Seagate Firmware Update Utility Step by Step and FAQ

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This is a help document for our Windows firmware update utility which may be downloaded from our firmware update pages. To see if your drive is eligible for a firmware update, please see Document ID: 207931.

1. Choose from the list of languages. The screens in Windows will be translated to your selection. When the application restarts in DOS, the language will be in English.

(Click to expand.) 2. Welcome screen. Be sure to inspect the title, which gives a description of what products and firmware versions are supported by this package. This screen contains an important warning to remind you to back up your system. Additional information about various methods and Seagate backup products can be found at Document ID: 202211, Document ID: 190751, and our external products page.

(Click to expand.) 3. End User License Agreement

(Click to expand.) 4. Very important instructions and warnings. Again, they are: o DO NOT run this firmware update on RAID systems. o DO NOT turn the power off during the firmware update procedure. 5. BEFORE YOU BEGIN: 1. Make sure you have backed up all of your important files and critical data to some other storage media. 2. Save any work in progress. 3. Close all other open applications. 4. Disconnect all external storage devices. 6. Windows will shut down and your system will reboot. You will see a new boot message Starting Seagate Loader... and Starting Seagate Firmware Update Utility... Do not interrupt this procedure.

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7. About screen

(Click to expand.) 8. Windows will shut down and the system will reboot.

(Click to expand.) 9. These are the first screens you will see after the reboot.

DO NOT INTERRUPT this procedure!

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10. The SeaEnum utility will scan your system for hard disk drives and display the Model Number, Serial Number and current Firmware Revision for each drive.

(Click to expand.) Try the Seagate Drive Detect utility if you want to see this information while in Windows. 11. The Firmware Update Utility runs from DOS to load the new firmware on your disk

drive. This utility will upgrade the firmware on your Seagate disk drive if the drive model and the current firmware are compatible with this update. This process may take a few minutes. Afterwards, the utility will exit and reboot. If the software is unable to automatically reboot system, you may restart the system yourself.

(Click to expand.) Besides the "Sending data" firmware download message, other common messages are: o Firmware Already Updated! Will not download firmware. - The current version on the disk drive matches the version supplied in this update. o Model Matched, No Firmware Matched! Will not download firmware. - Even though the model is a match, the current version on the disk is not compatible with the version supplied in this update. o No Model Matched! Will not download firmware. o Wrong Model, or Not a Seagate drive. If the software determines that the update should not be run, the utility will exit and reboot back to Windows.

12. Windows starting to load.

(Click to expand.) 13. All Finished! If the upgrade instructions are not followed properly, the upgrade could be data-destructive and/or render your hard drive inoperable. Seagate does not warranty the data on your drive, so in addition to regular backups, your data should be backed up to a separate secure location/media before upgrading the drive firmware.