Updating the HGST HDD & SSD firmware

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NickM

Member
Jul 19, 2015
42
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Hello, here is AD05 fw for HUH728080AL4200 and HUH728080AL5200
I have drives that are physically marked HUH728080AL5200 on the label, but show up as H7280A520SUN8.0T in sg_* and smartctl. These appear similar to the drives discussed here:

I have resolved the issues with detected drive capacity/unnecessary parity/block size formatting and now wanted to update the firmware and flash to something 'stock', but it fails:
Code:
# sg_write_buffer -vvvvvv -m 5 --in=A4GNAD05.bin /dev/sg3
found sg_bsg_major=251
open /dev/sg3 with flags=0x802
tried to read 8388608 bytes from A4GNAD05.bin, got 1933312 bytes
will write 1933312 bytes
sending single write buffer, mode=0x5, mpsec=0, id=0, offset=0, len=1933312
    Write buffer cdb: [3b 05 00 00 00 00 1d 80 00 00]
    Write buffer parameter list (first 256 bytes):
1d 80 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 f0 ff ff ff
48 47 53 54 2c 20 61 20  57 65 73 74 65 72 6e 20
44 69 67 69 74 61 6c 20  43 6f 6d 70 61 6e 79 20
49 43 33 35 4c 78 78 78  55 78 44 33 32 31 30 2d
30 20 4d 69 63 72 6f 63  6f 64 65 20 28 43 29 20
43 6f 70 79 72 69 67 68  74 20 57 65 73 74 65 72
6e 20 44 69 67 69 74 61  6c 20 43 6f 72 70 2e 20
32 30 31 32 2c 20 32 30  31 32 2d 32 30 31 33 2e
20 41 6c 6c 20 72 69 67  68 74 73 20 72 65 73 65
72 76 65 64 2e 20 20 55  53 20 47 6f 76 65 72 6e
6d 65 6e 74 20 55 73 65  72 73 20 52 65 73 74 72
69 63 74 65 64 20 52 69  67 68 74 73 20 2d 20 55
73 65 20 64 75 70 6c 69  63 61 74 69 6f 6e 20 66
6f 72 20 64 69 73 63 6c  6f 73 75 72 65 20 72 65
73 74 72 69 63 74 65 64  20 62 79 20 47 43 41 20
check_file_type: file descriptor is sg device
set_pt_file_handle: sg driver version 3.05.36 so choose v3
      duration=31 ms
Write buffer:
Descriptor format, current; Sense key: Illegal Request
Additional sense: Parameter value invalid
  Descriptor type: Information: Valid=0 (-> vendor specific) 0x0000000000000000
  Descriptor type: Command specific: 0x0000000000000000
  Descriptor type: Sense key specific: Field pointer:
        Error in Data parameters: byte 0
  Descriptor type: Field replaceable unit code: 0x30
  Descriptor type: Block commands: Incorrect Length Indicator (ILI) clear
  Descriptor type: Vendor specific [0x80]
    f1 30
  DWrite buffer failed: Illegal request, type: sense key, apart from Invalid opcode
#
Current firmware is reported as PD51:
Code:
# smartctl -a /dev/sg4
smartctl 7.1 2019-12-30 r5022 [x86_64-linux-5.10.28-Unraid] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-19, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Vendor:               HGST
Product:              H7280A520SUN8.0T
Revision:             PD51
Compliance:           SPC-4
User Capacity:        8,001,563,222,016 bytes [8.00 TB]
Logical block size:   4096 bytes
LU is fully provisioned
Rotation Rate:        7200 rpm
Form Factor:          3.5 inches
Logical Unit id:      0x5000cca260baa11c
Serial number:        0016redactedV        VLKredacted
Device type:          disk
Transport protocol:   SAS (SPL-3)
Local Time is:        Wed Feb 16 14:02:51 2022 EST
SMART support is:     Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is:     Enabled
Temperature Warning:  Enabled

Is this achievable somehow? Am I using the best/correct firmware?
 
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SmashedSqwurl

New Member
Jun 3, 2019
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So I recently bought a pile of SAS HE10s (HUH721010AL4200) to go with some I already had. I had had some performance issues with these drives in the past, where delayed reads would cause them to fall off the expander with a power-on reset error. I thought I'd look around to see if I could find some firmware and found a Cisco page (https://quickview.cloudapps.cisco.com/quickview/bug/CSCvs18046) talking about performance issues with those very drives. Poked around a bit more and found an A3Z4 firmware, replacing A38K (which none of the new drives had; they were A384 and A21D). Turns out it was freely available to download the "4j" version ISO for the UCS S3260 server. Cisco doesn't make it easy to figure out what update you need to get the firmware files as they don't include every firmware file in every ISO... anyway, pulled down the ISO and extracted HUH721010AL4200_A3Z4.bin and HUH721010AL42C0_A3Z4.bin. I also had a 42C0 with the A38K firmware, so I thought I'd try my luck with that one first since it already had the second-newest firmware, so I applied the appropriate file with sg_write_buffer. After a full power cycle to see that it had worked, I did the same to the 4200 with the oldest firmware, just installing HUH721010AL4200_A3Z4.bin. After a reboot, now the drive thinks it's a HUH721010AL42C0 - did I screw up? No, the two binary firmware files from the ISO have the same checksum. Just Cisco things, I guess? Anyway, the drive was still working so I applied the A3Z4 firmware to all the drives. Seems like it's working fine; I'll keep an eye out for any issues. Hopefully the few drives I couldn't get to update (HUH721010AL4204s where the only google result for the firmware versions they have are STH posts I made? great...) won't be the cause of any problems.
How did the new firmware end up working out for you? One of my new-to-me HUH721010AL4200 drives with the A21D firmware is starting to act a little flaky with write timeouts.
 
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mb2005

New Member
Mar 12, 2022
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So, I have 4 - DKR2D-H3R0SS HUS723030ALS640 SAS drives with firmware FKFK when I look at the drive in HUGO the status stays In Test and only will change to ready when I format the drive. I've tried applying newer firmware and it just it seems to run but once done is says nothing applied. Also in diskmanagment it shows as uninitialized but once initialized it says Unknown but shows the disk capacity as correct just unallocated. I think the issue is the FKFK firmware but any way to get that upgraded and if so what Firmware should I be using? Thank you.
 

Tickety-boo

Member
Sep 8, 2019
42
3
8
So, I have 4 - DKR2D-H3R0SS HUS723030ALS640 SAS drives with firmware FKFK when I look at the drive in HUGO the status stays In Test and only will change to ready when I format the drive. I've tried applying newer firmware and it just it seems to run but once done is says nothing applied. Also in diskmanagment it shows as uninitialized but once initialized it says Unknown but shows the disk capacity as correct just unallocated. I think the issue is the FKFK firmware but any way to get that upgraded and if so what Firmware should I be using? Thank you.
DELL-M440
HP-HPD7
IBM-J3K8
 

napalm_atx

Member
May 21, 2021
54
24
8
Novosibirsk
o, I have 4 - DKR2D-H3R0SS HUS723030ALS640 SAS drives with firmware FKFK when I look at the drive in HUGO the status stays In Test and only will change to ready when I format the drive. I've tried applying newer firmware and it just it seems to run but once done is says nothing applied. Also in diskmanagment it shows as uninitialized but once initialized it says Unknown but shows the disk capacity as correct just unallocated. I think the issue is the FKFK firmware but any way to get that upgraded and if so what Firmware should I be using? Thank you.
There is no easy way to flash this disks to generic firmware, try to contact E123 in thread View topic - Remote unlocking HDDs from VSP systems: DKR5C, -5D, -5E etc
 

Frank Tarczynski

New Member
Apr 7, 2020
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0
1
Can I find firmware updates for these Hitachi and HGST SSDs?

I have three 1.6TB SAS SSDs that I'd like to use in TrueNAS Scale for a ZFS pool.

Smartctl identifies the SSDs as:

Vendor: HITACHI
HUSMM111CLAR1600
Revision: C250
Serial number: 0SWX21AA

Vendor: HGST
HSCAC2DA2SUN1.6T
Revision: A29A
Serial number: 001645J93SYA 09WY3SYA

Vendor: HGST
HUSMR1616ASS200
Revision: A300
Serial number: 09WXYV0A

All of them look to be the same drive in the same package, but with different firmware. They all forwat and verifiy without issue, but the middle one, which looks to be from a Sun system, throws these messages from smartctl:

[76015.362540] sd 0:0:2:0: [sdb] tag#4253 Sense Key : Recovered Error [current]
[76015.370326] sd 0:0:2:0: [sdb] tag#4253 Add. Sense: Grown defect list not found
[76315.358455] sd 0:0:2:0: [sdb] tag#4225 Sense Key : Recovered Error [current]
[76315.366244] sd 0:0:2:0: [sdb] tag#4225 Add. Sense: Grown defect list not found

Does anyone know if this is a problem? Is HGST firmware available for that drive?

I've not tested checked the through-put of the drives yet.

Thanks.
Frank
 

Tickety-boo

Member
Sep 8, 2019
42
3
8
Don't do this! Firmware stored not only in flash, it also have program code on platters. Firmware update, when applied properly, it modifies different system modules that stored in flash an on platters
Exactly!

Thank you for the link. What I might try is unsolder the firmware chip and reprogram it, if it can't be done with software tools.
Firmware didn't like rom, watch the video, you konw everything.
 

frogtech

Well-Known Member
Jan 4, 2016
1,482
272
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Can you export firmware from SSDs into a flashable package if you have drives that have newer firmware but you're unable to find it online?
 

vnikola

New Member
Nov 16, 2021
6
0
1
Hi all,

I have in my hands half a dozen SAS HGST HDDs [ HUS156045VLS600 ] that they are recognized in my system as NETAPP X411_HVIPC420A15 (NA03). I plan to put them in a old Dell T410 PowerEdge Server, however I believe I will encounter problems.

At the moment, the drives are hooked in an LSI 9211-8i card, waiting to be tested (not in the server directly as I would like). I found out that they are accessible and usable, as they are 512 formatted and not 520, however I can not read SMART attributes at all and I noticed that their temperature climbed to 60-65 degrees Celsius while testing them shortly.

The questions I have now are 2:
  1. Is there an easy way to determine if my hard drives are able to be reflashed (and not locked somehow)?
    1. Can I extract this information out via hdparm, HUGO or NIAGARA
  2. If (1) is true, and the HDDs can be reflashed, how difficult is it to change the FW to one that the DELL T410 will embrace in its eco-system?
 
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