[deepclutch]

Any Idea?
My current hdd's(SATA) and their firmware are as of below:

root@praka:~# smartctl -a /dev/sda
smartctl version 5.38 [x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-8 Bruce Allen
Home page is smartmontools Home Page (last updated $Date: 2009/01/23 13:25:23 $)

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 family
Device Model: ST3160211AS
Serial Number: പറയില്ല Firmware Version: 3.AAE
User Capacity: 160,041,885,696 bytes
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: 7
ATA Standard is: Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated
Local Time is: Wed Jan 28 11:56:46 2009 IST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

and

root@praka:~# smartctl -a /dev/sdb
smartctl version 5.38 [x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-8 Bruce Allen
Home page is smartmontools Home Page (last updated $Date: 2009/01/23 13:25:23 $)

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 family
Device Model: ST380215AS
Serial Number: പറയില്ല
Firmware Version: 3.AAD
User Capacity: 80,026,361,856 bytes
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: 7
ATA Standard is: Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated
Local Time is: Wed Jan 28 11:57:51 2009 IST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

As you can see ,the firmware version is 3.AAE and 3.AAD .Can I upgrade to 3.AAH firmware.Is it available?and How to?

[DerAlte]

What features are you expecting would be upgraded / enhanced in a 'higher' version of the firmware?

It is not usual to upgrade devices which do not have a functional dependency on 'other' software / protocols, such as music / video codecs etc. Most protocol changes would also necessitate modification of electronics and/or mechanicals (connectors).

Also, firmware for such devices is either mask programmed or stored on non-reprogrammable memory - cost considerations.