Firmware package for Samsung SM883/MZ7KH3T8HALS

[slybunda]

why not check the smart info on the drive and see if it has any hours and data written etc?

 

[mrpasc]

Cause the OP does not trust those SMART values as the box was opened and SMART values can be counterfeit…

 

[john_doe]

I haven't got a chance and enough time to check the SMART values using CrystalDiskInfo, but I'll do so very soon, and I'll also try to use tools like R-Studio to scan any hidden pre-existing partitions, which could be an indication that the SSD is pre-owned and used (and hence refurbished).

Meanwhile, the retailer's warehouse team provided me some photos of the tray of SSDs and the manufacturer's box that they received, and tried to assure me that they work directly with Samsung in both retail and enterprise products, and 95% of enterprise products they purchased and received are in tray form without antistatic bags, so they have to put individual SSD inside antistatic bag by themselves and use transparent adhesive tape to seal it. Therefore, I would be very grateful if someone here could please provide any advice or idea regarding the trustworthiness/possibility that these items are truly brand new and not refurbished (the item I received has a serial number that is almost in consecutive order with/very close to those of the other 3 SSDs in the tray shown in the photo above, so they are in the same batch and likely in the same tray). (Meanwhile, I'll anyway go ahead to check the SMART values and scan for hidden partitions.)

And they do not offer any warranty for their enterprise stuff as it is not meant to be sold to end-customers. If you need to claim any warranty you have to fight with the seller. That’s why much people try to avoid Samsung enterprise gear…

According to Samsung SM883 3.8 TB Specs , it has 5 years warranty (or 21024 TBW). But does this only apply to business/enterprise user and NOT apply to end-customers? In other words, I can't claim any warranty with Samsung in case that the SSD dies within 5 years (I'm sure it won't reach 21024 TBW), is this correct?


Meanwhile, I also compared the technical specs between Samsung 860 PRO 4 TB Specs and Samsung SM883 3.8 TB Specs , and the NAND Flash and Controller are completely identical, and it seems that the much larger TBW of SM883 than that of 860 PRO is due to the larger over-provisioning (and maybe some difference in DRAM Cache as well) and sacrificing of Random Write speed. For my use case, I'm fine with the reduced Random Write speed of SM883 compared to 860 PRO, but longevity is the most important thing, as I need to use the drive for the next 10 years or more - but not in extremely heavy-use (I probably won't reach 4000 TBW for sure). So I'm not sure if endurance in terms of TBW can be considered as identical to longevity, and also what benefits/advantages could SM883 provide over 860 PRO in terms of longevity and/or reliability (given that SM883 might not be eligible for warranty if sold to end-customers as mentioned in the quotes by @mrpasc above, whereas 860 PRO should be free from this potential problem). Therefore, I would be very grateful if someone here could please provide any advice or suggestion. Many thanks again!

 

[mrpasc]

According to Samsung SM883 3.8 TB Specs , it has 5 years warranty (or 21024 TBW). But does this only apply to business/enterprise user and NOT apply to end-customers? In other words, I can't claim any warranty with Samsung in case that the SSD dies within 5 years (I'm sure it won't reach 21024 TBW), is this correct?

Yepp, this is absolutely correct. Unfortunately.

 

[Stephan]

I got a couple of those SM883 3.8 TB and while I have no warranty but only the OEM, here are a few of my thoughts about this drive:

1. TBW of 21 Petabytes is really really alot. Would not surprise me if drives will do 50 or 100 PB until failing.
2. Drive is last generation of MLC flash made. For me durability of TLC and following is down-hill.
3. Somebody has liberated firmware. Would have been a show-stopper if nothing were available. Not buying anything without 3+ firmware revisions if I can avoid it.
4. This drive is the best SATA SSD that Samsung has produced. Change my mind. Anecdotally, very few defects with big hosters.
5. To diversify from my usual Micron 5x00 SATA drives.
6. I buy in an EU-country from commercial vendors as private person. This means warranty by law for 1 year for used gear. Good enough for me, others might want 5 years no matter what and I get that.
7. I tested performance with fio and drive does what datasheet claims, around 540 MB/s read and 510 MB/s write for bigger blocks and queue depth of 2 or larger.

 

[john_doe]

Yepp, this is absolutely correct. Unfortunately.

Thanks for your confirmation. I would be also very grateful if you have any idea/advice/suggestions regarding my other questions regarding: (1) the trustworthiness/possibility that the SSDs in the tray are truly brand new and not refurbished (the item I received has a serial number that is almost in consecutive order with/very close to those of the other 3 SSDs in the tray shown in the photo above, so they are in the same batch and likely in the same tray), and (2) whether endurance in terms of TBW can be considered as identical to longevity, and also what benefits/advantages could SM883 provide over 860 PRO in terms of longevity and/or reliability; for example, my use case won't involve heavy writing (it won't reach 4000 TBW in the next 10 years), but it'll be nonstop 24x7x365/always powered on for using, and so, will this make 860 PRO 4TB fail/die earlier than SM883 3.84TB (including potential data loss)?

Many thanks again!

 

[john_doe]

1. Drive is last generation of MLC flash made. For me durability of TLC and following is down-hill.
2. Somebody has liberated firmware. Would have been a show-stopper if nothing were available. Not buying anything without 3+ firmware revisions if I can avoid it.
3. This drive is the best SATA SSD that Samsung has produced. Change my mind. Anecdotally, very few defects with big hosters.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Do you have any idea/advice/suggestion regarding Samsung SM883 3.8 TB Specs vs. Samsung 860 PRO 4 TB Specs in terms of longevity and reliability? They have the same NAND Flash and Controller, but different over-provisioning and DRAM Cache, which seems to be the reason for the much larger TBW of SM883 (with sacrificing of Random Write speed), but 860 PRO is a consumer product so it's likely to be eligible for Samsung's 5-year warranty (possibly global?), which could become important in the future, as I may need to travel overseas for work for some prolonged period of time, and it will become very difficult to contact the redistributor/reseller for warranty claim of SM883 from abroad. So I'm debating whether I should retain my SM883 3.8TB or return it and buy a 860 PRO 4TB...

 

[mrpasc]

Thanks for your confirmation. I would be also very grateful if you have any idea/advice/suggestions regarding my other questions regarding: (1) the trustworthiness/possibility that the SSDs in the tray are truly brand new and not refurbished (the item I received has a serial number that is almost in consecutive order with/very close to those of the other 3 SSDs in the tray shown in the photo above, so they are in the same batch and likely in the same tray),

and (2) whether endurance in terms of TBW can be considered as identical to longevity, and also what benefits/advantages could SM883 provide over 860 PRO in terms of longevity and/or reliability; for example, my use case won't involve heavy writing (it won't reach 4000 TBW in the next 10 years), but it'll be nonstop 24x7x365/always powered on for using, and so, will this make 860 PRO 4TB fail/die earlier than SM883 3.84TB (including potential data loss)?

Many thanks again!

(1) I am not an expert for identifying counterfeit products by any means. I am a private enthusiast who buys mostly used stuff, there I just follow my „guts feelings“ („if something is to good to be truth…“). So can’t help here.

(2) endurance and longevity are not directly identical. Think aging of components (flash cells, capacitors for Powerloss protection) which will happens even if you do not write to them.

in general, both the SM883 and the 860 Pro are reliable products from a time where Samsung did well with their SSDs. I would not overthink this, make a decision regarding the amount you have to spent for each.

 

[Stephan]

SM883 is superior due to power-loss protection. Nothing like a shorn write and corrupt filesystem when in the middle of nowhere.

I know those black plastic trays, those are Samsung OEM trays when they come in a box from the factory. Got a few. If your source isn't Russian (crafty) or Chinese (also crafty), chances of some random box pusher buying in, let alone employing, a person able to fake SMART counters is almost nil. There is a higher chance that someone has PCB-swapped a 883 for a cheap/worn/old PMxxx on Amazon. Check SMART on arrival, and forget it.

Samsung and warranty will bite you when they tell you to send back to seller.

Also, any SSD or electronics might self-destruct at any point in time. You'd have to either get a device repairable on the spot like the old Thinkpads from 15 years ago, or carry two devices, or have a backup SSD, or have the important data as copy on SD card.

How much did you pay for the 883 drive?

As an aside: Recommend to never travel with not full-disk-encrypted laptop or SD cards. Transgressive border agents (USA), the many thieves on the subway connecting airport to down-town (Barcelona), any car left alone for two minutes to use restrooms (Corsica), etc. Make it a hard passphrase like "not gon break this one you foolz lululu 17". And of course wear the important stuff in a special belt that can't be ripped off easily. Lots of needy people walking around these times. It's gotten so bad, I started to turn around to muster people walking right behind me in my home town.

 

[john_doe]

SM883 is superior due to power-loss protection.

Ah, that's a good point of SM883's advantage over 860 PRO, although I'll format the main partition into ReFS, which already has some mechanism to avoid power-loss induced data corruption.

If your source isn't Russian (crafty) or Chinese (also crafty), chances of some random box pusher buying in, let alone employing, a person able to fake SMART counters is almost nil.

I purchased it from Samsung SM883 2.5, which seems to be a legitimate seller instead of a random shady one. Their warehouse team seems to be associated with some upper-level redistributor/wholesaler that maintains probably the only stock of SM883 in the UK, and after my purchase order was confirmed, the number of availability at https://www.lambda-tek.com/Samsung-MZ7KH3T8HALS-00005~sh/B42389174 was immediately decreased by 1, so I guess all legitimate sellers of SM883 in the UK are sharing the same stock maintained by a single redistributor/wholesaler (or its warehouse). If the shipping labels of the manufacturer's box View attachment 34477 (as in my previous post https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...-samsung-sm883-mz7kh3t8hals.37154/post-412258) are trustworthy, then these SM883 were sent directly from Korea, so looks like these shouldn't be some counterfeit products, although I can't be absolutely 100% sure.

There is a higher chance that someone has PCB-swapped a 883 for a cheap/worn/old PMxxx on Amazon. Check SMART on arrival, and forget it.

I got the following SMART numbers after connecting it for the 1st time to my laptop (via a USB enclosure), and it looks OK. The 1st power-on count might be due to factory testing before shipping out (please correct me if this is not the case), and then the 2nd power-on count was my connecting it to a laptop to check the SMART. I also double-checked by searching for hidden pre-existing partitions and found nothing: , although it is theoretically possible to do a low-level erasing such that all existing/hidden partitions can be completely wiped out and not discoverable by data recovery software. However, the price of SM883 increased by 35%~40% since its 1-year low (back in summer 2023), so now there might be some incentive for a crafty source to fake the SMART info and erase the drive.

How much did you pay for the 883 drive?

I paid £975+VAT at Samsung SM883 2.5. It used to be only ~£720+VAT at https://www.lambda-tek.com/Samsung-MZ7KH3T8HALS-00005~sh/B42389174 back in summer 2023, but I was too busy at that time to do further research on it and buy it, unfortunately.

Samsung and warranty will bite you when they tell you to send back to seller.

The seller replied to me and confirmed that in case of failure under 5-year warranty, I will need to send it back to them in the UK or to Samsung Germany. Since I probably won't travel to outside of Europe, this should be fine I think.

carry two devices, or have a backup SSD, or have the important data as copy on SD card.

Yep, I have HDDs for regular backup, and this SM883 SSD will be used as a portable drive (inside a USB 3.1 enclosure), with an NTFS partition containing several native boot VHDx files of deployed Windows images, and a ReFS partition containing all my apps/docs/data, in a portable manner using PortableApps.com launcher and its portable structure, so I can use it with almost any computer, without installing anything.

 

[brofids]

Hi, I just get myself PM883 960GB for just 58$.
It had quite a lot power on hours (4.2y) but only had 6.7 TBW and running FW HXT7304Q.



Is HXT7904Q still the latest known firmware for this drive to the date?

 

[brofids]

I think dell had release newer firmware dated 14 Apr 2021.
Samsung PM883 RI SSDR, FW HE59 for model number(s) MZ7LH7T6HMLA0D3, MZ7LH240HAHQ0D3, MZ7LH3T8HMLT0D3, MZ7LH480HAHQ0D3, MZ7LH960HAJR0D3, MZ7LH1T9HMLT0D3 | Driver Details | Dell US

but yeah, I don't know if it will work for unbranded drive and don't want to risk mine since I only got 1 drive

 

[mrpasc]

Latest OEM (eg -0005) firmware available is HXT7A04Q, to be found at @DarkServant Ssd firmware share
Works, proved with a dozen’s PM883 1.92 and 3.84

 

[brofids]

Latest OEM (eg -0005) firmware available is HXT7A04Q, to be found at @DarkServant Ssd firmware share
Works, proved with a dozen’s PM883 1.92 and 3.84

oh ok thank you, I'll try to flash it

 

[kewiha]

I have a MZQLB1T9HAJR-00003 (PM983 1.92 TB U.2) with firmware EDA5500Q. The datasheet seems to indicate that I have a non-SED model (03 at the end of the model # = "General non-SED").

Are any of the firmwares linked in DarkServant's share compatible and recommended over what the drive came with? My best guess based on this thread is that I should choose EDA5900Q_nonSED.bin because keeping consistency in the #Q at the end is needed, and EDA versions seem to be for U.2 variants.

Using nvme-cli on linux, would the commands to do the update be as follows? I would check for errors between commands in case one fails.

nvme fw-download /dev/nvme0 --fw=EDA5900Q_nonSED.bin -p
nvme fw-commit /dev/nvme0 -s 0h -a 1
echo 1 > /sys/class/nvme/nvme0/device/reset
poweroff

Am I looking at a brick if the process above goes south, or can the drive typically be recovered if a flash fails (due to PEBKAC or otherwise)?

Thanks a lot to DarkServant and everyone else supporting folks who the OEMs won't!

EDIT: I ran the commands above (after correcting fw-activate to fw-commit, both above and on the cli) and `nvme list` shows the new firmware version. Seems to have worked!

 

[macboy80]

I too am interested in some guidance on the PM983, if it exists at all. My (2) u.2 drives have the EDA5302Q firmware, but nvme-cli reports the "mn: Samsung SSD 983 DCT 960GB". The model number on the label is "MZQLB960HAJR" but is missing the 5 digits after the dash. There are truly only a few articles on the entire net about this. Based on everything I've read, I feel as though I'm up for taking a swing at the 5602Q firmware. Essentially, my questions would be the following:

Is there a way to be sure this is the SED drive / can that be confirmed by the xx02Q firmware on the drive?
Would the above then mean that the 5602Q is likely compatible?
Does anyone know for sure what the command sequence to do the flash would be? I found this.

The link above from @kewiha is broken for me, so I think I found another copy.

 

[joerambo]

. The model number on the label is "MZQLB960HAJR" but is missing the 5 digits after the dash.

Is smartctl returning the same, without 5 digits after?

smartct -x /dev/nvmX where X is your device should show that info in lines at the top.

 

[macboy80]

Is smartctl returning the same, without 5 digits after?

I've run every command I can find, and they all list the name instead of model number.

xxx:~# smartctl -x /dev/nvme1n1
smartctl 7.3 2022-02-28 r5338 [x86_64-linux-6.8.4-2-pve] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-22, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Number:                       Samsung SSD 983 DCT 960GB
Serial Number:                      S48CNC0N400660D
Firmware Version:                   EDA5302Q
PCI Vendor/Subsystem ID:            0x144d
IEEE OUI Identifier:                0x002538
Total NVM Capacity:                 960,197,124,096 [960 GB]
Unallocated NVM Capacity:           0
Controller ID:                      4
NVMe Version:                       1.2
Number of Namespaces:               1
Namespace 1 Size/Capacity:          960,197,124,096 [960 GB]
Namespace 1 Utilization:            8,033,705,984 [8.03 GB]
Namespace 1 Formatted LBA Size:     512
Local Time is:                      Thu Apr 25 09:02:47 2024 EDT
Firmware Updates (0x17):            3 Slots, Slot 1 R/O, no Reset required
Optional Admin Commands (0x000f):   Security Format Frmw_DL NS_Mngmt
Optional NVM Commands (0x001f):     Comp Wr_Unc DS_Mngmt Wr_Zero Sav/Sel_Feat
Log Page Attributes (0x03):         S/H_per_NS Cmd_Eff_Lg
Maximum Data Transfer Size:         512 Pages
Warning  Comp. Temp. Threshold:     87 Celsius
Critical Comp. Temp. Threshold:     88 Celsius
Namespace 1 Features (0x02):        NA_Fields

 

[kewiha]

I've run every command I can find, and they all list the name instead of model number.

xxx:~# smartctl -x /dev/nvme1n1
Firmware Version:                   EDA5302Q
[/QUOTE]

Try `nvme list` (may have to install the nvme-cli package). That gives me the extra 5 digits.

Based on this post by DarkServant I wouldn't expect any file that doesn't start with EDA5 to work. EDA5602Q might work but as you can tell from my last post you shouldn't rely on me alone. The commands in my post (after a correction) seem to have upgraded the firmware successfully. There is some indication that a bad flash is recoverable in this page of this thread.

 

[macboy80]

Try `nvme list` (may have to install the nvme-cli package). That gives me the extra 5 digits.

Yea. Samsung is and odd one for sure. I'm just gonna go along for the ride. This appears to be one of those leave the firmware until its needed things.

root@:~# nvme id-ctrl -H /dev/nvme0n1
NVME Identify Controller:
vid       : 0x144d
ssvid     : 0x144d
sn        : S48CNC0N401307L
mn        : Samsung SSD 983 DCT 960GB
fr        : EDA5302Q
rab       : 2
ieee      : 002538
cmic      : 0
  [3:3] : 0     ANA not supported
  [2:2] : 0     PCI
  [1:1] : 0     Single Controller
  [0:0] : 0     Single Port