Intel G2 life remaining went up on firmware flash?

[taltamir]

on 02-15-2011 my intel G2 wearout indicator SMART attribute ticked from a normalized value of 97 to 96 (see here). Considering I owned it for a year and a half at that point I was not at all displeased.

In the past few days I have done a clean install of windows (delete partitions, then make new partitions and install using windows 7 SP1 slipstreamed installer) as well as upgraded the firmware to the latest version (M3).
I now checked my SMART data and now my wearout indicator reads:
Raw value: 0
Normalized Value: 98
Threshold: 0

WTH? did upgrading the firmware reset the write count? and should a raw value of 0 correspond to a normalized value of 100? (IIRC, when I bought the drive it was 100, then it dropped to 99, then 98, 97,and finally 96)

 

[groberts101]

yeah,.. this happens to a few with firmware updates. Makes me wonder if the mfgrs are trying to pull the wool here or if the code needs to be overwritten in this manner for a specific reason. I assume the latter.

The recently released 1.32 Sandforce firmware has the same effect though most of the other smart data still reads correctly otherwise. Older Indilinx based drives get the whole shebang wiped with destructive flashes. Kinda' silly if you ask me, as it just undermines the credibility and worthiness of the smart readings.

 

[Mark R]

I happened to notice mine went from 98 to 99.

I think that the new firmware has changed the way it measures a number of SMART parameters. I've noticed some of the 'threshold's in the SMART data have changed too.

I suspect that intel have found new data during extended testing that show that their original lifespan estimates were very pessimistic, and have adjusted the SMART tables to give more accurate results.

 

[hclarkjr]

i flashed my 80gb G2 right before i sold it and the same thing happened to it too.

 

[Phynaz]

Yep, mine went up. If you read the release notes it says something about correcting it.

 

[taltamir]

mmm... from release notes

This firmware revision fixes enumeration and slow-boot issues on SATA 6Gb/s
controllers, adds improvements to S.M.A.R.T. attributes for more accurate
reporting of drive health, improves NCQ capability, and fixes possible drive
hangs when reading S.M.A.R.T. self-test log

I guess it does mention that.

 

[MagickMan]

So, I've had my 160GB G2 for a year and it's at 99%. Damned thing's gonna wear out in 2110! What a piece of crap!

 

[groberts101]

So, I've had my 160GB G2 for a year and it's at 99%. Damned thing's gonna wear out in 2110! What a piece of crap!

shoulda' bought a Sandforce!

 

[nanaki333]

i'm still using my G1 raid0'd SSDs. works great, but i'm going to go to the new SF drives when they're more widely available.

 

[Emulex]

so if you flash it a few times will it go to 100?