Seagate Releases DirectStorage Firmware for the FireCuda 530 SSD

TheLostSwede · Jun 14, 2023

Seagate has released a new firmware update for its FireCuda 530 series of NVMe SSDs that adds DirectStorage support. Seagate is to our knowledge only the second company to release a firmware with DirectStorage support for its SSDs, but we're expecting more to follow. The FireCuda 530 is based on Phison's E18 controller, which is commonly found in a range of NVMe M.2 SSDs from several major and minor SSD brands, with Sabrent being the first company to have announced a DirectStorage firmware update for its drives based on the same controller.

To update to the new firmware, you need the serial number of your FireCuda 530 drive, which you then have to enter on Segate's support site to be able to download the update. The company didn't specify how the firmware update is done, but it seems to be a standalone installer, rather than using some kind of SSD tool, which most SSD makers provide for their drives these days. The new firmware is said to be "reducing CPU overhead and I/O latency, load times and asset streaming are streamlined—allowing for improved multitasking and optimized PC gaming with DirectStorage compatible games." The list of games that support DirectStorage is quite short at the moment, but hopefully we'll see more games implementing support now that there is supported hardware out there.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

Jun · Jun 14, 2023

Didn't know you'd need firmware update to use DirectStorage. I thought any NVMe storage could use it.

TheLostSwede · Jun 14, 2023

Jun said:
Didn't know you'd need firmware update to use DirectStorage. I thought any NVMe storage could use it.

It changes the behaviour of the SSD controller somewhat, so it might not be ideal for all usage scenarios, at least not according to early tests.

The DirectStorage Advantage: Phison IO+ SSD Firmware Preview

Finally, a use for that extra NVMe performance.

www.tomshardware.com

Ferrum Master · Jun 14, 2023

Why didn't they do the bench with bunch of avokados?

Bomby569 · Jun 14, 2023

"The new firmware is said to be "reducing CPU overhead and I/O latency, load times and asset streaming are streamlined—allowing for improved multitasking and optimized PC gaming with DirectStorage compatible games." This is assuming the game in question supports DirectStorage of course."

isn't this a thing we should have with DS or not? isn't this like saying here have power steering but only if the road supports it?

TheLostSwede · Jun 14, 2023

Ferrum Master said:
Why didn't they do the bench with bunch of avokados?

Because there's a new test now?

Ferrum Master · Jun 14, 2023

TheLostSwede said:
Because there's a new test now?

You should put warning for epileptic people with that video... we had few.

TheLostSwede · Jun 14, 2023

Bomby569 said:
"The new firmware is said to be "reducing CPU overhead and I/O latency, load times and asset streaming are streamlined—allowing for improved multitasking and optimized PC gaming with DirectStorage compatible games." This is assuming the game in question supports DirectStorage of course."

isn't this a thing we should have with DS or not? isn't this like saying here have power steering but only if the road supports it?

Changed that last line, it was badly written, since it repeated what Seagate already mentioned.

Ferrum Master said:
You should put warning for epileptic people with that video... we had few.

Not my video.

Llun · Jun 14, 2023

That "new" firmware SU6SM005 is dated 24-Feb-23 and It is a pain to install (instructions here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Seagate/comments/tn2eaf I don't understand how a brand like Seagate don't have a tool like Samsung Magician ou WD Dashboard...

Mussels · Jun 14, 2023

This better not be something all NVME drives require, or directstorage will get really annoying
Firmware updates on some SSD's have been hellish already, needing intel chipsets, bootable DVD/USB drives and other weird shite over the years

Makes it seem like they had a firmware flaw breaking directstorage support, and marketing wanted to claim it's a positive now that they fixed it?

Those benchmarks are almost margin of error, the actual changes are so small

Calenhad · Jun 14, 2023

TheLostSwede said:
Not my video.

Your post though. Would've taken you less time to put a sentence in your previous post, than posting this stubborn reply.

Mussels · Jun 14, 2023

That's something to take up with the video creator

Ravenmaster · Jun 14, 2023

Seagate has some UI software for their drives named 'Seatools.' Apparently you can supposedly update the firmware using that by opening the .bin file with it. But if you're running a RAID array for your main OS drive like me, the Seatools software simply won't function. I have two 2TB Samsung 990 Pro's in RAID0 as my main OS drive and I have a 4TB Seagate Firecuda 530 as a storage drive. Seatools just pops up saying 'an error has occurred please restart the software' every time I open it. It will actually let me progress to the main menu of Seatools if I just click OK but no drives show up at all. What a crock of shit :rolleyes:

I could take the Samsung drives out, install windows on the Seagate drive and the Seatools software might work then. But I really can't be bothered with the hassle when I should be able to update the firmware of this secondary drive without any fuss.

TheLostSwede · Jun 14, 2023

Calenhad said:
Your post though. Would've taken you less time to put a sentence in your previous post, than posting this stubborn reply.

No-one's forcing anyone to click on it.
I can remove it if you prefer, I simply wanted to provide a bit of extra info, but instead I'm getting shit posts here, which is nice.

Mussels said:
This better not be something all NVME drives require, or directstorage will get really annoying
Firmware updates on some SSD's have been hellish already, needing intel chipsets, bootable DVD/USB drives and other weird shite over the years

Makes it seem like they had a firmware flaw breaking directstorage support, and marketing wanted to claim it's a positive now that they fixed it?

Those benchmarks are almost margin of error, the actual changes are so small

It's likely to be the requirement for most current SSDs, with the exception of some if not all PCIe 5.0 drives.

Ravenmaster said:
Seagate has some UI software for their drives named 'Seatools.' Apparently you can supposedly update the firmware using that by opening the .bin file with it. But if you're running a RAID array for your main OS drive like me, the Seatools software simply won't function. I have two 2TB Samsung 990 Pro's in RAID0 as my main OS drive and I have a 4TB Seagate Firecuda 530 as a storage drive. Seatools just pops up saying 'an error has occurred please restart the software' every time I open it. It will actually let me progress to the main menu of Seatools if I just click OK but no drives show up at all. What a crock of shit

I could take the Samsung drives out, install windows on the Seagate drive and the Seatools software might work then. But I really can't be bothered with the hassle when I should be able to update the firmware of this secondary drive without any fuss.

I don't think you want this firmware update on a RAID array though, unless they've fixed the issues they had in the early firmware that Tom's tested.

chrcoluk · Jun 14, 2023

Jun said:
Didn't know you'd need firmware update to use DirectStorage. I thought any NVMe storage could use it.

Same, this is horrible news as the drive vendors are now going to pick and choose which models get it.

DirectStorage was marketed as being able to take advantage of NVME capabilities which one would expect NVME drives to do out of the box, so seems odd a firmware update would be required.

Hopefully its more just an optimisation rather than an actual requirement so with vendors saying we support it only on these drives rather than DS itself actually requiring it.

Looking at that video, I agree with mussels, the new firmware is just margin of error changes in performance, if it was made a requirement it would be artificial market segmentation in my opinion.

Ferrum Master · Jun 14, 2023

Mussels said:
Makes it seem like they had a firmware flaw breaking directstorage support, and marketing wanted to claim it's a positive now that they fixed it?

I have a feeling that the stock FW is just targeted at epeen linear write speed targets, not the needed random IO, thus the CPU scheduler needs to retweaked.

I actually think it is plausible, that it is just either a marketing gimmick pushing any FW that fixes something and market it or a total flop/bug.

Mr. Perfect · Jun 14, 2023

chrcoluk said:
Same, this is horrible news as the drive vendors are now going to pick and choose which models get it.

DirectStorage was marketed as being able to take advantage of NVME capabilities which one would expect NVME drives to do out of the box, so seems odd a firmware update would be required.

Hopefully its more just an optimisation rather than an actual requirement so with vendors saying we support it only on these drives rather than DS itself actually requiring it.

Looking at that video, I agree with mussels, the new firmware is just margin of error changes in performance, if it was made a requirement it would be artificial market segmentation in my opinion.

DirectStorage just requires an NVMe SSD that's PCIe 3 or higher. These firmware updates will just be optimizations.

You can check the DirectStorage status of your drive right now to be sure:

Bring up the XBox Game Bar by pressing WinKey + G
Click the gear on the right side of the top bar to access settings
In the Settings box that opens, click on Gaming Features

Scrizz · Jun 15, 2023

Mr. Perfect said:
DirectStorage just requires an NVMe SSD that's PCIe 3 or higher. These firmware updates will just be optimizations.

You can check the DirectStorage status of your drive right now to be sure:

Bring up the XBox Game Bar by pressing WinKey + G

Click the gear on the right side of the top bar to access settings

In the Settings box that opens, click on Gaming Features

cool yeah just checked mine out

Mussels · Jun 15, 2023

Mr. Perfect said:
DirectStorage just requires an NVMe SSD that's PCIe 3 or higher. These firmware updates will just be optimizations.

You can check the DirectStorage status of your drive right now to be sure:

Bring up the XBox Game Bar by pressing WinKey + G

Click the gear on the right side of the top bar to access settings

In the Settings box that opens, click on Gaming Features

That's why I wondered what broke their support - I'm running samsung and WD, but none of them needed firmware updates and claim to be supported

Yes i like weird drive letters.

Ferrum Master · Jun 15, 2023

Mussels said:
That's why I wondered what broke their support - I'm running samsung and WD, but none of them needed firmware updates and claim to be supported

Yes i like weird drive letters.

You have direct storage compatible floppy drive? In what dumpster you found it?

Mussels · Jun 19, 2023

Ferrum Master said:
You have direct storage compatible floppy drive? In what dumpster you found it?

It's actually in a PCI-E NVME card that i found in trashed electronics i was asked to help clean up

I use a RAM drive on it to reduce writes, and use it as my download/dump/temp drive

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Seagate Releases DirectStorage Firmware for the FireCuda 530 SSD

TheLostSwede

News Editor

Jun

TheLostSwede

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The DirectStorage Advantage: Phison IO+ SSD Firmware Preview

Ferrum Master

Bomby569

TheLostSwede

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Ferrum Master

TheLostSwede

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Llun

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator

Calenhad

Mussels

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chrcoluk

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