Crossflashing instructions to iHAS524 B

For iHAS124 B, iHAS324 B, iHAS524 B, and DH-24ABS only.
iHAS224 B, iHAS424 B, and iHAS624 B can be crossflashed to the iHAS624 B instead.

1.Download the necessary files and extract them somewhere.
2.Run EEPROM_Utility_SE.exe
3.




Ensure that the correct drive is selected. For this to work, the drive must appear as one of the following:
ATAPI iHAS124 B
ATAPI iHAS324 B
ATAPI iHAS524 B
ATAPI DH24ABS
4.Click "Backup Eeprom" and save the file somewhere.
5.Close the EEPROM Utility.
6.Run Flash_Utility.exe
7.Ensure the same drive as before is selected.
8.Click "Read Flash" and save the file somewhere.
9.Click "Write Flash", select "iHAS524 B AL2A.bin", and accept the warnings. Near the end of the process, you may be able to hear the drive reset, and the LED will likely start flashing.
10.Once the writing finishes, close the Flash Utility.
11.Run EEPROM_Utility_SE.exe again.
12.Ensure that the correct drive is still selected. Note that the model string will now be "ATAPI iHAS524 B AL2A 2011/09/14 14:47"
13.On the "CrossFlash" tab, click "Convert Drive", then "Yes"
14.After the process finishes, shut down (do not reboot) the computer, and then power it back on. The physical power cycle is necessary to reboot the drive.
15.Open Device Manager and verify that the drive is now recognized as an "ATAPI iHAS524 B" and that the LED is no longer flashing.
You now have the following additional features:

SmartErase

(if you upgraded from an iHAS124 - the iHAS324 already has this feature)
Can be used to render the data on a write-once disc unreadable by overwriting it.

LabelTag

Can write visible text or graphics to the data side of CD-R/DVD-R/DVD+R media. Requires the disc to have data burned already but to NOT be finalized. This means that, for example, ImgBurn won't work. Also note that the latest version of the software has issues when writing (physically) large images to the disc, and may stall partway through. This can be avoided by keeping labels to a reasonable size, which is recommended anyway as labels do use data area.

Both of these features can be accessed through the PLDS SmartPack tool, which can be downloaded at the bottom of this page. SmartErase is also supported by some third-party software, including ImgBurn.