QUOTE(SSJToo @ Mar 9 2009, 08:28 AM)
Also feeling a bit lery about doing a reflash. I have a 47 which is still flashed with 1.2 but dont have any of the original firmware files or a copy of the drivekey. Can the drive still be restored and reflashed in JFlash without that stuff.?
Yes...the drive should still be able to be restored because it wouldn't be working if the Key wasn't included in the f/w you're using (1.2). Since the key is there - you can easily get it. The only time people have issues is when they screw up flashing their drives and lose everything in the process. AND - they were dumb and didn't save a copy of their Key before flashing or restoring.
IMHO - and forgive me if I'm being too direct - if you have *any* amount of technical skill/knowledge you can flash your drive...especially a Hitachi drive. You really don't even need *that* much knowledge anymore. The people who are bricking their Hitachi's - or are having problems flashing them - are 1. doing it wrong, 2. experiencing legitimate flashing issues (like I did) because they're using Windows Vista, and, 3. don't want to take the time to try and figure things out for themselves and just want to complain about bricking their drive. In many of the cases, their drives aren't bricked...they just *think* they're bricked because they can't get Windows to recognize them.
Again, IMHO, J. Flasher was a bit rushed to release with regard to making totally sure it worked with Hitachi drives and also with Windows Vista. There are a lot of issues with PortIO and Vista - and while the manual install process did work for me - PortIO itself did not! I switched to Win API mode and put my drive in ModeB PRIOR to hooking it up to my PC so windows would recognize it BEFORE using J. Flasher.
Additionally, A LOT of people are having issues, it seems, because they put the drive in ModeB ahead of time, they use Win API, and they see that J. Flasher indeed lists their drive in the top right hand corner of the Hitachi tab. HOWEVER, they don't 'Query' the drive using the button provided right below their drive's name in J. Flasher so the program itself hasn't yet really recognized the drive is ready and available.
That's exactly what happened to me. I tried to restore the stock f/w and had issues...it failed part way through. I could access the drive and get my key but couldn't flash anything successfully. After kicking the dog a few times (kidding...but wanted to), I read through the J. Flasher tutorial again and noticed the 'Query' information...including a screenshot of the info that should show in the information window at the bottom of the program. I decided to hit the 'Query' button in J. Flasher - it properly queried my drive - and then I tried to restore and re-flash the 1.51 f/w.
Guess what?!?! It worked! Amazing!
Remember, 90% of the people in the world are idiots and like to complain. Back up your key FIRST because you can always get the original, stock firmware for your drive and insert the old key. You could even buy another drive and spoof the key & hacked f/w onto it.
If you take your time, read before doing and retrace your steps if you run into issues, you'll be just fine.
Even though J. Flasher eventually worked for me, I don't believe it's truly ready for use with Hitachi drives OR Windows Vista users. My suggestion would be to flash your drive using Firmware Toolbox - as others have done. I've seen a lot of comments about F. Toolbox working well with no issues.
Just BACKUP your KEY!
This post has been edited by uradodah: Mar 10 2009, 01:23 AM
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Topic: Afraid To Flash Hitachi (Read 160 times)