I am considering adding a Samsung 840 EVO in my Late 2009 21.5 iMac. Does anyone have any experience updating the 840 EVO firmware? Or know how it is done?
Thanks,
Mike
Thanks,
Mike
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Samsung 840 EVO Firmware Upgrade
- Thread starter photosmike
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You can download an ISO of the firmware update from:
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/samsungssd/downloads.html
Just burn the ISO and boot from it.
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/samsungssd/downloads.html
Just burn the ISO and boot from it.
I would like to hazard a guess that the iso could be used to boot from a USB drive.
I'd say grab the file from http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/samsungssd/downloads.html
Open the iso and restore the img file to a fresh GUID formatted USB Stick and see if it will boot
I'd say grab the file from http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/samsungssd/downloads.html
Open the iso and restore the img file to a fresh GUID formatted USB Stick and see if it will boot
Spoke with Samsung Tech Support
We discussed the procedure for burning an ISO and booting from it to update the firmware and I asked about running Magician via Boot Camp. He said that it would not work and that the ISO procedure is the only way to update the firmware in an iMac..
His recommendation was not to update the firmware unless there were specific issues/problems that I experienced that the new firmware would fix. He viewed updating the firmware on an iMac as somewhat high risk.
We discussed the procedure for burning an ISO and booting from it to update the firmware and I asked about running Magician via Boot Camp. He said that it would not work and that the ISO procedure is the only way to update the firmware in an iMac..
His recommendation was not to update the firmware unless there were specific issues/problems that I experienced that the new firmware would fix. He viewed updating the firmware on an iMac as somewhat high risk.
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I downloaded the ISO, when I used burn to make it a bootable DVD it made an IMG file, is this correct?
I was expecting the ISO to make a bunch of "DOS like" files
I was expecting the ISO to make a bunch of "DOS like" files
I'm following this thread, and I'm curious if I can boot my Macbook Pro from an externally connected USB CD Drive? using this upgrade SSD Firmware.
Can we create a bootable SD memory card and boot from that?
My 250Gig 840 Evo that I purchased in Dec 2013 has EXT0BB0Q firmware, so I don't know what the newer EXT0BB6Q does?
Thanks for any tips.
Can we create a bootable SD memory card and boot from that?
My 250Gig 840 Evo that I purchased in Dec 2013 has EXT0BB0Q firmware, so I don't know what the newer EXT0BB6Q does?
Thanks for any tips.
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I am on a MBP early 2011 with the 840 EVO as boot drive. I will update the firmware now using USB to the latest one posted in december. Will post back with results.
I'm following this thread, and I'm curious if I can boot my Macbook Pro from an externally connected USB CD Drive? using this upgrade SSD Firmware.
Can we create a bootable SD memory card and boot from that?
My 250Gig 840 Evo that I purchased in Dec 2013 has EXT0BB0Q firmware, so I don't know what the newer EXT0BB6Q does?
Thanks for any tips.
I successfully updated the firmware in my 840 EVO 250G using my external optical drive. The drive was the one in my iMac (Late 2009) before I used the spot/ SATA Connection for the SSD. I put it in a cheap USB enclosures.
I wasted several disks until I read the information below. It worked for me.
"Creating bootable DVDs from .iso by converting to .cdr first"
http://tinyurl.com/kv7xl7u
I wasted several disks until I read the information below. It worked for me.
"Creating bootable DVDs from .iso by converting to .cdr first"
http://tinyurl.com/kv7xl7u
At the end I did not want to risk bricking the drive. In several documents Samsung says that the only procedure supported was burning the image in a disk and run it from there, so that is what I did.
I am confident that this can be done from an USB, even if i did not try it. I had after all the DVD and the optical drive. here is people in the net that has even updated the firmware from a partition on the same SSD disk using refit to boot.
I burned the ISO just fine with Disk Utility (Mavericks) without converting anything. I used a DVD+RW 8X disk. First quick erased it and then just used the BURN command in the toolbar with the downloaded ISO from Samsung.
I did a complete backup with CCC and booted booted the MBP pressing the ALT key. Got the CD icon and selected it.
This firmware update is not destructive so your data will be fine.
The scary part is when the program ask you to power cycle the drive. As this was an intern disk and I did not want to open the Mac I just continued without doing this. The verification failed, but after power cycling the hole machine and running the program again you can verify that the firmware was updated.
Now I will turn on TRIM.
I am confident that this can be done from an USB, even if i did not try it. I had after all the DVD and the optical drive. here is people in the net that has even updated the firmware from a partition on the same SSD disk using refit to boot.
I burned the ISO just fine with Disk Utility (Mavericks) without converting anything. I used a DVD+RW 8X disk. First quick erased it and then just used the BURN command in the toolbar with the downloaded ISO from Samsung.
I did a complete backup with CCC and booted booted the MBP pressing the ALT key. Got the CD icon and selected it.
This firmware update is not destructive so your data will be fine.
The scary part is when the program ask you to power cycle the drive. As this was an intern disk and I did not want to open the Mac I just continued without doing this. The verification failed, but after power cycling the hole machine and running the program again you can verify that the firmware was updated.
Now I will turn on TRIM.
I updated the firmware on my 500GB 840 EVO yesterday using Magician Software in Windows 7 BootCamp and it worked perfectly.
I am using the SSD in a Delock 42490 Thunderbolt enclosure.
Before that I tried using the ISO from an external optical drive but it would hang at SCANNING every time.
Of course, I completely backed up all the data on the SSD before attempting any firmware flashing.
I am using the SSD in a Delock 42490 Thunderbolt enclosure.
Before that I tried using the ISO from an external optical drive but it would hang at SCANNING every time.
Of course, I completely backed up all the data on the SSD before attempting any firmware flashing.
Sounds logical that Magician works under bootcamp. It is a native windows environment after all. The real challenge is for they that don't have a BC partition and that are not interested in creating one just to upgrading the firmware of their hard disks. It is really a pity that Samaung does not offer their Magician software to us osx users. It is a little like technological discrimination IMO. At least they provide a way to upgrade the firmware for Mac users.
I completely agree, and with no new Macs shipping with optical drives anymore, ISO images are hardly an ideal solution. Plus, I do have an external optical drive but couldn't get the flash to work.
Magician in BootCamp couldn't have been easier though. There should definitely be a Mac version of it as well. It took about 10 seconds to flash and then required a reboot. That's all there was to it.
And I bet you did not get the crazy "power cycle your drive" instructions you get when updating the drive using the provided ISO file from Samsung. You always get the "firmware flashing failed" message after the upgrade process ends scaring the hell out of the users that don't know that the firmware was flashed correctly. Who in his/her right mind will ask a user to disconnect and reconnect the power "live" of their hard disks, specially thinking that many of us have the drive inside laptops? Well, at least they could say that it is ok just to power cycle the machine and run the software again for verification of the flash.
No, I definitely did not.
It was bad enough when I finally made the difficult decision to hard reset the iMac after waiting for about 10 minutes with the boot CD flasher app stuck at "SCANNING". I was fully expecting it to be bricked.Now I'm actually glad that it never even got to the flashing bit with the ISO because I would have definitely had a heart attack if I saw the failure message!
If you have a Boot Camp partition I really recommend you go the Magician route for your next update. It's the stress-free method until Samsung sees fit to provide Mac users with some real tools for the job.
I could maybe try to boot a Windows live CD or something like that and see if Magician works from there next time.
I have had bootcamp before and i don't need it in my laptop. I think it's a waste of space to have windows permanently installed if it is just for something that I need very rarely, like updating the firmware of a hard disk. All my windows needs on the MBP are well covered by VMware Fusion from inside OSX.
Luckily for me it worked with the ISO, even with the high risk feeling that the hole process left on me
I have had bootcamp before and i don't need it in my laptop. I think it's a waste of space to have windows permanently installed if it is just for something that I need very rarely, like updating the firmware of a hard disk. All my windows needs on the MBP are well covered by VMware Fusion from inside OSX.
Luckily for me it worked with the ISO, even with the high risk feeling that the hole process left on me
I was only just suggesting BootCamp in case you happened to have it installed already and were avoiding it based on some advice you had heard. I agree there's no way we should have to go that route in order to update the firmware confidently. Like you, I use VMs but I aso use BootCamp for occasional gaming.
Anyway, in your case, all's well that ends well.
Anyway, in your case, all's well that ends well.
Thanks for the info in this post. Just updated the firmware on my 1TB Samsung 840 Evo in my 2013 iMac with the info provided here and that link about making a CDR. (I used my 2011 MBP with Superdrive to make the CDR).
When asked about power cycling, I selected "N" 3x in a row and it kept asking so I finally selected "Y" and then it said update failed and went to a blank cursor on the screen. I powered down the iMac and it booted up just fine.
You don't have to run the program again to verify the firmware was updated. You can do this on the Mac. Go to Utilities folder, open app "System Information" then click SATA in the left column, then highlight your Samsung drive and third line down you'll see the firmware revision (mine is showing EXT0BB6Q, prior to flash it said EXT0BB0Q).
When asked about power cycling, I selected "N" 3x in a row and it kept asking so I finally selected "Y" and then it said update failed and went to a blank cursor on the screen. I powered down the iMac and it booted up just fine.
You don't have to run the program again to verify the firmware was updated. You can do this on the Mac. Go to Utilities folder, open app "System Information" then click SATA in the left column, then highlight your Samsung drive and third line down you'll see the firmware revision (mine is showing EXT0BB6Q, prior to flash it said EXT0BB0Q).
My 2011 MBP 1TB EVO is showing EXT0AB0Q
I don't have any issues, that I know of, so would it be best to leave it as is, or is there something that I could gain from the firmware update?
That's hard to say. It seems like you're running a very early firmware. If you're having no problems, I doubt it's essential for you to do the upgrade. On the other hand, upgrading may boost performance or even possibly, the life of the drive.
These are Samsung's notes for the latest firmware update (EXT0BB6Q)
- Support advanced data security features(TCG/Opal and IEEE 1667)
- Optimizing TurboWrite algorithm
Thanks.
I went ahead and updated the FW using the iso file burnt to a DVD, and all is well.
I cant tell if there's any performance gains, but as you say there's other potential benefits.
I cannot get the updater to start. I have made several dvd's using various methods, I can select the disc when I option boot, but then I just get a black screen with a flashing cursor, nothing else ever happens. Any ideas?
I had absolutely no success with the optical drive method either. In my case, it would start, "SCANNING" would appear followed by some dots filing across the screen and then it would stop.
I finally ended up flashing it in my BootCamp Windows 7 with the Samsung Magician software. It was totally intuitive, painless and took about 10 seconds total.
Samsung really needs to release an OS X version of it.
I finally ended up flashing it in my BootCamp Windows 7 with the Samsung Magician software. It was totally intuitive, painless and took about 10 seconds total.
Samsung really needs to release an OS X version of it.
From what I've read, no. I just went through the Bootcamp install of Windows 8.1 and used the Samsung Magician software, as mentioned it was done updating in less than 10 seconds.
So, hours of install, 20gb of hard drive space, for a 10 second update. I'm leaving Bootcamp in, I have an optical drive that can only be updated via Windows.