Vista - What is TSDN?

This stands for Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Corporation and it's a "software flash download".

However when I open this up (this is in one of the zip files provided by the dell site when you submit your laptop service tag) it is basically something that lets me upload a file and have it upgraded, hence what it says at the bottom:

"The firmware upgrade process of this company is organized so that the entire upgrade process is completed after the PC is automatically rebooted. Therefore, do not turn off the PC power supply by force while the upgrade is in progress."

Not sure why dell provides useless zip files (apparently ALL of them are for vista-32 and they gave me this when the dell page/site/link itself indicated that my system was vista 64) yet here I am being given 32-only compatible crap. Please help.

My dual core has a TSST Corp burner. All I can say is be very careful doing the Firmware update. Some models it may be ok to use the Samsung firmware for an equivalent burner, and some not. You might try a forum like CD Freaks to find someone who has made the exact update you plan to do, before trying it. It's kind of nebulous which burner is really what.

Another thing you can try is use Imgburn and do the "check for updates" search. The site it uses should have more information. I'm very paranoid about firmware updates because I've had good hardware turned into dead weight in the past. It's no fun. I don't know why there's no standardized way to save and restore the current state of these things. It all seems to be however any manufacturer feels like doing it.

A couple of things I do to try to protect myself, one) a battery backup. You don't want a power glitch in the middle. Assuming you have one) then two) wait awhile until that firmware update has been around a bit, then google to see if there's a lot of crying about that update turning burners into paperweights. Being an early adopter is risky.

Well, I didn't do anything nor am I planning to do something with it.

However I did happen to do something called a firmware reflash. Care to tell what this is? It wasn't making any sense to me.

Try google terms: firmware flash update FAQ

I've noticed if you stick FAQ onto the search you almost always find one.

There are ones about firmware updates and I kinda know what this is, such as with my psp, a firmware update is putting things in it that weren't initially there, giving it internet capabilities, etc.

However found nothing about reflash or firmware reflashing.