Check your bloody (third party) SSD Firmware Version is up to Date

[Darryl Ramm]

Running a bit behind here but Samsung finally released their Magician software for the Mac. It runs on Intel and Apple Silicon Macs so there is now a much easier way to update Samsung M.2 SSD drive firmware especially on Apple Silicon Macs (which largely used to be go find a Windows PC or Intel Mac).

https://semiconductor.samsung.com/us.../support/tools

I'll revise the first post in this thread later, but until then... check your bloody SSD firmware version.

(I had trouble unzipping the Magician 8.0.0.900 installer from the link above, would no unzip by just double clicking on the downloaded file, I ended up having to run unzip from the shell (it complains of errors directory errors but seems to run OK). Then run the .pkg installer that was unzipped)).

Oh and there are new T9 USB Samsung external drives, they are USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Mbps) which is great if you have a PC with USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, but Mac only support USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Mbps). Hopefully for higher performance seeking Mac users Samsung will one day release a replacement for their discontinued, overpriced, and ran too hot, Thunderbolt 3 X5 SSD. There is a 4TB Ruggerd T7 external SSD (USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Mbps)), I hope they also ship that as a 4TB standard T7 (USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Mbps)), we'll see.

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I hope this is a trend with other SSD vendors also supporting easy firmware update utilities on Mac.

[mcnichols]

Thanks for your potentially (digital) life-saving post and update.

However, I'm not sure the current Magician Mac version allows Firmware updates. The support page on the Samsung website specifically excludes Firmware updates on Mac OS, but that could be out of date, of course.

That said, I've just installed the latest version (8.0.0, I think), and although it does display the firmware version under drive info (which tallies with that shown in System Report), no 'Update' button appears, despite later firmware being listed in the stand-alone downloads section of the Samsung website, for both my SSD 980 on the NVMe bus, and SSD 860 QVO on the internal SATA bus. This is on an Intel Mac Pro 7.1, Mac OS Ventura (latest).

I have downloaded the new firmware Mac installers, but can't find any specific instructions as to how to use them anywhere on the Samsung site. Dreadfully unhelpful for a respected manufacturer. So, if you have the time to do an 'idiots guide', or point me to one published elsewhere that I've missed, I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd find it really useful!

Many thanks in advance,

Martin.

[gthm]

Originally Posted by mcnichols

I have downloaded the new firmware Mac installers, but can't find any specific instructions as to how to use them anywhere on the Samsung site. Dreadfully unhelpful for a respected manufacturer. So, if you have the time to do an 'idiots guide', or point me to one published elsewhere that I've missed, I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd find it really useful! Martin.

What Martin said please!

+1 for the 'idiots guide' here!

I too have tried to update my 980 Pros on an Intel iMac but no success.

(good thing for now is I ordered two 990 Pros so at least those are bound to be current but I will also keep the old 980s which have performed perfectly so far but I want to update them asap of course!)