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cdwijs

Member

Registered: 2010-04-24

Posts: 289

Intel 320 SSD: howto update the firmware? no longer supported by Intel

Hi All,

I have an Intel 320 series SSD. it showed only 8MB of capacity. it turns out the firmware of this drive has a bug that reduces the capacity from 120GB back to 8MB after the power was disconnected at the wrong time. I've taken the steps from this site [1] to securely erase the drive. Now the drive is 120GB again.

Intel provides two options to update the firmware of SSD's, both do not work for this drive:
A) Intel's SSD Toolbox. This tool is end of life [2], and the latest version I could find [3] was unable to update the drive. It was able to test the drive though.
B)  Intel® Memory and Storage Tool (Intel® MAS)[4]. This tool is supported, but it reports the drive is no longer supported.
This reminds me never to buy an intel SSD ever again. IMHO there should always be a way to update the firmware to the latest version, even when the drive is (very) old.

Where can I download firmware newer than what I now have (4PC10365)? Does never firmware actually exist?
How can i update the drive?

My drive:

# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 111.79 GiB, 120034123776 bytes, 234441648 sectors
Disk model: INTEL SSDSA2BW12
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

# hdparm -I /dev/sda

/dev/sda:

ATA device, with non-removable media
	Model Number:       INTEL SSDSA2BW120G3H                    
	Serial Number:      <<removed>>
	Firmware Revision:  4PC10365
	Transport:          Serial, ATA8-AST, SATA 1.0a, SATA II Extensions, SATA Rev 2.5, SATA Rev 2.6
Standards:
	Used: unknown (minor revision code 0x0029) 
	Supported: 8 7 6 5 
	Likely used: 8
Configuration:
	Logical		max	current
	cylinders	16383	16383
	heads		16	16
	sectors/track	63	63
	--
	CHS current addressable sectors:    16514064
	LBA    user addressable sectors:   234441648
	LBA48  user addressable sectors:   234441648
	Logical  Sector size:                   512 bytes
	Physical Sector size:                   512 bytes
	device size with M = 1024*1024:      114473 MBytes
	device size with M = 1000*1000:      120034 MBytes (120 GB)
	cache/buffer size  = unknown
	Nominal Media Rotation Rate: Solid State Device
Capabilities:
	LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
	Queue depth: 32
	Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, no device specific minimum
	R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16	Current = 1
	DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6 
	     Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
	PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 
	     Cycle time: no flow control=120ns  IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
	Enabled	Supported:
	   *	SMART feature set
	    	Security Mode feature set
	   *	Power Management feature set
	   *	Write cache
	   *	Look-ahead
	   *	WRITE_BUFFER command
	   *	READ_BUFFER command
	   *	NOP cmd
	   *	DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
	   *	48-bit Address feature set
	   *	Device Configuration Overlay feature set
	   *	Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE
	   *	FLUSH_CACHE_EXT
	   *	SMART error logging
	   *	SMART self-test
	   *	General Purpose Logging feature set
	   *	64-bit World wide name
	   *	WRITE_UNCORRECTABLE_EXT command
	   *	{READ,WRITE}_DMA_EXT_GPL commands
	   *	Segmented DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
	   *	Gen1 signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)
	   *	Gen2 signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)
	   *	Native Command Queueing (NCQ)
	   *	Phy event counters
	    	Device-initiated interface power management
	   *	Software settings preservation
	   *	SMART Command Transport (SCT) feature set
	   *	SCT Write Same (AC2)
	   *	SCT Error Recovery Control (AC3)
	   *	SCT Features Control (AC4)
	   *	SCT Data Tables (AC5)
	   *	Data Set Management TRIM supported (limit 8 blocks)
	   *	Deterministic read ZEROs after TRIM
Security: 
	Master password revision code = 65534
		supported
	not	enabled
	not	locked
		frozen
	not	expired: security count
		supported: enhanced erase
	2min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT. 2min for ENHANCED SECURITY ERASE UNIT.
Logical Unit WWN Device Identifier: 50015178f35a28bd
	NAA		: 5
	IEEE OUI	: 001517
	Unique ID	: 8f35a28bd
Checksum: correct

My versions:
# uname -a
Linux cedric 6.1.8-arch1-1 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Tue, 24 Jan 2023 21:07:04 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[1] https://freek.ws/2014/11/12/how-to-fix- … e-8mb-bug/
[2] https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel … introduced
[3] https://drivers.softpedia.com/get/HDD-S … 5-15.shtml
[4] https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en … i.html?v=T