Do hard drives need drivers?

[Coldblackice]

Do actual hard drives themselves need drivers? Or rather, do hard drive drivers have anything to do with performance-related issues/features of the drive, or are they sort of in the same boat as INF's, and just for simple/basic naming and connection?


I have a newly connected Samsung 840 Pro SSD. I'm in the process of juggling around Intel SATA controller drivers (x58/ICH10R) to find which gives the best performance. At the same time, I see that the actual 840 drive is using a default Microsoft driver from 2006 (like all MS drivers).

Thus, I'm wondering if that driver has anything to do with performance and/or abilities, and if I perhaps should seek out a Samsung driver instead. My hunch is that it's not anything performance related -- that the "magic" is all in the controller and its driver -- and that I wouldn't even be able to find a Samsung 840 driver anyway.



Bonus question --

Is there any benefit to be had by updating a SATA controller's OROM? I remember reading somewhere that the OROM is really only used in BIOS during boot, before handing off complete control to the OS -- at which point the OROM and its function and abilities remain idle.

But I also seem to have read somewhere that it's important to use an OROM version in connection with the controller's driver version, which might suggest that the OROM is still used even after booted into Windows.

 

[Ultima99]

Do actual hard drives themselves need drivers? Or rather, do hard drive drivers have anything to do with performance-related issues/features of the drive, or are they sort of in the same boat as INF's, and just for simple/basic naming and connection?


I have a newly connected Samsung 840 Pro SSD. I'm in the process of juggling around Intel SATA controller drivers (x58/ICH10R) to find which gives the best performance. At the same time, I see that the actual 840 drive is using a default Microsoft driver from 2006 (like all MS drivers).

Thus, I'm wondering if that driver has anything to do with performance and/or abilities, and if I perhaps should seek out a Samsung driver instead. My hunch is that it's not anything performance related -- that the "magic" is all in the controller and its driver -- and that I wouldn't even be able to find a Samsung 840 driver anyway.



Bonus question --

Is there any benefit to be had by updating a SATA controller's OROM? I remember reading somewhere that the OROM is really only used in BIOS during boot, before handing off complete control to the OS -- at which point the OROM and its function and abilities remain idle.

But I also seem to have read somewhere that it's important to use an OROM version in connection with the controller's driver version, which might suggest that the OROM is still used even after booted into Windows.

No to the HDD drivers.

The things that can possibly affect disk performance are BIOS options, controller firmware, controller drivers, and (especially in SSD's) drive firmware.

As far as a controller's OROM aka firmware yeah there can be a point to updating it. I've seen what you posted about the firmware matching drivers not to mention that it can fix issues. I think of it this way, companies wouldn't pay their engineers good money to produce updates for the hell of it.

 

[Coldblackice]

No to the HDD drivers.

The things that can possibly affect disk performance are BIOS options, controller firmware, controller drivers, and (especially in SSD's) drive firmware.

As far as a controller's OROM aka firmware yeah there can be a point to updating it. I've seen what you posted about the firmware matching drivers not to mention that it can fix issues. I think of it this way, companies wouldn't pay their engineers good money to produce updates for the hell of it.

Good to know, thanks.

 

[ep0x73]

All good info but one thing to note is OROM firmware is done through bios updates. If you have an older board which is no longer supported you are stuck with whatever the last firmware was included in the last bios.
These days it appears boards lose back support after about a year then they are neglected.

 

[Coldblackice]

All good info but one thing to note is OROM firmware is done through bios updates. If you have an older board which is no longer supported you are stuck with whatever the last firmware was included in the last bios.
These days it appears boards lose back support after about a year then they are neglected.

Yep. My eVGA 758 x58 fell off the support train a couple years ago (understandably), but I've kept relatively up-to-date by modding the BIOS myself, injecting updated OROMs (thanks to Fernando and his BIOS-modding forums at http://win-raid.com/).

 

[Aesma]

The controller driver (Intel versus Microsoft) matters for AHCI.