Samsung Spinpoint F4EG HD204UI 2TB compatibility?

[Camster]

Hi Camster,

Check the serial numbers on the drives to know for sure if you have an early drive that needs a patch. I expect it to be from a later date since you bought it in June. So I won't answer all your questions becuase it depends on the first answer if you need those answered. Let's hope so.
(source: synology site, or this thread)

The error on the drives could not be reproduced with the patch. (source: read it somewhere, check this entire thread)

Got the drives out and found the serials, though they don't quite match with the above info. Though they are 14 characters long.

Afterwards I found out that my smart software tells you the serials

My serials are S2H7JD1B414503 & S2H7JD1B4150

Following the compatibility information:

"If your hard drive was manufactured before 2010 December (could be identified with serial number xxxxxxxZ7xxxxx, xxxxxxxZ8xxxxx,xxxxxxxZ9xxxxx,xxxxxxxZAxxxxx, or xxxxxxxZBxxxxx), you must upgrade the firmware of this hard drive before the installation."

That would make both my drives xxxxxxxB4xxxxx.

Does this mean my drives are already updated/flashed, so I'm good to go with them as they are?

My new problem now is that even the my smart software says I can enable the HD204UI monitoring, I can't find the box to enable this (even when following their instructions). Also, it is only currently monitoring my 2 previous storage drives and not my boot drive with the OS on it.

Now running 5 drives but only monitoring 2 of them!

Thanks in advance for any help.
Cammy

[Camster]

Hi,

Slight update regarding my above post.

Both my drives have "Rev. A" on them.

Slightly concerned as a review on ebuyer states:

"any disk made after 1-1-2011 should be fine. Newer Samsungs are labelled revision B. (REV. B: has the new firmware update applied)

You can find the manufacture date on the actual hard drive and will also have a REV. A or REV. B

REV. A = 2010.12 or earlier

REV. B = 2011.01 or later."

But someone else says:

"Please be aware [USERNAME] may or may not be correct

i have 4 drives, all marked Rev A, but are all dated 2011 02."


I couldn't see any dates actually printed on my drives. I'm currently monitoring them just now but not started any transfers - could do with knowing whether they need flashed or not.

Also, I was using Argus to monitor them, got it working to detect four of the five drives, but it showed the same temperature for all 4. Tried a trial of HD Sentinel and that detects all five drives and shows different temperatures for all five, so that seems a bit more accurate.

Could someone please advise regarding whether my two new drives need flashed or not, based on the serial numbers and the Rev.A information?

Thanks,
Cammy

[kjkunk]

Hmmm, conflicting information sucks. You would have known for sure if Samsung put another serial number on the newer firmware(which they didn't, they didn't communicate this and the reason is unknown, perhaps PR).

Perhaps you can phone samsung for advice about this conflicting information.

I think, in this case, I would patch the drives with the latest firmware, just to know for sure you won't have data failure in the future. But I'm not an expert and patching is always with some risk.

[Camster]

Hmmm, conflicting information sucks. You would have known for sure if Samsung put another serial number on the newer firmware(which they didn't, they didn't communicate this and the reason is unknown, perhaps PR).

Perhaps you can phone samsung for advice about this conflicting information.

I think, in this case, I would patch the drives with the latest firmware, just to know for sure you won't have data failure in the future. But I'm not an expert and patching is always with some risk.

Yeah, patching seems like the best option so I know it's done. What about the serial numbers though, doesn't have any of the "Z" ones, which seem to indicate it does not need patched.

I read of an easier way to patch them, need to try and find it again. To do with disconnecting the OS HD and plugging the one to be patched into the mother board, repeating with each HD...

Thanks!

[kjkunk]

It's on this forums
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=31364&start=75

Good luck

[tkapin]

Hello,

i have a HD204UI at DS110j a works perfectly over 3 months. Installed as new drive.
i have now a 3.2 beta firmware and there is no problem with HDD, suspend works.
FW 1AQ100001, SN S2H7J9BB318484

This drive is quieter then 1.5TB on HD154 series.
I have also 1.5TB HDD155UI in backup DS107 and also OK

[KenG10]

I just received this hard drive today. It is xxxxxxxB7xxxxx so I guess I am ok. (Though it does say "Rev. A" on the top.)

I do, however, see "2011.07" towards the bottom and I have to assume that the drive was made in July 2011. I will go with that and will install into my new DS110J tomorrow.

[ginopilotino]

Two hd204ui patched but using the latest dsm 3.2 i got some trange smart errors.
Either disks terminate the rapid adn deep test with an error message that suggest to replace disks.

[ginopilotino]

I found some I/O errors few hours after the 3.1-1748 DSM update.
Probability there is something strange in that update. But now i can't make a smart test on any of my drives.

[DaRealMcCloud]

I just found out about this problem but it seams that the download link for the firmware update from the samsung site is dead since they have merged with seagate.

here is a alternative link with a bot cd/usb image with the updates:
https://sites.google.com/site/realmadne ... #Downloads

[Embattle]

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/e ... earch&pn=1

[globalrebel]

Hey Guys,

Sorry to bring up an old thread but I'm having trouble with my Samsung Spinpoint too! I have 2 TB that were made in "03.2012" but have Rev. A on them. I checked out the firmware version and it shows the firmware as 1AQ10001. I tried applying the F4EG firmware using the FreeDOS boot CD and the patch, but it is stating that my drive is a "non-Samsung drive" even though I know it is.

I made sure that the drive was on the primary Sata line that my normal HDD is on. It even shows the Model number when the patch tries to be applied, but says it is a non-Samsung drive.

I've been having my HDD go down on my DS212j at least once every 3 weeks due to performance degradation or failure. I have to "Repair" my drive after this happens, and it takes almost 12 hours for it to check the Parity between the drives. I do have "Write Cache" enabled on the drives as well.

Does anyone have any advice for me?!?! PLEASE PLEASE

[maxxfi]

I made sure that the drive was on the primary Sata line that my normal HDD is on. It even shows the Model number when the patch tries to be applied, but says it is a non-Samsung drive.

Have you checked in BIOS settings the status for 'SATA controller mode', whether it's AHCI, SATA, RAID, etc.? IIRC you need to switch off AHCI mode to make the f/w tool work (but check Samsung release notes about it)

[globalrebel]

Are you serious!!! Man, that's my problem right there! I've been doing this in AHCI!! I'll shut it off in my BIOS and set it to SATA (I think its only AHCI or IDE, but I'll check into that)

Thanks for the heads up. I've been looking for the release notes, but ever since Samsung sold off its HDD to Seagate, I haven't been able to find any information on this. I only found a F4EG.EXE file and no help file to go along with it.

[globalrebel]

So, I tried again with no luck. I tried IDE mode for my Sata Controller. I tried Native mode, and default mode. I tried ACHI for my Sata Controller . . . just can't get it to flash the drive.

Here's what I see when I try . .



Here is a pic of the drive (had to remove some of the serial numbers)



Can anyone offer any advice as to why this might be happening?