14 DAY TRIAL // We've stumbled upon a nice piece of news: new firmware for the Vertex/ Agility/ Solid2 SSDs. Owners of these solid state drives can upgrade the firmware and start using the Arowana technology.
The Arowana FTL (Flash Translation Layer) delivers better performance from the SSD controllers and that's why users are advised to upgrade their drives. OCZ reports that not all SSDs in the specified series have successfully received the upgrade. This can be performed only with drives shipped with specific Nand configurations.
You should run the OCZ SSD Identity Tool 1.0 and carefully analyze the resulting 6-digit number. If your SSD returns one of the following numbers (661502, 641502, 661302, 661402, 641402, 661102, 641102, 651102), you're good to go upgrading with Arowana FTL. If your number is different, that SSD can't be upgraded.
You can also check the 15-figure serial number (SN) on the SSD. The 7th digit represents the year of manufacture: 7 for 2007, 8, for 2008, 9 for 2009, 0 for 2010, and 1 for 2011. OCZ forums shed some light on the matter:
"The next 2 digits after the year are the month it was made, numbers higher than 12 just indicate it was labeled in the US, so start over with the months - 13 = January, 14 = Feb, etc. If your drive was made prior to December 2009 (so you see 912 for the 7th, 8th, and 9th digits in the serial number), you will not be able to update to this FTL."
Finally, here are the steps one must follow for updating the firmware, according to the same OCZ officials:
"1. Unzip the above download into its own folder. You will see the updater EXE, a release note RTF file (instructions) and a folder named "util". 2. Right click on "arowanaUpdate" and select "Run as Administrator". 3. A DOS box will open and you will be asked to select the drive to update. 4. Select the drive you want to update by pressing the appropriate number key. 5. A confirmation that you want to destroy all data will appear, you must type YES (in all caps) to continue: 6. If the drive you selected cannot be updated, you will see an error window pop up. If you see this, click OK and the windows will close and you are finished, you cannot update your drive with Arowana. 7. If your drive is eligible, then you will see some dots appear in the window as the process starts. This process may take as much as 15 minutes to complete (Less than 15 is quite common, the important thing here is patience). Do not interrupt the process, you will be notified of a failure or the window will simply close once the update is complete. 8. Once the process is complete, power down the system, then power back up and enjoy your new drive."
Download the OCZ Vertex/ Agility/ Solid2 SSD Arowana Firmware 1.0.9.
NOTE: The firmware upgrade is a destructive process and will erase all data on the SSD. Users are advised to back up every important file they might have on the SSD.