Final Word on the Samsung HD204UI


KYThrill

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Here is the reason from the Samsung HDD department for the firmware number staying the same:

 

I just wanted to let you know the firmware version will not change after flashing. The version did not change because

 

it takes a long time to get customers approval for change notices. It would have taken over a month before we could

 

have released the fix.

So... you can either anger the one "customer" at Samsung, or all customers of the drives.  Personally, I would have done something to make identification of the patched drives possible.

 

Please make sure that for each drive the flashing process is successful…

How?  That is the problem...  apparently there is no way to know.

We have already implemented the fix to our production. So drives available on the market in 2 months time will have the

 

fix applied. To be sure check the manufacturing date on the drives, January 2011 would be safer…

Do they realize that those next two months of production dates will be avoided like the plague since there is no firm date, and no other indication the drive has the fix.

 

Stupid.  Stupid... Very Very Stupid.

 

Joe L.

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Apparently, the FW fix for the Japanese market drives changes the revision once successfully flashed, and it has been confirmed by Samsung to work on drives in other markets (namely USDM) I have a full F4 2TB drive with no other drive to move data to, so I don't want to flash the drive until I have a place to move the current data.

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I've got an empty/new drive.

 

Downloaded the flash utility here:  http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/faqView.do?b2b_bbs_msg_id=387

 

Copied it to a bootable USB key.

 

Connected both into my spare machine.

 

Ran flash utility.  It reported drive firmware as 1AQ10001 and ran automatically.

Ran flash utility.  It simply exited this time.

 

HDDScan v3.1 reports drive firmware as 1AQ10003

 

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Thanks for the report, johnny, that's definitely a big step towards my giving these drives another look.  I'm still not convinced that they are too worthwhile since the WD EARS and the new Hitachi greens are both pretty nice, but the next time these Samsung drives go on sale for $60 I might give one a shot.

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I've got an empty/new drive.

 

Downloaded the flash utility here:  http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/faqView.do?b2b_bbs_msg_id=387

 

Copied it to a bootable USB key.

 

Connected both into my spare machine.

 

Ran flash utility.  It reported drive firmware as 1AQ10001 and ran automatically.

Ran flash utility.  It simply exited this time.

 

HDDScan v3.1 reports drive firmware as 1AQ10003

 

 

I've made some tests also (on some HD204UI waiting for my next server).

Some HDDs were already patched with F4EG.exe, the program for the not-japanese hdd, some weren't patched at all.

All HDDs are dated 2010-09 or 2010-10.

 

The program for the japanese HDDs is HD240UI_JP.exe, for the rest of the world it's F4EG.exe

Before this, I've made some try to reproduce the problem of the samsung HD204UI, but without failure.

 

Anyway :

- I've patched all my HD204UI HDDs, and the firmware version was correctly modified from 1AQ10001 to 1AQ10003.

- Nor the HD240UI_JP.exe nor the F4EG.exe doesn't seem to verify anything, if it's launched two times on the same HDDs, it will does its job two times.

- The programs can be launched one after the other, they seems to do their job.

- The F4EG.exe doesn't modify the firmware version number at all, a HDD with version 1AQ10003 remains on this firmware version.

 

 

 

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Thanks for the report, johnny, that's definitely a big step towards my giving these drives another look.  I'm still not convinced that they are too worthwhile since the WD EARS and the new Hitachi greens are both pretty nice, but the next time these Samsung drives go on sale for $60 I might give one a shot.

 

+1 for $60 I'd buy another one.

 

I'm still waiting for someone to flash the drive that has data on the disk since I don't have another drive to store a 95% full 2TB drive.

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Ran flash utility.  It reported drive firmware as 1AQ10001 and ran automatically.

Ran flash utility.  It simply exited this time.

 

What may be the change?

When I use the firmware patch, any one, it seems to do the job.

After which I eventually made a power cycle, it's a samsung's recommendation.

 

5. When FW Flash successfully message display , please Power Off system, to make F/W flash complete.
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I agree, I spent a long time last week trying to get a bootable USB working only to be disappointed. I used the HP utility and the Win 98 boot files, via bootcamp on my MacBookPro, and no joy.

 

An F4 drive came with my case and I hate to leave it sitting around collecting dust. Hiren's CD seems like what I will try.

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What did you use to make the USB drive bootable?

 

Sounds so simple, but I swear, I've never seen a bigger P.I.A. before finding this webpage/utility!!! 

 

I used the instructions (and utility) listed here:  http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overlocking/vidcard/34/5

 

Don't forget to download both the program and the 'zip file' (nothing more than the files from a boot floppy)

 

This was very easy and worked great for me.

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I have 5 of these that I got on the newegg deal @ 60 each...2 are in my whs, but I really wanted to use for unRaid...I flashed two of the empty ones with the japanese FW already...I wish we could have some sort of feedback to test the functionality of the new FW for corruption issues...

 

I also did not preclear before assigning data drive and parity drive...can i unassign and preclear these still? I did set default to 4K aligned.

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I also did not preclear before assigning data drive and parity drive...can i unassign and preclear these still? I did set default to 4K aligned.

Yes, you can, but you will lose any data on the data drive.  (and lose parity protection while it is being cleared too)

 

Make sure you are using the latest preclear_disk.sh script.  It is up to version 1.6 now.

 

Joe L.

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Wouldn't you know it! I've been rolling with 1.5s for the longest time, and with a new box I'm getting ready to port over to, I saw this drive on sale for $80 at NE (where are you guys finding it for $60...2T for $60?). I decided to take the parity up to 2T, and start upgrading from there.

 

Then I come across this thread, and I'm like "why do I have a feeling they're talking about that drive I just purchased"...lol. Sure enough. Man, I'm a newbie, and I've not been big on jumpers, and special FW and such; I kind of plug and play, and I'm not looking to change that a whole lot.

 

So what's the verdict? I haven't unpacked this yet; should I try to send it back to NE and get something else? I used to roll pretty strictly WD, but now I see you need a jumper for the EARS, etc. Is this just for 2T? Maybe I should just stick with tried and true 1.5s?  ???

 

CD

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^^ It's a new drive, so there's no risk of data loss (not that it's occurred yet from flashing). download the firmware, unplug all other drives in the system, and boot to USB/Floppy with the patcher and run it. Be sure to check the firmware version number to confirm it successfully flashed.

 

BTW, Meritline has this drive for $76.99 shipped right now. Personally, I don't buy a new 2TB drive unless it's $70 or less (after rebate is OK).

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^^ It's a new drive, so there's no risk of data loss (not that it's occurred yet from flashing). download the firmware, unplug all other drives in the system, and boot to USB/Floppy with the patcher and run it. Be sure to check the firmware version number to confirm it successfully flashed.

 

BTW, Meritline has this drive for $76.99 shipped right now. Personally, I don't buy a new 2TB drive unless it's $70 or less (after rebate is OK).

 

Uh, here's what I heard: blah, blah...blah, blah, blah? Oh, and you paid too much...lol.

 

Seriously, I thought I made it clear I was hoping to avoid so much "prep" work. Is this really the new world order, or should I just pay like $5 more for another drive?

 

CD

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^^ It's a new drive, so there's no risk of data loss (not that it's occurred yet from flashing). download the firmware, unplug all other drives in the system, and boot to USB/Floppy with the patcher and run it. Be sure to check the firmware version number to confirm it successfully flashed.

 

BTW, Meritline has this drive for $76.99 shipped right now. Personally, I don't buy a new 2TB drive unless it's $70 or less (after rebate is OK).

 

Uh, here's what I heard: blah, blah...blah, blah, blah? Oh, and you paid too much...lol.

 

Seriously, I thought I made it clear I was hoping to avoid so much "prep" work. Is this really the new world order, or should I just pay like $5 more for another drive?

 

CD

 

Honestly, if you think this is too much prep work than you shouldn't be tinkering with computers. It's a very easy process, someone outlined everything a few posts ago on this thread or one of the other F4 2TB threads. And I was just listing the price if anyone else was looking for one. I paid $80 for my drive back in the summer, it's still a good price.

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^^ It's a new drive, so there's no risk of data loss (not that it's occurred yet from flashing). download the firmware, unplug all other drives in the system, and boot to USB/Floppy with the patcher and run it. Be sure to check the firmware version number to confirm it successfully flashed.

 

BTW, Meritline has this drive for $76.99 shipped right now. Personally, I don't buy a new 2TB drive unless it's $70 or less (after rebate is OK).

 

Uh, here's what I heard: blah, blah...blah, blah, blah? Oh, and you paid too much...lol.

 

Seriously, I thought I made it clear I was hoping to avoid so much "prep" work. Is this really the new world order, or should I just pay like $5 more for another drive?

 

CD

 

Honestly, if you think this is too much prep work than you shouldn't be tinkering with computers. It's a very easy process, someone outlined everything a few posts ago on this thread or one of the other F4 2TB threads. And I was just listing the price if anyone else was looking for one. I paid $80 for my drive back in the summer, it's still a good price.

 

Well, I don't think that's a great attitude for the unRAID boards. One of the things that I always list as a "plus" for unRAID, is it's fairly easy to run. Sure, the "advanced" users do more with it, but you can have a pretty low "server IQ" (comparitively speaking...compared to the public at large, I'm probably a server genuis...lol) and still roll with unRAID.

 

Let's put it this way; I've built 2 separate boxes, and had my array running fairly error-free for nearly a year. Could I update the firmware, and place a stupid jumper on a drive...especially if someone has outlined the process thoroughly? Sure. But I've never had to do such a thing to this point, and some of us try to keep server maintanence low. After all, I have other family and obligations, other than just my box...lol.

 

CD

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Well, I don't think that's a great attitude for the unRAID boards. One of the things that I always list as a "plus" for unRAID, is it's fairly easy to run. Sure, the "advanced" users do more with it, but you can have a pretty low "server IQ" (comparitively speaking...compared to the public at large, I'm probably a server genuis...lol) and still roll with unRAID.

 

Let's put it this way; I've built 2 separate boxes, and had my array running fairly error-free for nearly a year. Could I update the firmware, and place a stupid jumper on a drive...especially if someone has outlined the process thoroughly? Sure. But I've never had to do such a thing to this point, and some of us try to keep server maintanence low. After all, I have other family and obligations, other than just my box...lol.

 

CD

 

Building and setting up a server is a lot more detailed and intensive than flashing a drive. If you can build a PC, you should have no problems flashing firmware. If you want to be lazy, don't buy an F4 2TB or an EARS, it's as simple as that ;) Things will always require tweaking, it's just the name of the game. Yes, you shouldn't have to, but is it worth data corruption or premature drive failure?

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The issue with these drives is outside the realm of unRAID and it can effect the drive on ANY operating system.

 

You can run without patching the firmware but you are playing with fire and I highly suggest you do not try doing it.

 

Just do some google searching for patching the firmware on the drive and you should be able to accomplish the task

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The issue with these drives is outside the realm of unRAID and it can effect the drive on ANY operating system.

 

You can run without patching the firmware but you are playing with fire and I highly suggest you do not try doing it.

 

Just do some google searching for patching the firmware on the drive and you should be able to accomplish the task

 

That's fine fellas; I'm sure you get my point though (or maybe not). There's hardware tweaking, there's network tweaking; there's the tweaking for the streaming devices themselves. In my house, that's Squeezboxes, Dunes, Popcorn Hours, XBMC. There's tweaking the Home Theater itself, and calibrating PJs and Plasmas.

 

I'm not saying I'm alone; I assume we're all that kind of geek. But it gets to be a bit much, and you know; maintain a job, family, and life...lol. To this point, I had never had to do much to the drives. Was I playing with fire; I guess so...but blissfully unaware. Just hate adding one more "tweak" to keep track of, to the ever expanding list. Maybe I should just go back to records and Laserdiscs...lol.

 

So...this drive should be fine, with the necessary precautions; even as parity?

 

Thanks,

CD

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