Software updates are an integral part of modern life, with your computer's operating system and your smartphone being smart enough to update on its own. But that's not the case for every piece of electronics, and many need a manual touch to get them updated. Pretty much every computing device you own, from the best M.2 SSDs to your computer's motherboard and the router powering your home network, all runs on a combination of firmware and hardware. It's called firmware instead of software because it's designed to be permanently embedded in the device that it controls and updated only periodically.

These firmware updates can fix performance-related issues, security holes, or other types of bugs. Because they're not scheduled regularly, it's even more important that you update the firmware when a new version arrives. For SSDs, firmware controls how data is stored and read, as well as other functions that the SSD controller needs to operate efficiently to give you the best performance possible. Every SSD manufacturer has a slightly different way of handling updates, but they all have one thing in common–they're quick and easy to do.

Find out the product name of your SSD

A crucial step to ensure you get the right firmware

The first part of the process involves identifying the SSD in your computer. You can skip this particular step if you built the PC yourself or just know which SSD you're using. There are multiple ways to identify the SSD in your system, but the easiest way is to use a couple of built-in Windows tools that save you the hassle of downloading additional software. Follow the steps below to look into your SSD information:

  1. Type Optimize Drives in the taskbar's Search box.
  2. Click on Defragment and Optimize Drives.
  3. Check the Media Type column to identify the installed SSD(s), and note the drive label.
  4. Open This PC, right-click the drive that you found was an SSD, and select Properties.
  5. Click on the Hardware tab to reveal the name of the SSD.

How to update your SSD's firmware via the manufacturer's software

Your SSD's new firmware is just a few clicks away

Now that you've successfully identified the make and model of your SSD, you can easily verify the firmware version and download the pending updates directly from the manufacturer. I recommend downloading the SSD utility software that its manufacturer makes.

Whether your drive is made by Samsung, Crucial, or ADATA, they will all have some sort of utility software for their SSDs, and it's often just a Google search away. My XPG GAMMIX S50 Lite NVMe SSD, for instance, talks to ADATA's SSD Toolbox software.

Simply download the utility tool for your SSD from its OEM's website and install it. You should be able to see your SSD listed within the utility tool, along with a bunch of other options, including the ability to update the firmware. These programs are often well-designed, so it should be easy to navigate and find the firmware update option you need.

Please create a backup of the contents of your SSD and store it in a separate drive to ensure you don't lose any important data in case something goes wrong during or after the firmware update.

I located the Firmware update option within the Utility section of the ADATA SSD Toolbox program. Clicking on the Check Update button prompted a prompt saying that I was already on the latest firmware.

Links to the SSD firmware utilities for most major SSD manufacturers:

Updating the firmware on your SSD doesn't have to be difficult

That's how easy it is to update the firmware of your SSD. The method highlighted above will work for SATA and external SSDs, too. All you really need to do is identify the make and model of your storage drive and download the corresponding utility software to find the necessary tools. Storage drives are among the most important components of a computer, and it's crucial to keep them up-to-date with no lingering issues.

People who use newer Macs don't have to worry about their SSD's firmware as they're included in macOS updates. You can, however, update the firmware of your external SSDs by downloading the macOS version of the utility software from the respective OEM's website.

While firmware updates are necessary to ensure smooth SSD performance, they're not guaranteed to improve it. There's only so much a firmware update can do, and it may be worth buying a new SSD if you haven't upgraded it in a while or think performance could be better.