Momentus XT, Momentus, Momentus Thin, MobileMax, and other notebook drives

[FoferX]

That did it, fzabkar, thanks so much for your assistance on this!  (Both for figuring out how to "forcibly update" in this way, as well as your helping me along with the new SD24 code/procedure.)

For those following along, here's how I was able to update to the SD24 firmware:

I'm on an Intel MacBook Pro, so I burned the ISO and booted from there. The updater program runs and then ultimately complains about an incompatible firmware, despite the fact that my model,the ST95005620AS certainly matches.  

Then, following fzabkar's advice, type Cntrl-C to abort the batch, and type the following at the DOS prompt:

FDL487A -m Anak -f ANQSD24.LOD -i ST95005620AS -s -x -b -v -a 20

If you have a 320 GB model of this drive, you'd type:

FDL487A -m Anak -f ANQSD24.LOD -i ST93205620AS -s -x -b -v -a 20

The first two times nothing happened.  Third time was a charm, for whatever reason... and the update program ran.  Then when it was done, I power-cycled.  

It's strange to me how some folks with the same exact drive, on a Mac, report success with the bootable ISO:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=11555855&postcount=238

I'm unsure as to why my particular situation required this "forcible update."  Perhaps my drive is an OEM one instead of a retail one, I dunno...

In any case, System Profiler now reports I'm on SD24 with my new Seagate drive... and I'm happy.

Thank you fzabkar!  And Seagate, it would be great if you'd (A) cover these bases better and (B) have a native update app for Mac.  It's ridiculous that end users have to jump through these hoops just to get an up-to-date firmware installed.

[bobaa]

FoferX,

What symptoms did your drive have, and did the update fix it?

[fzabkar]

The reason that the updater rejects certain drives is that it compares the drive's existing firmware modules against an update matrix in a configuration file.

The actual command line that is executed by the updater is ...

fdl487a.exe -s -x -b -v -a 20 -h an-sd24.cfs

... where "an-sd24.cfs" is the encoded configuration file.

Here is the decoded version of this file:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/AN-SD24.TXT

Each entry has the following format:

(model);(existing firmware components);(firmware image file);(updated components)

It appears that your SD23 firmware components don't match those called out in the configuration file, in which case the updater rejects your drive. I suspect that Seagate does this to restrict the update to those firmware combinations that are affected by a particular issue.

Nevertheless, you can still forcibly update your drive to SD24 firmware by explicitly specifying the model, family name, and firmware image file, as you have already done.

[Chatbox]

@Krisdk

Because the moment that Seagate is saying they're fixing it, it means they acknowledge that there's a problem.  This could slow down the sale performance of the product.  Seagate is banking on consumers who don't do product pre-purchase research.

[blaznonion]

Firmware SD24 seems to have alleviated all issues with my 500gb model in a Lenovo T400.  Previously, I had to disable APM in order to prevent the drive from freezing.

After updating to SD24, I do not have to turn APM off in order to maintain stability.  My T400 is configured as a portable workstation with 8gb RAM and many virtual machines.  I run PerfectDisk VMWare Workstation bundle which defragments and compacts my virtual machines prior to performing a defragmentation pass on the main drive.  This process used to make my system completely unusable while running and it used to freeze.  Since upgrading to SD24, VM maintenance tasks are faster and my system remains responsive.

I am also running the Lenovo HDD Active Protection system which parks the drive heads if it senses acceleration, shock or vibration.  This also seems to be running fine on this drive.

[duffduff]

Here the same thing: Running smooth and snappy. Almost no hiccups after updating to sd24. Well, let's face it, sd23 and sd22 were public betas ...

[snailhead]

Hi All,

My Environment:

Dell D630 running a dual boot managed by grub

Windows 7 x64

Ubuntu 10.04

My Problem:

I ran the drive for two months with no issue. Starting on Wednesday, on quick POST, my ST95005620AS, firmware SD22 wasn't always ready which resulted in a BiOS error, "Drive not found". Needless to say that the first time this happened I was not happy.

Initial Work Around:

Set the BiOS for normal, non-automatic POST

I wasn't aware of the APM or the Apple problems with this this drive, and that may have scared me away from using it on my work laptop. I no longer subscribe to the notion of paying companies to support their Beta testing program. I thought I was being smarter than my coworkers who were burning $200 plus for 120G SSD's and running Windows XP x86.

Post SD24 Install:

I loaded SD24 yesterday with no problems to report. Minimum POST now works, and I have noticed no other issues. I think the Dell BiOS power management under Windows 7 was previously working, and I haven't seen an improvement in my battery life.

Not having release notes published for SD24 bothers me a bit. But then again, the firmware group in my company is understaffed, and staffed with Engineers who hate to document their work. Regardless, while this may not bother the average 21st Century i-centric consumer, it should bother all of us who are spending time and good will on this promising technology.

[neley]

Hi, I have the newest macbook pro 13", Core 2 duo 2,4, wich I upgraded with this Seagate momentus XT 500gb (SD23), and make a bootcamp (Mac OS X and windows 7) I have exactly the same problem as many others (frequent freezing, mouse stops moving, nothing responds...), so I need to update the firmware...

Question is: Is it safe to make the firmware update through windows 7 with the .exe file on my bootcamp? Is there something special to know? Or I can just run the .exe and folow the instructions? I can't make a backup and don't want to lose my data especially on the Mac part... Thanks for any advice! Sorry for my "english"

[balph01]

I can confirm that you can use the .exe from your Boot Camp installation, did it this morning and it went fine. System Profiler in OS X now says that I have SD24. When you run the .exe you will have to restart the computer, don't forget to hold the Option key to boot to Windows instead of OS X, otherwise the firmware update won't run.

I like the new firmware update, less hick ups now. I would like to see a changelog though.

[neley]

Thank you very much! Works for me!

But I still hate this drive so much!!! Never do this mistake with Seagate again! It still seems that it consumes twice more energy than my previous drive, and the f...ing spinning vibrations, it vibrates through my whole desk... Never more! It turns my smooth new macbook in to unusable old PC...

Anyway, thanks for your help! And thanks for the new firmware, hope it helps a little...