Barracuda XT, Barracuda, Barracuda Green, DiamondMax and other desktop SATA and IDE drives

[lifespeed]

I have four of these connected to a Highpoint 3520 RAID5 array, and one to the motherboard SATA II port for the operating system.  Everything seems to be working fine at the moment, but I wonder if it would be a good idea to update?  I can use the OS drive as a guinea pig to verify an update does not destroy data (I have a backup disk image on the RAID array).  As the array is RAID5, I could rebuild it if a firmware-updated drive choked.

Has anybody figured out of AN05 is the latest update?  Do both SN05 and AN05 need to be applied?  Does this work OK through an Intel motherboard RAID chip, or does the BIOS need to be reconfigured to non-RAID to flash (I have the chip configured as RAID to expose the advanced diagnostic features, but only a single drive is connected)?

[nightmare99]

I can confirm the update is not data distructive, as far as I can work out the update mainly is for SAS controllers, I spoke to live chat and the info the chap gave me was something along the lines of , this firmware was developed for an issue with RAID controllers based on certain Intel IOP processors.

If you are having no problems I wouldn't bother, I was having serious issues with an Intel storage system SSR212MC2 where under heavy IO the drives would drop out and not be detected again until a reboot, quite a serious issue for a storage server

[lifespeed]

Thanks for the info.  The Highpoint Rocketraid 3520 is an SAS controller using an Intel IOP80341 I/O processor.  I suspect there is possibly an issue because the speed for this 4-drive array is somewhat lower than expected (340 MB/S read instead of 400+ MB/S).  The speed issue was mentioned in regard to an Intel IHC9R motherboard controller in this thread.  Also some of my brand-new drives indicate nearly 100 bad sectors, and there were some errors in the log file.  I'll have to check and post them here.  Not sure if this has anything to do with firmware.

[nightmare99]

Yes go straight for AN05, the issues you are describing and as you have a SAS controller with an IOP you are a prime candidate for the update.  I would set your SATA mode to IDE for flashing just be to on the safe side.

[lifespeed]

Nightmare99,

I called Seagate support and they sent me SN05 FW.  In reading this thread, there seems to be some confusion over the AN05 version and SN05 version.  Do you know if they are for two different versions of hardware?  I wonder why they gave me the SN05 version.  I did not have my drive serial numbers handy to give them, but I did note that the existing FW version is SN04.

Any ideas?  Would you mind sending me the AN05 version just in case?

[nightmare99]

Yes AN05 is for the same hardware, in fact if you get Seagate to give you the download link and download it you should see it is for your drive part number.  I would suggest you use live chat and specifically request AN05, I was annoyed that I was not offered it and had to ask for it.  Please also do the same as I did and ask them for any information on what AN05 is about and post it here then we can compare.

[lifespeed]

If you use live chat they tell you to call on the phone.  If you call on the phone they don't know what the difference between SN05 and AN05 is . . .

They say they need the drive serial number to give out the correct firmware in case the hardware revision changed within the ST31000340NS drive series, which I suppose is reasonable.

I guess I'll have to dig out all five drive serial numbers (I hope they can be queried through the RAID card, otherwise what a PITA ! ! !) and call them back.

Was your drive(s) originally loaded with SN04 FW?

Message Edited by lifespeed on 08-13-2008 03:51 PM

[nightmare99]

Yes I had 8x 750GB ES.2 with SN04 loaded, I gave them the SN from one drive over live chat and they sent me the download link for SN05 I then specifically requested AN05 so they sent me the link for that as well.

[lifespeed]

OK, here is the 'official' word.  AN05 is for SAS drives, SN05 is for SATA II drives.  Now we all know that our SAS RAID controllers will connect to SATA drives.  And the ST31000340NS is an SATA II drive . . .

I'm not sure this clarifies much, as this thread refers to an SATA II drive.  Oh well, I'll give SN05 a try.  They say AN05 is inappropriate.  And I gave them my serial numbers.

[nightmare99]

I'm sorry the person that told you that is incorrect, the AN05 firmware is for the SATA ES.2 drives when running them on SAS controllers