How to extract Dell HDD Firmware from *.fwh files

[BackupProphet]

I just did this for a Dell ST10000NM0598.
Downloaded the firmware here: Seagate RSL5 for model number(s) ST10000NM0598, ST12000NM0158 and ST14000NM0168. | Driver Details | Dell US
Extracted it

./SAS-Drive_Firmware_VTX9C_LN64_RSL5_A00.BIN --extract=./extracted_firmware

Extract the LOD (actual firmware by stripping dell headers in the beginning)

cd extracted_firmware/payload
dd if=RSL5.fwh of=RSL5.lod ibs=208 skip=1

Finally update the disk firmware with:

sudo ./openSeaChest-v25.05.3-linux-i686-portable/openSeaChest_Firmware --downloadFW RSL5.lod /dev/sgX

==========================================================================================
 openSeaChest_Firmware - openSeaChest drive utilities - NVMe Enabled
 Copyright (c) 2014-2025 Seagate Technology LLC and/or its Affiliates, All Rights Reserved
 openSeaChest_Firmware Version: 4.3.3 X86
 Build Date: Oct  9 2025
 Today: 20251218T184327    User: root
==========================================================================================

/dev/sg8 - ST14000NM0168 - ZHZ63BAJ - RSL3 - SCSI
......
Firmware Download successful
Firmware Download time (s): 2.73
Average time/segment  (ms): 12.70
Activate Time          (s): 1.04
New firmware version is RSL5

Or you can use sg_write_buffer

This process should work for many more devices.

 

[kryten]

So is "dd if=RSL5.fwh of=RSL5.lod ibs=208 skip=1" stripping the headers? Or....

 

[BackupProphet]

Yes it does. This Dell header is the same for multiple hard drives. The firmware also has a checksum that verify that the extracted firmware is ok, so the risk of bricking your drive is low.

 

[kryten]

I was wondering if that worked for Seagate only and the other brands had a slightly different header.

 

[mostlycorn]

Thanks for this post! It was just what I needed. Though for my firmware (WDC SS200), I need to skip the first 592 bytes. Why 592?

My K968.fwh consists of

• 64 byte header
  • the last byte of which (file offset 0x3f) is the number of supported drive models, 0xb in my case
• an array of 11 (0xb) records, one per drive model, 0x30 bytes each
• the content that goes into the .bin file

So for mine, 64 + 11 * 48 = 592