Right now I'm upgrading the firmware on a bunch of 2.5" drives with a special build. To counteract an 'issue', I submitted a code change, and am running drives in the test that exhibited the symptoms. Doing the code upgrade is tedious: for each drive, plugging it in, powering it up, issuing a reset, running the upgrade sequence, spinning it down, and powering it off. However, since it's my change, I get to do the dirty work. I already did a lot of drives on Friday, which ran fine over the long weekend. It seems as though my code change works, but I need to work with the hardware designer to get root cause, and run more drives as verification. Still, when this drive program ships, I'll have some actual code in a drive firmware. Woo! In the past I've had my optimized channel settings included on some drives, but this is the first time I'll have made direct modifications. Going through the firmware is kinda fun, though only to a code geek, I suppose....

I brought my iPod Mini to the lab to listen to some tunes while I re-flash these drives. Of course I listened to more Rie Fu, but now I'm jamming to some vintage B'z: their "Loose" album. Classic.