Hitachi Harddisks Thread (5K3000, 7K3000, 7K2000)

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kryptex

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@britinpdx
Updating each individual disk in a RAID array should theoretically work, without any problem (nevertheless I would backup important data beforehand). The file system/data remained intact for me; I went from 5C0 and 800 to A10 on a few 7K3000 drives, tried both 2 TB and 3TB versions, never had any issues, A10 works fine. But YMMV.
 
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wlee

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I'm looking for FW and update software for 5K3000 HDS5C3020ALA632 (0F12117) 2TB, I have 4 of them to go into a old NAS, current FW is 580 according to label.

Also if it's okay to update the drive in a dock connects to a laptop via eSATA? I also have a USB 3.0 dock, but I guess it's better with eSATA interface.

Thank you in advance!
 
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kryptex

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Firmware A10 for Hitachi 5K3000 2TB HDS5C3020ALA632 (0F12117):
DOS version: MEGA
Windows version (HiTest 2.47S flasher for WinXP 32bit or Win7 32bit/64bit): MEGA
Please report back, how did it go ?

I did a DOS update to A10 on a 7K3000 3TB once via eSATA, it flashed without issues, so you might try (the outcome will probably depend a lot on the particular eSATA controller on the motherboard). So, if at all possible, try instead a native SATA port.

OTOH, I don't recommend flashing via USB-to-SATA enclosure, it will not work and you might even brick the drive.
 
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wlee

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kryptex said:
Firmware A10 for Hitachi 5K3000 2TB HDS5C3020ALA632 (0F12117):
DOS version: MEGA
Windows version (HiTest 2.47S flasher for WinXP 32bit or Win7 32bit/64bit): MEGA
Please report back, how did it go ?

I did a DOS update to A10 on a 7K3000 3TB once via eSATA, it flashed without issues, so you might try (the outcome will probably depend a lot on the particular eSATA controller on the motherboard). So, if at all possible, try instead a native SATA port.

OTOH, I don't recommend flashing via USB-to-SATA enclosure, it will not work and you might even brick the drive.
Click to expand...
Trying the Win7 x64 flasher first:
1. laptop with sandy bridge i7, eSATA dock was no go, scan drive didn't find any drive.
2. desktop workstation with westmere xeon, native on board sata port, scan drive got "Port 4 HDD is security freeze locked by Host and not ready to start HiTest. Please turn Power Off/On the HDD power and Rescan", the drive is accessible in Windows, since I don't know the cause, may have something to do with BIOS, not going to try the DOS flasher in this box.

Plan to find a regular desktop and try again, will report back.
 
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wlee

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kryptex said:
If you want to update from DOS, then a very easy and solid method I use is to first create a USB FreeDOS boot disk with Rufus Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way and then also copy to it the two DOS-based firmware files that I provided.
Just boot from the USB stick and start the Hitachi firmware flasher. It's way easier than the Windows HiTest flasher.
Click to expand...
I will try this, should BIOS set to IDE mode instead of AHCI or RAID?

I found what's security freeze lock at Not possible to reinstall an OS: "Security Free... | Intel Communities

Freeze lock is just a security feature. The BIOS tells the drive to lock it's security, this was introduced to stop virus's and other malware erasing your drive or setting a password and then holding you to ransom to get your data back.

By unplugging and plugging back in after the computer has re-booted the BIOS has long gone and so the drive doesn't get the 'freeze me' command.

The Freeze lock isn't a fault or a problem, it's by design.

SATA supports hot pluging so connecting it while the system is on isn't a problem. Keep the power connector connected to the SSD put just unplug the SATA cable, then once booted connect it back in, you will then be able to do a security erase.
Click to expand...
 
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wlee

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Used DOS flasher, updated 4 Hitachi 5K3000 2TB HDS5C3020ALA632 (0F12117) to A10 without any issue, thanks again!
 
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chinesestunna

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britinpdx said:
Thanks for the super quick response !

I used the DOS FW flash method and had no issues in upgrading from 180, 5C0 and 800 to A10.

Now, I do have several additional drives (all at FW rev 800) in a current RAID6 array on an LSI controller, and have no issues that I'm aware of.
If I understand correctly, the FW upgrade is supposed to leave all data intact ... so if I power down the array and pull the drives one at a time to upgrade FW in another machine then I should have no issues with Array corruption ?

Or should I just let sleeping dogs lie ....
Click to expand...
@britinpdx do you have the DOS utility and instructions for the 7K3000 drives you did? I tried using HiTest but my drives are in an RAID array onboard so you can't see the drives in Windows

Update:
I found the MLDLBRD.exe in this thread and ran it in a DOS usb stick, it doesn't see any of the drives though, even with onboard ports set to IDE and tried both native and legacy modes...
They are part of an onboard ICH10R RAID5 array, not sure if that makes a difference
 
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britinpdx

britinpdx

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The download link was posted by @kryptex in post #359.

I simply added the executable and firmware files to a directory in an existing DOS bootable USB stick.

The drives that I upgraded were not part of arrays, they were individual drives. I have not yet ventured into those waters.

I used a SM x9SCM motherboard, and attached the drive to be upgraded to SATA0. NOTE: Leaving the SATA drives set to AHCI in the BIOS will not work, you need to set the SATA to IDE mode.

The following (upgrading an existing drive with A10 FW to A10 FW) is brought to you courtesy of "KVMVision" ..



Set the BIOS to boot from USB, and boot to DOS. Directory looks like this ..


Run the executable which detects the drive and reports it (zero based).
You select the drive to be updated (in this case "0", and then select the rev of the firmware to upgrade to, in this case "A10" (and not the actual filename, which was a mistake I made).
Then select the file type ... we have a FW file with a BD extension, so select option "1" ..



Then ... Robert's your Father's brother, the drive is upgraded ...



Go for it ....
 
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chinesestunna

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Thanks for the detailed write up @britinpdx! Unfortunately I seemed to have screwed the pooch on this one... I made the mistake of booting into Windows trying to do the flash after disabling RAID in my BIOS back to IDE mode and now 2 of 4 2TB drives that were part of the RAID5 array on ICH10R are dropped and the array is in "failed" status...
I'm attempting recovery with guidance from here: HowTo : Recover Intel RAID "Non-Member Disk" Error.. - Page 16

It's true sometimes what they say, if it's not broken, don't fix it... In this case drives been running fine for past 3 years :( To add insult to injury, my BIOS can see individual drives, but the update tool MNDLBRD.exe doesn't detect any so the firmware still isn't updated...
 
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kryptex

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@chinesestunna
You shouldn't have let Windows in on those drives, it probably screwed the MBR of the disks from the RAID array. If you need a pre-A10 firmware, in case A10 is not good for you, tell me which and I'll check if I have it.

When I upgrade a firmware, I always connect only the single drive in question to the SATA0 port and use the Rufus USB boot disk method to update from DOS. Indeed, I confirm that IDE mode instead of AHCI is required to be set in BIOS for the DOS flasher to work.

After the flash is completed, I always physically turn off power on the PC and the HDD (in case it's in an eSATA enclosure or something). Then cold start and set BIOS back to AHCI or RAID, whatever it was used before the flash. And only then try to actually access and use the disks with a non-DOS OS. I never had any issues following this method.

Post #369 is right on the money. That's the way it's meant to be done.
 
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chinesestunna

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kryptex said:
@chinesestunna
You shouldn't have let Windows in on those drives, it probably screwed the MBR of the disks from the RAID array. If you need a pre-A10 firmware, in case A10 is not good for you, tell me which and I'll check if I have it.

When I upgrade a firmware, I always connect only the single drive in question to the SATA0 port and use the Rufus USB boot disk method to update from DOS. Indeed, I confirm that IDE mode instead of AHCI is required to be set in BIOS for the DOS flasher to work.

After the flash is completed, I always physically turn off power on the PC and the HDD (in case it's in an eSATA enclosure or something). Then cold start and set BIOS back to AHCI or RAID, whatever it was used before the flash. And only then try to actually access and use the disks with a non-DOS OS. I never had any issues following this method.

Post #369 is right on the money. That's the way it's meant to be done.
Click to expand...
Yea lesson learned, I was sloppy and didn't think windows would mess with them when there's no valid FS. I've moved this array between many boards and Intel RAID has been solid picking it up and got careless
 
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chinesestunna

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I give up... FreeDOS based mldlbrd.exe (tried in 2 machines) will not see the drives regardless of what I tried, SATA ports in IDE mode, native and legacy. HiTest in Windows will give a big error that the drive is "Frozen" and can't be updated. There's no guidance in the menu as to what "Frozen" actually means or how to get rid of it.
This is now infuriating and I don't want to brick any drives being stubborn fixing a problem that's not there, given that current original firmware hasn't given me any issues.
 
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kryptex

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@chinesestunna
In Windows, without HiTest running, put the PC in sleep mode, wait 30 seconds and then wake it up from sleep. The HDD should not be frozen anymore.

If it's still frozen, then do the following: Turn of PC, unplug the SATA power cable from the Hitachi HDD, then start Windows (obviously, it must be installed on another HDD), then while in Windows, plug the SATA power cable back to the Hitachi HDD. It should not be frozen anymore.
Just to understand why this happens: the BIOS, when it detects certain HDDs, puts them in frozen mode, to protect them from low-level format or bad firmware flashes etc. If you bypass this process which occurs when the PC starts up and the BIOS detects the drives, then it will not be frozen.

If still no-go, try switching the SATA ports (the Hitachi should normally be on SATA0, but you can also try on SATA1, maybe that's not frozen).

You can now start HiTest and flash the drive in question, if you still want to.

*Note: The 2nd method described above to bring out a drive from frozen mode should also work with the DOS flasher. But I haven't tried it yet.
 
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chinesestunna

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@kryptex, I really appreciate all your help on this. I might give it a go later this weekend. Still confused why the DOS program can't see the drives, even after I've detached and disabled all other devices from the systems, 1 Intel and 1 AMD...
 
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kryptex

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The drive should be in IDE (or Compatibility mode) instead of AHCI, that must be set in the BIOS. Otherwise the DOS flasher will not see the drive. The drive must be on SATA0.
How exactly did you create the USB boot disk with the 2 DOS flash files ? Are you sure it's a well built USB DOS boot disk ? I personally use Rufus to build a FreeDOS boot disk and copy the 2 DOS flasher files in a separate folder on the USB disk.

I had once a PC with a motherboard that didn't allow the DOS flasher to detect the drive. AFAIR the issue was the impossibility to set IDE/Compatibility mode in its BIOS. It was AHCI by default and there was no setting in the BIOS to modify it to IDE.
 
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chinesestunna

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kryptex said:
The drive should be in IDE (or Compatibility mode) instead of AHCI, that must be set in the BIOS. Otherwise the DOS flasher will not see the drive. The drive must be on SATA0.
How exactly did you create the USB boot disk with the 2 DOS flash files ? Are you sure it's a well built USB DOS boot disk ? I personally use Rufus to build a FreeDOS boot disk and copy the 2 DOS flasher files in a separate folder on the USB disk.
Click to expand...
Yep, I've lower SATA ports to IDE mode, and both Legacy and Native for IDE compatibility, still can't see drives. I apologize, just noticed you wrote must be on SATA0, so it has to be on the first port? That could be what's missing.
USB boot drive was made with Rufus, this is the same drive I use for all my firmware level stuff and has successfully flashed SAS controllers, vga bios and MB bios from it.

I think it could be the port issue. I'll report back
 
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Justin1977

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wlee said:
Used DOS flasher, updated 4 Hitachi 5K3000 2TB HDS5C3020ALA632 (0F12117) to A10 without any issue, thanks again!
Click to expand...

Care to share your DOS flasher and the A1o or 800 firmware? I'm running a pair of 2TB 0F12117 drives in TiVo's and would like to try a newer firmware to see if it fixes some random issues I've been having.

Thanks...

JH
 
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