6.4TB Samsung PM1725a 5DWPD Enterprise TLC V-NAND PCIe 3.0 x8 NVMe HHHL AIC SSD NEW $999

[T_Minus]

How have the pm1725a been treating everyone with the updated firmware?
I found 2x NIB 1.6TB 2.5" in my stack that I should probably upgrade before deploying, even if going in my home setup

 

[eduncan911]

How have the pm1725a been treating everyone with the updated firmware?
I found 2x NIB 1.6TB 2.5" in my stack that I should probably upgrade before deploying, even if going in my home setup

I'm curious for an update as well, as I am about to flash 4x units myself.

 

[nmasse-itix]

I just bought a Samsung PM1725a and I found the information in this thread very useful.

I'm leaving this (size and thumbprint) for posterity (and my future self).

$ curl -sSfLo /tmp/GPNABB3Q.BIN https://drunkencat.net/misc/GPNABB3Q.BIN
$ ls -l /tmp/GPNABB3Q.BIN
-rw-r--r--. 1 nicolas nicolas 3297280 23 juin  22:31 /tmp/GPNABB3Q.BIN

$ shasum -a 256 /tmp/GPNABB3Q.BIN
c241ad14a665c0a49dce33c5c1065a586b718dce83073bf89ad194e505686ed9  /tmp/GPNABB3Q.BIN

Thanks @HecatesChild and @BlueFox !

 

[chiuljnk]

I use ESXi and the card is more often than not, not visible/detected on boot. Is there a command I can run to make it show up?

 

[redeamon]

I use ESXi and the card is more often than not, not visible/detected on boot. Is there a command I can run to make it show up?

Have you updated the firmware? This is a known issue.

 

[chiuljnk]

I flashed the version that was posted here: GPNABB3Q. The compatibility matrix says minimum firmware GPNA3D3Q so I should be good? I am using ESxi 6.7 U3

 

[redeamon]

You should be good, might be a bios issue (check if there's an update) if the drive is not being randomly detected on bootup.

 

[chiuljnk]

Seems like the problem is due to my motherboard (OpenCompute Wiwynn SV7210). When I moved the Samsung SSD to an Intel S2600CP motherboard, everything shows up fine. Thank you for your advice!

 

[josh]

damn came across this just as i was about to bite the bullet on sn640s. now i can't decide which to get

 

[elseless]

Does anyone have firmware version GPNACB3Q for this drive? Seems to be even newer than the GPNABB3Q posted earlier. I recently bought one used PM1725a 1.6TB with that version, and would like to flash it onto my other one, but unfortunately there is no nvme fw-upload command...

 

[dordal]

Now mid-2025, I had trouble with @HecatesChild's firmware update instructions from 2020 ( it kept erroring out at Step 2 ), but with some trial and error I got it to work. Here's how I did it.

First, download the firmware: https://drunkencat.net/misc/GPNABB3Q.BIN (same link as before; just repeated here for convenience)

Note all the following commands are run as root:

Get the ID of your PM1725a. Mine is at nvme0
# nvme list

Check existing firmware; mine had undergone an upgrade once before, to GPNA9B3Q:

# nvme fw-log /dev/nvme0
Firmware Log for device:nvme0
afi : 0x22
frs1 : GPNA5B3Q
frs2 : GPNA9B3Q

Download the new firmware:

# nvme fw-download /dev/nvme0 -fw=GPNABB3Q.BIN
Firmware download success

One thing that wasn't obvious here is firmware slot 1 is read-only -- hardcoded to the original firmware on the board. You'll only be able to install the new firmware into slot 2. It won't show up under the fw-log command unitl you've committed it in the step below.

Now this is where things get different. @HecatesChild did a two step save and activate process ( -a0, then -a3) without a reset; that didn't work for me as I'd get errors on the first (-a0) step. Instead I use -a1 to commit pending reset, and then manually reset the controller:

# nvme fw-commit /dev/nvme0 -a1 -s2
Success committing firmware action:1 slot:2
Multiple Update Detected (MUD) Value: 0

# nvme reset /dev/nvme0

# nvme fw-log /dev/nvme0
Firmware Log for device:nvme0
afi : 0x22
frs1 : GPNA5B3Q
frs2 : GPNABB3Q

... and you're done.

 

[jsingh04]

I have a dell pm1725a , I just bought, is there anyway to put the latest dell firmware on it , I have a supermicro based epyc server

 

[RolloZ170]

I have a dell pm1725a , I just bought, is there anyway to put the latest dell firmware on it , I have a supermicro based epyc server

i have Dell,Lenovo and HP computer at home for that purpose, less hazzle.
but the Linux-based Dell Update Package should work if you run linux, afaik is does not check for Dell BIOS.
if you extract the dell.exe with 7z you get a folder with the firmware in folder payload, maybe other tools can use this, but i don't know.

 

[jsingh04]

It does collect the inventory and won't allow me to move forward, the payload file is in weird format, will any dell computer bypass this?

 

[RolloZ170]

It does collect the inventory and won't allow me to move forward, the payload file is in weird format, will any dell computer bypass this?

no, you connect the SSD to the Dell computer and execute the firmware update exe.

 

[jsingh04]

I meant that a dell optiplex would do ? or a dell server is required?

 

[RolloZ170]

I meant that a dell optiplex would do ? or a dell server is required?

no, i used a Dell Precision 3460, but optiplex should work too.

 

[jsingh04]

no, you connect the SSD to the Dell computer and execute the firmware update exe.

This worked beautifully with the samsung drive, thanks , you saved a lot of time and pain for me
Though it did not work with the dell intel p4800x, but the p4800x update there was pretty straight forward the payload file was in the correct format.

Can the dell version be cross flashed to the stock version of the firmware?