Which firmware for Adata SU800 SSD?

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taisingera

taisingera

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Dec 27, 2005
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I just bought two Adata SU800 ssds and they both have firmware R0247ANR, and on the adata site they have Q0922FS dated in May 2018. I unzipped that file and under the instructions it says this firmware update is for firmwares P0801A, P1021A, Q0106A, Q0125A, Q0518BS only. So is the R firmware newer than all of these? I bought these two drives from Newegg, but Adata was the seller.

I don't know how any companies put SSDs into laptops since they run so hot. These drives in a Dell Vostro 3350 and Dell XPS L702X run in the low 50s C. Really no options on cooling them either.
 
LTC8K6

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
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Seems logical that it goes P>Q>R...

No room in a laptop for such cooling.
 
taisingera

taisingera

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Dec 27, 2005
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Actually, in the SSD Toolbox by Adata, I click on firmware update and it says it can't do it on a IDE or RAID setting, which I don't have. Then it redirects me to download a firmware but for the M.2 version of this drive. I have the 2.5" version.
 
VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

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Aug 25, 2001
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Huh, I have some Adata SU800 Ultimate 128GB drives, some used, some BNIB. Never updated the firmware on any of them. Never thought about it, really. Are in-the-field firmware updates, post-SandForce, even an issue these days? I thought that most modern (post-SandForce-era) SSDs had firmware builds that had wrung out most of the bugs. To say nothing of the complication of updating firmware on SSDs, that may have shipped with multiple NAND vendors and configurations, it seems kind of like a mess to me.

Unless you went to the mfg's page for the drive, and they had a big warning sign, UPDATE YOUR FIRMWARE OR YOUR DRIVE MIGHT DIE / CORRUPT ITSELF, I personally probably wouldn't bother.
 
taisingera

taisingera

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Dec 27, 2005
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I just registered the two drives, in warranty until 8/31/21. If the firmware version naming makes sense, P>Q>R, I will assume I have the latest firmware. Seems strange though that if the R firmware is the most recent, why isn't it listed on the Adata page for the SU800?
 
LTC8K6

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
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taisingera said:
I just registered the two drives, in warranty until 8/31/21. If the firmware version naming makes sense, P>Q>R, I will assume I have the latest firmware. Seems strange though that if the R firmware is the most recent, why isn't it listed on the Adata page for the SU800?
Click to expand...
That sounds normal actually. Factory firmware is often not even released as a downloadable upgrade. They often wait until a few fixes are incorporated, and then release a new firmware version for download, whereas on the assembly line, the drives get the newest firmware versions immediately, even if the change is very minor.

You see this with MOBO bioses too.
 
D

deeveedee

Junior Member
Dec 3, 2019
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For those who landed here looking for an explanation of the R0247ANR and Q0922FS firmware versions, R is NOT an upgrade from Q (or vice-versa). They are the latest (at the time of this writing) firmware versions for SU800s with different controllers. I learned this from ADATA - see their reply to me below. ADATA advised me to run SU800s with the same controller (and thus same firmware) in my RAID-10 system (4 SSDs).

****************************

Thank you for contacting ADATA.

Please note that the two versions of the firmware were embedded for the two types of controllers used inside the SU800 hence neither can be updated to another or vice versa.
 
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taisingera

taisingera

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Dec 27, 2005
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deeveedee said:
For those who landed here looking for an explanation of the R0247ANR and Q0922FS firmware versions, R is NOT an upgrade from Q (or vice-versa). They are the latest (at the time of this writing) firmware versions for SU800s with different controllers. I learned this from ADATA - see their reply to me below. ADATA advised me to run SU800s with the same controller (and thus same firmware) in my RAID-10 system (4 SSDs).

****************************

Thank you for contacting ADATA.

Please note that the two versions of the firmware were embedded for the two types of controllers used inside the SU800 hence neither can be updated to another or vice versa.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the answer. Do you know which controller is for which firmware? I think the SU800 is supposed to have an SMI2258 controller. I wonder what the other one is?
 
B

Billy Tallis

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Aug 4, 2015
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I would expect different capacities of the SU800 to use different firmware files, particularly the 2TB. We've seen eg. the Patriot P200 use SM2258 up to 1TB but a Maxio controller for their 2TB model because the SM2258 turnkey solution didn't support 2TB; given that, I don't know what the 2TB SU800 has inside. There also may be more than one variant of the SM2258 aside from the SM2258XT DRAMless controller. There might be a reduced pin count version with fewer CEs that only supports low-capacity drives. Such minor variants are often not publicly docmented by the controller vendors; I know of at least six different variants within the Phison E12 family. And there's always the possibility that they've switched to newer NAND.
 
D

dlerious

Platinum Member
Mar 4, 2004
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I've only updated firmware using the manufacturers software like Samsung Magician, Sandisk Dashboard, Crucial Storage Executive, etc. It's normally only when brand new unless some problem crops up or I see an important fix. I'm getting the same way with motherboards now too, used to always upgrade firmware/drivers. Now I'm looking to see what's new/fixed - which brings up a big gripe, why don't some manufacturers include a changelog listing Added:, Fixed:, or Changed: to the download.
 
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deeveedee

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Dec 3, 2019
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As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I am running 4 x ADATA SU800-256 SSDs in RAID-10. My RAID Controller was reporting an occasional "block with media errors" and CrystalDiskInfo reported all SU800 SSDs Health as "Good." A closer look at the SSD SMART data revealed that one of the SU800s had non-zero "Reallocated Sectors Count" and "Reallocation Event Count." I assume that this one drive is the source of the RAID errors and have replaced this drive with a new ADATA SU800-256 SSD (same R0427ANR firmware). I'll provide an update after further testing.
 
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deeveedee

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Dec 3, 2019
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Just purchased another ADATA SU800-256. This one came with yet another firmware version: R0427AC. Inspection of the drive reveals that it uses the same controller as SSDs with firmware R0427ANR, but it uses 4 x 512Gb RAM chips instead of 8 x 256Gb RAM chips. So the firmware version for ADATA SSDs depends on the RAM chips AND the controller.
  • Model: SU800SS-256GT-C
  • Firmware: R0427AC
  • Controller: SM2258AB
  • RAM: 4 x Micron TLC 512Gb
 
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stankarp

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Dec 30, 2019
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I own ADATA SU800-256 firmware Q0922FS /28 degree C under Linux kernel 5.3.0-24-generic and ADATA SU800-512 firmware R0247ANR /25 degree C under Linux kernel 5.3.0-24-generic. The 512GB run hot (min45/max 52degree) under Windows 10. Laptop is with CPU T4400 and was cold before on ssd from Sandisk. I upgrade frimware on 256GB to latest Q0922FS but had problem with unetbootin. Unetbootin provide by Adata software had error. I had to make bootable usb drive in unetbootin in Linux Ubuntu 19.10 and upgrade went fine/automatic way form bootable usb-drive. For me looks lake problem with windows drivers because same model run cold under light OS>
 
Last edited:
DigDog

DigDog

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i am in disbelief of everything in this thread.
SSDs run hot??
flashing SSD firmware??
 
UsandThem

UsandThem

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May 4, 2000
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DigDog

DigDog

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i find this really confusing. i obviously have never updated firmware for a SSD (i have an adata now in my system), but i have also never updated firmware for a HHD. I would very, very rarely and with much caution update firmware for anything, because normally firmware flashing should be limited to circumstances where otherwise the hardware would fail. Updating firmware was hammered in my conscience is a good way to brick your gear, so yeah, im not doing that unless i have a *very* good reason to.

And also i've hardly ever felt heat from a HDD, much less a SSD.
 
UsandThem

UsandThem

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May 4, 2000
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DigDog said:
i find this really confusing. i obviously have never updated firmware for a SSD (i have an adata now in my system), but i have also never updated firmware for a HHD. I would very, very rarely and with much caution update firmware for anything, because normally firmware flashing should be limited to circumstances where otherwise the hardware would fail. Updating firmware was hammered in my conscience is a good way to brick your gear, so yeah, im not doing that unless i have a *very* good reason to.

And also i've hardly ever felt heat from a HDD, much less a SSD.
Click to expand...
Stick your hand on a 970 EVO Plus after a large data write, and you might change your mind on that as well. ;)

I've never bricked a device updating the firmware (or updating BIOS for that matter). As long as someone follows the upgrade procedures, it's a pretty easy thing to do. It's up to the person if they need the firmware update or not, but some of them can be important and fix things like security issues or even things like performance restoration. https://www.anandtech.com/show/9196/samsung-releases-second-840-evo-fix

Do you not update your OS or BIOS when there is a major bug/issue/security fix available?
 
UsandThem

UsandThem

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May 4, 2000
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VirtualLarry said:
That's interesting, thanks, I hadn't seen that before.

Do you know if that issue affects HP EX900/920/950 NVMe SSDs? Those are the HP SSDs I see most often.
Click to expand...
From what I read, it's just some of their enterprise drives. I haven't seen anything saying any of their consumer drives have that issue.
 
D

deeveedee

Junior Member
Dec 3, 2019
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Update after replacing the failing SU800-256 in my RAID10 Array

Summary: My RAID10 array is running fine after replacing the failed SU800-256. Knowing what I know now, I would not purchase ADATA SU800-256 SSDs for a RAID array (too many firmware versions for the same part number). Details below.

I replaced the SU800 that was reporting an increasing number of "Reallocated Sectors Count" and "Reallocation Event Count" SMART errors. My Intel RAID controller did eventually mark this failing SSD as "Failed" (after less than 30 days of ownership) before I replaced it. The new SU800 is error-free (so far) and RAID controller errors are back to 0. Fortunately, the RAID Array never skipped a beat and the system continued to operate without issues (despite the failing and eventually failed SSD).

For anyone who needs a reasonably high degree of reliability with the ADATA SU800-256 in a desktop or server, I would strongly recommend RAID. Replacement of the SSD was as simple as replacing the failed drive with the new drive and the RAID Array automatically rebuilt the replacement SSD. These SU800s are TLC, so we're sacrificing reliability for cost. CrystalDiskInfo is able to report SMART data for the individual drives even when they're in the RAID array, so diagnosing a failed drive is easy.

I'm currently running four SU800-256 (Firmware R0427ANR) in RAID10 and keeping an additional SU800-256 (Firmware R0427AC) as a "hot" spare. ADATA says that running these two firmware versions in RAID is fine.

If I had to build this RAID array again, I wouldn't have chosen ADATA. I had no idea they had so many firmware versions for what is being sold under the same part number (I observed 3 firmware versions in a sample of 6 SU800-256 SSDs: R0247ANR, Q0922FS and R0247AC). None of these firmware versions is upgradeable to or from the other because of different controllers and/or RAM.
 
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leolo

Junior Member
Feb 7, 2009
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Word of warning for anyone who dares to upgrade an ADATA SU800 model. I upgraded the firmware from version Q0125A to version Q0922FS using this tool:

www.adata.com

ADATA

ADATA Product
www.adata.com www.adata.com

And it DESTROYED ALL DATA ON THE DRIVE. Completely wiped everything. I've never seen this behaviour before in my life. I work in IT and I've upgraded the firmware of many SSDs (Intel, Crucial, Samsung, Kingston, etc) and this is the first time I've seen such a violent and destructive firmware upgrade!

All the SMART statistics were wiped, and the counter that keeps track of the remaining life of the SSD was reset back to 100% (which is not true, this drive's real remaining life was around 90 percent before the firmware upgrade)

Thank God I had recent backups. I would probably be hanging myself right now if I didn't have them!!
 
VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

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Aug 25, 2001
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That's actually not unusual for A-data. They DO tell you to back-up everything on the drive before performing a firmware update.
 
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