Crucial Releases Firmware Update for m4 SSD
by Kristian Vättö on April 12, 2012 11:20 AM ESTCrucial has released a firmware update for its popular m4 SSD series. The update carries a version code of 000F. The update is said to improve compatibility with certain SAS expanders and RAID cards but Crucial is also claiming better throughput stability (i.e. performance) under heavy loads and enhanced data protection in the event of power loss.
It appears that the update is aimed more towards enterprise users than consumers because SAS expanders and RAID cards are primarily enterprise products. Consumer workloads are usually lighter and may not benefit from the improved throughput stability at heavy loads. Power-loss protection is welcomed by all users, however, as an unexpected power-loss may happen in any environment.
Crucial offers both a Windows 7 updater and traditional ISO file for upgrading the firmware. While the update is non-destructive in nature, we always recommended that you backup your important data before flashing the drive. The update can be downloaded here.
Source: Crucial Firmware Release
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webmastir - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
thx for the heads up!Beenthere - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
Virtually all SSD makers are having to provide firmware updates on a regular basis to address issues that should not exist in consumer grade SSDs. These are akin to Microsucks doing monthly security upgrades for defective code - these folks are rushing-to-market, crap for profit. :(Litzner - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
Would you rather then not improve things over time. Most of the updates that are released for devices "fix" problems most users don't have or don't know exist. This update seems to be primarily a performance update, which I am never against. As the enhanced protection on data loss is not a issue, as if you has sensitive data on a computer you should have a UPS installed anyways.Mr Perfect - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
All products have this sort of cycle. Motherboard BIOS, video card drivers, cellphone firmware. Even mechanical hard drives have regular firmware updates, though most people aren't aware of them. It simply is not possible to create a golden, perfect product that will work correctly from day one for the millions of different systems and use combinations that users throw at them.Beenthere - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
You mean all products rushed to market - have these issues.Reputable companies properly validate their products before selling them. PC makers have determine that PC consumers are dumb sheep and so they just dump crap into the marketplace for the naive people to buy while the mfg. waits to see if they will be sued and forced to fix their defective goods. It's appalling IMO and an unscrupulous Biz model. if they can't properly validate their products before releasing them for sale, they are in the worng business.
ajp_anton - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
There are so many manufacturers of motherboards, SATA controllers, power supplies and other components that directly affect the SSD that you can't test it all.Also, some errors happen so rarely that it's simply not possible to find them. You can't produce millions of drives just for testing. It costs money, you have to actually sell most of them.
You also have a limited time for your tests, otherwise the competition will release their next gen devices before you get yours out. Sure, yours might be better tested, but how many really cares? If you're concerned, just wait the same amount of time that you would've wanted them to spend on extra testing before release.
damianrobertjones - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
Never, ever, ever, EVER have I updated the firmware on a hard drive until SSDs appeared on the scene. I had to update my C300 to stop stuttering and let's not forget the terrible M4 'black screen boot' issue. They really need to step up their game...MikhailT - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
That's because you're not old enough.Hard drives and CD/DVD burners were getting firmware updates during their first few years on the market, just like the SSDs right now.
Every new products are going to go through the growth pains.
In a couple of years, the firmware updates for SSD will die down as companies continues to learn and adjust their validation.
As for the guys who mentioned "rushing to market" because they didn't *take the time to validate*. Intel is one of the best validators on the planet and even their SSDs needed a couple of firmware updates.
Impulses - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
How young is he? :p Firmware updates for optical drives were fairly common as little as 2-3 years ago, even if you weren't hacking yours to add features... And there's been recent examples of HDDs with firmware bugs in wide distribution too (with no path for user updates, which is worse), Seagate 7200.10 wasn't it?At least any issues that arise on SSD are unlikely to cause physical harm to the drives, unlike mechanical drives.
Glibous - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
7200.11, mainly the 750GB - 1TB drives from that time.I don't see much firmware updates for CD-RW/DVD-RW drives but BD-ROM/RW drives are getting updated quite frequently but thats due to Blu-Ray enhancements, changes, etc.