New Intel toolkit 3.0 available for Intel SSDs

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Source: Intel Releases Solid-State Drive Toolbox 3.0 - Legit Reviews

 

Cloudfire, man you're slow!

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/8025809-post11.html


Definitely looks like a nice upgrade though.


Oh! And you may want to remove the image if that is your Intel SSD's serial number.

 

lol I may be slow, but I think it deserves its own thread.
The pic is from legitreviews. Too bad for them

Will try this out later for shure

 

Yeah, it does deserve it's own thread.

 

Nice update - also a nice feature in the new toolbox - Firmware update. Placed my new 320 series into an AMD based notebook. Saw when installing had a firmware update - would not run via the normal ISO updates/boot method. New toolbox solved that and installed it.

 

That is one awesome new feature. AMEN to that!

 

What a sweet piece of software.

 

Dang it! I am out of town with my laptop having the Samsung. I wish I could see this update 1st hand.

 

Unless you have an Intel SSD, stick with the previous versions. v3.0 refuses to read the SMART status of other hard drives (I was using the previous version to probe the SMART status of some of my drives in RAID arrayes).

 

Greg, good heads up for some that use these tools for other than intended purposes.

But, really - you can't blame Intel for supporting it's products only, can you?

ISSDTB v3 and above is the recommended way to update firmware on supported Intel SSD's (fw is included within the program itself) - without burning a CD/DVD that will be used for less than 2 minutes and then thrown away.

 

Would you guys really recommend the new firmware for the 320 series? I have seen some horror stories mentioning that even the intel's diagnostic scan blows up the SSD with the new firmware. Is it correct? Does the new firmware proven to be better than the old one?

Thanks

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I don't know if it is better, but it is certainly required for v3 of the Intel SSD Toolbox to function properly (or, at all, I assume).

With the new firmware installed for a few weeks, I haven't noticed any significant differences - either negative or positive - but that hasn't changed from when I first installed the drive too.

Intel recommends installing this firmware upgrade even if you have no issues with the current/old one - the 'bug' could strike at any time - and, if I'm not mistake, this Firmware is more current than when the 'fix' was first announced.

See:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18363


See:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18455&lang=eng&wapkw=(ssd+toolbox+3.0)


The second download is the preferred method (currently) as it contains and will update the Firmware within Windows (with a reboot).

Recommended? Yeah, I would say so.

Good luck.

 

Nope. I have the old fw now (4PC10302) and the toolbox v3 runs just fine. There is only an exclamation mark on the "Firmware Update" button asking me to upgrade to 4PC10362.

Thanks for the reply. +rep

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Interesting to know... I'm sure I read that unless the latest Firmware is installed on the drive to not use ISSDTB v3.0 - I thought they would 'lock it out' as well.

Thanks and glad I could help a little.

 

Just upgraded to the new firmware via the new toolbox v3. It took less than half a min:

Firmware upgrade: 5 secs
Restart: 20 secs

I really liked this feature. Otherwise I would have burned the new firmware to a CD/DVD, install it over dos and throw out the media to thrash.


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Yea, I installed it on my work system Friday which was running an older firmware, and it worked fine, just had that same warning that I could update. I did, and it went flawlessly, +1000 to Intel for the non-ISO method! Time will tell how it goes, I too heard about issues with the new Firmware causing the bug, we shall see. This is why I periodically run a backup with Acronis WD ed (to one of the Raptors in the system) and also do a frequent backup of data to a network drive. I'd do the same thing with a regular HDD too.

 

See:
Intel SSD Tool Box Ver. 3.0 - Under the Microscope and Tested - The SSD Review


The above is a pretty good review of the Intel SSD Toolbox v3.0.

It also shows (on last page) why I think benchmarks can be 'manipulated' by manufacturers (or just shows that they really don't measure anything worth knowing about a component) much too easily (there is no way the performance almost doubled, although I do notice my 320 Series 160GB SSD to be noticeably 'snappier' after the (different) firmware update).

Curious if any Intel X25-M 160GB SSD owners who have updated to the latest firmware noticed anything close to what the PCMark Vantage Total Point Score indicates in this article?

As Les Tokar states himself:

Anyone?

 

Yeah it probably says more about the validity of PCMark Vantage.

Why anyone would still use it puzzles me because it consist of only Windows Vista components.

Futuremark (of course) says that PCMark7 is much better, I'd take that with a grain of salt too.

 

v3.0 reads SMART and IDENTIFY for my RAID0 OCZ Agility3's although it interprets some of the RAW values incorrectly so I prefer to read them myself. Don't know why it's not working for your disk's.

 

I have experienced a speedup after I installed toolbox v.3 and updated to the newest firmware. When I boot up my computer, every program that needs to be loaded along with windows goes a bit faster. And my browsing is also a bit faster.

Is my eyes playing tricks with me? Good job Intel

I have a Intel X25M 160GB

 

version 3.0.1 of Intel SSD Tool Box is available at

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/detail_desc.aspx?agr=y&dwnldid=18455

 

^^^^ thanks maximinimaus.. When you launch 3.0.1 is it normal to not be able to maximize the window?

Thanks Tilleroftheearth, one less thing to fret over for me! VVVV

 

Hmmm, just tried on my system - doesn't maximize here either (but I don't need it to).

v3.01 too.

 

I opened 3.01. and it suggests that trim be run 1 time per week. I use my
G73 20-25 hours per week, 70% mundane tasks, 30% gaming (mostly NFS and Portal). The SSD is about 40% full. Is this frequency needed? BTW my boot time is about 45 seconds to a functional desktop on win 7. Thanks, Josea

 

Not needed if you're on Windows 7+AHCI. But yeah, 45 sec is a bit too much .. mine takes 25 sec on Intel X25-M 80GB and it's ~35% full.