PowerEdge: How to Update Hard Drive Firmware Using a Windows System

The firmware of PowerEdge server hard drives is a critical component in the server system. Regularly updating and maintaining this firmware is essential for server performance, security, and compatibility. Hard drive firmware updates can often fix known hardware faults and issues, address identified vulnerabilities and security problems, and potentially introduce new features, improvements, and enhancements. Note: Before updating hard drive firmware, please ensure that you have a full data backup. Schedule the firmware update during a period of low I/O activity. Do not power off the system or force an interruption during the firmware update process.

In this video, we'll look at updating PowerEdge hard drive firmware via the Windows operating system. Before updating hard drive firmware, please ensure that you have a full data backup. Schedule the firmware update during a period of low IO activity and do not power off the system or force an interruption during the firmware update process.

To begin, download the firmware package from dell.com/support. From the support homepage, click on the main search box and type in the service tag of the system containing the hard drives. For this example, we're using a PowerEdge R4715. From the System Information screen, click on Drivers and Downloads. Search in the keywords box for the model of the hard drives you are updating.

This information can be found in the iDRAC under Storage and Physical Drives. In this example, the drive being updated is a Toshiba and we'll enter the drive's model number. Once the correct download has been found, click on Download. Once downloaded, locate the EXE file in your Downloads folder. Right-click on the file and click on Run as Administrator. Some driver updates require a reboot. Confirm here if this is the case for your specific driver.

If a reboot is required, please perform the update during a scheduled maintenance window when the machine can be taken offline. When ready, click on Install to begin. The application will detect compatible drives in the system that are able to be updated. Click the check box next to all that apply, then click on Yes to execute the update.

The update process will now begin. Please note that the firmware cannot be run on the hard drives if the RAID status is abnormal, in the process of rebuilding, performing background initialization, or if the hard drive status is abnormal. And that's it. Thanks for watching.