About Terabyte HD and Bios update

Community Forums/General Help/About Terabyte HD and Bios update

semar(Posted 2009) [#1]
All,

I have a pc wich deals internally with SATA HD.

I've now bought a 1 TeraByte HD, and the specs say that a BIOS update is probably needed.

Question is, is the BIOS update also needed, for systems - like mine one - that already have an internal SATA HD < 1 Tbyte ?

And in the case a BIOS update is needed, do you have advices on this delicate process ?

It would be nice if you could share your experiences in this field.

Cheers,
Sergio.


GfK(Posted 2009) [#2]
If the drive works, I wouldn't go messing with the BIOS.

If you really have to, then its not so difficult provided you get the right BIOS upgrade for your motherboard. The board manufacturer's website is the best place to start. Its usually (but not always) just the case of downloading the update to a bootable floppy, and restarting the system.


xlsior(Posted 2009) [#3]
It it ain't broken, don't fix it.

You'll know pretty quickly: If the harddrive either doesn't get detected at all, or it says something weird like that you have a 128GB drive instead of 1TB, then it's time to check for a BIOS upgrade. But be very, very, VERY careful with those -- they have the potential of destroying your motherboard if you pick the wrong update or lose power during the upgrade.

If the flash program is windows based, close down every single non-essential program before proceeding, including disabling your anti-virus program.

(I did kill my ancient 150MHz Pentium motherboard with a bios upgrade -- even had a program from the manufacturer verify the board and point me to the proper download, all model numbers checked out, it told me that the flash succeeded succesfully -- but it never came up after the next reboot attempt. There's *always* a risk, so only upgrade if you know that you need to, not just for the heck of it)


Ross C(Posted 2009) [#4]
Yeah, only get BIOS updates from the manufacturer. If something does goes wrong, at least you have the official company to blame :)


degac(Posted 2009) [#5]

If the drive works, I wouldn't go messing with the BIOS.



Saturday my Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB has stopped working.
I bought it 2 months ago.
I discovered (after the fact...) I need to UPDATE the firmware of the HD to avoid a 'sporadic event' - the HD stays *forever* in a busy state and nor BIOS nor Windows can detect it...funny :(

So after googling internet for the entire afternoon I discovered I'm not the only one in the world and I need to manage a RS232-TTL interface to 'wake up' my HD and recover my data (old family VHSs ready to be transfered into a DVD...)

So the morale is (I have learned a new lesson...):
- check in internet about the product you have just bought
- check on the HD producer if there is ANY fix/update

PS: dont' tell me 'you need a backup'. The first idea was to buy 2 (TWO!!!) HD like this one...imagine the result :D


xlsior(Posted 2009) [#6]
Degac: That's a *harddisk* flash, not a motherboard BIOS flash...

(A bunch of seagate drives has a bug that if the S.M.A.R.T. even log has a specific number of entries in it upon boot, it could get in a loop... One less and all is fine, one more and all is fine, but if you happen to shut down once it was on the magic number you're screwed. :-/

(IIRC Seagate did offer some free recovery service in this event)


degac(Posted 2009) [#7]
@xlsior
Degac: That's a *harddisk* flash, not a motherboard BIOS flash...

Yes, you are right, but I want to point out that sometimes problems are 'hidden'. You can think the problem is in your mb's BIOS, while the problem is elsewhere and it's more dangerous!

(IIRC Seagate did offer some free recovery service in this event)

Yes I've already contacted the Seagate assistance and managed for a recovery (www.I365.com)(I didn't still understand if the service is free or not...but I'm awaiting for an answer)


Robert Cummings(Posted 2009) [#8]
Best not have any porn on that drive then.