Firmware
Besides requiring drivers, LTO drives themselves rely on firmware. As a LTO drive is basically a computer, consider the firmware to be its operating system. This firmware is just as much under active development as are the drivers, and should not be ignored when troubleshooting. When you run into an issue, but all drivers are installed correctly, make sure your firmware is up to date.
Update Notifications
Canister Preflight Checks will notify users of IBM and Quantum drives when a new LTO firmware is available. Firmware updates are advisory and can be skipped if required using the > in the bottom right hand corner of the window.
Downloading LTO firmware
LTO firmware is specific to each LTO vendor. Below you'll find links for IBM and Quantum firmware downloads. Users with HP and Tandberg drives are advised to contact their drive vendor for assistance.
Brands such as Symply, Magstor, OWC and mLogic generally use stock IBM LTO drives inside their products, but not always, so be sure to check Preflight Checks.
Once you have downloaded the latest firmware, the next step is to install IBM Tape Diagnostic Tools ("ITDT"), then perform the update.
Official IBM LTO firmwares can be obtained from Fix Central, which requires an account. For convenience, you can find the same downloads here on the Qualstar firmware index.
Both Symply and Magstor each maintain a handy list of IBM firmware downloads for their customers.
Quantum drive firmwares can be obtained the firmware index here. Although IBM firmwares will technically run on a Quantum drive, for warranty/support reasons we recommend using the latest version recommended by Quantum who are often slower to qualify updates.
HP LTO drives, aka. HPE or Hewlett Packard Enterprise, are a bit of a mixed bag. While their older drives were manufactured in house, later units come direct from the IBM factory.
In all cases, HP LTO drives require special vendor-locked firmwares, which are only available with an active HP support contract. If your drive is new and you think it requires a firmware update, try speaking to your vendor as a next step.
To add to the headache, HP also use a custom update utility known as HP LTT (Library & Tape Tools), which means ITDT won't work. HP LTT runs on Windows or Linux, only.
Most Tandberg drives were rebadged HP/HPE units, so the same rules apply.
Installing ITDT
Use the steps below to install and run ITDT, aka. IBM Tape Diagnostic Tools:
ITDT can be downloaded here. Since installation is a bit fiddly, we've put a script together that drops ITDT into your home directory:
Open Applications > Utilities >
Terminal.appCopy, then paste the following prompt, then hit enter to install ITDT:
curl -fsSL "https://downloads.hedge.video/canister/scripts/itdt_install.sh" | bashRun ITDT using:
~/ITDT/itdtAccept the ITDT license agreement by typing
L,[Enter], thenIand again[Enter].
ITDT is now set up.
Download IBM's
ITDTtool for Windows: https://downloads.hedge.video/canister/firmware/itdt/install_itdt_windows.exeDouble Click
install_itdt_windowsto run extract the installer. This will extract ITDT in the same location as your downloads.Hit
[Enter]to complete close the extraction utility.Open the
ITDTdirectory, then right click theitdtexecutable and chooseRun as administrator.Click
Yesto theUser Access Controlprompt.Accept the ITDT license agreement by typing
L,[Enter], thenIand again[Enter].
ITDT is now set up.
Updating the firmware
Next, the firmware itself:
1. Download the latest firmware for your drive.
If your LTO drive is housed inside a Thunderbolt device (i.e., mLogic, MagStor, Symply, OWC), use the SAS versions, not the FC (Fiber Channel) versions.
2. Move the firmware package (a .fmrz file) into the input directory inside ITDT install location.
On macOS, the default location is ~/ITDT/input/.
Not sure how to get to that folder? In Finder, hit Shift-Command-H and enter the above path.
On Windows, ITDT will extract to wherever your browser downloads go. The input folder for placing firmwares will be something like /Users/Username/Downloads/ITDT/input/.
Next, quit ALL apps you use for LTO purposes, and unmount any tapes.
3. ITDT should still be running from the installation steps above. Now enter the following commands to open the connection to your tape device and upload the firmware:
u, then[Enter]1(one, not el), then[Enter]If you have just one tape device,
tape0is your device name, so just hit[Enter]four times.
If you have multiple LTOs connected, the easiest way to make sure you're updating the correct LTO device is to power off the other units. Alternatively, Mac users can look up device SCSI IDs in System Information > SAS. In this example screenshot, the device ID is 0:
71, then[Enter].If you properly copied the firmware into the
inputfolder, you'll see a view like this, listing your firmware file in slot0:
Select the firmware with
0and anxwill appear next to it.
Continue with
C, then[Enter]and wait until done.
A successful upgrade will have a
PASSEDstatus:
Hit
[Enter]to return to the Tape Util menu.
4. When back in the Tape Util menu, close the connection to the tape:
Type
2, then[Enter]twice.
5. Now you can quit ITDT: q then [Enter]
6. You can safely close the Terminal app.
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