As a precaution, back up your data using disk-to-disk backup, volume copy (to a volume group not affected by the planned firmware upgrade), or a remote mirror.

You might want to upgrade only a few drives to test the behavior of the new firmware to ensure it is functioning correctly. If the new firmware is functioning correctly, upgrade the remaining drives.

If you have any failed drives, fix them before you start the firmware upgrade.

If the drives can do an offline upgrade, stop I/O activity to all volumes associated with the drives. When I/O activity is stopped, no configuration operations associated with those volumes can occur.

Do not remove any drives while upgrading drive firmware.

Do not make any configuration changes to the storage array while upgrading drive firmware.