Plextor SSD firmware updates

[Anvil]

I checked on Plextors site and they have released new firmwares for several drives during the last few weeks.

I updated my M2P from 1.05 to 1.08, I'm still testing but there looks to be more consistent performance on sequentials.

Link to storage-downloads on Plextors site.

Updating the drive is pretty normal, there is an ISO for download and updating the drive was easy peasy. (as it should be)

fw_update.JPG

[Christopher]

I put 1.01FW on my M3P.

I emailed Plextor to ask if there was a way to downflash back to 1.00, and they replied that it was not.

Sadly, the SMART values are still decidedly Octane-like in awfulness.

[Anvil]

No changes to the number of SMART attributes on the M2P.

Not much to tell from the few attributes that are already there, power on hours is about the most usefull attribute there is.

[Christopher]

Yes, I was disappointed. I couldn't really discern any differences between 1.00 and 1.01.


1.00FW


1.01FW


EDIT: Fixed.

[johnw]

Based on those benchmarks, the 1.00 vs. 1.01 performance appears the same. Without a changelog, we cannot tell, but my guess is that 1.01 fixed some minor bug(s) or reliability issues.

Why would you want to downgrade to 1.00?

By the way, you mixed up the AS-SSD images with your text captions (AS-SSD shows the FW version)

[Christopher]

Some other user had remarked that 1.00FW had reduced their sequential performance, so I emailed Plexor to confirm whether it was possible to down flash in case the 1.01 FW was buggy or affected performance in a detrimental fashion.

[Anvil]

The Plextor had issues on the X79, could be the other way around and it's not the only drive that sort of under-performs on the X79 using the 3.x drivers.
(not done testing yet so I'm not sure if it's still there, HDTune resulted in a very jagged line on large blocks and generally strange/unexpected performance on different block sizes)

It had no issues on SB. (P67/Z68)

[Christopher]

Could be, but I was desperately hoping for better SMART data with the fix for the Marvell/SAS issue, or whatever the kids are calling it these days. I don't need the latter, but the former would make the drive perfect --

5 Year Warranty, great sequential and random performance, 7mm chassis, looks good, etc... Awful OCZ like SMART data. Mark my words, OCZ has nerfed SMART data for a reason (on everything), and the Octane's paltry data doesn't even work right. POH resets on power-off and MWI doesn't work.

Anvil, have you tried Arowana FW on your Intel NAND-equipped Indilinx Barefoot drives (If you have any, that is)?

[AMD_Freak]

I put 1.01FW on my M3P.

I emailed Plextor to ask if there was a way to downflash back to 1.00, and they replied that it was not.

Sadly, the SMART values are still decidedly Octane-like in awfulness.

I found the best way to get straight answers from Plextor is to contact the FB page seems who ever updates it does try to help users, Its good to see your firmware didn't effect your SSD mine however dropped on 4K reads / writes,

on another note you can contact Plextor and request 1.00 FW as this was my FB reply.

Great question. As a general statement, Plextor does not recommend that users revert back to older firmware versions. The updates that get released are typically done so to fix known bugs. They should not change the performance of the drive. With that being said, for customers insisting on a previous version, they will need to contact support directly at 1-800-886-3935. Thanks for your patience, We wanted to be sure we got the right information for you. Best regards.

[AMD_Freak]

I checked on Plextors site and they have released new firmwares for several drives during the last few weeks.

I updated my M2P from 1.05 to 1.08, I'm still testing but there looks to be more consistent performance on sequentials.

Link to storage-downloads on Plextors site.

Updating the drive is pretty normal, there is an ISO for download and updating the drive was easy peasy. (as it should be)

fw_update.JPG

what are you using to update FW CD?

[johnw]

I found the best way to get straight answers from Plextor is to contact the FB page seems who ever updates it does try to help users,

Say what?

[Christopher]

I just emailed support to ask them.

I burned the .iso updater to a usb stick, booted from it, 3 seconds later it was done and rebooted.

It works in AHCI.


I would rather get kicked in the nuts than try and get support through a Facebook page.

[l0ud_sil3nc3]

I just emailed support to ask them.

I burned the .iso updater to a usb stick, booted from it, 3 seconds later it was done and rebooted.

It works in AHCI.


I would rather get kicked in the nuts than try and get support through a Facebook page.

lol, no facebook for me as well, especially for support

[AMD_Freak]

lol, no facebook for me as well, especially for support

well I feel the same but when you have bozo mods from Plextor saying you can't update firmware from a USB stick I find it ironic its possible Since I and others have done it with USB "At this time, all SSD firmware updates require a boot disk"

[AMD_Freak]

the 1.01FW update for the M3 Pro series was to fix Improve drive compatibility with SAS cards, Enhance background GC efficiency

[johnw]

the 1.01FW update for the M3 Pro series was to fix Improve drive compatibility with SAS cards, Enhance background GC efficiency

Did you find a changelog somewhere?

[Computurd]

should be the same marvell update taht is filtering down to everyone, a la the micron patch, to fix teh incompatibility., it isnt just crucials that will not work with expanders and sas.

[johnw]

should be the same marvell update taht is filtering down to everyone, a la the micron patch, to fix teh incompatibility.

How do you know that? The Plextor M3P 1.01 firmware came out about 3 weeks ago, but I couldn't find any changelogs.

[neeyuese]

did you find a changelog somewhere?

m3




m3p

[Computurd]

i can confirm that the incompatibility extends to many models of marvell controlled SSDs. i was informed that the same fix that was given to crucial would be filtering to others, but implemented on their timelines. i dont need changelogs, i can email

[johnw]

Thanks, neeyuese.

Where did you find those? It looks like a slide from a presentation.

EDIT:

I see, the changelog was just posted to Plextor's website on April 12th:

http://www.plextoramericas.com/index...gory&catid=154

[AMD_Freak]

yea its posted on the website now I was notified threw FB of all places.