Help to reformat hard disk sector size 528 to 512 about sg3_utils

[doug-gilbert]

Try adding the --long option to the sg_format command line. Also an extra verbose option (i.e. '-vv') would help looking at the failed output. It is possible that IBM have changed the firmware on that disk (made by Seagate) to stop them being reformatted to 512 byte sectors :-( Also try sg_readcap on that disk. It might have 4096 (plus a few) byte sectors.

[yemencit]

Thank you for your reply can I chnage frimware for this hard disk

[doug-gilbert]

I think that it is important that you run 'sg_readcap PD1' on that disk. It could be 4096+n byte sector size. I have been told that IBM allow 5xx byte sector size to be reformatted to another 5xx sector size (e.g. 520 to 512 byte). They also allow 4xxx bytes reformattings. But that don't allow 5xx to 4xxx and vice versa. Further I have been told that you cannot put Seagate firmware on that disk. If you google "Seagate STT004" you should find the Seagate product manual for that disk.

[yemencit]

Please see what I found when use rg_readcap

[yemencit]

And please Check this

[doug-gilbert]

No good news after this long delay. The link above shows that the disk says there is an error starting at byte 13 (bit 7, so that is the whole byte, or in this case, the whole field). The command being sent is MODE SELECT(10) for the Read-write Recovery mode page (0x1). There is no --long option on the sg_format invocation so there is an 8 byte "General mode parameter block descriptor" which follows an 8 byte "Mode parameter header(10)" in the parameter list sent with the MODE SELECT(10) command. Byte 13 is the start of the "BLOCK LENGTH" field in the mode parameter block descriptor. And that field is exactly why that MODE SELECT is sent: to change the block length from 528 bytes to 512 bytes. Two different MODE SELECT(10) variants are tried: with the SP=1 then SP=0. Same results both times: the disk firmware is saying that it won't change the block length from 528 to 512 bytes.
I have a HGST SAS SSD with an IBM sticker on it (luckily it is 512 byte formatted). Out of interest I asked an engineer in WDC if I could change the IBM firmware to standard HGST firmware and I was told NO! So I suspect there is some contractual arrangement between the folks that actually make these disks (Seagate, WD, Toshiba, Samsung, etc) and those who do "badge engineering (e.g. IBM, HP, DELL, etc) to stop exactly what you are trying to do :-(

[catalin7504]

I am in a similar situation, with an IBM 3.8TB SAS SSD drive. So, based on your last comment, changing the firmware with a standard HGST drive is not technically possible, or it's something that IBM does not want us to do?
If it's not possible to change the firmware, is there any other option other than using them in an IBM storage unit?
Thank you!

[doug-gilbert]

HGST is now owned by WD. Various companies like IBM, Dell and HP rebrand disks made by the likes of Seagate and WD. Obviously the contracts behind those "badge engineering" deals are confidential but it seems like disk manufacturers promise not to allow owners of those IBM/Dell/HP disks to bypass the specialized firmware they have on them. I wasn't told exactly that, but that seems to be the gist of some feedback from a technical person within WD when I asked about this case.
I'm also not aware of how to tell Linux (for example) how to use the first 512 bytes of each logical block and ignore the rest but I can ask. Ah, I see from above that those disks report PROTECT=0 in the INQUIRY response, so PI is not an option.

[catalin7504]

Thank you for replying! I am not familiar with drive firmware, sas protocol etc., but I looked at the documentation provided by Seagate here. Chapter 6.4 Drive locking states that:

When the drive is shipped from the factory, the firmware download port is unlocked allowing the drive to accept any attempt to
download new firmware. The drive owner must use the SID credential to lock the firmware download port before firmware updates will be rejected.

Also, chapter 6.7 Authenticated firmware download

In addition to providing a locking mechanism to prevent unwanted firmware download attempts, the drive also only accepts
download files which have been cryptographically signed by the appropriate Seagate Design Center

Based on these notes, it seems that IBM has the option to lock the firmware port. I assume this is the port in front of the disk.

Also, looking online I found this page where the user ioan mentions that:
you can try buying iprconfig-compatible sas controller (list of supported controllers you can find in source code)
and then use iprconfig to convert them to jbod mode

Not sure how to do this, I understand I need a supported IBM sas card, but not sure if this needs to be done from the original storage system where these drives were running.

[doug-gilbert]

And this looks promising: https://github.com/bjking1/iprutils

[catalin7504]

Hello, I have some more details, and since I'm not familiar with Linux at all, maybe someone can figure out what I'm doing wrong.
So, I purchased 2 controllers: an IBM ServerRaid M5015 and an IBM 57B3. I have a Dell workstation which I'm using and I installed Ubuntu. The controller M5015 is not useful, it sees the drive in the controller utility but cannot work with it at all.
The second controller 57B3 is using 2 external sff-8088, so I connected the drive using cables. First thing, I don't know if this controller has any utility that can be accessed before OS loading (like an LSI utility), I could not find how.
Second, after building the iprutils I can access the controller and the drive. The drive is shown as 2.2TB, instead of 3.8TB, but that's something maybe for later. Using the menus in iprutils, I can format the drive as RAID 0 and it will be visible in Ubuntu, I can create a partition and create a folder there. All the time the drive is reported as 512 sector size, but if I connect it to a normal controller it's 528. So, it seems that the RAID controller is hiding this info for the OS.
There is an option to convert to JBOD, but whatever I tried I receive a message that "Initialization and format failed". I took me some time to figure out where the logs are, and I could find there messages suggesting something related to "Mode select" (sorry, I took a photo with my phone, but somehow it was not saved in the phone, will try to capture again).

At this point, I'm not sure if I really need an IBM Power machine, or if the controller I purchased is not the right version, or anything else....

[mr44er]

Out of interest I asked an engineer in WDC if I could change the IBM firmware to standard HGST firmware and I was told NO! So I suspect there is some contractual arrangement between the folks that actually make these disks (Seagate, WD, Toshiba, Samsung, etc) and those who do "badge engineering (e.g. IBM, HP, DELL, etc) to stop exactly what you are trying to do :-(

Yes, they don't want this. They wanna sell 'special firmware' for 3x normal price. But that is stupid after the chassis/filer/disk has gone EOL.
Btw. I've sent you an E-Mail, tell me what you think. 👍

[hreinecke]

It's really not worth it. HDDs don't cost a ton of money, and you get a lot of hassle if you repurpose storage array drive.
Most of them have special firmware, requiring the use of T10-PI enabled commands (or even worse).
And reflashing is also not a good idea, as you never know whether the firmware you are about to flash really matches your drive hardware-wise.