French Drivers site station-drivers.com reports that DELL has issued a patch for the following popular Samsung SATA Hard Disk Drives:
Samsung HD321KJ ( 320GB ) and Samsung HD501LJ ( 500GB )
The patch resolves an issue when these drives are used in RAID configurations and an error message 'RAID Degraded' is displayed by the RAID solution.
The firmware updates bring the drive firmware up to Version CP100-13 for the Samsung HD321KJ (320GB) and Version CR100-13 for the Samsung HD501LJ (500GB).
Full details of the patch including release notes, requirements and download links are avalible from DELL
http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&cat=sup&rpp=12&p=1&subcat=dyd%2F1002&rf=all&nk=t&sort=K&nf=19222~7~141326&navla=19222~7~141326&ira=False&~srd=False&ipsys=False&advsrch=False&~ck=anav
Source (In French):
http://www.station-drivers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8468#8468
Editor's Note :
HDD firmware updates are typically an uncommon occurence and fix items such as raid performance, mainboard/chipset compatiblity or reliability updates. Firmware updates are also only usually avalible via large OEMs and while intended for drives supplied and installed by themselves in their branded systems, these patches can and do work on drives obtained through other channels such as distribution or retail.
In this particular instance, these patches are release by DELL intended for drives supplied by them in their systems. OEM drives from time to time may ship with different firmware versions than what is avalible via other channels.
Users should only contemplate patching their drives only if they are expercing issues that the patch is intended for, and should verify that all appropiate numbers for HDD model, version, Firmware family and version match and correspond. HDD firmware updates are usually an irreverisbile process and unofficial firmware updates, especially those not aimed directly at end users such as those distributed by OEMs will validate product warranty.
NitroWare.net has in confirmed that general firmware updates for Seagate and IBM HDDs issued by HP and Lennovo work correctly on non OEM distribution drives, but we stress caution.
NitroWare.net notes that the linked site is typicaly a reliable source of information