System Firmware Specific Drives

What and why are hard drives firmware locked? Or restricted in application?

Drives made by Seagate Technology, Western Digital Technologies, Hitachi, Samsung Electronics ,Toshiba and other manufacturers' sometimes are designed for specific systems' and / or platforms'  and therefore eliminate the ability to reprogram the firmware by non-vendor provider(s) of just one kind of drive by making it  “incredibly complex" if not impossible.

There are other various compelling reasons that make most hdd vendors introduce firmware lock (s) on their branded drives.

Most of these vendors use known sets of unique ATA commands to format their products. Most of these ATA commands are public, as they comprise a standard that ensures a hard drive is compatible with just about any kind of computer.

But there are undocumented ATA commands used by them for functions such as internal storage and error correction-think of it as if they are a closed operating system. In some cases, they prepare them in a certain way with a firmware coding that will apply (read work) ONLY in the intended system (s).

Contact Tekmart on 0861 711 712 (within RSA) or +2711 027 6793 / +2711 867 0196 (international) if unsure and one of our consultants will gladly assist you in choosing the correct firmware-dependent hard drive for your server or storage system.