I wanted to post my experience with the Seagate ST9500420AS 500 Gig 7200 RPM Drive and upgrading the firmware of the drive.
When I purchased my MBP, I also purchased this model of drive because I was doing work at the university where I teach and also consulting for different businesses. I had a lot of information to store so I was thrilled with the 500 Gig of space.
I have never had an issue with the drive that I thought was problematic. I did notice that it would occasionally click and the system would pause for a half-second. To be honest, I had other things to worry about so I never gave it much thought.
However, I started to hear about the new firmware that not only solved the click/pause issue but increased the speed of the drive in copying files especially partition to partition.
I always thought that the copying should be a bit faster but there are so many variables related to drive speed that I just ignored it.
I had some time this weekend so I flashed the firmware on my drive from 0002SDM1 to 0005SDM1. The drive felt faster upon boot up and when I copied large files from one partition to another including over the network.
However, I also knew that it could be the placebo effect so I also flashed the drive on the notebooks my kids have and in our lab but told nobody what I was doing.
I received comments about the speed since Monday so I believe the new firmware has increased the speed and response of the drive to some degree.
Also, the drive no longer clicks and there is no pause.
To flash the drive:
-Download the update from Dell
-Inside the archive is a CD-ROM Image (ISO) that you burn to disc
-You boot off the CD-ROM via Boot Camp
-The program will fail to find a Dell Computer and exit to DOS
-You enter the command to look for any Seagate ST9500420AS Drive and flash the firmware
-It flashes the drive automatically
-Reboot into OS X or Windows via Boot Camp
Here is a link to the instructions:
Click Here
The instructions mention that AAM might become reset or disabled but I did not have that issue on any of the drives I flashed.
If you have this drive I would highly recommend updating the firmware.
-P
When I purchased my MBP, I also purchased this model of drive because I was doing work at the university where I teach and also consulting for different businesses. I had a lot of information to store so I was thrilled with the 500 Gig of space.
I have never had an issue with the drive that I thought was problematic. I did notice that it would occasionally click and the system would pause for a half-second. To be honest, I had other things to worry about so I never gave it much thought.
However, I started to hear about the new firmware that not only solved the click/pause issue but increased the speed of the drive in copying files especially partition to partition.
I always thought that the copying should be a bit faster but there are so many variables related to drive speed that I just ignored it.
I had some time this weekend so I flashed the firmware on my drive from 0002SDM1 to 0005SDM1. The drive felt faster upon boot up and when I copied large files from one partition to another including over the network.
However, I also knew that it could be the placebo effect so I also flashed the drive on the notebooks my kids have and in our lab but told nobody what I was doing.
I received comments about the speed since Monday so I believe the new firmware has increased the speed and response of the drive to some degree.
Also, the drive no longer clicks and there is no pause.
To flash the drive:
-Download the update from Dell
-Inside the archive is a CD-ROM Image (ISO) that you burn to disc
-You boot off the CD-ROM via Boot Camp
-The program will fail to find a Dell Computer and exit to DOS
-You enter the command to look for any Seagate ST9500420AS Drive and flash the firmware
-It flashes the drive automatically
-Reboot into OS X or Windows via Boot Camp
Here is a link to the instructions:
Click Here
The instructions mention that AAM might become reset or disabled but I did not have that issue on any of the drives I flashed.
If you have this drive I would highly recommend updating the firmware.
-P
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