I have bought 10x 2TB sas drives, and was hoping to use them with my Areca raid controller, unfortunately the controller keeps throwing out random disks during raid build, usually before 50% has passed, two disks have already failed. So I thought a firmware upgrade might help, and the support site does have a new firmware available labeled "Important". Current drive is 0006 and new is 0008.

I am running an RHEL 7 clone, with kernel 4.9.63 and the disks are connected to an mvsas controller (AOC-SASLP-MV8). The utils are able to talk to the drives just fine through the /dev/sg5-8 devices, but the firmware upload fails on all 4 drives I have tested on so far.

I have tested using sg_write_buffer as well, resulting in the following error:
# sg_write_buffer -v --in=MU-SAS-0008.LOD --length=1107456 --mode=5 /dev/sg5 Write buffer cmd: 3b 05 00 00 00 00 10 e6 00 00 write buffer: pass through os error: Invalid argument Write buffer failed res=-1

See gist for disk drive info and firmware error log
https://gist.github.com/Dead2/60037f2a75fa1253cbb13b8ba05e92ee

My skill level with Linux and hardware/software is high, and firmware updates like this is usually a breeze even through JTAG, but this time I am completely lost, partly because the firmware util does not really give me any clues whether this is OS, Driver, HBA or Drive related. I also found no DOS utils or bootable iso, the only alternative being windows utils, but that is a whole other mess.

If you have any ideas or tips that can help me make use of these drives, I'd be very grateful.

Problem

Firmware upgrade failure, with segmented download variable it says 'successfully upgraded to SN03' (which is current firmware)

Block size failure as well.

Log attached https://pastebin.com/CAmwTbfc

Expected behavior

Firmware upgrade from SN03 to SN04

How to reproduce

Executed via root on Synology Linux/GNU

Deployment information

Linux nachoServ 4.4.302+ #64570 SMP Thu Jul 20 00:07:27 CST 2023 x86_64 GNU/Linux synology_broadwell_3617xs

Additional information

I have tried with various versions of SeaChest and SeaChest lite.

It also fails to change block size from 512 to 4096.

Consistent error across 8 x 16tb exos 18's

Problem

Input:

SeaChest_SMART_x64_windows -d PD4 --idd short --poll

Message:

SeaChest_SMART - Seagate drive utilities - NVMe Enabled
Copyright (c) 2014-2023 Seagate Technology LLC and/or its Affiliates, All Rights Reserved
SeaChest_SMART Version: 2.3.1-4_1_1 X86_64
Build Date: Mar 27 2023
Today: Wed Sep 27 19:17:20 2023 User: distr (admin)

\.\PhysicalDrive4 - Seagate FireCuda 530 ZP1000GM30013 - 7VQ06XXX - SU6SM005 - NVMe
IDD is only supported on Seagate Drives.

Expected behavior

Better error description.

How to reproduce

See above.

Deployment information

Windows 22H2 22621.2361

Additional information

The same input works on:

ST14000NM001G
ST8000NM0055

Please describe the feature/improvement you would like to see added.

SeaChest_Lite: Latest version.

When using a so called "data destructive command" with the command line argument "--confirm this-will-erase-data" I expect that there will be at least some data erased.
But when using "--setSectorSize" to change the sector size from 512e to 4Kn for the first time it happened that I made up my mind and changed back from 4Kn to 512e and voila: ALL my data was still there!
My suggestion: Please change the words "this-will-erase-data" to something else reflecting the fact that this command does not erase anything but just makes it inaccessible sometimes - maybe relying only that the OS will superpose another file system structure.

Thank You

PS: This is my first suggestion here, maybe it is not the right place. please redirect it if necessary. Thanks

Please explain why you think adding this feature/improvement is important.

A user not being aware that this command is not really destructive may run into problems because confidential data may be unwantedly exposed. So that I feel there should be a clear warning.

I have a Seagate HDD and I want to change the logical sector size to 4096 bytes. I'm on Debian.

SeaChest tools show for my drive:

Logical Sector Size (B): 512
Physical Sector Size (B): 4096

The result of the following two commands,

SeaChest_Format -d /dev/sg1 --setSectorSize 4096 --confirm this-will-erase-data:

SeaChest_Lite -d /dev/sg1 --setSectorSize 4096 --confirm this-will-erase-data

is:

Setting sector size not supported on this device

Seagate website says no firmware update is available for the drive.

Surely if the physical sector size is 4096, SeaChest should allow me to set logical sector size to 4096 somehow?

I'm curious if there's any reason to prefer one over the other set of utilities?

Currently I see the openSeaChest utilities are newer versions than the SeaChest utilities.

I also see a few differences in the list of utilities:

• _Logs only available in openSeaChest
• _Lite only available in SeaChest
• _Security only available in SeaChest
• _ZBD only available in openSeaChest

I also see the separate top-level directory "openSeaChest_LogParser", not sure if that's different from "_Logs" in openSeaChest.

I'm not much troubled by which to use :) because I anyway only need to use _Format for changing my 12TB SAS drives from 512E to 4Kn.

Hi all,

I used the SeaChest-Software on Linux system to upgrade from 512e to 4kn on a new Seagate Exos X16 10TB HDD. Now the HDD seems to be fully broken.

Following commands I used:

SeaChest_Lite --scan

SeaChest_Lite --device /dev/sg... --showSupportedSectorSizes
512 and 4096 was reported

SeaChest_Lite --device /dev/sg... --setSectorSize 4096 --confirm ...

After that the HDD seem to be nor longer accessable. Lost MBR and GPT, gdisk is reporting several failures:

Warning! Read error 5! Misbehavior now likely!
Caution! After loading partitions, the CRC doesn't check out

Recovery/transformation command (? for help): e
Warning! This will probably do weird things if you've converted an MBR to
GPT form and haven't yet saved the GPT! Proceed? (Y/N): y
Warning! Read error 5! Misbehavior now likely!
Caution! After loading partitions, the CRC doesn't check out!

Recovery/transformation command (? for help): w
Warning! Main partition table overlaps the first partition by 34 blocks!
You will need to delete this partition or resize it in another utility.
Aborting write of new partition table.

Recovery/transformation command (? for help): v

Problem: The CRC for the main partition table is invalid. This table may be
corrupt. Consider loading the backup partition table ('c' on the recovery &
transformation menu). This report may be a false alarm if you've already
corrected other problems.

Caution: The CRC for the backup partition table is invalid. This table may
be corrupt. This program will automatically create a new backup partition
table when you save your partitions.
Warning! Main partition table overlaps the first partition by 34 blocks!
You will need to delete this partition or resize it in another utility.

Identified 3 problems!

Any idea how to fix it?

I was trying to change my ST4000NM005A SAS drive from 512e to 4kn and I ran the command:
SeaChest_Format_x64_windows_R.exe -d arc:0:0:4 --formatUnit 4096 --fastFormat 1 --confirm ...

This has no effect and the drive still shows 512 as logical sector size rather than 4096

The openSeaChest binaries don't run for me (Slackware systems) and I'm not able to figure out the reason yet.

# ./openSeaChest_Basics_280_1192_64
-bash: ./openSeaChest_Basics_280_1192_64: No such file or directory

# strace openSeaChest_Basics_280_1192_64 
strace: Can't stat 'openSeaChest_Basics_280_1192_64': No such file or directory

# gdb openSeaChest_Basics_280_1192_64
GNU gdb (GDB) 9.1
...
Reading symbols from openSeaChest_Basics_280_1192_64...
(No debugging symbols found in openSeaChest_Basics_280_1192_64)
(gdb) r
Starting program: /tmp/openSeaChest_Basics_280_1192_64 
/bin/bash: /tmp/openSeaChest_Basics_280_1192_64: No such file or directory
During startup program exited with code 127.

I've tried on a few different systems, and also tried an older set of openSeaChest binaries with the same results. Very strange.

No problems at all with the SeaChest binaries.

Problem

can't format the drive via the program to continue, outputting error 164

Expected behavior

format

How to reproduce

try to press create

Deployment information

win 11 x64

Additional information

tried 4gb, 8gb and 16gb stick but all give same issue
the software is from: ExosX24-Summit-ISE-SATA-512E-SE04.zip

I really like the extensive documentation for the SeaChest tools, but for the Format utility it doesn't mention whether formatUnit or fastFormat is recommended when changing the sector size from 512e to 4096.
I have a pair of ST12000NM0027 drives that came formatted as 512e and I'd like to reformat them to 4K. I would do a long format if it provides any benefit over fast format, even if it takes days to complete.
Please advise. Thanks!

Problem

When I try to change the sector size on a Exos 16 to 4kn nothing happens.
I start the process with the arguments"-d PD3 --setSectorSize 4096 --confirm this-will-erase-data"
The warnings and the countdown appear. After the Countdown has hit "0" the consol immediately jumps back out into the promt "C:"
I confirm, before and after restart, with --showSupportedFormats that nothing has indeed changed and the drive is still at 512

Expected behavior

I would expect a progress indication or at least a significant pause for Low Level Format to take place

How to reproduce

Deployment information

Windows 10 Pro 10.0.19044

Additional information

No response

I just got 5 new ST10000NM0578 E drivers
it seams all of them are set to 4096 sector size,
I want to use them on an older raid controller that supports only 512

So i attached them to a newer one a Adaptec ASR71605, set them to pass through
and tried running

SeaChest_Format_x64_windows_R.exe -d arc:0:0:0 --formatUnit 512 --fastFormat 1 --confirm this-will-erase-data

but unfortunately it returns en error

==========================================================================================
 SeaChest_Format - Seagate drive utilities - RAID Enabled - NVMe Enabled
 Copyright (c) 2014-2021 Seagate Technology LLC and/or its Affiliates, All Rights Reserved
 SeaChest_Format Version: 2.3.1-2_2_3 X86_64
 Build Date: Jun 17 2021
 Today: Fri Jan 21 15:39:47 2022        User: Admin (admin)
==========================================================================================

arc:0:0:0 - ST10000NM0578 E - my serial number i guess - SCSI
Format Unit
Format Unit Failed!

Now this is not cool, I bought them explicitly to use them with that older controller,

Any ideas what may be failing here? How can I get them to switch to 512

when I run
SeaChest_Format_x64_windows_R.exe -d arc:0:0:0 -i --showSupportedFormats

it tels me

==========================================================================================
 SeaChest_Format - Seagate drive utilities - RAID Enabled - NVMe Enabled
 Copyright (c) 2014-2021 Seagate Technology LLC and/or its Affiliates, All Rights Reserved
 SeaChest_Format Version: 2.3.1-2_2_3 X86_64
 Build Date: Jun 17 2021
 Today: Fri Jan 21 15:35:04 2022        User: Admin (admin)
==========================================================================================

arc:0:0:0 - ST10000NM0578 E - my serial number i guess - SCSI
        Vendor ID: IBM-ESXS
        Model Number: ST10000NM0578 E
        Serial Number: my serial number 
        Firmware Revision: ECH8
        World Wide Name: 5000C500C9C9A013
        Drive Capacity (TB/TiB): 9.93/9.03
        Temperature Data:
                Current Temperature (C): 43
                Highest Temperature (C): Not Reported
                Lowest Temperature (C): Not Reported
        Power On Time:  1 day 4 hours 54 minutes
        Power On Hours: 28.90
        MaxLBA: 2424569855
        Native MaxLBA: Not Reported
        Logical Sector Size (B): 4096
        Physical Sector Size (B): 4096
        Sector Alignment: 0
        Rotation Rate (RPM): 7200
        Form Factor: 3.5"
        Last DST information:
                Time since last DST (hours): 1.90
                DST Status/Result: 0x1
                DST Test run: 0x1
        Long Drive Self Test Time:  20 hours
        Interface speed:
                Port 0 (Current Port)
                        Max Speed (GB/s): 12.0
                        Negotiated Speed (Gb/s): 6.0
                Port 1
                        Max Speed (GB/s): 12.0
                        Negotiated Speed (Gb/s): Not Reported
        Annualized Workload Rate (TB/yr): 0.00
        Total Bytes Read (KB): 516.10
        Total Bytes Written (B): Not Reported
        Encryption Support: Self Encrypting
        Cache Size (MiB): Not Reported
        Read Look-Ahead: Not Supported
        Non-Volatile Cache: Enabled
        Write Cache: Disabled
        SMART Status: Good
        ATA Security Information: Not Supported
        Firmware Download Support: Full, Segmented, Deferred
        Number of Logical Units: 1
        Specifications Supported:
                SPC-5
                SAM-5
                SAS-3
                SPL-3
                SPC-4
                SBC-3
        Features Supported:
                Power Consumption
                Protection Type 1
                Protection Type 2
                TCG
                Application Client Logging
                Self Test
                Automatic Write Reassignment [Enabled]
                Automatic Read Reassignment [Enabled]
                EPC
                Informational Exceptions [Mode 6]
                Translate Address
                Seagate Remanufacture
                Seagate In Drive Diagnostics (IDD)
                Format Unit
                Fast Format
                Sanitize
                Storage Element Depopulation
        Adapter Information:
                Vendor ID: Not available.
                Product ID: Not available.
                Revision: Not available.

Supported Logical Block Sizes and Protection Types:
---------------------------------------------------
  * - current device format
PI Key:
  Y - protection type supported at specified block size
  N - protection type not supported at specified block size
  ? - unable to determine support for protection type at specified block size
Relative performance key:
  N/A - relative performance not available.
  Best
  Better
  Good
  Degraded
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Logical Block Size  PI-0  PI-1  PI-2  PI-3  Relative Performance  Metadata Size
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                512     Y     ?     ?     N                   N/A            N/A
                520     Y     ?     ?     N                   N/A            N/A
                528     Y     ?     ?     N                   N/A            N/A
*              4096     Y     ?     ?     N                   N/A            N/A
               4112     Y     ?     ?     N                   N/A            N/A
               4160     Y     ?     ?     N                   N/A            N/A
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Device is not capable of showing all sizes it supports. Only common
      sizes are listed. Please consult the product manual for all supported
      combinations.
NOTE: This device supports protection information (PI) (a.k.a. End to End protection).
        Type 0 - No protection beyond transport protocol
        Type 1 - Logical Block Guard and Logical Block Reference Tag
        Type 2 - Logical Block Guard and Logical Block Reference Tag (except first block)
                 32byte read/write CDBs allowed
      Not all forms of PI are supported on all sector sizes unless otherwise indicated
      in the device product manual.
NOTE: This device supports Fast Format. Fast format is not instantaneous and is used for
      switching between 5xx and 4xxx sector sizes. A fast format may take a few minutes or longer
      but may take longer depending on the size of the drive. Fast format support does not necessarily
      mean switching sector sizes AND changing PI at the same time is supported. In most cases, a
      switch of PI type will require a full device format.
      Fast format mode 1 is typically used to switch from 512 to 4096 block sizes with the current
          PI scheme.

So it should be working but its not it just fails, please help me to resolve this issue.

Hi,

We have two new 18TB drives that dropped out of setSectorSize, so I've been running seagateQuickFormat with the force flag to try to bring them back.

How long would you expect this format to take? From all descriptions I suspect relatively quickly and orders of magnitude less time than the week we've given them?

Thanks!

Problem

I'm receiving error message Failed to set sector size! while trying to change the sector size of my ST2000NM017B devices from 512 (default) to 4096.

~/SeaChest/SeaChestLite/Lin64/Non-RAID/x86_64 # ./SeaChest_Lite_x86_64-alpine-linux-musl_static --scan
==========================================================================================
 SeaChest_Lite - Seagate drive utilities - NVMe Enabled
 Copyright (c) 2014-2023 Seagate Technology LLC and/or its Affiliates, All Rights Reserved
 SeaChest_Lite Version: 1.9.0-4_1_1 X86_64
 Build Date: Mar 27 2023
 Today: Mon Sep 18 17:13:07 2023	User: root
==========================================================================================
Vendor   Handle       Model Number            Serial Number          FwRev
ATA      /dev/sg0     ST2000NM017B-2TD103     XXXXXXXX               SN01
ATA      /dev/sg1     ST2000NM017B-2TD103     XXXXXXXX               SN01
ATA      /dev/sg2     ST2000NM017B-2TD103     XXXXXXXX               SN01
ATA      /dev/sg3     ST2000NM017B-2TD103     XXXXXXXX               SN01
ATA      /dev/sg4     ST2000NM017B-2TD103     XXXXXXXX               SN01
ATA      /dev/sg5     ST2000NM017B-2TD103     XXXXXXXX               SN01
ATA      /dev/sg6     ST2000NM017B-2TD103     XXXXXXXX               SN01
ATA      /dev/sg7     ST2000NM017B-2TD103     XXXXXXXX               SN01
ATA      /dev/sg8     ST2000NM017B-2TD103     XXXXXXXX               SN01
ATA      /dev/sg9     ST2000NM017B-2TD103     XXXXXXXX               SN01`

512 and 4096 should be supported:

~/SeaChest/SeaChestLite/Lin64/Non-RAID/x86_64 # ./SeaChest_Lite_x86_64-alpine-linux-musl_static --device /dev/sg0 --showSupportedFormats
==========================================================================================
 SeaChest_Lite - Seagate drive utilities - NVMe Enabled
 Copyright (c) 2014-2023 Seagate Technology LLC and/or its Affiliates, All Rights Reserved
 SeaChest_Lite Version: 1.9.0-4_1_1 X86_64
 Build Date: Mar 27 2023
 Today: Mon Sep 18 17:14:57 2023	User: root
==========================================================================================

/dev/sg0 - ST2000NM017B-2TD103 - XXXXXXXX - SN01 - ATA

Supported Logical Block Sizes and Protection Types:
---------------------------------------------------
  * - current device format
PI Key:
  Y - protection type supported at specified block size
  N - protection type not supported at specified block size
  ? - unable to determine support for protection type at specified block size
Relative performance key:
  N/A - relative performance not available.
  Best
  Better
  Good
  Degraded
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Logical Block Size  PI-0  PI-1  PI-2  PI-3  Relative Performance  Metadata Size
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*               512     Y     N     N     N                   N/A            N/A
               4096     Y     N     N     N                   N/A            N/A
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Any advices?

Expected behavior

Set sector size to 4096

How to reproduce

Error message:

~/SeaChest/SeaChestLite/Lin64/Non-RAID/x86_64 # ./SeaChest_Lite_x86_64-alpine-linux-musl_static --device /dev/sg0 --setSectorSize 4096 --confirm this-will-erase-data-and-may-render-the-drive-inoperable
==========================================================================================
 SeaChest_Lite - Seagate drive utilities - NVMe Enabled
 Copyright (c) 2014-2023 Seagate Technology LLC and/or its Affiliates, All Rights Reserved
 SeaChest_Lite Version: 1.9.0-4_1_1 X86_64
 Build Date: Mar 27 2023
 Today: Mon Sep 18 17:08:36 2023	User: root
==========================================================================================
One or more of the options provided will perform a low-level format that cannot
be interrupted once started. All background software should be stopped, any filesystems
that are currently mounted should first be unmounted in order to reduce the risk of
interruption. Do not attempt these operations on multiple devices at the same time
to ensure the best possible outcome. Many controllers/drivers/HBAs cannot handle these
operations running in parallel without issuing a device reset.
		There is a risk when performing a low-level format/fast format that may
		make the drive inoperable if it is reset at any time while it is formatting.
		WARNING: Any interruption to the device while it is formatting may render the
		         drive inoperable! Use this at your own risk!
		WARNING: Set sector size may affect all LUNs/namespaces for devices
		         with multiple logical units or namespaces.
		WARNING (SATA): Do not interrupt this operation once it has started or
		         it may cause the drive to become unusable. Stop all possible background
		         activity that would attempt to communicate with the device while this
		         operation is in progress
		WARNING: It is not recommended to do this on USB as not
		         all USB adapters can handle a 4k sector size.
		WARNING: Disable any out-of-band management systems/services/daemons
		         before using this option. Interruptions can be caused by these
		         and may prevent completion of a sector size change.

If you wish to cancel this operation, press CTRL-C now to exit the software.
 0

/dev/sg0 - ST2000NM017B-2TD103 - XXXXXXXX - SN01 - ATA
Set Sector Size to 4096

WARNING: It is not recommended to do this on USB enclosures as not
         all USB adapters can handle a 4k sector size.
WARNING (SATA): Do not interrupt this operation once it has started or
         it may cause the drive to become unusable. Stop all possible background
         activity that would attempt to communicate with the device while this
         operation is in progress
Press CTRL-C to cancel this operation before the timer runs out.
  0
Setting the drive sector size quickly.
Please wait a few minutes for this command to complete.
It should complete in under 5 minutes, but interrupting it may make
the drive unusable or require performing this command again!!
WARNING: Unable to erase MBR. If unable to write a partition after this operation, erase the first sector of the device
         and the last sector (max LBA) then try creating new partitions again.
Failed to set sector size!

Deployment information

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Additional information

No response

On a Ubuntu 20.10 (running Linux 5.8) system, I used SeaChest Lite (downloaded from official website on 9/30/2020) and set a USB Seagate External Hard Drive 16TB (STEB16000400) to sector size 4096. The operation succeeded with no error, but the drive became sorta bricked. Now the system can't boot when the USB HDD is attached, because it kinda froze on detecting that drive. The drive's blue light would always blink, with no apparent head seek could be heard.

I could remove the drive and boot up the system normally. Then I plugged in the HDD. My Linux system recognized it as a 2 TB disk drive but any operation will block forever. I can't run smartctl or seachest on it any more.

I also tried SeaTool bootable USB. The drive would become offline (as noted in dmesg) if I issue any command. I tried Set Max LBA but the command failed.

Also tested it on another machine running Windows 10. After a very long wait, Windows recognized it as a 1.8 TB drive but couldn't do anything about it. SeaTools for Windows took a very long time to scan the disks (half an hour) but couldn't recognize it either.

Is this drive dead? Anyway to bring it back? If setSectorSize bad for USB attached drives? If so why am I allowed to issue it?

PS. FWIW, uas was disabled for that HDD on Linux so that I could use smartctl to test it before I ran seachest lite The long test finished without any error.

Problem

TL;DR
command help and documentation are missing an example or guideline on how to format the LBA [range]

Background

Win11 keeps doing something (sleep HDDs? even when set to never...) and kills long running SeaChest operations: SMART long, erase, etc.

The issue

I'm trying to erase a couple of HDDs (to sell away) but the erase command stops after ~20 minutes. So I went to use the openSeaChest_Erase --writeSameRange option to perform the erase in steps.

The problem is neither the --help or the documents in this repository explain how the range has to be formatted.

I tried several options, including but not limited to:

openSeaChest_Erase -d PD1 --writeSameRange 1054894066-2109788130
openSeaChest_Erase -d PD1 --writeSameRange=1054894066-2109788130
openSeaChest_Erase -d PD1 --writeSameRange "1054894066 2109788130"
openSeaChest_Erase -d PD1 --writeSameRange 1054894066,2109788130
openSeaChest_Erase -d PD1 --writeSameRange 1054894066;2109788130
openSeaChest_Erase -d PD1 --writeSameRange [1054894066-2109788130]

Request

It would be great if someone could:

1. Give me the example of how to format the LBA range to erase
2. Update the --help on the commands that use [range] with an example for future users
3. Update the readme of the tools in the repo as well :)

Thanks!

Expected behavior

The --help argument for openSeaChest_Erase and other tools that use [range] should provide an example on how to format the range.

How to reproduce

Run the follwoing command, (don't use the --confirm yet, the error will pop up right away)

H:\ToolBin-master\openSeaChest\bin-build\22.07.26\Win64>openSeaChest_Erase -d PD1 --writeSameRange 1054894066-2109788130

Error in option --writeSameRange. Invalid argument given '1054894066-2109788130'.
Use -h option to view command line help

Try any other combination of formats for the range: quotes, brackets, comma, colon, semicolon, etc

Finally, check the help, it doesn't provide a guideline or example on how to format the range:

        --writeSameRange [range]
                Specify a range to writesame to. Use this option with the
                writeSame option in order to begin a write same operation.

Deployment information

Win 11 (boo!)
Local PC
SATA Drives attached to integrated Intel Chipset controller

Additional information

No response

Hey Guys,

Executable: SeaChest_NVMe_111_12130_64.exe
Version: v1.1.1

Having trouble with this one SSD brand, other PC's with different SSD's are fine.

AngryGoat.txt

I've attached the log, the scan shows the device as NVMe, which it is but trying to retrieve specific information returns that it is not an nvme device.

Thank you for your tool, has been very useful.

Edit: Uploaded wrong file

Problem

SeaChest_Lite: Latest version.

The software does not "see" any Exos ST16000NM001G connected to an Adaptec 71605 or 71605E. Argument --scan seem not to work as usual.

I understand that this may be difficult if the drives are configured in a RAID set, but these drives a connected a single drives even in RAW PASS Thru mode. The command line argument --scan gives only blank lines.

BTW, is there a list of supported controllers available?

Expected behavior

The software should work as nice as when Exos ST16000NM001G are connected to other controllers.

How to reproduce

Brand new factory sealed Exos ST16000NM001G connected to 71605 or 71605E. Not a single drive (out of more than 10) was seen by the software. In order to change 512e to 4Kn I had to connect every drive to another controller, change sector size and reconnect to the Adaptec controller. The the drives can be accessed through Windows before and after running Seachest_Lite - but still not visible to SeaChest_Lite.

Deployment information

Windows 10 Workstation, Windows 10 Enterprise, Adaptec 71605 or 71605E. All latest versions and latest drivers.

Additional information

No response

SeaChest_PowerControl.1100.txt writes about the --setAPMLevel option:

"This setting is non-volatile so it holds across power cycles"

In my case (ST2000LM015, Windows 10 1903), the APM level is reset to 128 after sleep mode, so this might be a documentation issue.

Problem

I am attempting to switch some Seagate ST12000NM0027 SAS drives from 512e to 4kn using this command:

openSeaChest_Format -d /dev/sg6 --formatUnit 4096 --fastFormat 1 --confirm <the long phrase>

This fails with this output:

Format Unit Not Supported or invalid option combination provided!

This is not making sense to me because I previously ran this command:

openSeaChest_Format -d /dev/sg6 --showSupportedFormats

And got this output (not all included):

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Logical Block Size  PI-0  PI-1  PI-2  PI-3  Relative Performance  Metadata Size
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*               512     Y     ?     ?     N                   N/A            N/A
                520     Y     ?     ?     N                   N/A            N/A
                528     Y     ?     ?     N                   N/A            N/A
               4096     Y     ?     ?     N                   N/A            N/A
               4112     Y     ?     ?     N                   N/A            N/A
               4160     Y     ?     ?     N                   N/A            N/A
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After I try to format if I rerun the command to show supported formats it now shows this:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Logical Block Size  PI-0  PI-1  PI-2  PI-3  Relative Performance  Metadata Size
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                512     Y     ?     ?     N                   N/A            N/A
                520     Y     ?     ?     N                   N/A            N/A
                528     Y     ?     ?     N                   N/A            N/A
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Because of this I have started a full format with this command:

openSeaChest_Format -d /dev/sg6 --formatUnit 4096 --fastFormat 0 --confirm

40 hours into this and we are only at 70% and I have 11 more disks to do. I am not sure what I am doing wrong.

Expected behavior

The format command should complete in 4-5min and convert from 512e to 4kn sectors.

How to reproduce

Run this command:

openSeaChest_Format -d /dev/sg6 --formatUnit 4096 --fastFormat 1 --confirm <the long phrase>

Deployment information

SEAGATE ST12000NM0027
LSI SAS9200-8E
Dell MD1200

Additional information

No response

Please describe the feature/improvement you would like to see added.

If this is already a feature, please let me know what the linux CLI argument is when executing

sudo ./SeaChest_SMART_x86_64-redhat-linux -d /dev/sg0 --smartAttributes analyzed

I have been using SeaChest_SMART_x86_64-redhat-linux v2.0.1 on Ubuntu 20.04 to obtain the converted SMART values for drives in the "Seagate Exos 7E8" model family. While the tool works well for this, my issue is with capturing and parsing the output for the desired values.

Please explain why you think adding this feature/improvement is important.

Presently, "smartctl" has a "--json" argument that allows for referencing desired values through the json structure.

smartctl -a /dev/sg0 --json=cu

Since I am not able to use that for accurate determinations of Seagate Exos drives, I would like similar functionality in the only tool that correctly reports these values.

Let me know if you need any other information.
Thanks!

root: ./SeaChest_Format_120_1177_64 --formatUnit 4096 --fastFormat 1 --confirm I-understand-this-command-will-erase-all-data-on-the-drive -d /dev/sdp

SeaChest_Format - Seagate drive utilities
Copyright (c) 2014-2017 Seagate Technology LLC and/or its Affiliates, All Rights Reserved
SeaChest_Format Version: 1.2.0-1_17_7 X86_64
Build Date: Nov 2 2017
Today: Tue Jan 23 16:18:50 2018

sg17 - ST12000NM0007-2A1101 - ZJV00AN7 - ATA
Format Unit
Format Unit Not Supported or invalid option combination provided!

Hello,

I have a test bench with XPG SPECTRIX S40G installed onto an Intel Z390-P, it's incorrectly reporting some data.
The drive should have maybe 24 hours if that.

SeachestNvmenormalinfo.txt

eg. Total Bytes Read (ZB), Total Bytes Written, Power On Time.

SeachestBasicVerbose4.txt
SeachestNVMEinfo.txt

Please let me know if you require anymore information.

1. Downloaded latest seachest zip from http://support.seagate.com/seachest/SeaChestUtilities.zip
2. Extracted, and ran SeaChest_Lite_120_11923_64.exe --scan, found the device i am interested in
3. Trying SeaChest_Lite_120_11923_64.exe -d PD3 --showSupportedSectorSizes to find if the HDD supports 4096 sector size natively

SeaChest_Lite_120_11923_64.exe -d PD3 --showSupportedSectorSizes
SeaChest_Lite_120_11923_64.exe: unknown option -- showSupportedSectorSizes
SeaChest_Lite: Unable to parse --showSupportedSectorSizes command line option
Please use --help for more information.

4. Help actually shows showSupportedSectorSizes is indeed an supported option.

--showSupportedFormats
                This option will show the supported formats of a device.
                These can be used to change the sector size or
                used with a format operation. On SAS, this is the
                supported block lengths and protection types VPD page. (SBC4
                and later) On SATA, this is the sector configuration log. (ACS4
                and later) If the device does not report supported sector
                sizes, please consult your product manual.