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> Updating HDD firmware is something you do to resolve a very specific problem, not ... just because it's available. It is important to check if there is an up

> Updating HDD firmware is something you do to resolve a very specific problem, not ... just because it's available. It is important to check if there is an update and what has been fixed. Like with any software, it may introduce new bugs, but blindly suggesting to "not touch, if it's not broken" is harmful too. Some time ago Samsung rolled out SSDs that were self-destructing after very short period of time and fixed this in firmware. If your SSD breaks or start having problems it is already too late to update, you have to be proactive. And hardware vendors doesn't release firmware updates for nothing, in most cases there is very good reason for that.

Dalewyn 2y ago
>Some time ago Samsung rolled out SSDs that were self-destructing after very short period of time and fixed this in firmware. If it broke, fix it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The latter became a rule of life because many people decided to fix what ain't broke and got burned for their troubles.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- lhamil64 2y ago
  But how would you know it's broken unless you proactively check for updates?
  - numpad0 2y ago
    Just checking for updates is fine, actually installing every single firmware versions is bad. This is because embedded firmware are less moving parts more tightly packed, which makes their failure modes inevitably catastrophic; they're incapable of progressively degrading like Electron apps, but the whole system always spontaneously crash into the wall and die from just one typo, and you don't want that.
M95D 2y ago
Stop encouraging the manufacturers to ship bad firmware that "will fix later".
- syntheticnature 2y ago
  I think the manufacturers needed no encouragement, and at this point it would take multi-national intervention to get the genie back in the bottle. The poster you replied to simply recognized the situation for what it is: Samsung is still a going concern after releasing SSDs with firmware that would brick them after a relatively short service lifespan.
userbinator 2y ago
That wasn't an actual "fix", it was just a workaround --- the flash they were using was far too leaky and lost its charge very quickly, so they decided to have the firmware constantly rewrite in the background. Even the updated firmware won't help for machines that are powered off for months at a time. https://forum.acelab.eu.com/viewtopic.php?t=8735 https://forum.acelab.eu.com/viewtopic.php?t=8735

Dalewyn 2y ago

>Some time ago Samsung rolled out SSDs that were self-destructing after very short period of time and fixed this in firmware. If it broke, fix it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The latter became a rule of life because many people decided to fix what ain't broke and got burned for their troubles.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
lhamil64 2y ago
But how would you know it's broken unless you proactively check for updates?
- numpad0 2y ago
  Just checking for updates is fine, actually installing every single firmware versions is bad. This is because embedded firmware are less moving parts more tightly packed, which makes their failure modes inevitably catastrophic; they're incapable of progressively degrading like Electron apps, but the whole system always spontaneously crash into the wall and die from just one typo, and you don't want that.

M95D 2y ago

Stop encouraging the manufacturers to ship bad firmware that "will fix later".

syntheticnature 2y ago
I think the manufacturers needed no encouragement, and at this point it would take multi-national intervention to get the genie back in the bottle. The poster you replied to simply recognized the situation for what it is: Samsung is still a going concern after releasing SSDs with firmware that would brick them after a relatively short service lifespan.

userbinator 2y ago

That wasn't an actual "fix", it was just a workaround --- the flash they were using was far too leaky and lost its charge very quickly, so they decided to have the firmware constantly rewrite in the background. Even the updated firmware won't help for machines that are powered off for months at a time. https://forum.acelab.eu.com/viewtopic.php?t=8735 https://forum.acelab.eu.com/viewtopic.php?t=8735