Published: Friday 6th November, 2009 | Author: Tarinder Sandhu
Companies: Intel (All Intel content)
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email to a friendIntel has once again promised a fix for the glitchy firmware update tool it released for its 34nm solid-state drives last month. But it still can't say when the new version will arrive.
The chip giant released new firmware for the drives on 26 October. The following day it pulled the software after a number of users running 64-bit Windows 7 systems alleged the software bricked their SSDs.
Yesterday, Alan Frost of Intel's NAND Solutions Group wrote: "Intel has replicated the issue on 34nm SSDs - X25-M - and is working on a fix."
He added: "Intel is pursuing the resolution of this as a high priority. Intel is seeking direct feedback on this issue from members of the [Intel Support Community]... asking them to send their drives directly to Intel to expedite the analysis of the issues. This action will enable us to more quickly generate a resolution for this issue."
The firmware update - version 02HA - adds support for the Sata command Trim, an SSD-oriented option that helps the operating system write data to the drive in large chunks, allowing it to leverage Flash memory's high sequential write speeds rather than fall back on much slower random write speeds.
According to Intel, it ensures performance remains at "out-of-the-box levels" rather than gradually slowing, as is the case with many SSDs that don't support Trim.
Frost said that "no related issues have been reported by users who have successfully upgraded to 02HA firmware via the firmware upgrade tool", implying that it's not the firmware that's at fault but the loader software, which was released at version 1.3Copyright © 1998 - 2009, HEXUS.net. All rights reserved. Terms, conditions and privacy information.
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When you are spending £100s of your hard-earned money on an SSD I'm sure most people want to get good value for money. Why buy a 128GB Samsung PB22-J when you could have a Crucial M225 for *the same price*? The latter will be even faster still - which is surely a good thing? If the Samsung drives were substantially cheaper than their competitors drives, that would be a different matter entirely, but they are not.
I will be happy as soon as you can buy *any* SSD from *any* manufacturer and not have to worry about the performance or other issues. The massive price-gouging that OEMs do with SSDs needs to stop too.Quote
Any more news as to when this new update will be released from Intel?
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Any more news as to when this new update will be released from Intel?
By the end of the month, apparently:
* http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9141091/After_user_complaints_Intel_to_re_release_firmware_upgrade_for_SSDs
* http://communities.intel.com/thread/8341;jsessionid=06102D972945C21FD9D9CD4341287A74.node5COMS?tstart=0
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http://www.pcper.com/comments.php?nid=8009Quote
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