Software Update: IBM – Hitachi Feature Tool 1.95

A new version of the Feature Tool software has been made available on the Hitachi site. It concerns version 1.95 and is available from this location downloaded as an exe file. Feature Tool allows you to adjust settings of a Travelstar or Deskstar drive from IBM or Hitachi. The program can be downloaded as a DOS version or if image for systems that do not run DOS. Below you can read what has changed in the 1.95 version and which settings can be changed:

The Feature Tool allows you to control some of the features in our newer Deskstar and Travelstar high performance ATA hard disk drives. This version adds support for our latest drives (including 48-bit addressing for capacities beyond 128GB). The Feature Tool allows you to:

• Enable or disable the read-ahead or write cache.
• Change the drive Automatic Acoustic Management settings to the:
  • Lowest acoustic emanation setting (Quiet Seek Mode), or
  • Maximum performance level (Normal Seek Mode).
• Change the predefined capacity of the drive. This option can be used in situations where there is a BIOS limitation and the drive is not recognized. See the PDF Users Guide for specific details.
• Switch the Ultra DMA mode
• Change Advanced Power Mode – allows you to change between the lowest power consumption and the highest power consumption (maximum performance level).
• Show Drive Temperature – shows the current drive temperature in Celsius and Fahrenheit.