my late 2008 unibody MBP. I've also bought an ODD replacement caddy for the current HDD. What's the general consensus on the best place to mount them - to replace the current HDD with the SSD in the normal position (with the HDD in the caddy), or vice-versa?

Thank you.

HKF.
 
FuNGi said:
Coolio. Seems like a worth-while upgrade given the trim and power updates.
Click to expand...

Yeah about trim...I asked the tech how this improves trim if this drive does not have trim enabled automatically. He said that the description is a typo for mac computers, because OSX does not support trim on 3rd party SSD's. The new firmware improves garbage collection rather than trim for MAC comp. I am happy with this because I have not used trim since I purchased this drive and I have had no issues with garbage collection.

jon08 said:
I also upgraded my brand new 512GB M4 earlier. Everything went seamlessly.

However, I'd like to ask one thing... When I upgraded, I got the following msgs:

Current Firmware Revision is: 010G
Ressetting Drive...
Drive Reset command issued.
Finished.
A:\>

And it didn't move from here on so I had to manually shut down my MBP and turn it back on. Is it supposed to be that way, or should it have restarted my Mac by itself?
Click to expand...

You have to hard reboot yourself by holding the power button. Also if you click the track pad and hold it down while rebooting the CD will eject itself :)

HongKongFuey said:
Hi everyone.

I've just bought a Crucial M4 SSD, Model Crucial CT256M4SSD2 for my late 2008 unibody MBP. I've also bought an ODD replacement caddy for the current HDD. What's the general consensus on the best place to mount them - to replace the current HDD with the SSD in the normal position (with the HDD in the caddy), or vice-versa?

Thank you.

HKF.
Click to expand...

I would put the HDD in the ODD and the SSD in the HDD bay. You will have better performance in that configuration.

jon08 said:
Thanks.

Btw, does anyone hear occasional slight noise from your M4? I can sometimes hear it (though it's barely audible) when it's under load.
Click to expand...

No. Ever since I removed the HDD I haven't heard any noises except for the fans.
 
jon08 said:
Thanks.

Btw, does anyone hear occasional slight noise from your M4? I can sometimes hear it (though it's barely audible) when it's under load.
Click to expand...

I agree, there shouldn't be any sound coming from your SSD. It doesn't have any moving parts or inverters(I've heard these buzz and hum). If you're sure it's the drive, you ought to contact Crucial.

----------
fat jez said:
The initialisation time is quicker, so the boot process is slightly shorter.
Click to expand...

Good call. I didn't spend any time measuring it because mine varies +/- 5 seconds anyway. I also rarely restart my computer.
 
I bought my 128 GB M4 a couple months ago and it came with Rev 309. I'm reading conflicting reports on whether I should upgrade the firmware. I've had no problems with mine, but I'm not completely sure if this is the one with the 5000 hrs bug.

Should I upgrade?
 
TDCorinthian said:
I bought my 128 GB M4 a couple months ago and it came with Rev 309. I'm reading conflicting reports on whether I should upgrade the firmware. I've had no problems with mine, but I'm not completely sure if this is the one with the 5000 hrs bug.

Should I upgrade?
Click to expand...

The searching I've done indicated that 0309 was the firmware released to fix the 5000 hour bug. If you aren't having issues, I'd keep what you've got.
 
TDCorinthian said:
I bought my 128 GB M4 a couple months ago and it came with Rev 309. I'm reading conflicting reports on whether I should upgrade the firmware. I've had no problems with mine, but I'm not completely sure if this is the one with the 5000 hrs bug.

Should I upgrade?
Click to expand...

T5BRICK said:
The searching I've done indicated that 0309 was the firmware released to fix the 5000 hour bug. If you aren't having issues, I'd keep what you've got.
Click to expand...

I had no reason to upgrade the firmware but I did anyways :D Besides, the Crucial rep said that the new firmware improves garbage collection.
 
TDCorinthian said:
I bought my 128 GB M4 a couple months ago and it came with Rev 309. I'm reading conflicting reports on whether I should upgrade the firmware. I've had no problems with mine, but I'm not completely sure if this is the one with the 5000 hrs bug.

Should I upgrade?
Click to expand...

Crucial will probably tell you to update no matter what.

The article below seems to indicate you are safe from the bug.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5424/crucial-provides-a-firmware-update-for-m4-to-fix-the-bsod-issue
 
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