If both drive are same then both get updated when you try firmware update. Which server you have?

System is a R630 with H730 controller.

The drives in each pair are identical, so under normal circumstances they would both get updated.  But this is exactly what I am trying to avoid.  If only one is updated, then worst-case only one can get bricked.  Is there no method to do this?

No, there's not a way to do this aside from removing a drive, but the chances of bricking a drive are so remote that it is not worth any effort above and beyond the regular day to day maintenance backups of the system. I know it *can* happen, but personally, dozens and dozens of servers, hundreds of drives - never bricked one.

I was able to update an individual drive by using the Linux DUP on my R6415!

"Query Inventory" shows the initial state with both drives on firmware ST53:

$ sudo bash SAS-Drive_Firmware_PVPYC_LN_ST58_A00.BIN -q -qi
Disk.Bay.0:Enclosure.Internal.1:RAID.Integrated.1-1,ST53
Disk.Bay.1:Enclosure.Internal.1:RAID.Integrated.1-1,ST53

Then I did a "Selective Update" of Disk 0 (specifying the FQDD as shown above, without the version number):

$ sudo bash SAS-Drive_Firmware_PVPYC_LN_ST58_A00.BIN -q -su=Disk.Bay.0:Enclosure.Internal.1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
Collecting inventory...
...
Running validation...

DL1800MM0159

The version of this Update Package is newer than the currently installed
version.
Software application name: Firmware for - Disk 0 in Backplane 1 of PERC
H740P Mini Controller 0
FQDD: Disk.Bay.0:Enclosure.Internal.1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
Package version: ST58
Installed version: ST53


Executing update...
WARNING: DO NOT STOP THIS PROCESS OR INSTALL OTHER PRODUCTS WHILE UPDATE IS
IN PROGRESS.
THESE ACTIONS MAY CAUSE YOUR SYSTEM TO BECOME UNSTABLE!
..........................................................................................................................
The update completed successfully.

Checking the inventory again, Disk 0 shows the updated firmware version:

$ sudo bash SAS-Drive_Firmware_PVPYC_LN_ST58_A00.BIN -q -qi
Disk.Bay.0:Enclosure.Internal.1:RAID.Integrated.1-1,ST58
Disk.Bay.1:Enclosure.Internal.1:RAID.Integrated.1-1,ST53

So this was successful on my Gen 14/15 servers.

I tried this on my R630 (Gen 13), and for some reason it's failing with some strange errors:

$ sudo bash Serial-ATA_Firmware_97D8J_LN_GD57_A00.BIN -q -qi
Disk.Bay.2:Enclosure.Internal.1:RAID.Integrated.1-1,GD53
Disk.Bay.3:Enclosure.Internal.1:RAID.Integrated.1-1,GD53
chmod: cannot operate on dangling symlink '/opt/dell/updatepackage/Serial-ATA_Firmware_97D8J_LN_GD57_A00.BIN-172976.tKPq22/libsysfs.so.2'
chmod: cannot operate on dangling symlink '/opt/dell/updatepackage/Serial-ATA_Firmware_97D8J_LN_GD57_A00.BIN-172976.tKPq22/libsysfs.so'
user@localhost:~/dell$ sudo ./Serial-ATA_Firmware_97D8J_LN_GD57_A00.BIN -q -su=Disk.Bay.2:Enclosure.Internal.1:RAID.Integrated.1-1
spsetup.sh: invalid option -- '='
invalid option -- 'D'

Hello @satman21,

Thank you for sharing your finds outs about this process. I am sure somebody will find this information useful. Sadly, there is not much documentation available as @theflash1932 mentioned is so hard to brick the drives during a firmware update that this process is not even documented.

I suggest you to wait for another community member answer who tried this process in the past. You can also try to contact Linux support for your Linux distro support forums.

Regards.