Samsung's 840 and 840 Pro SSDs Recieve a Firmware Update

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juuh

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SSDs are not meant to be a mass storage solution, at least not for the average consumer. I've been running SSD as a system drive since 2009. And the fact that YOU want your computer to boot up slower and perform slower... well that is your prerogative.

 

flowingbass

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For a mobile computer (laptop) SSDs are a wonder to have equipped. Longer battery, less heat and no annoying vibration.
And quick boot and enter/resume from sleep, it even beats my Samsing Galaxy 10.1 when cold booting.
And i have a habit of leaving lots of tabs on every browser i use plus a lot of background apps, constantly maxing out 8gb ram. Having that fast pagefile (12gb swap file) drive is a godsend.
 

Prosercunus

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For my Desktop I still have not jumped on an SSD. My computer is always on and I have no applications that NEED a fast read and write speed.
Now for Laptops. I absolutely must have an SSD.
 

ssdpro

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Sometimes users complain about firmware updates using the logic that it wouldn't be necessary if the release firmware "worked right". That isn't the reason at all - getting updates to functionality or bugs patched is a good thing. This is Samsung's 2nd update in 5 months I believe. No testing can catch all bugs. My only gripe here is that Samsung doesn't provide a Linux or Mac updater so I have to pull my drive and find a Windows PC. Seagate, WDC, Corsair, and OCZ all have great Windows, Linux, and Mac firmware updaters.
 

jdwii

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Ok i used Samsungs software to update as well as their benchmarking program i got this
Before the update(ran 3 times this is the average)
Sequential Read 518MB
Sequential Write 388MB
Random Read 65494 IOPS
Random Write 53125 IOPS
After the update(Ran 3 times this is the average)
Sequential Read 519MB
Sequential Write 385MB
Random Read 64250 IOPS
Random Write 50533 IOPS
Actually performance declined i'm running on the Samsung Pro 128GB. I also did their performance optimization both times before benchmarking, Either way i'm running this on a Sabertooth 990FX board with a 1100T OC 3.9Ghz
 

drwho1

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I was having issues with this SSD been very slow.
I did the upgrade today and now my PC boots a lot faster.
(now it takes about 2 minutes when before this upgrade it took forever)
Still when I first boot my PC still doesn't recognize the sound card, so I have to reboot and then I get sound. Reboot time just under 2 minutes.
(this issue has to do with Windows 8 drivers, even when I do get sound I'm NOT getting my Sound Blaster it appears as S/PDF with some Microsoft driver that I can't get rid off)
 
Hmmmm..... The Samsung support site does not list this firmware update and yet Softpedia does ? I'll pass, until it shows up on the support site.
The firmware listed on the Samsung support site was released Dec. 2012 and is ver.1.
 

matt_b

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"For my Desktop I still have not jumped on an SSD. My computer is always on and I have no applications that NEED a fast read and write speed."

It's not as much about read/write speed as you may think. Where the seriously noticeable improvement is at is response time. In comparison, where read/write may be double or triple of an HDD, response can be insanely quicker at retrieving and running lots of small files - much how an OS operates. Everything suddenly becomes very quick and responsive with one. When an OS boots to the desktop from a cold boot in less than 8 seconds and files and programs you open are up and running in less than a second, you'll understand.
 

Evolution2001

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I cant speak with full authority since I don't run Win8 and I don't know your underlying hardware, but if its still taking 2 minutes to start up or shutdown, you still have a serious problem with your setup and I don't think it's your SSD. :heink: Even the slowest SSD on slow hardware should still boot up in under a minute. Definitely NOT 2 minutes. Did you perform a funky Win8 update from Win7 or try to perform an image copy from a HDD to youe SSD? Something be wrong there, Doc.

 


That is the site I was referring to and there is no updated firmware there. Dec 2012 is the latest firmware update.
 

drwho1

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Clean install.
My hardware (in no particular order)
CPU Intel i5 750 Lynnfield socket 1156
Motherboard EVGA P55 LE E653
RAM 12 GB
Video Card Nvidia GeForce GTX 560
Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium (not recognized but I still get sound from it...weird)
Main Drive Samsung 840 512 GB
Other drives:
Adata 256 GB SSD
2 X 4 TB Hard Drives
6 X 2 TB Hard Drives
1 X 1 TB Hard Drive
1 X 500 GB Hard Drive
2 X 1 TB USB Hard Drives
2 notebook drives that I use occasionally (not plugged in all the time)
1 DVD drive of course
PSU 750 Watts PC Power and Cooling

NO RAID, I only use JBOD as each drive has a different purpose.
(mostly movies and TV show but they are all divided into different genres)
Some are just for GAMES.
 

Alexandre Bridel

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I didn't tried but they provide a bootable ISO image. You should be able to burn it on a CD and boot with it to update your SSD, without using Windows.
 

displacedmic

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that's definitely because you've clearly never used one. i put one in my late 2008 macbook and moved the old HDD into the optical bay area and it's like i've got a brand new computer. it reduced the bootup time by 70%, applications open instantly, files read and write orders of magnitude faster and the computer is a bit lighter and WAY quieter.

with the cost of external storage these days and the falling prices of SSD, they are a very attractive and realistic option for upgrading aging or new machines alike.

while i was at it, i also upped my macbook ram to 8 gigs for ~ $80.

the data doubler device i used to mount my old hdd was ~ $40 and the samsung 840 pro 256 gig SSD
was $220.

at slightly less than a dollar a gig it is worth every penny in my opinion. my total internal storage is now 256SSD and 320 HDD = 576 gigs. Plus, these days you can get a near-silent usb 3.0-powered external that's about the size of your hand for $50-$60 a terabyte.

so total cost to upgrade my 5 year old mac = $350 for the ram, mount and SSD.
and I bought a 2 terabyte WD external for $120.

A lot of money to upgrade an old machine, but the drives are definitely going to be reusable for many years to come even if i can't use the RAM or mount if and when the laptop does finally die.

The bottom line is: Read the signs, HDDs are on their way out.
 
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