I'm still using Microsoft HD drivers from 2006?

[mlg3000]

I have a two year old system: Asus P6x58D Premium, 24 gig Kingston Hyperix 1333 Ram, i7 930, Plextor SSD for drive C etc. Win 7 64 bit Prof.

I also have three Western Digital Black Caviars bought during the last 3 years - different models. The most recent is a 2tb SATA 6. All of these drives use the Microsoft drivers from 2006 and there don't seem to be any new ones on the WD site. Am I just not looking in the right place? It seems to me that these drives have got to be slowed down by such old/generic drivers.

The oldest drive did have a firmware upgrade available but I was afraid of losing data and I wasn't sure it was worth it.

Is everyone using the Microsoft drivers from long ago or are there better drivers available?

Thanks.

Louise

 

[Kaktussoft]

Are you talking about driver or firmware?
A disk doesn't use a special driver! All IDE drives use a IDE driver, all SATA drives use a sata driver

 

[vaidas3]

If those drivers work why fix it. if it aint brokend dont fix it.
by the way can you be more specific what drivers you refer to because microsoft HD i was thinking sound drivers then post was about HDD and.. it is controler or the HDD it self you look at?

 

[mlg3000]

Are you talking about driver or firmware?
A disk doesn't use a special driver! All IDE drives use a IDE driver, all SATA drives use a sata driver

Sorry I realize now I wasn't clear:

2 WD black caviar SATA drives 1 tb each purchased a year or two apart.
1 WD black caviar SATA 6 2tb recently purchased and using a SATA 6 connection to the controller
1 Plextor 256 SATA 6 using a SATA 6 connection
1 2+ year old Intel 160 model M25

ALL of these disks are using Microsoft driver 6.1.7600.16385.

One of the WD black caviar 1 tb SATA drives does show a firmware update available on WD but I'm questioning the wisdom of risking it and would I lose my data when I updated the firmware even if everything went ok?

The reason I've been investigating all this is that I am experiencing the all too common "application not responding", mostly in Office 2010, particularly Outlook, but also in Word as well as Photoshop and Lightroom from time to time. As a result of my trying to track it down, I discovered a thousand different suggestions, old drivers being one of them.

So I began to wonder about all these drives, old and new, using the same, apparently old, driver. I also discovered the one firmware update but didn't know about the wisdom of doing it.

I hope I've been clear and precise this time - and also hope you might have a suggestion as to whether there is anything to be done in this area.

Thanks again.

Louise

 

[mlg3000]

If those drivers work why fix it. if it aint brokend dont fix it.
by the way can you be more specific what drivers you refer to because microsoft HD i was thinking sound drivers then post was about HDD and.. it is controler or the HDD it self you look at?

The Microsoft driver being used is 6.1.7600.16385. It is being used for 2 WD caviar black 1tb each, 1 WD caviar black 2tb SATA 6, one Plextor SSD 256 SATA 6 and one Intel SSD 160. Same driver.

One of the WD caviar black 1 tb was listed on the WD site as having a firmware update available but I'm not sure I should do it. Reason below:

The reason I've been investigating all these drivers, and a lot else, is that I am experiencing the all too common "application not responding", mostly in Office 2010, particularly Outlook, but also in Word as well as Photoshop and Lightroom from time to time. As a result of my trying to track it down, I discovered a thousand different suggestions, old drivers being one of them.

So I began to wonder about all these drives, old and new, using the same, apparently old, driver. I also discovered the one firmware update to one of the 1tb WD Caviars but don't know whether it's worth updating or whether I might lose data etc.

Hope this clarifies and I apologize for my vagueness - didn't realize it.

Louise

 

[pbcopter]

Based on your description of the driver, you have not updated to SP1 as yet. That I would do.
Are your Intel controllers set to AHCI?

I doubt these drivers or the firmware are the cause of your issue.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Based on your description of the driver, you have not updated to SP1 as yet. That I would do.
Are your Intel controllers set to AHCI?

I doubt these drivers or the firmware are the cause of your issue.

firmware update is not needed. Only in case of problems. standard win7 sata control or intel.... both are fine. BIOS is in AHCI mode and win7 as well (or both IDE mode). AHCI is faster, but both work.

The problem you have is just a software problem in dll, exe, resgistry or so!

 

[stormy13]

One thing that everyone posting in this thread so far has failed to mention, THERE IS NO PROBLEM.

Every computer running Windows 7 has the exact same driver for any and all hard drives. And no you will not find a "new" driver for it from WD (or Seagate, or any other drive manufacturer), as they ALL use the exact same driver that comes with Windows.

So stop worrying about it and looking for a solution as there isn't one.

Based on your description of the driver, you have not updated to SP1 as yet.

Funny I have SP1 (clean install with SP1 integrated) and have the same driver version. Microsoft doesn't change the version n umber just because a service pack comes out if there isn't a change to the driver itself.

 

[mlg3000]

Based on your description of the driver, you have not updated to SP1 as yet. That I would do.
Are your Intel controllers set to AHCI?

I doubt these drivers or the firmware are the cause of your issue.

firmware update is not needed. Only in case of problems. standard win7 sata control or intel.... both are fine. BIOS is in AHCI mode and win7 as well (or both IDE mode). AHCI is faster, but both work.

The problem you have is just a software problem in dll, exe, resgistry or so!

Sorry - I have to fill out my profile. I have updated to SP1. Really running Win 7 Prof SP1 64 bit. Ran the Intel "check your system" online (can't remember the exact name), and it said it's stuff was fine but it didn't recognize Marvel. I did update the Marvel drivers/chips, whatever I could find from the Asus site for my motherboard.

Thank you for being so thorough and following up on this - especially all the things I leave out without realizing it

Louise

 

[mlg3000]

One thing that everyone posting in this thread so far has failed to mention, THERE IS NO PROBLEM.

Every computer running Windows 7 has the exact same driver for any and all hard drives. And no you will not find a "new" driver for it from WD (or Seagate, or any other drive manufacturer), as they ALL use the exact same driver that comes with Windows.

So stop worrying about it and looking for a solution as there isn't one.

Based on your description of the driver, you have not updated to SP1 as yet.

Funny I have SP1 (clean install with SP1 integrated) and have the same driver version. Microsoft doesn't change the version n umber just because a service pack comes out if there isn't a change to the driver itself.

The PROBLEM happens when I randomly get a faded screen and a notice saying "this application has stopped responding". It's a nuisance in Outlook and Word 10 - and it's a creative problem when it happens in LR or Photoshop.

I only started looking at all of this because I can't find the cause of the problem.

Louise

 

[stormy13]

My post was more in response to your opening post and the response from others. The hard drive driver is not the cause of it.

As far as the problem you are having,

it's a creative problem

Is that Creative as in a sound card, or creative in some other meaning?

If it is the sound card, are the drivers for it up to date? Also which Creative sound card? If you suspect it is the card/drivers, have you tried uninstalling the driver and any software and pulling the card to see if the problem goes away?

 

[mlg3000]

My post was more in response to your opening post and the response from others. The hard drive driver is not the cause of it.

As far as the problem you are having,

it's a creative problem

Is that Creative as in a sound card, or creative in some other meaning?

If it is the sound card, are the drivers for it up to date? Also which Creative sound card? If you suspect it is the card/drivers, have you tried uninstalling the driver and any software and pulling the card to see if the problem goes away?

If the letter C was capitalized, it would refer to the company (ie, Creative Sound). However, I wrote a small letter c - a creative problem. When you are a photographer and you are working in your darkroom (Photoshop and Lightroom in this case), then you are involved in an artistic, or "creative" endeavor.

Louise