You may find updating the firmware on an enterprise class Samsung PM863a SSD difficult. In this case I had a specific part number of MZ7LM3T8HMLP-00003.
The first step is to check the label on the drive and look for the version of F/W.
In my case I had GXT5003Q. The second to last digit of the firmware is important because the number 3 represents a non SED model while a number 4 represents an SED model (Self Encrypting Drive).
The next step is to boot up Windows based system with the drive installed. I found that Samsung Magician didn’t support the drive and simply shows “N/A.” I also tried an older command line application called SSDManager, but received the error: Detect Security Vulnerablility.
What finally worked with this drive was the application Samsung DC Toolkit. The software is available at the link below, (near the bottom of the page) and under the section Samsung SSD Toolkit for Data center:
https://semiconductor.samsung.com/us/consumer-storage/support/tools/
There are 2 published versions of the software. For a PM863a drive, you will need version 2.x per the documentation:
Samsung SSD DC Toolkit Version 2.1 is designed to work with Samsung SSD products including PM863, PM863a, SM863, SM863a, PM963 non-customized, 860 DCT, 883 DCT, 983 DCT, 983 DCT M.2 and 983 ZET. This software is not compatible with other manufacturers’ SSDs.
For this guide, I used version 2.1.W.Q.0 of Samsung DC Toolkit. A direct link is below:
https://semiconductor.samsung.com/resources/software-resources/Samsung_SSD_DC_Toolkit_for_Windows_V2.1.exe
Save this toolkit executable to a convenient location. It is portable and does not need to be installed.
Open a command prompt with Administrator privileges. Then navigate to the location of the download. Run the executable via the command line and you should be presented with something similar to:
================================================================================================
Samsung DC Toolkit Version 2.1.W.Q.0
Copyright (C) 2017 SAMSUNG Electronics Co. Ltd. All rights reserved.
================================================================================================
Usage: Samsung_SSD_DC_Toolkit_for_Windows_V2.1.exe [operation] …
Allowed Operations:
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-L [ –list ] Shows disks attached to the system
-I [ –info ] Displays the disk details
-ID [ –identify ] Shows Identify Informations
-F [ –firmware-update ] Updates firmware to specified disk
-E [ –erase ] Securely Erases all data from specified disk
-S [ –smart ] Shows SMART values of specified disk
-M [ –setmax ] Perform SetMax related operations on specified disk
-X [ –sct ] Executes SCT Commands on specified disk
-V [ –vendor-utility ] Execute Vendor Unique command on specified disk
-NG [ –nvme-get-log-pages ] Display Log Pages on specified NVMe disk
-NF [ –nvme-format-namespace ] Execute format command on specified NVMe disk
-NM [ –nvme-management-namespace ] Execute management command on specified NVMe disk
-ND [ –nvme-firmware-download ] Updates firmware to specified NVMe disk
-NC [ –nvme-firmware-commit ] Commit the firmware image on specified NVMe disk
-NV [ –nvme-vendor-utility ] Execute Vendor Unique command on specified NVMe disk
-HM [ –health-monitor ] Execute Health Monitor feature.
-C [ –command-history ] Shows history of the previously executed commands
-H [ –help ] Shows detailed help
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The first step is to run it again, but add the list option -L to generate a list of all available disks. The output should be similar to the below:
================================================================================================
Samsung DC Toolkit Version 2.1.W.Q.0
Copyright (C) 2017 SAMSUNG Electronics Co. Ltd. All rights reserved.
================================================================================================
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
| Disk | Path | Model | Serial | Firmware | Optionrom | Capacity | Drive | Total Bytes | NVMe Driver |
| Number | | | Number | | Version | | Health | Written | |
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
| 0 | \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0 | SAMSUNG MZ7LM3T8HMLP-00003 | <serial number> | GXT5003Q | N/A | 3576 GB | GOOD | 1360.29 TB | N/A |
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Make note of the drive number in the list. In the example above, there was only a single drive in the machine so the drive number was assigned 0.
The next step is to download the appropriate firmware. The SED and non SED firmwares are both available at the link below (GXT5103Q_nonSED.bin and GXT5404Q.bin). Since the drive in my possession was a non SED model, I used the latest number 3 firmware available: GXT5103Q.
https://c.gmx.net/@324567863383819227/SlDWEtrmRueJ4nCqdGfOsQ/1186031158467499200
Save the firmware to the same location as the toolkit executable.
To upgrade the firmware, we will be using the -F option. If you run the toolkit executable with just this flag, you will see something similar to the below:
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Usage:
Samsung_SSD_DC_Toolkit_for_Windows_V2.1.exe -d [diskindex] -F [ –firmware-update ] [parameter-list]
Example:
Samsung_SSD_DC_Toolkit_for_Windows_V2.1.exe –disk 1 –firmware-update –fwpackage-path /path/dsrdenc
[or] Samsung_SSD_DC_Toolkit_for_Windows_V2.1.exe -d 1 -F -p /path/dsrdenc
Samsung_SSD_DC_Toolkit_for_Windows_V2.1.exe –disk 1 –firmware-update –fwpackage-path /path/dsrdenc
[or] Samsung_SSD_DC_Toolkit_for_Windows_V2.1.exe -d 1 -F -p /path/dsrdenc
Samsung_SSD_DC_Toolkit_for_Windows_V2.1.exe –disk 1 –firmware-update –fwpackage-path /path/dsrdenc
[or] Samsung_SSD_DC_Toolkit_for_Windows_V2.1.exe -d 1 -F -p /path/dsrdenc
Samsung_SSD_DC_Toolkit_for_Windows_V2.1.exe –disk 1 –firmware-update –fwpackage-path /path/dsrdenc –force
[or] Samsung_SSD_DC_Toolkit_for_Windows_V2.1.exe -d 1 -F -p /path/dsrdenc –force
Samsung_SSD_DC_Toolkit_for_Windows_V2.1.exe –disk A –firmware-update –fwpackage-path /path/dsrdenc –source “ABCD1234” (–force)
[or] Samsung_SSD_DC_Toolkit_for_Windows_V2.1.exe -d A -F -p /path/dsrdenc -s “ABCD1234” (–force)
Sub Options:
-d [ –disk ] Disk-Number of the disk or A to select all supported disks to update firmware on.
-p [ –fwpackage-path ] Path to the FW binary file.
–force [ –force ] Enables the user to perform Firmware Download without prompting for any confirmations.
-s [ –source ] source firmware revision, use with option ‘A'(update multiple devices at ones).
A [ A ] updating all SATA devices(except primary device) to specific target firmware, use character ‘A’ instead of disk number.
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Here we can see we need 2 additional sub options for the firmware update, -d and -p. This will allow us to specify which disk number (from our previous list output) and also the location of the firmware (downloaded earlier).
Perform the firmware upgrade on the drive. In this example, I used:
Samsung_SSD_DC_Toolkit_for_Windows_V2.1.exe -F -p GXT5103Q_nonSED.bin -d 0
Proceed by providing a yes confirmation.
If the flash was successful, you should see an output similar to the below:
————————————————————————————————
[[ WARNING ]]
Please Note that Firmware Update may format the disk and you will lose your data.
Please Ensure that data backup is taken before proceeding to Firmware Update.
If you are sure then only proceed, otherwise restart the application after taking a backup.
Continue Firmware Update ? [ yes ]: yes
————————————————————————————————
[F/W Update] Disk is Updated with the New Firmware.
————————————————————————————————
[F/W Update] Success
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Power cycle the machine, and you should now be running the latest firmware!
Notes:
If you try to flash an SED firmware on a non SED drive (or vice versa), then the firmware update will fail and you will receive this error:
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[ERROR] Firmware Update Failed Due to a failure in device interaction.
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[F/W Update] Failure
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References:
https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/firmware-package-for-samsung-sm883-mz7kh3t8hals.37154/
https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/pm863-fw-file.18084/
https://c.gmx.net/@324567863383819227/SlDWEtrmRueJ4nCqdGfOsQ/ROOT