Example of an update on a drive with unsupported firmware

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Downloading the files

To be able to flash with the new firmware, you need to download the iso from IBM. You will also need the appropriate floppy disk file. Yes, this is done using a floppy disk!

I had a 60GB Hitatchi TravelStar HTS548060M9AT00, which is listed as HTS5480xxM9AT00 on the IBM pages, so I downloaded the Floppy disk FWHD3413.exe. Then I burned the iso and I executed FWHD3413.exe to get a bootable floppy disk. Upon booting from the CD, it showed me that I had Firmware revision MGBOA53A and that there was no new firmware.

Preparing the files

Next, I took the floppy with the idea I could update the files on it to get the newest firmware, so I copied over FW.exe and FW.PRO from the CD. Now I only needed my firmware update tool and the according Firmware. So I opened FW.PRO and I searched for the according section which looked like this: 

;   HGST :  HTS5480**M9AT00
 ;
 ; HTS548040M9AT00 40.0GB
 "HTS548040M9AT00","MG2OA50A","MG2OA5PA","MG2IA5PA.bin","hfui12L.exe","IA5PA","/u MRLA5PA.tbl"
 "HTS548040M9AT00","MG2OA55A","MG2OA5PA","MG2IA5PA.bin","hfui12L.exe","IA5PA","/u MRLA5PA.tbl"
 "HTS548040M9AT00","MG2OA5BA","MG2OA5PA","MG2IA5PA.bin","hfui12L.exe","IA5PA","/u MRLA5PA.tbl"
 "HTS548040M9AT00","MG2OA5DA","MG2OA5PA","MG2IA5PA.bin","hfui12L.exe","IA5PA","/u MRLA5PA.tbl"
 "HTS548040M9AT00","MG2OA5HA","MG2OA5PA","MG2IA5PA.bin","hfui12L.exe","IA5PA","/u MRLA5PA.tbl"
 ;
 ; HTS548060M9AT00 60.0GB
 "HTS548060M9AT00","MGBOA50A","MGBOA5PA","MGBIA5PA.bin","hfui12L.exe","IA5PA","/u MRLA5PA.tbl"
 "HTS548060M9AT00","MGBOA55A","MGBOA5PA","MGBIA5PA.bin","hfui12L.exe","IA5PA","/u MRLA5PA.tbl"
 "HTS548060M9AT00","MGBOA5BA","MGBOA5PA","MGBIA5PA.bin","hfui12L.exe","IA5PA","/u MRLA5PA.tbl"
 "HTS548060M9AT00","MGBOA5DA","MGBOA5PA","MGBIA5PA.bin","hfui12L.exe","IA5PA","/u MRLA5PA.tbl"
 "HTS548060M9AT00","MGBOA5HA","MGBOA5PA","MGBIA5PA.bin","hfui12L.exe","IA5PA","/u MRLA5PA.tbl"
 ;

There wasn't any section for my MGBOA53A firmware, so I created it. I just copied the line above it and changed it a little bit. I changed the firmware revision to my revision and /u to /f to force the update: 

"HTS548060M9AT00","MGBOA53A","MGBOA5PA","MGBIA5PA.bin","hfui12L.exe","OA5PA","/f MRLA5PA.tbl"

After having done this, I saved the file and I copied all mentioned files in the above section from the CD to the floppy. These were MGBIA5PA.bin, hfui12L.exe and MRLA5PA.tbl

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