How do you use manucfacturer's SSD diagnostic program in Linux ? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2019, 05:26:46 am
content: In the preparation to migrate host OS to Linux from Windows, need suggestion/recommendation from you experienced Linux users.All this time SSDs I'm using/used are all Samsung's up to recent XPG SX8200 Pro series.As each manufacturers supply it's own proprietary SSD diagnostic program, eg: Samsung Magician or XPG SSD ToolBox, and all of them are made to run on Windows OS only.They can not be replaced with other generic SSD/SMART diagnostic software as some are very specific/proprietary task that only it's own program can perform, say like firmware upgrade and etc.How do you Linux users handle this when there is a need to use it ?Provide a scratch Windows boot drive just for this ? Or thru virtualization ? As most people I believe just don't run this kind of program everyday.Appreciate if you can share your own experience, tips or tricks if any in this case, TIA.

author: Jeroen3
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2019, 05:38:39 am
content: I use HD Sentinel on Windows, and they also offer a Linux version.https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_sentinel_linux.phpWith the large volume of Linux based server I doubt there will be much problems with the fairly standardized SMART data of drives. So maybe look into the software remote managed servers use?Firmware update and smart erase is something no standard tool can perform. This will remain a bootable disk.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 11, 2019, 08:40:00 am
content: I honestly don't bother. SMART gives me all the information I need, even for SSD drives. Most Linux distros are SSD aware and can read and interpret things like SSD wear leveling statistics.As for Intel drives, you can update the firmware via a bootable drive. Write the image to a CD or USB flash drive and off you go:https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/28749/Intel-SSD-Firmware-Update-Tool

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2019, 03:35:36 pm
content: Samsung SSDs firmware can be upgraded from downloadable bootable ISOs AFAIK:https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2019, 05:41:04 am
content: Thanks for the replies, I guess I have to keep an old drive with bootable Windows 7, not a big deal though as I have many those old unused drives.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 13, 2019, 06:49:55 am
content: Quote from: BravoV on October 13, 2019, 05:41:04 amIf it's just for firmware updates, no need. The firmware update tools offered by most manufactures are OS independent, they'll boot into their own environment.

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2019, 07:03:56 am
content: Well, not only for firmware upgrade, some like Samsung has other miscellany task like TRIM-ing and Over Provisioning adjustment and etc, these can not be replaced by 3rd party software right ? Cmiiw.

author: Karel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2019, 07:10:42 am
content: I use a couple of Samsung 850 pro's. Once a week or so I manually run the command:Code:sudo fstrim -avThat's all. Never bothered with firmware updates.

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2019, 07:11:12 am
content: Quote from: BravoV on October 13, 2019, 07:03:56 amLinux supports discard (TRIM) in many different ways. Manual over-provisioning would be not making the partition use the entire device.