Updating the HGST HDD & SSD firmware

[itronin]

the answer to your real questions (what's different between these drives) is in your OP.

First two drive's smartctl -a shows:

Formatted with type 2 protection
8 bytes of protection information per logical block

that's your difference.

You'll need to remove the type 2 protection then you will likely have to format/reblock to 4k to reclaim the space. specific commands are posted in this thread and others. you can try and do it all in one fell swoop, however on the HGST HE 8TB's (mostly sun/oracle) which are typically 520 byte blocks - those have to have protection removed so that goes to 512 but the 8 bytes are still missing so you have to format again to 4K - and if you really want 512b then you have to format back down from 4k to 512b to reclaim the space.

Second two drives look fine from what you've posted.

Correct behavior ZFS no like mixing protected drives also different block size so even if it worked you'd be limited to size on first two drives.

Yes. Yes. see my comment above and read the thread or a google search - there are plenty of answers - for example

a couple of things: I've never seen fast format option work when removing protection.
Depending on your hardware remember --six is your friend.

 

[shpitz461]

Thanks @itronin !

I was able to reformat those two drives and remove the protection, now they all show same capacity.

I've used the following command:

sg_format --format --size=4096 --fmtpinfo=0 /dev/sdx -v

 

[shpitz461]

Why you not updated to latest PCGNC870?

Hi @napalm_atx , thanks for all your help and great website!

I just bought two HC550 18TB SAS WUH721818AL5204 from ebay, they came with DS06 firmware.

I see on your site the following is the latest:

​

​ ​ PCGNC8C2.zip firmware C8C2 for WUH721818AL5204 WUH721816AL5204 WUH721818AL4204 WUH721816AL4204

​ 10​

2.32 MB​

​ 21 Jul 2025​

Is the DS06 newer? Is there a way to tell?

How can I make a backup of the current firmware?

This is the output of "wdckit show":
23 /dev/sdx SAS 17.8 TB Good No 3WGxxxxx WUH721818AL5204 DS06 Gen4,Gen4/Gen3,Gen3
24 /dev/sdy SAS 17.8 TB Good No 3WJxxxxx WUH721818AL5204 DS06 Gen4,Gen4/Gen3,Gen3

Thanks

Haha, good call, I just updated to PCGNC8C2.

And just for funzies I tried to also update the two OEM drives that I have with "DS06" firmware, hugo was able to flash them no problem:

sudo hugo u -s <drive_serial> -f PCGNC8C2.bin

One of my WUH721818AL5204 failed, I asked for an RMA, I wonder if they'll provide the replacement with even newer firmware.

Thanks!

 

[shpitz461]

I just finished formatting another 18TB drive that was having the bit-2 security thingy.
After the format using 4k sectors and removing the security, the user capacity is still not showing 18TB:

smartctl -x /dev/sdy
smartctl 7.3 2022-02-28 r5338 [x86_64-linux-6.8.12-9-pve] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-22, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Vendor:               WDC
Product:              WUH721818AL5204
Revision:             C8C2
Compliance:           SPC-5
User Capacity:        17,874,580,144,128 bytes [17.8 TB]
Logical block size:   4096 bytes
LU is fully provisioned
Rotation Rate:        7200 rpm
Form Factor:          3.5 inches
Logical Unit id:      0x5000cca2xxxx
Serial number:        6TGxxxx
Device type:          disk
Transport protocol:   SAS (SPL-4)
Local Time is:        Sat Feb  7 10:59:22 2026 EST
SMART support is:     Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is:     Enabled
Temperature Warning:  Enabled
Read Cache is:        Enabled
Writeback Cache is:   Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Health Status: OK

Grown defects during certification = 0
Total blocks reassigned during format = 0
Total new blocks reassigned = 0
Power on minutes since format = 107
Current temperature = 29
Lifetime maximum temperature = 42
Lifetime minimum temperature = 16
Maximum temperature since power on = 33
Minimum temperature since power on = 0
Manufactured in week 12 of year 2023
Specified cycle count over device lifetime:  50000
Accumulated start-stop cycles:  13
Specified load-unload count over device lifetime:  600000
Accumulated load-unload cycles:  385
Elements in grown defect list: 0

Error counter log:
           Errors Corrected by           Total   Correction     Gigabytes    Total
               ECC          rereads/    errors   algorithm      processed    uncorrected
           fast | delayed   rewrites  corrected  invocations   [10^9 bytes]  errors
read:          0        0         0         0          6       2057.667           0
write:         0        0         0         0       6491      10894.365           0
verify:        0        0         0         0         78          0.013           0

Non-medium error count:        0

SMART Self-test log
Num  Test              Status                 segment  LifeTime  LBA_first_err [SK ASC ASQ]
     Description                              number   (hours)
# 1  Background short  Completed                   -    8981                 - [-   -    -]

Long (extended) Self-test duration: 131220 seconds [36.5 hours]

Background scan results log
  Status: scan is active
    Accumulated power on time, hours:minutes 9067:23 [544043 minutes]
    Number of background scans performed: 12,  scan progress: 6.20%
    Number of background medium scans performed: 12


Protocol Specific port log page for SAS SSP
relative target port id = 1
  generation code = 2
  number of phys = 1
  phy identifier = 0
    attached device type: expander device
    attached reason: power on
    reason: unknown
    negotiated logical link rate: phy enabled; 6 Gbps
    attached initiator port: ssp=0 stp=0 smp=1
    attached target port: ssp=0 stp=0 smp=1
    SAS address = 0x5000cca2xxxxxxx
    attached SAS address = 0x500a09xxxxxxxxx
    attached phy identifier = 31
    Invalid DWORD count = 0
    Running disparity error count = 0
    Loss of DWORD synchronization count = 0
    Phy reset problem count = 0
relative target port id = 2
  generation code = 2
  number of phys = 1
  phy identifier = 1
    attached device type: expander device
    attached reason: power on
    reason: unknown
    negotiated logical link rate: phy enabled; 6 Gbps
    attached initiator port: ssp=0 stp=0 smp=1
    attached target port: ssp=0 stp=0 smp=1
    SAS address = 0x5000cca2xxxxxxxxx
    attached SAS address = 0x500a0xxxxxxxxxx
    attached phy identifier = 31
    Invalid DWORD count = 0
    Running disparity error count = 0
    Loss of DWORD synchronization count = 0
    Phy reset problem count = 0

Any idea why it is not showing full capacity like my other 18TB drives?

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Vendor:               WDC
Product:              WUH721818AL5204
Revision:             C8C2
Compliance:           SPC-5
User Capacity:        18,000,207,937,536 bytes [18.0 TB]
Logical block size:   4096 bytes
LU is fully provisioned
Rotation Rate:        7200 rpm
Form Factor:          3.5 inches
Logical Unit id:      0x5000cca28xxxxxxxx
Serial number:        3WJ2xxxx
Device type:          disk
Transport protocol:   SAS (SPL-4)
Local Time is:        Sat Feb  7 11:00:07 2026 EST
SMART support is:     Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is:     Enabled
Temperature Warning:  Enabled
Read Cache is:        Enabled
Writeback Cache is:   Enabled

 

[napalm_atx]

Try to format with wdckit, it default format to maximum number of blocks supported by the device

 

[shpitz461]

Thanks, trying with v2.22.0.0

wdckit format /dev/sdy --fastformat --blocksize 4096 --danger-zone

 

[shpitz461]

BOOM, fixed, thanks much!!!

wdckit show --geometry /dev/sdy
wdckit Version 2.22.0.0
Copyright (C) 2019-2024 Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
Western Digital ATA/SCSI/NVMe command line utility.
02/07/2026 12:50:51.236

Device    Block Size  Max LBA     Size     Boot Device
--------  ----------  ----------  -------  -----------
/dev/sdy  4096 Bytes  4363911166  17.8 TB  No

root@proxmox:~# wdckit format /dev/sdy --fastformat --blocksize 4096 --danger-zone
wdckit Version 2.22.0.0
Copyright (C) 2019-2024 Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
Western Digital ATA/SCSI/NVMe command line utility.
02/07/2026 12:51:10.191

Format on 1 device(s) started...
Progress: 100%
Success: Format completed on: 6TGxxxx
/dev/sdy: Success


root@proxmox:~# smartctl -x /dev/sdy
smartctl 7.3 2022-02-28 r5338 [x86_64-linux-6.8.12-9-pve] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-22, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Vendor:               WDC
Product:              WUH721818AL5204
Revision:             C8C2
Compliance:           SPC-5
User Capacity:        18,000,207,937,536 bytes [18.0 TB]
Logical block size:   4096 bytes
LU is fully provisioned
Rotation Rate:        7200 rpm
Form Factor:          3.5 inches
Logical Unit id:      0x5000cca2xxxxxxx
Serial number:        6TGxxxx
Device type:          disk
Transport protocol:   SAS (SPL-4)
Local Time is:        Sat Feb  7 13:02:33 2026 EST
SMART support is:     Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is:     Enabled
Temperature Warning:  Enabled
Read Cache is:        Enabled
Writeback Cache is:   Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Health Status: OK

 

[MasterIT]

@napalm_atx i noticed you uploaded Kioxia_PM5-R_0108.zip on hddguru i assume that is for KPM51RUG7T68? is it the generic fw or from dell hp etc?

 

[napalm_atx]

Its generic fw, i downloaded it from Lenovo

 

[MasterIT]

Since i found this paper, i think it should be a *69 file

https://last-public-ovh-baremetal.snap.mirrors.ovh.net/hardware/SS530/PCN-005196-A01.pdf

or something close to it.

your fw file for that datasheet is in the root directory of your pdf link

Index of /hardware/SS530/

 

[GabrielPopa]

any idea how to update fw on this HGST HSH721414ALE6M0 Firmware : L4GMT10B to generic one to can be detected by Windows ?

 

[shpitz461]

any idea how to update fw on this HGST HSH721414ALE6M0 Firmware : L4GMT10B to generic one to can be detected by Windows ?

Not detected because of sector size? I think Windows can only work with 512b or 4K.

Is the drive listed by the controller during post?

 

[GabrielPopa]

yes its listed, i can run tests (W/R) on it, i can format only as exFat not NTFS and make partitions,
the FW seems like T10B, also on label, now i need to find a way to format it as NTFS and mybe if i can update the FW to change the SN maybe, but i'm struggling with Niagara, not find fw update and also the fw for it

 

[shpitz461]

You could try with wdckit, it helped me a few posts above.

 

[GabrielPopa]

i see, now i need to find a good fw and stable . somewhere

 

[GabrielPopa]

Anyone can help with .bin firmware? Please?

 

[GabrielPopa]

i search a firmware for :

(uil=0:winahci)(dev=0)> device info
Information For Device #0
VendorID: HGST HUS726040ALA610
Serial#: K4HWBH0B
CodeLevel: T7R4
HostID: 0
SCSIChannel: 0
DeviceID: 1
LUN: 0
SCSIID: 0:0:1:0
Protection: 0x0
ProtectionType: 0x0
Phy_Blocksize: 0x200
BlockSize: 0x200
MaxLBA: 0x1D1C0BEAF
ProductID: ARIESKP

have it someone ? Thanks!

 

[napalm_atx]

have it someone ? Thanks!

I guess A5HWTDR2

 

[shpitz461]

Hi @napalm_atx , I just bought a NetApp DS224C with several Seagate 10k rpm SAS3 drives.

The label says they have NA02 firmware, and I found NA05 firmware here:

CONTAP-326891: NA05/NE05/MS05 FW release for SSKBE and ST*MM model drives

CONTAP-326891: NA05/NE05/MS05 FW release for SSKBE and ST*MM model drives

kb.netapp.com

But it's behind a paywall.

The drives are:
p/n X342A-R6, model X342_SSKBE1T2A10, 1.2TB

The are Seagate model ST1200MM0018.

Any chance I can flash them to Seagate firmware? I couldn't find Seagate nor NetApp firmware for this drive on your website.

Will I be able to format them to 4k sectors? I believe they are 512E.

Thanks!

 

[shpitz461]

I've found a public download of NetApp files here:

https://opensource.netapp.com/

Not sure what they name their firmware packages...