Updating Samsung 840 EVO firmware on Mac Pro

[camner]

I have been unsuccessful in updating my 256GB Samsung 840 EVO to the new (April, 2015) firmware.

I downloaded the firmware patch from Samsung, successfully burned the .iso to a CD, booted successfully from the CD, but the Firmware Update Utility hangs on "Scanning --> --> -->..." I've let it sit there for about 30 minutes without having the updater continue. I've seen folks on this board say the whole thing should take only about 5-10 minutes from start to finish.

The SSD is connected to the 2010 Mac Pro (5,1) via the second SATA connection in the optical bay, which is a direct connection so it should be fine.

I had no problem with updating the same drive with the first firmware patch released a while back.

Have others run into this issue? Any ideas on how to proceed?

 

[h9826790]

Is there any PCIe card apart from the graphic card? If yes, remove them and try again

 

[camner]

Is there any PCIe card apart from the graphic card? If yes, remove them and try again

There sure are...I'll try again after removing all of the PCIe cards (a bit of a pain, but certainly manageable...). Thanks for the tip!

 

[camner]

I realized that it might be easier to use my wife's PC to update the firmware...and sure enough, it was. I just disconnected the boot drive, connected the Samsung 840 EVO, booted off the CD, and 2 minutes later, DONE!

I have a followup question or two....I saw on the Samsung website downloads page for the 840 EVO a program called the Samsung Magician, that, apparently, among other things, will force the 840 EVO to rewrite its data (for the purposes of refresh), which will, if I understand things correctly, bring the performance up to snuff and then the new firmware periodic rewrite will take over.

1. Samsung Magician is a Windows only app, right? I ask because the Mac version of the firmware says on the website that the firmware supports the new version of Magician. I presume that's an error?

2. How important is it to perform the "forced rewrite" that Magician handles. Is there a substitute for Mac?

3. I am assuming that I should NOT use my Windows Virtual Machine (via Parallels) to install and run Samsung Magician, right?

4. What about Boot Camp? Is that a way to run Magician?

 

[h9826790]

AFAIK

1) The upgrade tool is for Mac, it makes the SSD support Magician 4.6 (which is a Windows only software), but it doesn't say that there is a Magician 4.6 in OSX. What it provide is like what you did. If you upgrade the SSD in a Mac, and then move the SSD to a Windows machine, then it will support Magician 4.6, no need to perform any firmware upgrade. That's it. You can spend a million, doesn't mean that you have a million to spend. It's the same logic.

2) If your read speed (e.g. for a file that older than 3 months) drops dramatically, then it's the time to perform this "force rewrite" to restore the normal real performance. If you are not affect, then nothing need to worry about.

3) I don't think it works in a virtual machine.

4) Yes, it can work under bootcamp.

 

[H2SO4]

USB image

Has anybody tried making a bootable USB from this or that perhaps suggest why it shouldn’t work?

 

[m4v3r1ck]

I just updated all my Samsung 840 EVOs:

840 EVO EXT0DB6Q
Supports Advanced Performance Optimization in Magician 4.6
Apr. '15

First I needed to install the SM 4.6 in Windows 8 for the new firmware update to get avaliable, then updated the firmware for the EVOs on my DUO X2s - OS X / Windows / OS X Scratch - with the SM 4.6.

So far so good!

Cheers