Flashing the firmware

It is in memory. In some devices, you may receive a message indicating that there is a new version and asking if you want to download it or not. Otherwise, you have to check the manufacturer's website to see if there is a new version. What device is it?

no no not at all.

the firmware is installed on a read-only memory that is difficult to access (to avoid messing around too much), the drivers are simply installed on the hard drive, next to the operating system.

this read-only memory is associated with the processor of the component in question (SSD microcontroller, DVD drive microcontroller, motherboard microcontroller aka northbridge) (controller = small processor at this scale)
of course, what I’m talking about are all tiny processors that are there to manage exchanges, nothing more, nothing to do with a Pentium or a Core i which serve as the central processor.
and this ROM is what the controller will use.
in fact, the firmware is more like a small operating system for the peripheral than anything else.

I don’t think it’s clear but oh well ^^



basically, a hard drive has its microcontroller (small processor) that manages the contacts with the outside world, and for this, it uses a small system called firmware. this can be updated (but it requires some tinkering, as it’s often not easily accessible)
since this system is completely transparent to you, you can think of it a bit like a driver, although a driver is not the same, as it's installed for an operating system (a Mac driver won’t work on Windows and vice versa)

yes that's right :)

and of course these little processors are really insignificant compared to the central processor
(the little processors are called microcontrollers)