Firmware and tools for RTL9210A and RTL9210B USB to NVMe/SATA bridge controller. They are provided by station-drivers.com, Realtek, etc.
Don't hesitate to support station-drivers.com, they are a great source for drivers and firmware.
All procedures described in this Git repository are at your own risk. In case of software issues, you can find some solutions in the Unbrick section.
- Firmware
- Chipset List
- Files and Folders
- Supported Devices
- How to Flash the Firmware
- Configuration
- Create your own configuration
- Unbrick
- Firmware changelog
- Contribute
- Sources
The table below lists all known firmware versions available in this git repository's firmware folder.
| Firmware version | RTL9201(A) | RTL9210(A) | RTL9210B | RTL9220A | RTL9210C(N) | RTL9220VA | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.20.12 | ❓ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.23.5 | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | ❌ | ❓ | ❓ | Not found yet |
| 1.23.9 | ❓ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.23.15 | ❓ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.24.2 | ❓ | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Not found yet |
| 1.25.7 | ❓ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.25.14 | ❓ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.25.18 | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ | ❌ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.27.24 | ❓ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.27.25 | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❓ | ❓ | Download | |
| 1.28.17 | ❓ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.29.8 | ❓ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.29.12 | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❓ | ❓ | Download | |
| 1.29.12.011122 | ✅ | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.29.391 | ❓ | ✅ | ❌ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.30.17 | ❓ | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.30.21.070622 | ❓ | ✅ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.30.24.030822 | ❓ | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.30.28.081022 | ❓ | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.31.17.102022 | ❓ | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.31.17.102022 (2) | ❓ | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.32.16.010923 | ❓ | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.32.45.041323 | ❓ | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.32.49.140423 | ❓ | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.32.49.140423 (Lcd) | ❓ | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.32.68.062623 | ❓ | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.32.87.082923 | ❓ | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.32.901.120722 | ❓ | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.33.5.100623 | ❓ | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | - |
| 1.33.7.191023 | ❓ | ❌ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.33.44.011824 | ❓ | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.33.98.090324 | ❓ | ❌ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.34.29.011325 | ❓ | ❌ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 1.34.39.032625 | ❓ | ❌ | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | Download |
| 9.34.74.091125 | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | ✅ | ✅ | Download |
| Hardware | USB | PCIe/NVMe | SATA | Others features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RTL9201(A) | 3.x 10Gbps | - | SATA 3 | Many bugs |
| RTL9201R | 3.x 10Gbps | - | SATA 3 | |
| RTL9210(A) | 3.x 10Gbps | 3.0x2 | SATA 3 | Some enclosure only support NVMe or SATA |
| RTL9210VA | 3.x 10Gbps | 3.0x2 | SATA 3 | |
| RTL9210B | 3.x 10Gbps | 3.0x2 | SATA 3 | RTL9210B-CG |
| RTL9210VB | 3.x 10Gbps | 3.0x2 | SATA 3 | |
| RTL9210BPD | 3.x 10Gbps | 3.0x2 | SATA 3 | Power Delivery support, RTL9210BPD-CG |
| RTL9220 (A) | 3.2 20Gbps | 3.0x4 ? | - | |
| RTL9220VA | 3.2 20Gbps ? | 3.0x4 ? | - | |
| RTL9220DP | 3.2 40Gbps | 3.0x4 | - | RAID0, RAID1 |
- configure: All configurations for each device.
- dump: All dumps for each device.
- firmware: All found firmware.
There are dozens of devices with the RTL9210B, I have gathered in this git repository some firmware configs found on the www.station-drivers.com forums.
You can check in the configure folder or use values from the dump folder to create your own configuration.
| Brand | Model | Controller | config file | dump | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fideco | M211CP | RTL9210B | config | dump | |
| Inateck | FE2025 | RTL9210B | config | dump | |
| Sabrent | EC-SNVE | RTL9210B | config | ||
| Mokin | MOUD0501 | RTL9210B | dump | ||
| Ugreen | CM559 | RTL9210B | config | dump | |
| SmallRig | SD-01 | RTL9210B | dump | ||
| MKUO | SD-01 | RTL9210(B ?) | |||
| Orico | M2PJM-C3 | RTL9210 | config | dump | |
| Orico | PWDM2-G2(A) | RTL9210B | config | dump | |
| Orico | AM2C3-G2 | RTL9210B | config | dump | |
| Orico | TCM2M-C3 | RTL9210B | config | dump | |
| Orico | HM2-G2 | RTL9210B | config | dump | Tested with firmware 1.34.39. Select latest FW from selection since its not default one |
| Unionsime | MD202 | RTL9210B | config | dump | |
| UniAccessories | ? | RTL9210B | config | dump | |
| Fideco | M210 | RTL9210C(N) | default config low power boot drive config |
Warning: Flashing the firmware can brick or permanently damage your device. Do it at your own risk. The author of this Git repository is not responsible for any damage to your device. If you brick your device, you can try to unbrick it with the Unbrick section.
Info: The firmware update tool is only available for Windows and does not work well on Linux with Wine or in a virtual machine.
- Download the correct and latest firmware and tools from the
firmwarefolder. - Extract the archive.
- Connect the device to the computer.
- Launch the firmware update tool (such as UTHSB_MPtool) provided in the firmware archive.
- Dump your device configuration with the firmware update tool and save it.
- Disconnect the enclosure from the computer.
- Remove the NVMe/SATA drive.
- Reconnect the device to the computer.
- Copy the configuration file (
.cfg) of your device from the configure folder to the configure folder where the firmware update tool is located. - Change the
SERIALin the configuration file to match your dump file if it is defined. (Optional but recommended) - Comment out the
DISK_IPS_THRESwith a;in the configuration file. (Optional but recommended) - Launch the firmware update tool (such as UTHSB_MPtool) provided in the firmware archive.
- Select the configuration file (
.cfg) of your device. - Click on the flash/update device button and wait until the process is finished.
This section describes how to configure (in cfg files) the firmware for your device, all configurations are in the configure folder or use values from the dump folder to create your own configuration.
Each configuration are unique to the device, your enclosure may not work properly if you have not the right configuration.
| Variable name | Value example | Description |
|---|---|---|
| U2PHY | 02 f4 9b e0 e1 | USB 2.0 Physical Layer settings |
| U3PHY | 02 d4 09 00 d5 00 80 | USB 3.0 Physical Layer settings |
| VID | 0x0bda | Vendor ID |
| PID | 0x9210 | Product ID |
| MANUFACTURE | "Unionsine" | Manufacturer name |
| PRODUCT | "MD202" | Product name |
| SERIAL | "012345679545" | Serial number, 12 characters and unique per device |
| SCSI_PRODUCT | "Unionsine MD202 " | SCSI Product name |
| SCSI_VENDOR | "n/a" | SCSI Vendor name |
| CFEXPRESS | 0x0 | Enable CFExpress card reader (Always 0x0) |
| USB_SELF_PWR | 0x0 | If the device is self-powered ? |
| LED | 0x1 | Set to 0x1 if the device has a LED |
| DISK_HOTPLUG | 0x0 | Enable device supports hot-plugging (Very often 0x0) |
| PINMUX1 | 0x0 | Pin multiplexing settings (first set) |
| PINMUX2 | 0x0 | Pin multiplexing settings (second set) |
| U2_MAXPWR | 0xfa | Comunicates expected power consumption to parent system / O/S USB 2.0 mode, set to 0xfa to limit to 2.5w (as defined by the USB 2.0 USB-A ports standard), does not reflect effective consumption |
| U3_MAXPWR | 0x70 | Comunicates expected power consumption to parent system / O/S at USB 3.x, set to 0x70 to limit to 4.5w (as defined by the USB 3.0 for USB-A ports standard), does not reflect effective consumption |
| ASPMDIS | 0x0 | Enable or disable active power management |
| PCIE_REFCLK | 0x0 | PCIe reference clock |
| PCIE_PWRCUT_THRES | 0x5 | Suspends the PCIe power after 5 minutes of idle time (1 unit = 1 minute),, it recommended to comment this line |
| DISK_IPS_THRES | 0x1 | Responsible for powering down the PCI bus after a timeout to conserve energy, can be removed by ; |
| SWR_1_2V | 0x0 | ? |
| EN_U1U2 | 0x1 | Set to 0x1 to enable USB 3.0 Link Power Management |
| EN_UPS | 0x1 | Enable USB Power Saving ? |
| PD | 0x1 | Power Down |
| CUSTOMIZED_LED | 02 01 07 | To customize the LED behavior |
| SUSPEND_LED_OFF | 0x1 | ? |
| FORCE_USB_SPEED | 0x0 | Force specific USB speed ? |
| FORCE_PCIE_SPEED | 0x0 | Force specific PCIe speed ? |
| FORCE_USB_QUIRK | 0x0 | ? |
| FORCE_PCIE_QUIRK | 0x0 | ? |
| FAN | 0x0 | Set to 0x1 if the device has a fan |
| DIS_SHOW_EMPTY_DISK | 0x1 | Set to 0x1 to show the enclosure when no NVMe/SATA drive is connected |
| FORCE_SATA_NORMAL_DMA | 0x0 | Force SATA to use normal DMA |
| RM_INTERNAL_RD | 0x0 | ? |
| HS_AUTO_SWITCH | 0x0 | ? |
| UART_DBG_PIN | 0x0 | UART Debug pin |
| UART_BAUD_RATE | 0x0 | UART Baud rate |
| FINGER_PRINT_EN | 0x0 | Enable fingerprint authentication |
| CUSTOMIZED_DISK_IDENTIFY | 0x0 | ? |
| HW_LED_CFG | 0x0 | ? |
| CDROM_CFG | 0x0 | ? |
| SUPPORT_HID | 0x0 | ? |
| LATE_INIT_DISK | 0x0 | Forces the controller to fully initilize itself first and disk second before presenting disk to UEFI / O/S. |
| SCSI_WP_PIN | 0x0 | Write Protect SCSI pin ? |
| SD_MMC_TYPE | 0x0 | ? |
| FORCE_PORT_TYPE | 0x0 | ? |
| BCDDEVICE | 0x0 | ? |
| SUSPEND_DISK_OFF | 0x7 | ? |
| SCSI_WB_PIN | 0x0 | ? |
| CUSTOMIZED_FEATURE | 0x0 | ? |
| PERIPH_API | 0x0 | ? |
| RAID_CFG | 0x0 | ? |
The device will check available power upon connection and power on and negotiate from USB 3.0 down to USB 2.0 if it deems not enough power to available. This leads to multiple drawbacks:
- UASP support is lost;
- As a consequence Trim and Discard is lost.
The implications are a much quicker wearout of the media if not rectified, apart from the obvious speed loss.
If the device is used on an internal server port without external power U3_MAXPWR and U2_MAXPWR should be set to the port standard limits (see table above).
The following table indicates the max power and configuration of a standard USB-A port for USB 2.0 and 3.x. I personally would recommend testing the USB support on a server before putting the disk into operation. A good tool to use is shredOS combined with the linux arch commands to verify via lsusb -t USB protocol used and if UASP is supported.
| USB Generation | U2_MAXPWR / U3_MAXPWR | Standard Hex Value | Max Current | Max Power | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USB 2.0 | U2_MAXPWR | 0xfa | 500 mA | 2.5 W | Borderline value for any drive (Sata or NVME not recommended) |
| USB 3.0, 3.1 & 3.2 | U3_MAXPWR | 0x70 | 896 mA | 4.5 W | Low Energy SATA Drives are ok |
MAXPWR hereby solely communicates to the parent controller (mainboard chipset) the expected consumption.
To effectively reduce consumption, further steps need to be taken:
The .cfg setting LATE_INIT_DISK : 0x1 allows the controller to separate the initialization of ASIC (the RTL9210) and disk sequentially giving all components the time to:
- fully initiliaze the controller;
- fully initialize the disk;
- Communicate the presence of both to the BIOS / UEFI.
The change seems also to trigger a more verbose communication avoiding a stuck system on boot phases during the control of available devices on USB-Bus. When receiving power the SSD boots its internal flash controller, loads its flash translation layer (FTL) into its internal cache, and responds to the motherboard's SATA handshake. Oscilloscope testing shows that booting a SATA SSD mimics an active read cycle, pulsing briefly between 2.0W and 3.5W before dropping down to an idle state of less than 0.5W once the operating system takes over. The non sequential, but parallel, default procedure of the controller can lead to excess requirements beyond the standard power of 4.5W available when controller and disk startup at the same time.
Tested only with nvme drives. Linux has proven to be very hesitant in adopting Trim Support for RTL9210(x) enclosures, often the support needs to be manually enforced. In addition, for booting from USB you will want to increase the Grub timeout to boot to give the system the needed time to pull up all devices. 20 seconds should suffice.
Check first if support is given (irrelevant drives have been removed):
root@mypve:~# lsblk -D | grep sde
NAME DISC-ALN DISC-GRAN DISC-MAX DISC-ZERO
sde 0 0 0 0
├─sde1 0 0 0 0
├─sde2 0 0 0 0
└─sde3 0 0 0 0
├─pve-swap 0 0 0 0
├─pve-root 0 0 0 0
├─pve-data_tmeta 0 0 0 0
│ └─pve-data 0 0 0 0
└─pve-data_tdata 0 0 0 0
└─pve-data 0 0 0 0
The 0 indicates that neither the block device (the disk), nor the partitions currently support trim.
To change that we will enforce recognition on system level: First retrieve the device name (irrelevant information has been removed):
root@mypve:~# lsusb -v
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0bda:9210 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL9210 M.2 NVME Adapter
Negotiated speed: SuperSpeed (5Gbps)
Device Descriptor:
bLength 18
bDescriptorType 1
bcdUSB 3.20
bDeviceClass 0 [unknown]
bDeviceSubClass 0 [unknown]
bDeviceProtocol 0
bMaxPacketSize0 9
idVendor 0x0bda Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
idProduct 0x9210 RTL9210 M.2 NVME Adapter
bcdDevice 22.ca
iManufacturer 1 Realtek
iProduct 2 RTL9210CN
iSerial 3 012345678922
bNumConfigurations 1
Take note of the iProduct value RTL9210CN, we will need it to create following file for a custom dev rule:
root@mypve:~# nano /etc/udev/rules.d/10-usb-trim.rules
ACTION=="add|change", ATTRS{product}=="RTL9210CN", SUBSYSTEM=="scsi_disk", ATTR{provisioning_mode}="unmap"
Now we enforce the rule:
root@mypve:~# udevadm control --reload-rules
root@mypve:~# udevadm trigger
As a result the device should now successfully present itself with trim support, the partitions not yet.
root@mypve:~# lsblk -D | grep sde
sde 0 512B 4G 0
├─sde1 0 512B 4G 0
├─sde2 0 512B 4G 0
└─sde3 0 512B 4G 0
├─pve-swap 0 0B 0B 0
├─pve-root 0 0B 0B 0
├─pve-data_tmeta 0 0B 0B 0
│ └─pve-data 0 0B 0B 0
└─pve-data_tdata 0 0B 0B 0
└─pve-data 0 0B 0B 0
To create your own configuration, you can use the dump folder to get the values of your device.
- Find the dump file of your device in the
dumpfolder or on the internet. - Create a new file in the
configurefolder with the name of your device and the extension.cfg. - Copy the content of the dump file into the new file.
- Remove the first 3 lines of the dump file. These lines start with a line of
*, contain the device name on the second line, and have another line of*on the third line. - Remove variables with a value of
n/a. (Optional) - Replace
:with=for variable definitions. - Comment
DISK_IPS_THRESby changing it to;DISK_IPS_THRES = 0x1if you want. (Optional) - Launch the firmware update tool (such as UTHSB_MPtool), select the new configuration file, and flash it.
When you have bricked your device, you can try to unbrick it with the following steps:
- Disconnect the device from the computer and remove the NVMe/SATA drive.
- Disassemble the enclosure and locate the flash chip, which is usually an 8-pin 2x3 mm chip. The chip might be labeled P25Q40SH, FM25Q04A, PUYA P25D40H, or FM25Q04A.
- Find the datasheet for the flash chip, and locate the CS# and VCC pin or CS# and Hardware Reset pin. Generally, VCC is pin 8 and CS# is pin 1.
- Short the CS# and VCC pin, or better, use an SPI programmer like the CH341A. If using an SPI programmer, you can skip the next steps and directly flash the firmware.
- Launch the Realtek firmware update tool (such as UTHSB_MPtool).
- Connect the enclosure to the computer and keep the pins shorted. Keep the pins shorted for 10-15 seconds or until the device is recognized by the computer or the Realtek firmware update tool.
- Launch the Realtek firmware update tool (such as UTHSB_MPtool).
- Click on the flash/update device button and wait until the process is finished.
- Add customized command.
- Fix SATA USB powercut resume issue.
- Fix SATA reset issue if disk is lost.
- Update Kinsea KS10 LED behavior.
- Fix Fulllink macbook disk speed test issue.
- Support USB HID interface.
- Improve the compatibility for RTL9210B.
- Support RTL9210C_PD/RTL9210C_CG.
- Improve the compatibility for cdrom feature.
- Add Orico customized sleep RGB LED behavior.
- Support security api.
- Add Kinsea KS10 LED behavior.
- Add IOmaster M204 LED behavior.
- Add LED SSI_6431_fp LED behavior.
- Improve opal compatibility.
- This firmware update aims to improve stability with Samsung 980 Pro and Western Digital SN550 NVMe SSDs.
- The power LED behavior is also improved on Windows, and Intel based Mac systems: now when safely ejected the power LED should turn off ( it may blink slowly ) indicating the drive may be safely unplugged from the computer.This update is recommended for uses who have experienced connectivity problems with Samsung 980 Pro or Western Digital SN550 NVMe SSDs.
- Fix problem If your HDD/SSD could not be detected or kept disconnected from your Mac
- Fix Compatibility with Samsung M.2 SSDs und Samsung Data Migration Tool
- Fix slow speed issue.
- Has improved random 4K read performance.
- Addresses USB link instability seen in some SSD models when used in conjunction with Linux-based PCs, including the Solidigm P41 Plus. This update includes compatibility fixes in certain scenarios, including use with the Samsung 980 Pro
- Improved Compatibility
- Improved speed on some SSDs (more info www.station-drivers.com)
- Fixes an issue with random SSD disconnection
Don't hesitate to contribute to this git repository by creating a pull request or by contacting me by email: bensuperpc [at] gmail.com (I didn't accept exec files for security reasons).