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APPENDIX
Appendix A
Upgrading Flash ROM Update Process
A-1 Overview
Since the ARC-8050 Thunderbolt RAID storage features flash ROM
firmware, it is not necessary to change the hardware flash chip
in order to upgrade the RAID firmware. The user can simply re-
program the old firmware through the In-Band Thunderbolt port
or Out-of-Band Ethernet port McRAID Storage manager. ARC-8050
Thunderbolt RAID storage uses the same firmware package of ARC-
1882 series RAID adapters. New releases of the firmware are avail-
able in the form of a DOS file on the shipped CD or Areca website.
The files available at the FTP site for each model contain the follow-
ing files in each version:
ARC8050NNNN.BIN: Software binary code (“NNNN” refers to the
software code type)
ARC8050UEFI.BIN:
→
PCIe 2.0 UEFI BIOS for system board using
ARC8050BOOT.BIN:
→
RAID controller hardware initialization
ARC8050FIRM.BIN:
→
RAID kernel program
ARC8050MBR0.BIN:
→
Master Boot Record for supporting Dual
Flash Image in the ARC-8050 6Gb/s SAS RAID storage
README.TXT contains the history information of the software code
change in the main directory. Read this file first to make sure you
are upgrading to the proper binary file. Select the right file for the
upgrade. Normally, user upgrades ARC8050FIRM.BIN for RAID
function. All these files in the firmware package are a part of the
firmware. You should update all files in the package, no special
update order needed. New firmware works after a system restart
not instant available, so you can update all files before restart the
system. The controller firmware is independent of the array; up-
date firmware does not touch anything you stored in the array.
Note:
Please update all binary code (UEFI, BOOT, FIRM and MBR0)
before you reboot system. Otherwise, a mixed firmware
package may hang the controller.
