[flashrom] SSD firmware - flashable via flashrom?

[Carl-Daniel Hailfinger]

Hi Cory,

On 28.11.2010 18:32, Cory Vaughan wrote:
> I just flashed my foxconn Bloodrage GTI motherboard with flashrom in Ubuntu, and it was so much easier than the alternative of formatting a disk, installing Windows then making an Hp boot pendrive with the flash tools. So I think flashrom is super awesome!
>   

Thanks! Would you mind sending the output of
flashrom -V
superiotool -deV
lspci -nn
in a separate mail with subject "Success: Foxconn Bloodrage GTI
mainboard"? That would allow easier tracking of your success report, and
your board will be added to the official support list of flashrom.


> But I was wondering if I could use flashrom to flash my OCZ Vertex SSDs. They get firmware updates pretty often...and the flash process is just as bad. I dont ever want to have to install Windows in my life again.
>   

Heh, crossplatform firmware update support is not exactly a focus of
most drive vendors.


> So is this possible? What kind of info would I need to pass to the f.r. developers? At this point all I know is the firmware is made by Sandforce. It would be great to have options of secure erase and flash upgrade through flashrom...
>   

As much as I would like to say that this is doable, I doubt the SSD
firmware update model matches the flashrom model. flashrom expects
access with byte granularity to the flash chip, whereas e.g. DVD
firmware is flashed by sending one block of data to the drive and having
the drive reflash itself autonomously.

That said, you're not the first person who wanted something like this.
The flashrom infrastructure is flexible enough to accommodate such
needs, but you lose pretty much every feature flashrom is famous for
(reliability, partial reflash, ...). It might be better to consolidate
the existing open source DVD firmware flashers and add a SSD flasher to
the mix. The interface is probably similar, and a common source tree for
such flasher drivers could help avoid low-level driver duplication. You
will need to obtain docs from the manufacturer about drive firmware
update submission.

Side note: I am very interested in such a drive firmware update
application, and offer to help with the design, but flashrom is
consuming al my spare time, so I won't have time to write any code for
that new drive firmware update application.

Good luck with obtaining docs about the firmware update!

Regards,
Carl-Daniel

-- 
http://www.hailfinger.org/