Crucial Rolls Out New Improvement Firmware for MX500 SSDs

Crucial Improves MX500 Performance

A new firmware update is available for Crucial‘s MX500 series of solid state drives. This new firmware version M3CR022 is an optional update from version M3CR010. Aiming to address various performance improvements including:

• Ready time from DEVSLP low-power state.
• TRIM and Wear Leveling performance.
• SATA error handing.
• Compatibility with some TCG Opal 2.0 third-party encryption utilities (this change does not affect MS BitLocker).

It applies to all MX500 form factors, including both 2.5-inch and M.2 NGFF.

The Crucial MX500 is the first consumer product to use Micron’s 64-layer 3D TLC NAND. This 2nd gen 3D NAND comes in a stackable 64-layer design for a 256-gigabit component. The NAND uses a ‘CMOS Under the Array’ design as Micron calls it, which allows them to minimize the footprint of the die.

If you are interested in seeing how well this drive performs, you can read the full review of the 1TB version of the Crucial MX500 here at eTeknix. The drive has earned our ‘Innovation Award’.

Where Can I Download This Firmware Update?

To download the M3CR022 firmware, head on to the SSD support/firmware page on Crucial’s website and select MX500 from the drop down menu. The download size is only 12MB.